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Tuesday 4 October 2016

The Moderates Song

Welllll
You never hear a moderate on the radio
Phoning in to a phone in show:
“I have listened to all sides of the discussion
And feel it’s a complex issue with many repercussions
Oh we must all tread carefully
And try and find common ground.”

You never see a moderate in a footy stand
Standing up to shout and wave their hands:
“Oi referee! You do a bloody hard job
And we’re collectively grateful to you sonny-bob
Cause without you we don’t have a game
And we forgive your human mistakes cause they make us the same.”

You never see a moderate on a protest march
With a banner lofted high and proud and such:
“This is a legitimate way to express an opinion
And I must admit that our position
Is based somewhat on emotion
And could do with challenging too.”

Maybe if we did, things would be better
You’d open the local paper to read the letters:
“On the subject of Mr. Stayaway’s scribble
I must admit I found myself a little
Intrigued by his contention that if we’ll
Discuss the facts and drop the bluster
We’ll see the truth behind the rhetoric.”

Maybe if we did, we could move on
Power in truth and love and song:
“We’re not saying that we know it all
Good grief, we ain’t saying that at all.
But if we begin from a standpoint of openness
We can redefine the word ‘success;

To mean giving credence to what’s there
Not nebulous oppositional politics where
The onus is on us to choose a team
To shout from the sidelines, screaming, obscene
At each other whilst our pockets are picked
And we’re kicking each other, not against the pricks.”

Wellll
Wouldn’t that be nice? Maybe moderately so?
To accept and embrace our communal faults for those
Impostors and invigorators, thoughts and feelings
Whilst simultaneously recognising
That humans are fundamentally good
If only we could listen more. If only we would.


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