Monday, June 17, 2013

Long Tooth Jackals


Do not trust them,
Those long tooth jackals
With swanky tails
And silky tongues-
They will lie to you.

They will tell you this
And then do that,
Tell you that
And then do this-
But you already know,
So why I am telling you.

You see them every day;
Walk with them on the streets,
Do your hair in the same salon,
Share a sweaty pint at the pub,
Sing together at Sunday service,
You know who I’m talking about-
Those long tooth jackals.

There’s the one you see each morning;
You both cry how busy you are at work,
Then miss each other at the lodge.
But you’re not on that network,
It was only lunch hour meeting-
You know what I’m talking about.

Ho, here comes the suit slinging type;
The one with the large jabbering jaws
Yapping big shop about human rights,
‘Advocate for this, advocate for that,’
But when the shiny donor-dollars rain,
Swanky benzes train and causes drain,
Why trouble such a jolly good fellow-
Got you a slice of the action too, right?

Aha, there goes the good public servant,
His house screams one-point-five-salary;
Not in local currency though,
But hey, no rushing to throw stones,
He too is just a victim of the system;
Have to put food on the table,
You know how it is.

Hmm, I know what we should do,
Let’s blame it on the government.
What we do is no one’s business.

What, integrity?
That’s just a word we say.
No need to really mean it.

‘What about the people,’
The people!
Who cares about the people?
See, eating is not for the caring;
The cow may rot before your turn,
Better grab a piece while you can;
Too many hungry hands out there-
But why should I tell you this,
You already know,
You do this all the time!

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