• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

Poetry If Aliens Land

The World Between the Words
If aliens land, what will they find?
Dare we tell the truth about human kind?
Do we mention the blood when soldiers die
or speak of the anguish when mothers cry?

If aliens land, who’ll represent:
an Ayatollah or President?
Not Christians, Hindus, Moslems or Jews,
their words and deeds would only confuse.

If aliens land we’ll be in shame
of all the deeds done in our name.
They’ll hear the screams of creatures in pain,
see babies starve in a world full of grain.

If aliens land don’t let them guess
about shanty towns and slums in a mess,
that so much wealth is reserved for a few
while others despair in systems askew.

If aliens land there’ll be regret.
Can we take the scorn we’re likely to get?
Could we bravely stand by all we defile?
Let’s hope and pray they don’t come for a while.
 

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • Sunnyside: A Man Without a Country
    I had good reason to believe Poland was “my” country; cashiers in Polish grocery stores would sp ...
  • Hooks
    It’s the word I keep encountering again and again when listening to interviews with agents and pub ...
  • Not an Ode to Howl
    I am privileged to belong to the Thursday Ladies of Letters, a writers’ group in Kota Kinabalu. It ...
  • Still Singing Those Songs
    I caught a sad news item concerning one of my music icons: Jimmy Cliff, who died at the age of 81… ...
  • Livers, and Maybe Gizzards Too
    American street food keeps getting re-invented: oysters, tripe soup, and chicken gizzards get replac ...
  • If Genres Were Dating
    Sci-fi’s office, its walls lined with the concept art of unbuilt cities. The Director watches Sci- ...
  • November – Brussels Sprouts
    For a long time, I thought Lancaster County didn’t have a rush hour. It turns out that before six, ...
What Goes Around
Comes Around!
Back
Top