on the bridge

The city’s rail terminal
A two-wheeled display unit
The size of a shopping trolley
Leaflets offering Free classes
As if anyone might charge
For lessons to read a book
That’s copyright lapsed
well before copyright was law
A book that Gutenberg stamped out
Again, again and again
Word for word
The Word made cash
Made lots of money
Still makes money
Even the Orange One
Cashed in on Truth
A blessing
For printers
As in the beginning
Tythes tied hands to the plough
To the potter’s wheel
The baker’s oven
The smithy’s anvil
The weaver’s cord
Only at the mercy of the sea
Might one freely roam
Or on the road
By the gifts of the kind-hearted
On the bridge
Jehovahs in pairs
Wait
For some miraculous intervention
Not a word
No nod of acknowledgement
To the passing citizenry
A smile might be welcome
To show the joy
Their creed has brought them
Or should that be ‘bought’?
Not for them loudspeaker
Not for them music
An insidious silence
Seeding suspicion of their purpose
Recruiting sergeants for a cult
That forked from a cult
That sprang from a cult
That was splintered from a cult

~

CLP 01/07/2024