The politics of hatred
Are at play in our nation
A drama of conflict
Marching in, rolling out

Aggressors jeer drunkenly
Assailing integrity
Opponents lash out
Tottering, unbalanced

Our children are dragged
Deep into the fray
Positioned by gladiators
Engaged as arbiters

Small lives lie shaking
And torn asunder
Forced to take sides
In a war of monsters

We are pushed to believe
In a dichotomous world
A heaven and hell
A right and wrong

A world of extremes
Where people divide
A dog eat dog world
Where the dogs are raging

Rabid with rage at the love
That's denied them
Furious at loss
Of a life never lived

Incensed at the dreams
They birthed and destroyed
Withered and brittle
Encased in concrete

While one is left standing
Another's defeated
Crumpled and wheezing
Ribs shattered, skulls cracked

An ill gotten prize
Grows intolerable to bear
The chains weighing heavily
On the winners and losers

The instruments of power
Work ******* the people
Wearing away
At self belief

We are told to think thoughts
That the state has invented
Daily demands  
To expose our weakness

Crushing humanity
Beneath tabloid mountains
Hatred and jealousy
Abound in this time

In this age of quarrels
And vicious reprisals
The people stand desolate
With eyes red and bleary

Hands reach out trembling
With broken fingernails
Yearning for hope
That has slipped from the Earth