Sinister shadows steal into our vista,
Like a murderer injecting poison where he had
kissed her,
The young and innocent are first to fall victim,
The disease spreads speedily through body and
limb.
Some shadows are seen as a pseudonym “
Socialism”.
Can be seen working hard in Westminster for
Nationalism.
Others creep into Universities and Colleges,
Some even into Infant and Junior Schools.
Just as black and as dangerous are those in
Local Party Political places,
They have strangely distorted faces,
Reciting the same words on different cases,
The Party is first, the people second, the Party is
first the people second.
The TUC too is bedevilled with these Maoists,
They incite and arouse with subversive activities;
Managements flounder and fall prey to the victor,
Enfeebled Governments pass no laws they help
the cause.
Slowly these shadows move in, closer and closer;
To disturb them, we do nothing at all.
When asked, what will you put in the place of
order?
They just say “ It will be lovely, lovely without
any order.”
These people stupid dangerous and perverse,
When the good order of things they want in
reverse,
They plan for nothing, we could soon have
nothing;
Incentive and ambition just words of the past.
Beware of these shadows among and about us,
Shout and cry out and make a terrible fuss.
If we don’t demonstrate our hate and aversion,
It will be our end, our own, horrible immersion.
(1976)