3rd October 2008 – [and now looking back. Ed.]
Brave New World by Chris South
(A Poem for Austere Times)
Is financial Armageddon here to daunt us?
Are we destined now to reap all we have sown?
Will our deepest, darkest fears come back to haunt us
And terrorise the life that we have known?
Is there nowhere we can run now to escape it?
With each rising sun its banner more unfurled
Whilst the hands of our own artisans did shape it
We stand in fear and face our brave new world.
What future have we made for our descendants
Did we ever really contemplate their plight?
Have our lives being lived in such resplendence
Condemned them to an everlasting night
We’ve gorged ourselves; our bellies so distended
They drag us to our knees with backbones curled
When all at once the feeding frenzy ended
We cower down before our brave new world.
Will there ever be another bright tomorrow
When sun and moon and stars give light again?
An end to self inflicted states of sorrow
Where greed and selfishness cause no more pain
Has our resolve to make this transformation
To the farthest depths of space and time been hurled?
Leaving us in bitter lamentation
To crawl the ruins of our brave new world.
