I’ve seen it in the mirrors that
The fleeting death-wish speeds
From ugly strangers tugging at the lie,
If they’re to be dismembered
From the vision, since remembered
Then that vision, surely, touches you and I?

The corridors are endless in
The palaces of power,
And islands are forbidden by the law,
But life shall be extended
At the instant it’s defended
Though the traitors pack their dollars at the door.

The mighty mausoleums
In the images of man
Have wracked this sorry planet to the core,
And background radiation
Is the heart’s-blood of the nation…
Though the heart just isn’t beating anymore.

David Lewis Paget