Of Poetry And Honour

If my cheek should be tough as rock

   When toothy fits of glee warrant cause

   Let it never be said I never smiled.

If my heart should be stolid as a wall

   When kids cling to my shorts for tales,

   Or the village siren bats a wink my way,

   Let it never be said I never loved.

If my verse should dearth

From want of inspiration,

   Let it never be said I never wrote

   For needed writings I have wrote.

My verse has invaded minds blind to light

Advertising the anguish of the innocent,

From classrooms where robots plant deceit;

   To neon lit hideouts where bottles clink

So all who learnt to forget may remember

That brokers of Babylon walk among us

Tricking the innocent with sneaky gambits

If I should look tattered as a workman’s garb

Or walk with eyes sniffing for scents of home

Like a hermit resigned from the trappings of life

Let it never be said I bartered sanity for dreams

Or toyed too long with thoughts of meaning

Let it be remembered that I’m a soldier of justice

Fighting to save my people a form of dying alive

But if memory is short and my writings lie forgot

Let it be remembered

That I lived in the time of the Lantern Meet!