I
You know what it’s like;
when you’re young, full of beans,
when each day’s like an open goal;
and you really believe your opinion matters.
You know what it’s like;
you want to change the world.
And there it is, you believe;
just waiting to be changed.
And, after a while, inevitably, perhaps,
you accept it’s going to take
a little longer than anticipated.
But that’s OK. You’re young. You have time;
all the time in the world.
II
Of course, then things happen; as they do;
but not always in the order
they were intended to;
you make adjustments, you reassess.
It’s a bit more complicated
than you thought, that’s all.
You maybe heard it once,
‘The world’s like a Gordian knot.’
And maybe you nodded;
but never knew what it really meant.
Now you know; and now you know it is.
It’s true, you were never really sure
where it was all leading but, somehow,
it’s not going the way you expected.
III
I guess you once had principles,
but that seems like a long time ago.
You once got outraged about workers’ rights,
the Palestinian cause, and famine in Africa;
yet all that concerns you now is your bank account;
and the money that’s not in it.
And so, slowly, it creeps up on you;
the nagging doubts multiply, uncertainity seeps in;
till you are confronted by the dim realisation
that, rather than you changing the world,
the world has, somehow, contrived to change you.
You know what it’s like.