Black Powder

We celebrate Guy Fawkes although he did not quite make the grade I know and understand rebellion threatens thus he met his fate Could have been worse he could have blown of his incendiary hand Less body parts to torture in the name of country and King of the land Guido as they called him fighting for the Spanish before his foiled plot Was fully aware that he could be exterminated for an unsavoury complot Can violence in the name of debatable justice be ever condoned The masters of power today might agree when Syria is droned Crusades in the name of some cause or other belie religion and creed When money meets oil geopolitical persuasion derived from greed Black powder in Guy’s case blew up in his fierce revolutionary face Unlike Nelson an eye for a blind spot got him nothing but disgrace Dark power gloved fists velvet resolutions and orange insurrections Should of course release white peace doves from resolute minds’ disaffection Nena’s 99 red balloons and Banksy’s street art reveal a powerful message No doubt they beat anthrax in envelops and letter bombs sent by expressage Yet Mandela in his armed struggle days was deemed a vile terrorist Fought for the cause in despair but was labelled a mean criminal errorist Suppose that leaves us with religion and Jesus crossed bleeding nailed Whereas Guy stored explosives in Westminster’s undercroft with little avail A white robed Ghandi marched for salt freedom justice peaceful opposition Before him the Buddha sat quietly under a Bodhi tree for untroubled transition Fawkes received victor’s punishment but is said to have fallen from the scaffold Before being hanged broke his neck probably mocked the crowd that was baffled Avoided the agony of the punitive rope before drawn and divided into four parts Outsmarted the executioner retribution erratically broken in fits and starts Few of us know the real story only shoot fireworks remember November the 5th Blow money miss the pith dispense judgement in blessed ignorance forthwith A lesson to be learnt from the historical legend some possible moral from treason Is that words are superior to gun powder and it’s better to die for a right reason