I Believe(d) You

I fail to understand, simply fail, what society, no me, will win if we insist,

Must everything be judged, documented, a place be given on a list,

Am I to watch? Or is it essential viewing? Who should I listen to?

So many voices, screaming, can’t you hear them? Who should I be listening to?

Voices, crying, calling out in black and white across the page,

“I’ve seen the light” I know the truth” “I understand, feed my rage”

“I saw the band, they are the future” “They’ll blow your mind, I promise you”

“We can shape the world, to my dreams if you’ll listen. I am the truth.”

So I watch, wait eagerly, for Fearne a sense of anticipation,

Then I ask where? And feel abashed when you call for patience.

“Stupendous” “Brilliant” “Memorising” “The Greatest Actress Alive”

I even read one review “Like being shot with a Magnum Forty Five”

Should I have watched them all, your words they draw me in,

Would I have left disappointed? Would you care about my opinion?

My thoughts, my views, I understand it’s only a limited critique,

Of a man lacking suitably, who has, who has to work for his meal each week,

You wrote, I read and disregarded, I know I never should have gone,

And I smiled, I know I shouldn’t, like the millions who were also wrong,

We laughed, we cried, and at the end we cheered, some even doubted you,

Were you happy, broken hearted, were you watching when you wrote your review?

In pubs across the land we read the papers and some regurgitate the thoughts,

Of views written down by hacks obsessed by their own self important words,

Who tell their readers, who tell their friends, who tell the world,

The one true view, your view, of Madonna or the next bond girl.

And they listen, they have no choice but to listen you stopped them thinking for themselves.

Too many voices, so many voices, many voices each promising to help,

How to vote, What to eat, what film to see, how to spend our hard earned wage.

But what happens if we believe, delegate decisions to words written on a page,

   What you write can influence say drugs are good and what is wrong with happy slapping?

We believe, we delegate and soon lose control of our actions.

You take control, we lose control and we never even realised,

And when we wake one winter morning what are we to do?

When we realise you forgot to tell us what to think.