Fear

Fear straddles this fair world of ours,
imagination playing the strangest tricks
on those alone in the silence of the night.
Shadows cast by candlelight on walls
to a child are giants, monsters, ogres.
Nightmares follow.
Rain pattering on the window pane
or wind howling through the trees outside
sound in the darkness like burglars on the prowl.


Fear creeps through the heart of London
overtaking those on daily, tedious journeys to work
by bus or train or underground.
Suspicious glances fall on fellow-travellers.
There are evil traitors in our midst, leaving
innocent victims.
Memories float before our eyes,
a bus torn apart, bodies buried underground.
Dark forces stain this fair land of ours.

Fear visits the elderly in their homes,
a knock on the door, the horror of forced entry,
the crazed druggie desperate for a fix.
Conmen, cloaking their inner intent in smooth talk,
are ready to kill if thwarted in their evil plans.
Unspeakable brutality!
These villains cause their victims indescribable terror
and a horrible death for daring to resist.
The advice given is not to have a go.

Fear accompanies us in our daily life,
our children at the mercy of violent sex offenders
or evil predators, often young themselves.
We must be vigilant but still may fail to protect
those under our care who are vulnerable -
our little children.
How can we prevent the crazed gunman from entering schools
and leaving so much blood and pain and grief behind,
or the kidnap of a child by another so evil, yet so young?

Fear emanates from acts of violence and terror.
The passenger who dares to criticise a lout
pays dearly with his life.
A good young man whose life was full of promise
lies dead - the victim of a hate-filled gang.
Tension mounts.
What can we, the silent masses, do?
The advice we’re given is not to have a go.
The time will surely come when we shall say ‘enough’s enough.’


To live our lives in safety and peace
is a right we need to re-establish.
Perhaps those who commit such heinous crimes
should be forced to pay a higher price,
and even face the penalty of death:
punishment for traitors.
They have forfeited the rights they so readily claim.
Let’s remind them they had responsibilities, too.
And what about the rights their victims had?

Perhaps the time will soon return
when the beauty and harmony of our world
will be restored.
Beware, however, for you, the victim,
can so easily become the criminal
by taking the law into your own hands.