BY ICARUS

An entry in The Crocodile Prize

Say what you will
for faded glory
those tales have had their day

Pay homage as you wish
to colleagues and cronies
those mates have gone their way

Days past our dawning
history yet forming
put our eight point plan away

Swayed by the crooning
supporters are swooning
and development is further delayed

Does a child envision
from a mother’s bosom
his own children’s destiny today?

Yet a lifetime has been
and after all one has seen
isn’t another two score too far away?

If we dream of a day
and we hope and we pray
will God grant what we want – less delay?

If we argue of meaning
without rhyme, within reason
the job of government is governing
not dreaming

Wide awake, with eyes open
and minds soberly focused
which is wanting
as we’ve found much too often

One can only hope
the next people we vote
make decisions deserving of note

While most struggle to survive
waiting for 2012 to arrive
we must try to keep that hope alive.

Icarus is the pen name of a senior Papua New Guinean public servant in Port Moresby. This poem was first published in The National newspaper’s writers’ forum on 24 October 2010