91̳

Australian decency?

POEM BY JOHN TOMLINSON

Refugee, asylum seeker
who's the listener,
who's the speaker?

Are you ventriloquist or faker
who's the giver,
who's the taker?

Compassion now, or racist pride
which is decent,
who has lied?

Come, citizen or overlord
were children thrown
overboard?

Welcoming the millionaire,
rejecting lonely, frightened, poor,
makes the whole world despair.

Can't you see the tyranny,
won't you show humanity,
or have we lost our decency?

From 91̳ Weekly, June 21 2006.
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