Long Satirecity Poems

Canto V: Whose Radical?

Days have gone when he spoke;
Yes, years turned yester-years,
When the wide-mouth spoke last;
Yet, he dwells in a brighter horizon:
A city of opulence & flamboyance;
Had he spoken before the oracles,
Then, a radical he is?

Isn’t it true while the aim
Was the radical enemy’s camp,
The blow from war-heads was on us;
That courtesy of peace & unity
Left the cities unto full fires –
Had he spoken before the oracles,
Then, a radical he is?

No! not a radical, but a hard-liner;
To defy their air-raids of hunger,
Famine, tribalism, corpse-cum-coups
In the civilised city of Africa
And in defence of my people –
Had he really spoken at the oracles,
Then, a hard-liner he is?

Days are dead & the dead have fled;
In the city of Rome roam cowards!
There remains none to defy the deaf pigs;
The cities breed thugs & hooligans:
Those masters of ignorance & arrogance –
Had he really spoken at the oracles,
Then, a hard-liner he is?