Poems (as such)

No Voice

A sleuth of bears with a pair of pears,

Ask if I'll swap my fruit for theirs.

I stand and stare, 'that's hardly fair!

I shall not trade, go back to your lair!'

A flutter of butterflies, listening in,

Rather disturbed by the increasing din,

Trouble themselves to examine the fuss,

'We shan't intervene, take no notice of us!'

A murder of crows, standing proud in rows,

Are worried our squabble might come to blows.

'Four pears are a trifle!' they caw together.

'What's fare is fair whatever the weather!'

Just out of sight is a business of ferrets.

They view every argument on its own merits.

'If it comes to a fight we shall not get involved,

But we'll feast on the scraps once the problem is solved!'

A gaggle of geese overhear the commotion,

They fly in a 'V' (their preferred locomotion).

Landing between us they ruffle their feathers.

'Counting means nothing! Revisit your measures!'

My basket is full; a selection of fruit.

My antagonists menacing, large and hirsute.

It's not easy to bargain when someone has claws.

Contracts are binding, but a visceral clause?

Some owls then fly down; a parliament!

Wise birds that will solve my predicament?

'And whooo shall vote for whooom?' They say.

These owls have no chance of saving the day.

Then a drift of pigs with mud on their faces,

Saunter along with their airs and their graces.

But they are just bystanders, looking for food,

They couldn't care less for the bears and their feud.

I'm ready to give up my basket of fruit,

For my children's sake they can take their loot.

A pair of pears is better than nothing;

At least I shall walk away with something.

A skulk of foxes now, crafty and cunning,

Out of breath; they have clearly been running.

'We're just in time! The foxes say,

'These bears, for once, shan't get their own way!'

'And who's to stop us?' The biggest bear smirks;

'Power and aggression: It always works!

We're nonchalant, worthy, and so confident,

That always we'll get whatever we want!'

As she brings her mighty paw down on me,

I bow and I shuffle; go down on my knee.

Hand over my basket, I have no choice!

It's wrong, but the fact is, I just have no voice...

AN— So this might be a political comment - despite democracy, and although there are groups that, ostensibly, are there to help individuals, in the end we have no voice against big business and the state.

I dedicated this effort to @HollyGoliterary because when I first began to try to learn to write she was one of the people that read my efforts, and commented, and gave me a will to carry on. Now I'm trying to write stuff on my own, as it were, without prompts - it's the least I can do. Go and have a look at her work...

She has written some amazing stories, and seems to me to have a limitless imagination. And she named one of her characters my name (and that character was no hero, it made me giggle :) And she dedicated a story to me as well. I don't know - it just seemed right! Thank you @HollyGoliterary :)