To an Unborn Pauper Child (2012 Version)

Inspired by the work of Thomas Hardy and the welfare benefit policies of  Ian Duncan Smith and David Cameron


Breathe not, new child: abortion's free,
And though thy mother hath desire of thee,
Die in the womb,
Eternal  tomb,
For taxpayers are told that here,
Your cost should fill us all with fear.

Hark, how the peoples in despair,
Believe help for you is  just unfair;
In stone 'tis writ,
The deficit.
We'll  only save the world from endless strife
By bringing to an end your future life.

Had you the chance to hear this 'plaint forlorn,
Before you're from the  womb abruptly torn,
And 'twere your choice,
To have YOUR voice,
Then would I tell thee, 'Do not fret',
Your death will simply pay OUR debt!'

Vain hope! No word of mine may hence
To theeward fly: of this NONsense.
Explain none can
The Tory plan:
'Two babies only is it fit,
To hand out public benefit.'

Fain would I, child, admit  to you our shame,
That on your sacred head we now pour blame.
Your birth, your fate,
If soon, if late,
May serve to make our world a better place
And might eternally bless the human race.

But cold, unreasoning, such are we,
Brutal, cruel and mercenary,
Mankind should grieve
None will conceive,
That in indecent haste to cut our 'waste',
That humankind will ever be debased.

Girls who face death for wanting education

Lines on the shooting in the head of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai and the threats to the life of Hina Khan because of their support for girls' education

 When God took mud from the primaeval swamp
 And fashioned Man in blood-red clay
 He said, "Go forth explore thy world,
 Seek knowledge, learn and follow in my way."

 He did not make Man's partner, lonely Eve,
 To tread the path in blindness and in woe,
 Nor hold her solely guilty for the timeless crime
 For which he sternly bade them both to "Go!"

 Had Miriam not saved her brother's life,
 And sent him floating in the reedy Nile,
 Their people would have lost the Promised Land,
 And stayed forever slaves of Egypt's guile.

 And parched her people would have died
 Drought-choked in barren desert thirst,
 Had she not perished in that sterile place
 From which the pregnant waters grieving burst.

 Without Bathsheba, Solomon the wise,
 Forever would have stayed unknown, unborn,
 Without Delilah's wiles, would Samson have
 Remained unbroken with his locks unshorn.

 Proud Esther saved her people from a mortal fate,
 When drunken, vile Ahasuerus was king,
 Her wit, her skill and keen sagacity
 Made her his queen and capped his lethal sting.

 So why does Ignorance with fetid breath
 Now crush such women 'neath his clumsy feet?
 The Prophet's children fear that women know
 No more about the world than men think meet?

 Malala, Hina keep your courage strong,
 Stand up against the blind, misguided throng.
 For education is no thing to fear or dread,
 Your sacrifice will right a godless wrong.