The Children’s Corner

(where villainy in noble cradles lies)

by T.P. Wilkinson / November 18th, 2018

Is it easier
to fear
than
answer
injustice
year
for year
with
courage
minor
while it’s small
before
it smothers
each and all?
As was each man
once but a child
While not all bad
while not all wild
Tyrants, traitors
Murder’rs, thieves
Thrived once
in playgrounds,
in nurseries
Junior brigands
invading schools
bending, breaking
then the rules
of decency,
honesty
and fair play
supported,
sheltered,
abetted they
by those
beneath
the ivory tower
enviously
exploiting
childish power
their petty mastery
obsequiously show
our future tyrants
so they would know
how tiny lies
to great crimes grow.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..

This article was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2018 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.