#854 - the light on the hill is green

 

7.v.22

854

3.127

after

or

the light on the hill is green

 

after and long after

invasion, dispossession

the right of might and God given

the taking and the taking away

after the massacres and the languages lost

the crimes against humanity

 

after the jolly old singalong

of how it all had to be

of this dubious fellow

drowned in the billabong

could be you

could be me

 

after the deaths in custody

and everywhere injustice

there must be somewhere safe

if we make it

 

after the war

and see them wash ashore

in a boat they just guessed up

it’s called ’freedom’

 

was it this way? that?

they’re still coming today

some miserable bastards are hunting them

and all of this for peanuts

 

we’re safe in our monkey puzzle

picking the nits

and not many

 

but welcome!

welcome, there’s still room here

and there’s stuff to do

we could use a hand

with the paradise mending

there’s freedom from and freedom to

 

now you can marry whomever you love

whoever it is loves you

 

after the fires and the floods and the plague

after the drought

and the cattle gone

(turns out they weren’t really required)

 

after the penny pinching

and the accusations

after the meanness, spite

the wedge and gotcha

after the great big spend

turns out we can do whatever’s required

otherwise unthinkable – how the cinderworld

would spin on dead

 

after all that gloom

and we’re still here, healthy for the most part

and we’re already one in ten

and we can be much more

 

after the enemies of planet

are buried in their cash

and in their oily sepulchre

after the smog clears

all breathe again

raise heads to hope

 

after the post-truth age

when the strong men

are safe, asleep in their cots

it’s yesterday all of the past, you know

 

we’ll put some panels on the roof

we’ll whack a windmill in

take tides to run the country

make better batteries

we’ll leave the dinosaur swamp in the ground

we’ll drive by the power of the sun

 

after all that

can you see it?

can you see the light on the hill?

broad daylight now

there’s a cloud break

and the sun pours through

after all –

it’s shining

we’re all shining with it too

can you see it?

 

after the rust and the dust

and the ash

when greed and hate are blown away

 

when we agree to talk and to listen

 

after the dour drudge, the rat cunning

the life not meant to be easy

the herniated lifters, the gale of life

and the ‘we will decide…’

we find the spirit was always there

 

there must be somewhere safe

if we make it

howsabout here, now?

 

after the apology

when things are made right

after truth telling and treaty

 

when we put away the guns and the bombs

when everyone gets to go to school

when we all have a roof overhead

and hospitals are free

 

when everyone can afford to be

whoever whatever they can

 

when we take down the terrible chimneys

when the whole world gives up smoking

 

can you see?

 

please tell me you can see

 how

the light on the hill is green