Grenfell Tower…the fragments
1.
Numbed silenced too many of us the way we have no voice we have
this untwinned tower pointing like a finger at God
get the fuck down here will you ?
This sacrifice is for real
All of humanity not Kensington and Chelsea
not the polite entrenchment of privelege
but our right to be alive and safe
anywhere in the world to have a human life
the life we came here to be or else
Nothing is sacred nothing is true
immune to fake news
and that is the firestorm in our throats hearts minds
the One Big Lie
2.
Grenfell, you will not let them lie
what they are is what they do
nothing more or less
our humanity is on the line
in these cities of the red night blazing
Revelation has come and the Romans
are confronted with migrant unreason
in the name of a world they will not allow
because they can’t control it—one world
we must fight for now as it was made to be
or else we have
3.
The Roman candle burns all night
ash fragments fill the air our flesh unfelt
your skin denounced the prophet rises
in flame and says Enough !
In the Name of in all the names of
all the dead and dying—enough
Look what we can do together
look what we can do for each other
(liberated from this schizoid silence)
look at what love can do
it’s all we’re here to do
in Babylon where the tower is Babel
confused by untruth a symbol
that will not go away never, never, never
until we have care for all we have
a man trapped at the 19th floor we have
the nameless dead dishonoured by every war
wall, wailing wall of handwritten cries we have
murderers, psychotic drivers in the Name of
the Nothing we have when we have
crossed the line
and what is coming is Fire
4.
Believe me believe yourself your soul
the Burning Man is what we have
not your ego you have
nothing until you have
your divine right to be human that has been stolen
by the elite in a crime that is
pissing in the face of God for which
you will have FIRE
We are out of order
we are the true order
the anarchy that says ENOUGH
we are the burning tribe of love
a calcined monument to what must die
in the dark before the dawn can come
thy will be done
5.
The cladding the catalyst a red herring
until thy will be done
Londinium is burning and the emperor’s new clothes
are flaking down from the sky in tatters
and the firefighters are angels their wings folded tight
and every man woman & child in that building
is the sacrifice
and what they gave their lives for
is the Burning Book the burning question
an eyesore exclamation ! that IS until we have
transformation
a Naked New Day
so light this candle now and pray
this tower of flame pray this day
IS NEVER WASTED
And all that belongs to fire
shall be with us
the dross of disconnection crossing the midnight
where the bell is tied
where the birdsong and the bettering
and the wormwood that is the levelling
is the judgement
IS GOLD
Jay Ramsay
August 19th 2017
Illustration: Claire Palmer