The Importance of Small Things

I’m tired of the grand gestures.

The overblown bows in front of an invisible crowd

The forgettable pomp and unnecessary circumstance

The people-pleasing patinas on public faces.

I’m tired of political windbags blowing a gale

The Lèse-majesté torpor and the majestic mistakes

The talking up themselves

And the clown princes offering their ring.

I’m tired of the bank holidays

withdrawn when we’re defeated

the invitations to the palace

for people who already have keys.

I’m tired of the big affairs, the current divorces

The Sturm and the Drang

And the Oxbridge classical references that go klang.

I’m tired of the entitlement, ennoblement and grubby entertainment

The front page screws

The big government, the little government

And the grubby lairs of local government.

I’m tired of trying to stop an entire planet

reversing into a wall

The G8 elbow bumps, the smart road gyratory of nations

and the gestures that are just gesticulations.

I’m tired of owning a pandemic that is bigger than anyone else’s

The contagious 4×4 in the driveway

The rapidly spreading girth of the top half of the nation

The lack of an apology or an explanation.

I’m tired of knowing that our ills are so big

that no one person can own them.

So I stop trying to defibrillate the day’s events

And walk into the glades of the future

Where the small things are.

Roy Stannard 17^th July 2021

LIsten to a read version with music.

Link to Soundcloud audio: