06 July 2025

The Terrorist

The Terrorist.

"Awake, awake", the watchman cried, "fire, fire",

 As out into the night he stared with anxious eyes.

 His colleague turned to him, bade "Hush!   

 "They sleep within; and haply dream of profit; and of love."



 "You scare me, friend, your talk of fire. If, waking now, 

 They heeded well your words, abandoned jobs,  

 Laid down their tools, and started for the hills, 

 We'd starve; with five billion hungry others.


"Let us plan ahead, devise a scheme to shrink twofold 

 In twenty years our number and our wealth; 

 Shrink our cars, our appetites, our needs and wants 

 In little steps, each step being made by choice."

                                                            Ian West, Banbury, July 2025

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