Leacock's Lament - A Glossa




This was the cry of little Jane
In bed she moaning lay,
Delirious with Stomach Pain
That would not go away

Oh! Mr. Malthus! The Hickonomics of Hearth and Heart, Stephen Leacock

In that great depression
Way back then
When men were regulated by their greed alone
When wars were fought for ego
And sustained
By madness
Some day, some day things will change
This was the cry of little Jane

A childish regression
Lack of food
Made her hungry for the good - Blind to all the rest
Her world drowning in excess
Still she starved
Cold kindness
That she couldn't tell the night from day
In bed she moaning lay

Planned for her succession
Toys to friends
Foolish amends and unneeded apologies
Thankfully complete in time
Her mind left
Her heedless
Of the need for market gain
Delirious with stomach pain

Divine intercession
Took her pain
Made something useful of it in a memory
A poem for others - She
Now equal
Now lifeless
She was free to go - But famine stayed
That would not go away

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