Woke Righteous

No dispute, we should all love our neighbours
  With a kindness of nature that’s right
And we ought to be generous, favour
  Our excesses, to those in dire plight
But then ‘ought’ becomes ‘must! or we’ll take it’ 
  With imprimatur, hand outs for free
Delegating as agents our rulers 
  To make sure the fruit falls from our tree

And the words of the woke decreed righteous
   Are: ‘What good boys and girls are we!’

Yes I’ll go with you - black lives matter!
  And the yellow and brown even white
And that all should be equally treated
  Should have always been so in hindsight
But what’s past is gone, no going back to
  make amends to dead who suffered then
Though those wishing to signal their virtue
  proclaim race guilt with voice and with pen

And the hearts of the woke decreed righteous
  Self congratulate then and again

I’ve a naive and innocent feeling
 That the most of us have good intent
And would care for our friends and yet strangers
  If misfortune and pain cause lament
So I trust that with this fellow feeling
  In a civilised culture that’s free
Help will be given self determined
  With no need for dictate or decree

Then the souls of the woke decreed righteous
   may find deeper content with this key
Copyright © | Year Posted 2020

Poem

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Balasubramanian Avatar
July 22, 2021 at 6:55 AM
Congratulations
Rodrigues Avatar
July 22, 2021 at 3:53 AM
Congratulations, Geoffrey!
Alex Avatar
July 21, 2021 at 11:11 PM
But what’s past is gone, no going back to make amends to dead who suffered then Though those wishing to signal their virtue proclaim race guilt with voice and with pen Absolutely. Congratulations!
Carber Avatar
September 16, 2020 at 3:11 PM
Yeah, my nephews are 'woke' but they ain't awake!
Wolf Avatar
September 13, 2020 at 7:45 PM
That's the key, alright -- 'without dictate or decree,' as you've penned it. Thanks for reasonability in these times of turmoil. :) gw
Dietrich Avatar
September 13, 2020 at 2:30 PM
Things are getting so out of hand . I really get what you are saying. People should not be told to feel guilty for who they are or what their ancestors did. But of COURSE we all must wake up and better the world and its conditions for all.
Theraven Avatar
September 12, 2020 at 9:27 PM
Greg, And they with the impetuous thought toward change. What word would Aristotle use that most aptly described 'the woke' I wonder. Still...feel he would have found some common ground none the less. 'And the hearts of the woke decreed righteous'...your message 'love thy neighbor' rings true. -R
Lamoureux Avatar
September 12, 2020 at 10:01 AM
An interesting perspective Greg. On the surface of it I would agree. With a deeper excavation my mind ponders the discrepancies. A good documentary to watch is 13th that can be found on Netflix. I suspect the truth lay somewhere in between. In Canada we still had residential schools well into the 90s and our native population still live in 3rd world conditions.
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