In Khaki with Black Sticks
how it irks me to see
policemen and women
like peacocks, like peahens
in their khaki, in their stripes,
as proud as could be
with their promotions
and their pay increases
happy to gobble these up
with little or no concern about
the milieu we are subjected to
by people breaking laws with impunity
especially persons
constantly disturbing the peace
without a word or gesture of dissent
from the police
instead they get off
and even before getting out of uniform
they themselves add to the din
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
9:46 p.m. 26/may/07
how it irks me to see
policemen and women
like peacocks, like peahens
in their khaki, in their stripes,
as proud as could be
with their promotions
and their pay increases
happy to gobble these up
with little or no concern about
the milieu we are subjected to
by people breaking laws with impunity
especially persons
constantly disturbing the peace
without a word or gesture of dissent
from the police
instead they get off
and even before getting out of uniform
they themselves add to the din
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
9:46 p.m. 26/may/07
posted by Obie Quiet at 10:53 PM
4 Comments:
Clever play on fashion....DVH
You know for some reason..
I am taken to think of Rudyard's Kipling's poem "Gunga Din"
...
In 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land....some of it goes like this....
"Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
Of all them black-faced crew 10
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din....
The uniform 'e wore
Was nothin' much before,
An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind,
For a piece o' twisty rag
An' a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment 'e could find...
When the sweatin' troop-train lay
In a sidin' through the day,
Where the 'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl,
ect..ect..
..Till our throats were bricky-dry,
Then we wopped 'im 'cause 'e couldn't serve us all.
It was "Din! Din! Din!
It was "Din! Din! Din!
.... Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"
...Nice little ditty, don't you think?..DVH
Dawn, your mind like mine, has to be so very fluid to make and to see such hair-trigger connections.
Interesting isn't it, that reading and writing the poem are shadow exercises. What a marvelous discovery - what a deliciously rich discovery.
Thanks for Kipling's poem. I do need to appreciate him more. How wonderful as well to have such a vast vast world to drawn on as writer and as reader.
Often people seem to think that author must be wise and readers can be or could remain fools or foolish.
Process though is richest when reader and writer as equals meet to grow each other.
Bless you bless you bless you.
To bed to bed, I could not sleep tonight etc. etc.
jus an aside..
bhisti
A water carrier, as to a household or a regiment. [India]
I guess like Kotma (court messenger) in Achebe's
"Things fall appart"
Yes, I do love Kipling very much too..I love them all..
DVH
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