Neck And Neck
Democracy, at breakneck speed,
Mates pure hypocrisy with greed.
In either house, in either zone,
All politics are skin and bone,
And love is just that tender trap
Before the fall, the sudden snap.
Eye for eye. and tooth for tooth:
The rules of age, but not of youth.
To fill new martyrs full of hope,
You only need a length of rope,
Forgetting, in some unmarked spot,
Who built the scaffold, tied the knot.
A twisted grin, the scent of smoke:
This is the winner's killing joke,
And killers' killers still believe in
Odds that are not ever even –
The butcher's hooked. The rope is paid.
Who bought the tools to ply his trade?
Who gave him arms? Who gave him sound? –
All idle questions, hanging round.
