Savagery and Civilisation

by Jeremy Gadd

As depravity was celebrated and feted 
the ravine between savagery and civility
widened and became a chasm,
a gulf no dove could span.
Cultures clashed and all the lies 
and false promises were revealed.  
Where once there was unity, 
now there is no community, 
only mutual suspicion, loathing and fear.
The golden calf of ‘cultural pluralism’
has been shown to be a chimera,
based-led neo-tribalism beneath a thin coating 
of glittering gilt and, as hands hover over sword hilts,
the silent majority’s silence is indicative of its guilt.