Ought To, Need To

Ought to be more than mere feelings

Ought to feel more than an urge

Ought to serve something more than the self

Ought to resist, need to purge

Penchant for serving mere mammon

Proclivity for take and take more

Ought to give back, need to give in return

Need to even the score.

Ought to vest interest in many

Need to voice justice the same

Need to do something, we have to,

To be worthy of human

In name.

Ought to look to the future,

Need to see to the kids,

Ought to remember our parents,

Need to do what they did.

Need to consider the options,

Ought to speak out, ought to vote,

Need to acknowledge there’s much more at stake

Ought to know that by rote.

Need to relive the lies told

Ought to remember result,

Need to do more than shrug shoulders

Need to read up and consult.

Need to recollect rights here

Ought to reckon responsible too

Need to quit saying nothing changes

Ought to matter to you.

Ought to get on with the housework

Need to remember each task

Ought to and need to, quite different,

Must remember whenever I’m asked.

Need to go now and cook some,

Need to is my middle name,

Ought to is in there as well though,

I guess we’re something the same.

Human with plenty of options,

The ought to’s, the needs and the must,

In it together, we all are,

Need to go now and do what I trust.

Ought to be cleaning, I told you,

Ought to but I have a choice,

Need to’s a whole other matter,

Need to needs to be voiced.

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F#*k You Philosophy

The ‘fuck you’ philosophy,

With satin bow tied on,

Still rhymes with ‘get it up you’

In the selfish song.

A bauble or a tassel

Isn’t fooling anyone,

Fuck you philosophy,

Sin defined, most wrong.

Teenage Demands

(18-9-04)

Money on your phone every month – a camera phone.

Membership to a gym.

Dropped off and picked up at every turn.

Friends to stay.

The traffic flows

It’s all one way

You want we give

You don’t pay

With words or thoughts

Or kindly deeds

You take the lot

We’re on our knees

To try to provide

As best we can.

Our efforts stink

You seem to say

With each ungrateful

Gesture or word

Or messy room.

The dishes pile up in the sink.

The clothes lie dropped where you will

Then you cry like a baby for your wants and needs.

Where are my clean clothes?

There’s nothing to eat in here.

You’re miserable

You’re mean

You’re a nag.

You, on the other hand, are a pleasure

To live with.

Like Harry’s Kevin

You are loathsome when your teenage tantrums

Display the most selfish aspects of your character.

The teenage displays of me, me, me

Are a disappointment and a rebuke

To everything we try to do.

Go work and visit the real world.

In the real world no one does everything for you

Or gives you things for nothing just because you exist

We’ve gone beyond providing for need

Now you’re expecting us to provide for greed.