The poor should be unheard and unseen (unless it's good T.V.)

the poor should

have the grace

to look poor, be

dirty, be bruised,

be dim, be vicious,

be sinners, be thin,

be dressed in rags,

be small, be bony,

be slow, be sad, be

silent, be mad, be bad,

be glad for everything

thrown their weird way,

be on their knees, be

on all fours, be animals,

be prisoners of their own

dreams, be dead quickly,

be organ donors, be cheaply

made warriors, be unquestioning,

be consumers, be recycled,be

guilty bleeders, be murderers, be

child killers, be incest T.V. stars, be

circus clowns, be subjects for docu

soaps, be charity cases, be drunks,

be junkies, be tramps, be artless, be

heartless, be strangers, be bad sons, be

bad daughters, be grateful, be quiet, be

ogreish, be whoreish, be loveless, be

rutting machines, be thugs, be proudly

soundly beaten, be jailed, be starved, be

patronized, be poisoned, be suicided,be

driven insane, be street characters, be

workshop exercises, be passengers, be

pedestrians, be unheard and unseen, be

sick, be disease ridden, be fuck ups,be

down beats, be sliced up in the name

of science, be road kill, be dumb bastards,

be the shit on the rich mans shoe, be rain

running in the gutters, be broken bottles, be

a waste of time, be unproductive,be unprofitable,

be burning skin going up a chimney, be wired up

to the mains by brave soldiers, be fed endless

gadgets and chemical oblivions, be cut off from

community, be isolated, be polluted, be dimmed

down, be lied to by truth tellers,be defeated, be

left naked and bloody, be the subject of poor laws,be

the crowns property, be lost in the dark provoked

prejudice's of the slaved masses, be spat on, be

burned out, be whipped, be sterilized, become a disturbing list

of torture and terror and injustice that interrupts your pleasant night out,

your important relaxation, better be human kind before its too late my friends

because someone somewhere is placing your name on their bloody 'B' list.

 

Oh Yeah then they will decide what you should be

and then to be or not to be will not be the question

it will be the powers that be that answer for thee.

 

Be refugee, be homeless, be claimant, be student,

be single parent, be elderly, be militant feminist, be

terrorist, be deviant, be trade unionist, be socialist, be

benefit cheat, be ugly, be fat, be small, be old, be crippled, be

crazy, be Jew,be Palestinian, be black, be poor, be someone

they can kick around some more ,be blamed for the crashing world

of war and corruption, may be it is YOU and NOT the yellow brick bankers,

may be it is YOU and NOT the monkey winged war machine mungers that

have responsibility for it all after all, after all the honest to goodness alibi's.

 

To be or not to be is still the question , still the Canary singing in the mind.

To be or not to be is still the question , still the Canary singing in the mind.

 

To be is to be my answer and this warning shall be my birdsong

your answers and your songs are for you to find, for you to sing.

John G. Hall - Manchester, England