Poetry to Inspire Change – III

A poem by Malcolm Bacchus, inspired by and written for the First AuditFutures Assembly. With thanks to W. S. Gilbert, to the music, quite unsurprisingly, of Sir Arthur Sullivan.

I was lucky enough to be at the first AuditFutures assembly and hear Malcolm give an impromptu performance of this poem. A very special moment and thank you Malcolm for sharing with our community.

I’ve Got a Little List

As these days it has happened and a victim must be found,
I’ve got a little list, I’ve got a little list,
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed. They never would be missed.

All those who claim to understand what is IFRS,
Those who turned accounting sense into accounting mess;
There are those who do discounting as if it’s meaningful,
But can’t remember how to do the sums they learnt at school,
And that academic oddity, the accounting specialist –
I’m sure they’d not be missed, they’d none of them be missed.

And Such-and-Such and so and so with BSB and Sky;
The tabloid journalist – I know he’d not be missed.
Regulators who can’t regulate but think they ought to try.
They’d none of them be missed, they’d none of them be missed.

And then there’s those who run the banks and muddle with LIBOR
The ones who sold expensive loans but only to the poor.
The one who thinks he’s really worth his million dollar pay
But lending to small companies isn’t something for today.
They drive off in Ferraris and on champagne get pissed –
Let’m go to their tax havens for they never would be missed.

 The party politicians who have caused this awful mess
– and the Government specialist. I’ve got him on the list!
They don’t understand the people and they really don’t care less.
They never would be missed, they never would be missed.

Chancellors who do u-turns and MPs who are such bores –
Whose legislation’s failed us but still think we need more laws.
The one who works behind the scenes but says he never speaks
You know the people who I mean – they’re shamed on Wiki-leaks.
It seems that there are endless names to put upon the list
But it really doesn’t matter – for they’d none of them be missed.

 A poem by Malcolm Bacchus. With thanks to W. S. Gilbert, to the music, quite unsurprisingly, of Sir Arthur Sullivan. © Malcolm Bacchus July 2013

For all you lovers or poetry and nature please save the 20th June for our next Steps Towards Sustainability. Once more we will be escaping London city life with James Payne leading us on an adventure through beautiful countryside before stopping for a delicious pub lunch where Olivia Sprinkel will take us on an exploration through the Poetry of Change. More details to come nearer the time.

I – Poetry of Change by Olivia Sprinkel

II – Oh Man by Edwin Mars

If you have a poem, piece of writing, song or anything you have written, drawn or created that inspires you and others to change that you would like to share with our community then we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch with Louisa at louisa.harris@6-heads.com