Age has withered us, the decayed dregs of a degenerate century br We look back through the cracked, soiled lens of history, br Post war boomers, liberty bodiced and cod liver oiled through infancy br Hippy geriatrics, always looking br Over our shoulders half expecting a bomb br br We have lived through Cold Wars, brinkmanship, Aids br And the insidious occupation by stealth of religious hate br br Towers and tyrants have toppled. Politicians continue to lie br Nothing, it seems, has changed in a hundred years br br During the silence br Two small boys play swordfights with wooden crosses br br A dignitary, preening her dress, is fiddling with her phone br A grandfather's chest groans with a rack of medals br Gnarled hands lean hard upon sticks br br An ice cream wobbles down a child's hand, sticky as blood.