The Advertitudes

Blessed are those with beautiful skin
for they will not grow old

Blessed are those who drive sleek cars
for they will have sex

Blessed are those who fly abroad on holiday
for they shall find paradise

Blessed are those who buy now and pay later
for they shall have it all

Blessed are those who drink the right beer
for they shall be men

Blessed are those who buy the latest CDs
for they shall be top dog

Blessed are those who buy in the sales
for they shall consume more

Blessed are those who are famous
for the world will want to be them

Blessed are those who have powerful jobs
for they will rule the world

Blessed are those who are members of a Gym
for they will think they are healthy

Blessed are those who shop at Tesco's
for every little helps to make them massive profits

Blessed are those who look after number one
for they won't have a care in the world

Blessed are those who dress in the right label
'cause the world will know just how much you spend

Blessed are those who show their power by might
for everyone left will like them
Blessed are those who buy self-help books 

for you will find happiness 
(repeat after me: I will find happiness) 

© David Hardman 2008

It is Sweet and Right

Bent double and stiff necked on bikes we ride,

Locked knees, through quiet France, the engine roars

Shattering a peace that hides how you died

In battle to cross the Sambre-Oise canal at Ors.                        

Drafted when wars could be won or lost,

Lives exploded by bullet, shell and gas.

Human being an affordable cost

As seventeen million fell en masse

A time when a battlefield was just that -

Now the subway, plane, mall, or twin tower,

As civilians and history, laid flat,

Are collateral damage of power.

Killed in the great war to end all wars

It didn’t work - when do wars ever do?

Devastating young lives of army corps

Khaki and grey stained by blood’s crimson hue.

You gave not just your life but also truth -

The Send Off of those who die as cattle,

Exposing the Anthem for Doomed Youth -

What it means to die and live in battle.   

There’s no signpost to your weathered grave

Strangely among the more recent natural dead.

Secret rest, like wrongs hushed up, for the brave.

Simple fading inscription to be read.

Aware at your grave, bathed in sunlight,

How brave you were to expose, last century,

The old lie: It is sweet and right

to die for your country.

© David Hardman 2015