Political Games

 

 

Childhood games are loads of fun

But political games are not,

They play with our livelihood

And are full of sinister plots.

 

Like pawns on a chest board

Swapped for any and everything,

A vote every five years or so

And then dangled from a string.

 

Collateral damage you may say

There must be a cost, you see,

Why not the hapless electorate

That ensured your five-year spree?

 

 

Politics, my friend, is a reckless game

Unlike those of childhood

And sometimes it gets so horrid

It even calls for blood.

 

So much of it is cover-up

That the truth is difficult to know

And if you take off your partisan lens

There are times you’ll see it show.

 

But our loyalties are very fierce

And we don’t easily let go

While they that rule over us

Just watch their fortunes grow.

 

But they can be apologetic

Every five years or so

When they come to town again

Like clowns in a circus show.

 

 

And we the faithful electorate

Become the illiterate again,

Spellbound by their circus antics

We participate in their game.

 

A game that promises much

But delivers little, if anything,

Except to the ones that have it all

While we, their praises sing.

 

Like the lotto games we play

In anticipation of winning,

But we mostly turn up the losers

With the politicians grinning.

 

But will we ever learn?

It does not seem we will

For our parents made the same mistake

And today we make it still.

 

 Childhood games are really fun

But political games are not,

The politicians are always the winners

While losing is our lot.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2020