Diminished in A Moment

  

 

Get your act together

Or we’ll treat you like the rat,

If such were said to you,

Would you take that?

 

And what about your pride?

Would any at all be left

Or would you only hear the welcome

And to the rest be deaf?

 

The bosom is very close

So, every eye will be on you,

Would you still be feeling accepted

Regarded with such a view?

  

You could be an opportunist

Or perhaps seen as a plant

To offset their enduring institution

But understand you can’t.

 

Barely four years passed

And that you disliked now like,

Is it really the case, Mr. Defector

You have seen the light?

 

 

 

Did your constituents know:

Those who voted for you,

That you were parting ways with them

And are finally through?

 

R.A.T. crossed the floor

Just like the bishop before

But you, sir, had everyone guessing

Before closing the door.

 

Maybe you were smarter

And displayed a better timing

In winning the nomination in the city

Before the bell was ringing.

 

 

 

Just in time Mr. Defector,

Or already in the bosom

Having been accepted by the PM

And past sins forgotten?

 

You may be riding high

Or so you may be feeling

But to be welcomed in such a way

To me is quite revealing.

 

Maybe you’ll win the seat

But what about your pride?

The fact that you are being used

Cannot be denied.

 

 

Diminished in a moment:

Insult followed success,

Mr. Defector, it definitely seems to me

You are a pawn at best.

 

Maybe there was a reason

You had lost your voice,

Perhaps your vocal-chords doubted

The reason for your choice.

 

From a dying institution

To one that seems invincible,

The fact you’re at the bottom of the pack

To me is inescapable.

 

It is an interesting lane

To which you have switched

But in the best interest of the city folk

I hope you can make it fit.

 

 

 

Representation in the courts

Is different from Parliament,

In the former you are paid for services

In the latter you are a servant.

 

 

 

In one you decide your pay

In the other, the Government,

But note it’s the money of taxpayers

Whom you represent.

 

Diminished in a moment

By the Deputy PM

So, tell me in all sincerity Mr. Defector,

Are you through with the Dems?

 

Stewart Russell © January 19, 2026

 

For What Do We Vote?

 

 

 

For what do we vote

And do we get it

And if we do,

To what extent do we profit?

 

Do we vote party

Or do we vote individual

And how does either

Benefit the people?

 

What really do we get

When we cast our vote?

From my recent recollection,

Very little of note.

 

Let me define recent

And say for argument’s sake,

The last two decades,

Relatively here of late.

 

This is across four PMs

And you know who they are,

Of course, the present PM

Is an international star.

 

Elections are usually lost

Not generally won

And fairy tales saturate the air

From the boom of the gun.

 

Those in are pulled down

Regarding perceived failures

As the “wannabees” paint

A most enticing picture.

 

So, we vote for a promise

They won’t do like the other

But we end up invariably

With the same bother.

 

Too many Ministers!

But they are increased, not cut,

And the Government that’s in

Digs a deeper rut.

 

Them that were vilified

In order to capture the vote

Get even more big contracts

To keep the state afloat.

 

A vote for freedom!

What an alluring slogan!

And after the initial illusion…

Still at rock-bottom.

 

All that changed

Remains almost the same,

A little more exacerbated

But little we’ve gained.

 

 

For what do we vote

And do we ever get it

And if we do,

To what extent do we profit.

 

Reform/transformation

Bombards our ears every day

But the change anticipated

Is forever delayed.

 

Monies unaccounted for

At least, that’s how it appears

And if not to you

Surely, to me this is clear.

 

$0.40 dollars per litre

At every single petrol pump

Must be a significant amount

At least, by my account.

 

This tax on petrol

Raised over the last five years!

Surely, we should see it reflected

Here, there or somewhere.

 

It was earmarked for roads

But the roads still deteriorate

As more money is borrowed

To improve their state.

 

And the money borrowed

At home and abroad,

Are we borrowing from Peter

To pay back Paul?

 

And as the grass grows

The horse starves for food

With presentation and oration

Being comfort to fools.

 

Two parties as I see it

In opposition to the people,

The people being the Government

Seen as unnatural.

 

A democratic divide

Which favours our rich leaders

At the expense, I dare say,

Of the most vulnerable.

 

Trickle down policies

That scarcely trickle down

And the occasional handout

When things are brown.

 

A powerless people

But possessing pseudo power

Waiting every five years or so

For one glorious hour.

 

 

For what do we vote

And will we ever attain it?

I am not sure we ever will

But I know who profits.

 

They have it good

At the taxpayers’ expense

Having even robbed the poor

Of their commonsense.

 

The plantocracy reigns

And we are still enslaved

As we suck up to our oppressors

Deluded and dazed.

 

With a brand of politics

Drunkenly partisan,

We vote for who and not what

To our own destruction.

 

Stewart Russell © February 28, 2024