BUILDING THE NATION

The plundering spades

Our leaders wield to shovel us dry

Leaves gullied holes in our purse

And an undying scar in our bled economy

Today, you come again to ask a ransom

From our broken arms

You ask us to provide you with a new toy

For the sit-and-talk job you laboriously manage

—we would be dead without you to sieve us dry, you know.

I remember when, like a thief

You came begging as for alms, for mercy

That we give you the chance to right the wrongs

Your ancestors plagued us with,

Our other option a shade worse than you.

You talk of an elaborate rescue

For homeless us, roaming a blessed nation,

Yet all you rescue is our gold

To jingle in your purse.

You have come again, each of you

To make our wounds fester with debt bonds

You scrub our naked pains with Vinegar

And wait in askance for who dares scare you

In your tedious efforts of Nation Building.