Follow me and I will make you fishers of men – Matthew 4:19
We have no need for churches,
synagogues or mosques,
we do not need God to save the Queen.
Our symbol is the people’s flag,
blood red from resistance,
beacon of hope for the oppressed.
So, give us no excuses
for babies on the beaches
of poor stricken Greeks,
or underpaid Italians, saving
women from their shores,
as boats fish bodies from the sea.
Remember the migrant crisis,
squeezed from news feeds
by the coronavirus?
A human traffic riding waves
of hope and desperation,
fuelled by dreams of better lives.
No one is fighting for these quotas,
no words, the problem disappears.
No diplomats in Brussels
have agreed communications
to smooth disagreements,
on how to handle this haul.
So, shine up the guns for NATO,
salute the EU super state,
where peace is revered
when bodies fall overseas,
unmoved by worn fingernails,
tearing the perimeter gates.
Nowadays, no one likes didactic,
weighing up every point of view.
Sadly, Bertolt Brecht’s still missing
just when we need his vision.
There is no social distance
in a refugee camp.
Steve Bishop
valparaisobooks 