THE BEAUTIFUL NOW 

graffiti 3

We invented a country to escape our own, 
to show how serious we were 
about being different and changing the world. 

Our will to survive in the present meant 
we squatted the future and lived in the past 
as music fuelled us to action. 

We sang songs in graffiti, rapped in the street, 
and all worked together for change. 
Emptiness could be filled, minds transformed 

through dreams and desire, communal dance, 
by ignoring the real, whatever that meant. 
Who had the right to say we were poor? 

Or dirty, unwanted or other? The world 
was ours and then it slipped away 
as money caught up and developers 

moved in and took violent possession. 
We cut our hair and swore at power, 
co-opted rebellion and technology, 

became invisible until needed 
spoke out only when it was required: 
an alternative nation now underground, 

waiting for rebirth. Rise up people, 
we’ve got to be willing to lose it, 
there is not long left to make it happen. 

Society tried to put out the fire but failed. 
Join hands as the dark descends 
and remember what love felt like 

before we smiled by numbers. 
Destiny is an undying breed of anarchy 
entwined deep in the beautiful now. 

© Rupert M Loydell 

 


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