Selfometer Poems

Free Our Children, From Materialism

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Oldfield, Brenda M

Oh must this world, mutate our children?
Into mere, cold-blooded cogs,
Entrapped, unceasingly, in mass materialism
Sensations blasted, without relief,
On that assembly-line, of greedy, consumerism

Oh feel! The rhythm of young bodies, whipped
Into a frenzied noise, frothing, oh so mindlessly,
By some pre-historic, ritualistic, mindset, unequipped,
So deprived, of emotional, and rational unity

Oh see! The hounding, the pestering,
The overwhelming onslaught, to accumulate
And absorb, innumerable facts, oh so exactly,
In a factory, forging this gluttony, oh so beastly,
To forever guzzle, umpteen objects and things

Oh hear! Laughter and play, this stress-shield,
Sadly replaced, by force-feeding, such dopey ‘stuff’,
Pummelling, like clockwork, oh so forbidding
What is this process, of evolution, oh so foreboding?
Immersed in anxiety, and ignorance, of children’s needs

Oh weep! For little hearts and heads, unduly divided
Thinking and feelings, oh so cruelly, separated
In some, empty reservoir, of mind, and bodily needs

Seek there and find, the crippling emotions
Engulfing, poor health, eating identities, oh, so mistaken
Skills of empathy, of self-expression, oh, so forsaken
Resonating, some autistic, robotic enslavement

Remnants, perhaps, of a primitive melee,
Regurgitating minds, oh so splintered:
The signals of emotions, oh so, misunderstood
The repertoire, of language, so like, dead wood
Thinking stretched, above and beyond, reason

Such is the Old, Brave New World, of children
Happiness? Cursed, by aged alchemy, so mind-altering
Knowledge? Doomed, to be greedy, and so controlling

A self-defeating, self-medicating armoury
Of acting before thinking, reducing this bedrock,
Of relating, of communication,
To self-derision, and social isolation

So borne, by the predatory tools, of mechanisation
Begetting, a fatigue, an exponential, subversion
Of bonding, biological, and social connections
Evoking that ugly, dichotomy of nature, and nurture

Can we not, feel?
The sleep deprivation, the chronic tiredness!
Or hear, the mighty mantra?
“Education teaches, money, status and stuff

Can we not, see?
The celebrity, idolisation, the media treadmill!
This maelstrom, smelling
Of vanity, and violence, guns and drugs

Can a child, dream?
Fat wallets, big appetites, and delusions of grandeur!
Or touch?
Dysgenic knives, to mortify imperfections, so facile

Can a child, swallow whole?
That wearisome baggage,
Of man’s obsessions, and possessions!
Oh how, can a child grasp?
These grinding wheels, of tragedies, and trivia!

For therein, lurk shadows, oh so indelible,
To the lives of children, deceived, oh so defrauded,
By a rampant betrayal, of the power of knowledge
Where learning, and respect, is lauded
As fame, pride and greed

Could this not be, a dire failure, to recede?
Our children’s fears, and vulnerabilities
Threatening, their sincerity, and kindness,
Humility, love and goodness

Oh yes, knowledge, may be the means, the way
To cultivate, children’s health, and happiness
Yet, this wisdom, seems hidden, like gold-dust,
Unseen, by so many eyes, oh so careless

Might the world not weep?
For this blindness, this state of affairs,
Our babies blinded, by tears of deception
Their senses, silenced, into submission

So burrowed, in societies, by too many adults,
Indulgent, authoritarian, indifferent
Substituting, a caring, loving, environment
For insecurity, instability, and unpredictability
Lacking support, acceptance, and involvement

So cried! This modern handmaiden, of feral selfishness,
Let’s stand up, shout on rooftops, for our children
Left mourning, the joys of childhood, oh, so silently
Left shouldering, this world, oh, so relentlessly,
With over-pulsating hearts, and troubled minds

Let’s empower, our children, responsibly!
Pinned, to human empathy! Oh, so tenderly!
Listen! Oh just listen!

Can we children, cry forever, over man’s mistakes?
Oh must we, must we be born, inherently wise?
To mans’ trials, and tribulations, addictions, and disputes
Miseries forbidding us, to feel and think, rest and play

Listen up! New shamans, you masters of the world,
All bodies! Begin and learn! Indeed, necessitated,
Early! In childhood, in memories, so deeply-rooted!

Yet, must we forever, forgive, love, respect those, who?
Ignorantly, or spitefully! Neglect, belittle, and distort,
What we remember! What we feel! What we do!
Must we be left! Unsung! Unseen! Unheard?

Oh, will we ever, be free, us children?
Given health, not wealth, rising forth
By an understanding, of our needs
Enriched by a sense, of belonging
Wanted, cared for, in compassion

Remember! Oh remember!
The parentage, of humanity
Remains forever, us children