Relief Brief

(on G8 agreement to cancel the debt of 18 nations, June 2005)

In larding largesse on the landless poor,
The worldwide wanker bankers write off debt,
But for this token trinket exact more,
Ensuring that the benefits offset.

Now hold they out this carrot stick to goad
Another group of nations to the fold,
Enticing them to walk a stricken road
By which their natural resources are sold.

For peanuts on the dollar, they must cede
God-given rights and every watering hole,
Wholesale welcome of an exploiter's creed,
Surrendering to corporate control.

Widening their entrance for a hollow horse,
The Trojans learned to rue their city's rift,
So watch the IMF and World Bank course:
Counterfeit love of a conditional gift.

June 2005