Window Dressing

 

 

There is much window dressing

All year round:

In store windows and in Parliament-

By persons renown.

 

I recall going into Bridgetown

With my dad and my siblings

And viewing the Christmas showcases

And this was so exciting. 

 

It cost my dad nothing more

Than a pack of nuts and bus fare

And while we stared at the show window,

No police appeared.

 

 

 

If that went over your head

It means you are quite young,

I am talking about back in the 60’s decade

When you were not around.

 

We seldom got what we saw

But we anticipated the tour

Though as we got older and better off

We did it no more.

 

You see, it held no more appeal

As it did when we were kids

And so, when we became young adults,

Other things did.

 

However, I must confess

Window dressing has returned

Though it’s not the window dressing

For which I once yearned. 

 

It’s not the store windows

But behind Parliament walls

Where MPs paint wonderful pictures

That have us enthralled.

 

Pictures about projects

That never get off the ground

But year after year they get recycled

Like a merry-go-round.

 

Window dressing of the kind

To attract investment

Like the recent legislation to encourage

Free regional movement.

 

  

 

Our west coast and south coast

Are strewn with hotels

And the picture of these coasts shows

Our country is well.

 

 

 

But while seeing is believing

All that glitters is not gold

And all this window dressing is doing

Is creating debt untold.

 

Window dressing in the form

Of importing experts galore

But the myriad of perennial problems

Still vexing us sore.

 

Borrowing to window dress

To prop up foreign reserves

Making the country appear wealthy:

Apparent future preserved.

 

Yes, a healthy environment

But a people grossly sick

Forcing them that are disenfranchised

To be economically slick.

 

Reimagining and reinventing

Window dressing décor

But nothing’s really getting any better

For our indigent poor.

 

Other than window dressing

That smacks of welfarism

That only generates more and more

Social rheumatism. 

 

The facility to climb

The proverbial ladder of success

Appears to be targeting a select few

Leaving most in a mess.

 

 

 

The country of opportunity!

A great window dressing ad

But beyond the window dressing façade

Things are really bad.

 

A renown Prime Minister

Respected worldwide

But the Republic she presides over

Experiences a great divide.

 

Between the rich and the poor

There is mighty wide gap

And often the token assistance given

Is more like a slap.

 

 

Like the window dressing

Of that $300 amount

That in the blink of an eye disappeared

From the poor’s account.

 

Absolutely no trickle down

Reaches the vulnerably poor

While the window dressing politicians

Get more and more.

 

The MPs dress up the window

And invite the poor to look

But these recycled manifesto promises

Produce only a book.

 

 

 

A book for posterity

Given to the poor for free:

“A Window Dressing Guide for Politicians”

Added to a sparse library.

 

A world of window dressers

Politicians have become,

Showcasing their promises to all

But only benefitting some.

 

Yet they are convincing

And for them we vote

Lured by another window dressing:

A politician’s master stroke.

 

Stewart Russell © October 19, 2025

 

Bear in Mind

 

 

I am staying the course

If life be spared,

How long it will take

Is not really clear.

 

In a sense though,

I don’t have a say

For having said yes,

It’s the course I must stay.

 

I had not envisaged

It would be so tough

 But I must hang in there

Regardless of how rough.

 

A light at the tunnel’s end

I see amidst my pain,

I just pray and hope

It’s not an oncoming train.

 

There is a huge outcry

Of anger and of anguish,

Tell us when, do tell us when!

When will we get our wish?

 

Our wish for a better life

Our wish for comfort and peace,

A little ease from the struggle

 And much needed relief...

 

“Where there’s life there’s hope”

I’ve heard the quote

But what is the use

When it is so difficult to cope?

“Where there’s a will there’s a way”

That too I have heard

But things are getting harder

And I am getting tired.

 

I must stay the course,

Something better is coming

But everything is going down hill

And little good is happening.

 

Hear my cry, please,

It’s the cry of the hopeless,

It is all coming apart-

What a terrible mess!

 

I could end it all

But that would make no sense,

It would only make bad worse

And be an eternal offense.

 

 

I was asked to stay the course

By the authority in the land

Who promised it’ll get better-

That’s the intended plan.

 

In the meantime, though,

I need some interim relief

Since, if I’m to survive,

It will take more than belief.

 

I am up to my neck,

In fact, the water has reached beyond,

I can no longer manage

Pretty soon I’ll be gone.

 

But I will stay the course

As long as I have life,

After all you had also promised

That there would be strife.

 

Some of our own making

And some otherwise

But I must confess a lot of it

Has come in disguise.

 

Like medicine, it was for our good

But I am not sure anymore

And a lot that is happening

Is vexing me sore.

 

But I will stay the course-

Like a loyal subject, I will,

But I want you to understand

That this is a bitter pill.

 

The truth be told

I am feeling quite rotten

But I hope when things get better

This sufferer won’t be forgotten.

 

It has happened before

And it can happen again,

It happened at some time

During each party’s reign.

 

I will stay the course

As long as I have life

But given the external indicators,

There is more oncoming strife.

 

Staying the course is a must

Of that I’m assured

So, I will hang in there

And hopefully I can endure.

 

Stewart Russell © March 2020