In line with the myriad poetry competitions based on the 2012 Olympics, I have decided to pen my own ode to the forthcoming games. I ask that the reader take no offence to this work as it is merely a device to counteract the tide of insincere optimism that is churned out by the media ad nauseam. I wrote this poem in the style of The Odes by the ancient poet, Horace.
Enjoy:
For the Parnassus, 2012
A Capital Ode
The tax-supported pillars stand erect in the city,
Streamlined traffic flows to the cardium cynosure.
Amongst the exhausts of pedestrian critics, a spirit is heard:
'There, we are of the disenfranchised youth, glossed over by
Government.
The celebratons are top priority, nothing is given to us.'
It is not cynical to deride those jingoists,
Whose feigned joviality masks their missing identity.
The same is true of the cynics themselves,
who barely believe in their own lives.
Behind the commrecial facade, lies the same problematic city
That is tinkered with by the Elected.
And when the decorations are torn down at the end,
The citizens will be reminded of their emptiness.
So, the pretence of victory and of showering both victor and victrix ludorum with golden praise, will be in vain.
The victory of unity has yet to be attained.
As a nation connects itself to a legacy
What is to be said of its own native history?
Integrity is not measured in revenue.
But to what lengths will a nation plunge to soar from its debts?
These coming games will reveal
Will commerce overtake the sincere?
I fear the race has already been run.
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