Momus Becoming You
You promised us a system worth believing in
Where we could flourish in the sun
A world we could move freely through
And raise our children in
Where justice raised a sword for everyone
And then we started noticing the way you got things done
The lobbying, corruption and the pain
With faltering enthusiasm we still stumbled on
Through the rain
We studied to get good at something
Flourished, took a bow
Won some paltry colours on the way
Cut some corners, told some lies
Blew up some holy cows
But we were never holier than they
The closer that we got to you
The filthier we felt
Contracting your corruption by the hour
So much for the glory, so much for high ideals
We became the filthy functionaries of power
It's not as if we really fancied dying in the cause
You never offered things worth dying for
In comfortable humiliation still we stumbled on
Hoping to get through
Without becoming you
Never tell me pragmatism is a dirty word
You know it puts the bacon on the plate
You've seen the losers falling one by one away
As their dreams of adequacy fade
And the closer that we got to you
Through all the time we gave
Enacting your corruption by the hour
Added up to nothing, at the end of every day
But an urgent need to take an endless shower
And time is running out for all the things we planned to do
To make this world a better place
And so we stumble on, it's what we've grown accustomed to
Becoming you
Becoming you
