8/95 rewritten 3/4/97

Barbarians

"Barbarians at the Gate!" they cry,
their exclamations speak
as if a suit delivered honesty or intrinsic integrity.

Questioning their prejudice
is unlikely, as the ‘barbarians’ assault ideas
and concepts held dear by the merchant bankers -

Free speech for the user who pays.
Meanwhile the rich get a free ride,
they get their welfare while the poor stare,
blindly wishing for the TV in the window.

You’ll find cash at the bottom of the harbour,
just another one of their 'civilised' schemes.

As blind as Justice, we tread unsurely
through a narrow alley of the safe opinions of dinner parties
knowing the barbarians are gone.

It seems unsafe thoughts have been eradicated by buying them -
gods of style now ruling over shadows of substance.

Are the barbarians to be slaughtered
by the triumph of the wizardry of market forces,
or are the elites ripe to be revolted?