Amy Gerrard - And We Watch

I turned on my TV and saw the news today
It was the usual headlines, conspiracy, death,
And urban decay.
A tragedy struck in some far away Bay,
And people drowned and died a terrible way.
The war in Iraq went on and on,
Where some faceless soldier got blown apart
By a landmine or a bomb.
And the stories, so depressing, drifted on, drifted on….
And we do nothing. We just watch.


A student shot his University friends dead,
Twelve people dead mainly shot through the head.
The final act was death by his own, young hand,
Cheating justice, the law, no verdict now stands.
And I saw the bodies carried out in black, plain plastic.
But we’ve seen it so often; it has happened all before
Where twenty people died – perhaps – maybe more.
And now we sit and drink some tea, it matters little
Everyone would agree.
Desensitised by media overkill, it’s all so very much,
And all we do is nothing. We just watch.


I turned on my TV and saw the news today
It was the usual headlines, conspiracy, death,
And urban decay.
Someone had a cancer filled lung
The doctors said he hadn’t got long
And I watched the old man panting,
As he fought gratefully for some breath,
And there we sat all watching,
Awaiting the inevitability of his death.
And still we all do nothing. We just watch.

Amy Gerrard

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/and-we-watch/