Gleaming and glittering with gold
Wonderous surprises for young and for old
From the isolated jungle where the cameras roll
To the handheld screens where cosmetics are sold

Years before you'd peak in a tent
To look at the lobster boy and the girl with four legs
Call them a freak, laugh, run and hide
After you left, the freak sat and cried

Today we sit back in our comfortable seats
Ignoring real heroes who achieve great feats
To gawk at the rich man who can barely read
And laugh at people with mental disease

The modern-day freak show has arrived
The circus has evolved before our eyes
Being taught to point and laugh at those that are different
Is a gateway drug to prejudice and racism

We sit, stare and judge,
Our opinions do not budge,
We are so right and they're so wrong,
The papers tell us they want us gone,
They tell us they're obsessed with terrorism,

Sitting safe in your car, or at home in a chair
Judging and complaining
about the beard and the hair,

"Why won't they be like us?"
Why can't they integrate?"
The only answer must be... it's because of their faith

Have you heard the news?
Tweet, hashtag repeat,
They've done it again!
They want us all dead!
prayers and thoughts for the women, children and men,

Blame that young man, with the gun in his hand, with the hate and intentions to do something bad,
We don't ask why.
Just run and go cry,
Mosques found with bacon outside.

Picture it now, you're young and your brown,
Growing up in a mostly white town,
Tough to fit in, grew up a Muslim,
Through no choice of your own,

Can't get a job,
Muhammad or John?
John gets the job every time.

Stressed and defeated,
your **** is depleting,
It's the only thing that helps you to cope.

Alone on your PC,
Receiving a tweet,
Somebody sells you a dream,

Come live with us, where the fun never stops,
We praise Allah in our own way,

Over here we're the same, no more loneliness or decay, come and live with us in the Islamic State.

That's just the start,
the hate causes a spark
and soon it's a fire of revenge.

You can see why it works,
Loneliness hurts
and someone has offered to take it away,

After a while,
you lose your smile,
You're told about the wrongs of the "enemy"
Then you wage war,
barely even twenty-four,
and you've become a pawn in the game.

Religion just fuels it,
Twists and confuses it,
Gives you a REASON to hate,

If they don't look the same,
they must not be okay,
must be a danger to the ones I love,

A small minded view,
So it'll continue,
We'll keep fearing what we don't understand.

Religion isn't the problem,
in fact, I envy them,
The ones that believe they have found peace,

The problem is far deeper,
complex and confusing,
But religion is just the tip of the 'berg

Social structure,
immigration,
money in the wrong hands,
racism,
All these issues, and more

But let's point at the religion,
Not analyse the decision,
Of why the boy detonated his vest,

Twisted by hate, manipulated by fear,
But all we see is a beard.

The key won't turn in the lock
I've tried everything apart from knock
Twisted it, bit it, bent it, the lot!
The key won't turn in the godforsaken lock

Peaking through the windows; a scene fit for a king,
A spread as far as I can see and a pool for me to swim,
Life seems carefree in there, all void of awe and shock,
Unfortunately for me, the key won't turn in the lock.

Frantic now as my mood begins to change,
Left out in the cold like I am the one that is strange,
Why won't they let me in? Or do they intend to mock?
Don't they know my key won't turn in the lock?!

Twisting it with anger, faster and faster,
Can't remember life before this task became my master,
I want what is inside and what's in there is ad hoc,
The only thing stopping me is my key stuck in the lock.

We all have that vision, of a perfect house and home
We follow it so vigorously we end up sad and alone
If I was taught from infancy how to follow what is true,
I'd probably realise I have the wrong house,
and no longer bother you.