Our absent government
“There is too much government in my life”,
Laments my American friend,
His front yard alive with plaintive posters
Hanging from his roof, a billowing flag
In its red-white-blue, the same colour
As the socks peeping out of his shoes.
“The Taxman comes without a break
The police get me booked
For neglecting my safety belt; it’s they who
Must forever decide what part
Of the road I have to drive, and the volume
Of the boom from my woofer boxes
And the vaccine mandate,
Oh, that dreariest of all decrees,
What business of government is it
If I choose to dare the bug and die?
*
Over here, buddy, a starkly different story
Simply no government in our wretched lives
Our nights are dark, our taps are dry
Our skull-lined roads pave a crowded path to hell
We live like orphans and die like paupers
Our Eating Chiefs have swallowed the budget
The Law is lame; a King called Chaos
Is high on the throne
In my part of the world
Government is permanently AWOL*
Coming only when the taxes are due
And another election is ripe for rigging
*Absent Without Leave