ROADBLOCK

up on the downs
gears crunch and engines whir
the mechanical beasts do their worst
cutting an angry swathe
through the exposed earth
belching diesel
drowning out birdsong
weaving their caterpillar tyre tracks
over an ugly new landscape of rutted clay
pallid concrete pillars stand witness
awkward lonely and disembodied
among messy piles of gravel
waiting for their burden
as the moon comes up
the little yellow men in hardhats
climb into their trucks
and rumble slowly homewards down the approach road
meanwhile
far away
to the east and to the south
on another side of the world
a scorching sun rises over the parched earth
there are no mechanical beasts here
only ones that were once flesh and blood
now reduced to skeletons
picked clean among the thin yellow grass of the plains
mourned by thirsty tearful children with huge empty bellies
many thousands of miles north
a frozen landscape creaks
tiny cracks appear
foul-smelling gases leak out
steamy clouds form in the clear air
the little yellow men in hard hats return
to drip a treacly trail of asphalt across the violated landscape
soon they will be done
and the economists will conduct further cost-benefit analyses
according to the new official vampire methodology
written in blood
accountants will move their figures from column to column
councillors and politicians will shift the pieces on their chessboard
showroom owners will rub their hands with glee
motorists will pat the keys in their pockets
a child in ethiopiia will breathe its last breath
another crack will open up silently in the arctic permafrost
not in my back yard
but in his back yard
in her back yard
in everybody's bloody back yard
an injury to one
is an injury to all
we are not nay sayers
but ye sayers
respectful of sound science
contemptuous of those who know the cost of everything
and the value of nothing
so i say tell me
if not now then when?
if not here then where?
if not us then who?