Soldiers of Fortune

Like soldiers of fortune, they come from the East,
Their status encased in a Mercedes Beast.
And, little by little, they pick at the feast
As into the valley they dream,
Where the poor find it harder to scream.
Prospectors all, out in search of a strike
Being carried along on an energy spike,
You could say to a man they know what it’s like
To swirl in a poverty mist
And why the poor find it hard to resist.
They prospect for gold in the bile-bitter stones.
They rattle the windows and gnaw at the bones,
And, oh, how they flourish their cellular 'phones
In the mire where miseries seethe,
Where the poor find it harder to breathe.
I never have known whether blood is being spilt,
Whether all of their jewellery’s golden or gilt,
But I want no part of the empires built
On a patch with a permanent seep
And where the poor find it harder to sleep.
A call to the weak that so easy beguiles;
A twitch to enrich their malevolent smiles;
A careless display of their flamboyant styles;
Samaritans all pass you by
Where the poor find it easier to die.
Like soldiers of fortune, they come from the East,
Their status encased in a Mercedes Beast.
And, little by little, they pick at the feast
As into the valley they dream,
Where the poor find it harder to scream.