This thing

This anti-war protest ballad was written at the outset of the war in Ukraine.

This Thing

West goads East and East goads West—
Which is richer, stronger, best?
It’s money, money, every day
Feeding this thing that won’t go away.

Boris sits at Number Ten,
Waving his flag of yellow and blue.
Brexit’s done, the Tories are in:
His Russian cronies paid their due.
He’s Churchill now, absolved of sin.
He’s a hero now, he’s brave and true.

Putin will do what Putin will do.
Biden watches with half-shut eyes,
Meek as a mouse and without a clue,
Safe at the White House, shielded by lies,
Flaunting his flag of yellow and blue
As the bombs rain down and Ukraine dies.

The tanks advance, the sirens sound.
The martyrs fight, but they’re far too few.
Deep in their cellars underground,
Folded in flags that are yellow and blue,
Buildings in rubble all around,
Victims are cooked in a human stew.

Homes destroyed and nowhere to be,
What can the women and children do?
If you don’t stay and die, you’re a refugee
Waiting for help in a starving queue.
Watch them now, in their millions, flee,
Trailing their flags of yellow and blue.

Zelensky pleads for a no-fly zone.
NATO, frozen, says ‘No can do –
ARMS you can have, but you’re on your own.’
Waving a flag that’s yellow and blue,
Welcoming neighbours to hearth and home,
Warm-hearted Poland lets Ukraine through.

Guarding privilege, wealth, and Queen
While touting a flag that’s yellow and blue,
Tied up in red tape, slow and mean,
The UK does what it’s seen to do:
‘Here’s your allowance. Times are lean.
We paid for your ARMS. You have had your due.’

‘There’ll be no more martyrs after World War One’:
So we all vowed, after World War Two.
But here we go again, till the killing is done:
Nothing new here, nothing new--
Firing our sanctions like bullets from a gun,
Bartering our badges in yellow and blue.

West goads East and East goads West—
Which is richer, stronger, best?
It’s money, money, every day
Feeding this thing that won’t go away.

'This Thing' was published in Poems on Conflict by Members of the Hall Writers' Forum in December 2022