Linguicide

In splendid isolation
Stood an ancient nation
So my mother said to me
As she recalled our history
In a land she did not recognise
As tears fell from her eyes

Deep within a valley
Where the stream of words did not reach
And armies did not rally
The tide of tongues hit the beach
And people lived a simple life
And spoke as they ever did
And shared a life devoid of strife
All the while that they were hid

On the knee of my mother
I learned a minority tongue
I did not know another
And there was but one
One word for love
One for desire
One word for hunger
One to inspire
Every emotion a heart could possess
And every thought a mind could express

Sundered from the valley
Adrift upon a sea
Of words I cannot understand
Who will rescue me?
On this lonely island
I watch the waters rise
As they wash away the words
My mother tongue dies

The Jailer

I once had a matchbox
I kept a bee inside
It buzzed all day within its cell
Then of course it died

Now I have a larger cell
Four stone walls - a door
Hinges locks and a key
What is it all for?

To lock it up is joy to me
Even when its empty
And hear the hollow ring within
And stand outside - a sentry

To lock it up with you inside
Now there's a better thing
To slam the door and turn the key
I stand ever willing

Who's without and who's within
Is irrelevant to me
So long as I may stand without
And possess the key

The Enemy - The Man

How I hate the wheat
How I hate the new-sown field
How I hate the thought
Of people fed and filled
How I hate the sight of land
Regular and tilled
Had I but a weapon
Then I should have killed

Let them choke upon their bread
Hallucinate and fall down dead
I will salt their field with stone
Undo all that they have done
Curse their land with pain and blight
All the work of just one night

At midnight through the fields he ran
A bitter twisted vengeful man
A dark night for a darker deed
A'scattering the darnel seed

Left and right he sows corruption
A study in stern concentration
Without a moment's interruption
Sowing seeds of his own damnation

When the grain be gathered in
We'll feed darnel bread to him