We’ll begin at the top -
send someone to the loft
to shed light on what’s dark and spooky,
seek out the machines
that have captured our dreams
and other instruments of cruelty.
Let’s excise and expose
what lies under clothes
and strip the whole joint naked,
so that nothing’s intact,
let’s be ruthless, in fact,
and if it ain’t broke then break it.
Go dismantle the beds
where the uneasy heads
will no longer lie a-mending
and then eradicate
everything that lies straight
until the infrastructure is bending.
Bring out the wrecking ball,
it’s unprofessional
and against all we ought hold sacred,
but just take a knife
to this dying life
and if it ain’t broke then break it.
Come, shatter the screens
that spy on the scenes
where we spent our time in quarters;
and when the cops discover
that we’ve killed Big Brother
then the camera won’t have caught us.
We’ll ransack the clinic
of all that is in it:
if it says Do Not Shake, we’ll shake it.
Let’s call time on the calm,
raise a general alarm
and if it ain’t broke then break it.
Exchange the sedatives
for any drug that lives
and the potions which disinhibit.
Spend the spare cash
on a superstore dash
through the zone marked wine and spirits.
When there’s no money left
we’ll pursue petty theft,
whatever we want we’ll take it.
If the weather is nice
we’ll have drinks with ice
and if the ice ain’t broke then we’ll break it.
Excavate the files
where the treason trials
were dramatised and documented.
Overwhelm the shredder
with each word and letter
that was wrung from the tormented.
Start the final fire,
build a funeral pyre
just as tall as we can make it.
To the flames consign
each Thou Shalt Not sign
and if it ain’t broken break it.
Let us run amok
before they stop the clock;
there’s no points for good behaviour.
Let me be the man
who will fling the flan
in the face of last year’s saviour.
As the days approach
that we fear most,
when we’re cast into the snake-pit,
pause a while and reflect,
pay your last respects
and if it ain’t broke then break it.
--
by Raymond Miller
Ray Miller is a Socialist, Aston Villa supporter and faithful husband. Life's been a disappointment.