Poem: ‘The Selfish Gene’

Time for something a little different! As it is World Poetry Day (according to Twitter!), here’s a rough and ready poem of my own design!

The Selfish Gene

From the hip to the jaw, the cut goes deep,

The blood flows free, the future’s steep,

And steeped in lore this day will be,

The change is coming, so let it be.

Ancestors are sliced away,

History breaks in one display.

Strangers look at the ticking clock,

The horrific scene brings no shock.

The magician fakes a reassuring face,

A smile scorned by the battle’s trace.

All in a day’s work, another number,

To chop and change in unnatural slumber.

Sleep is thickened with empty dreams,

Fractures are settled with tiny beams.

Light returns, the eyes search for sight,

The devil’s taken its final plight.

Haunted since youth’s first flush,

By the father’s spirit, a genetic blush.

Mistakes were made, inherited dirt,

But justice was swift, vengeance curt.

The present’s sacrificed wholesale,

For an uncertain future, an unknown tale

And the past’s discarded, a misty mirage,

Danger’s placid, yet still at large.

Questions greet the waking mind,

Tangible roots are hard to find,

But splitting threads knit together,

To form memory’s lightest feather.

Congealed blood chokes the throat,

Misery strikes its highest note.

A bloated reflection greets the man,

But it’s all just part of the plan.

All for happiness, all for joy,

The future’s bright, pleasure’s coy,

It will shy away for a long while,

He can now join the rank and file.

By Graham Mather, 27.6.2011