If Poets Had Consequence
In bardic Ireland, a satire poem so destroyed a kings reputation he would have to give up his crown. The only other time he would have to do that was if bodily maimed, such as losing a limb. While more savage days, prehaps they were more honest times…
If poets had consequence in these modern times
All corruption would not be
But they don’t, so it is and flourishes
And laugh in the face of those like me
Who wave mere words, not wrote the paper written
Or the breath in which poems and slogans are said
Those times when poets words to reputations mattered
Like the times of decency, they are dead.
If moral had consequences in these modern times
All corruption would not be
There would be no need for protest and satire
For campaigners and those like me
Who wave mere words, at times when in other times it would be guns
And blood flowing on the streets instead
Of a world weary of fighting after two world wars
And has buried too many of its dead.