Sunday, 10 April 2016

The Neighbour's Fence


He saw his neighbour
building a fence
and he said to him:
What are you doing?

They are on the way!
I'm building a fence
to keep them out . . .

Why
do you want
to keep them out?

Because I don't
want them here!

It's wrong
to build fences
he preached

and proclaimed,
all red
in the face, and

to his friends
he complained:
My neighbour's a fascist!

But strangely now
he's building fences himself.
He's fencing land

all over the place.
All thirteen roads
that lead to his border.

And he's telling other
neighbours
 they also need fences.

When the people
first came
he ordered a soldier

to open
the doors. Now he's
 figured a way

to begin
sending people
back to their wars.

His neighbour
the fascist
is watching . . .  amused.




11 comments:

  1. __Rains never fall upward. An accumulation of rain either seeps into the earth to aid growth, or it evaporates and condenses into more rain. The flood.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rain like political outpourings never falls upward.

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    2. The politician responsible has suddenly decamped from her post. A better job elsewhere, as she says. Gone to the provinces in the north. No problems to speak of. Left the genie behind.

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  2. I feel a sense of 'what goes around comes around' here Gwil.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well that's right. At the time the Hungarians built the fence against Serbia the Austrian leader labelled the Hungarian leader as described. But the clock ticked on and now there are fences going up all over the place and the same Austrian leader says it's OK that's because they are his fences or fences built at his behest.

      Delete
  3. The Macedonians are very poor people. They have already seen half their country taken over by Albanians. It is a very difficult situation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I wrote it I was thinking of the Austria and Hungary relationship between the time they found those 71 bodies in the freezer truck and the present time. I think they are starting work on the Brenner fence (the 13th) very soon.

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  4. Es nehany magyarsagara vandorolt az Egyesult Allamokban, miutan az elso vilaghaboru. Sajat forras.

    _m

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M, Sorry but I can only translate about half the words.

      Delete
    2. Always, failures are mine.
      __I am the result of Hungarian migrants to United States... before, during and after WW1.

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    3. Thanks Magyar. There's no such animal as a native Austrian. All, for practical purposes, are immigrants. Everyone I've met here comes either from the original from the Habsburg lands, that is to say the lands of the K und K Monarchie, or from other places mainly Germany and Turkey. Some of the K u. K lands, like Hungary still exist. Other names, Bohemia, Moravia, Transylvania and so on have vanished into the mists of time. Bohemia is now a lifestyle. Who speaks of Galicia these days? Any failures are not ours, they are outside "our sphere of influence" to coin a well-worn American phrase. We can only plod on.

      Delete

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