MANDELA

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he opposed apartheid?

So what?

He wasn’t alone in that

That doesn’t make him great

That would make half the world great

         

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he led the ANC’s military wing?

So what?

Not really the stuff of greatness

Just another bloody terrorist

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it his twenty-seven years in jail?

So what?

Murder and rape will achieve that

That doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Was it that he symbolized the struggle?

A beacon against apartheid

So what?

That doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man?

Is it that he’s a nice silver haired old man?

With a warm affable smile

So what?

That could be my granddad

 

What makes him a great man?

Was it that he was the first black president?

Of a free South Africa

Very historic

But that alone doesn’t make him great

 

What makes Mandela a great man

Is his humility

His humanity

He could have spoken in vengeance

Yet he spoke of reconciliation

He could have evened the score

Balanced the books

For black South Africa

He could have unleashed

A black tide of death and destruction

Upon the white minority

Pay back

But he did not

Instead, he spoke forgiveness

He could have been a Mugabe

And never relinquished power

But chose to serve only one term

Then handed on the baton

His work was done

His greatness set in stone

WENCH HUNT

 

A certain healthy horny fellow

With his wild oats to sow

Will seek a field that’s fallow

With a mind to plough the furrow

WHAT CAN I GIVE UP?

 

For lent you have to give up

Something that you enjoy

Well, that gave me a lot more choices

When I was but a boy

Now it’s not quite so easy

I don’t enjoy too much at my age

So, I will have to give up being cantankerous

Or just give up road rage

SANDALS IN THE BIN - THE BALLAD OF MOTHER THERESA

Goodbye Mother T

Though I never knew you at all

You had the grace to hold yourself

While those around you crawled

They crawled out of their poverty

And they gathered again and again

God set you on the treadmill

And he made you change your name

 

And it’s been told to me that since you died

They put your sandals in the bin

But having them to cling to

When the pain set in.

I would have liked to have sold them

For just a few quid.

But your Sandals were thrown out long before

We even got a bid

21st CENTURY NURSERY RHYMES # 23

 

One, two, three, four, five.

Once I caught a fish alive,

But what we couldn’t see

The fish was full of Mercury

HAPPY BIRTHDAY # 19

 

Don’t worry about your age

You may look old and crappy

But you still deserve to have

A birthday that’s happy

FRIENDSHIP # 4

 

Dearest friend

You know the song in my heart

And when I am low

And I have forgotten the words

You sing it back to me

Thank you for being my friend