Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Australian billionaires

 


It is a triumph

of free enterprise, surely,

that in 2024 our country is

lucky to have 159 billionaires

with a total wealth of $503 billion.

 

Australians all, let us rejoice:

 

The desperate-to-play soccer

seven-year old whose parents

cannot afford

soccer club fees;

the old woman who may as well

live in a shoe, cramping in the cold

of her car, her home – her rent now paid

in rego fees and petrol prices;

the farmer who wants a life

and cannot even think about

those who will have to scrape his

body parts from the tree into which

he so desperately drives;

those whose hopes and dreams

are sacrificed in dozens of types

of gambling; the tjilpi drawing circles

in the dust with his toes, while the mining

company rips at the treasures beneath his feet.

 

And I haven’t even

scratched the surface yet

of the hurt and despair…

 

But there are 159 billionaires

Who make us what we are

 

“Young and free”

 

The rich man in his castle

The poor man at his gate

There’s no greater love

Than feeling class hate.

 

23 April 2024


No comments: