[basil ransome-davies]

You war-babies and boomers need to shed your soured dreams –
The golden age of yesteryear and other dreary themes.
Enough of the monotonous complaint that everything's gone wrong;
Update your rackety old brains and sing another song.
The Welfare State? The Sixties Vibe? Delusions of the past.
They made you happy for a while, but pipe dreams never last.
You've got the Hobbesian nightmare now, so get your mind in gear;
Switch off the drool of peace and love, retune to greed and fear.
You may call it dystopia. The fact is that it's real.
Why get het-up when politicians lie and bankers steal?
The rich are in pig heaven, while the sick and poor don't count –
So much for all that twaddle in the Sermon on the Mount.
Don't prop yourself on fantasies, as on your Zimmer frame;
Remember that the rules have changed, and play a harder game.
Accept the ironclad bottom line: the world's a basket case,
But just don't live too long. We need your money and your space.


I've an itch to tell John that he shouldn't rhyme 'graph' with 'graph'. But he knows that. He's having a larf.