Eye of the Needle

by Ira Lightman

Camels shouldn't vote for death.
They needn't die at Christmas.
On the 25th, Christ's birth
is the defeat of Adam's curse
which was death. The rich
make human life ridiculous
and cold on our visit to Bath.
We particularly notice,
much more than in the North
East, in Bath the homeless
are often drugged to the dearth
of possibility for solace.
The plump wattled rich
need perspective of Christmas
on eternity. The messiah's birth
ends any hiding in space.
He seeks us before time's up, earth-
swaddled, oak-boxed, in darkness,
hoping for elegy and Lethe.
None of camels, vote for fairness.
Or "in the midst of life" the death
without future is of the rich's peace.

The rich versus the people

by Ira Lightman

Some rich think they cleverly
simmer us sleepy -

cos we'd jump if it got too hot.
The leaders their media got

us try to sell off the NHS.
Mouthpiece and paymaster don't realise

we the oppressed are
brighter than we were;

more schooled, as the norm.
Our grandmas, our grandpas, began the reforms,

and we will get it all back -
at twice what in tax

the short-termists
think they've abolished.

Their militia
never

hold us back long. The people
surge; will.

Caravaggio, The taking of Christ, 1602

Turn the other cheek

by Ira Lightman

Jesus was not least
telling the powerful
receiving be merciful
to the slappers oppressed.

Watch the older brother
take the attack
and not hit "back"
the squeaking impatient younger.