Reluctant Voters

So terribly busy, they can’t find the time

So much to do as they sit and they whine

The feckless, the witless, the idle, the bloated

Bragging about how they never voted

Meanwhile in a distant land

Desperate voters take their stand

Walking miles at break of day

Just for once to have their say

Not minding if they’re forced to queue

That’s the process you must go through

Women get roughed up by a thug

Responding with a subdued shrug

Hoping that this one’s for real

And the outcome isn’t already sealed

An opportunity at last to use your voice

The slender chance to make a choice

Meanwhile the apathetic must stay mute

They’re all the same, men in suits

Let’s hope you never have to pay 

The price for turning the other way

Or ever have to stand and fight

Or disappear in the dead of night

No time to argue, no space to resist

Or reclaim the chances, already missed

Then sit wondering how it all got skewed

And democracy led to servitude

Take a warning and don’t lose sight

Certain ideologies sleep very light