A tower on fire as lives expire
Needlessly lost and burned
And the powers that be, chant endlessly
That lessons have to been learned

Systemic discrimination of half the nation
An outraged public spurned
Still what comes out from their collective spout
Is lessons have to be learned

Fatal decisions from top positions
A salary never honestly earned
Still the thing we hear buzzing in our ear
Is lessons still have to be learned

Planet in crisis as we roll the dice
Is there time for it to be overturned
Or an eerie cry across a toxic sky
Of lessons should have been learned

The warning signs and the anodyne
True feeling and meaning adjourned
Hiding behind, the empty line
Of lessons still need to be learned.

Kate Rigby writes mainly gritty or retro novels, but also non-fiction, short stories and poetry. 21st-century Poetry is edited by Andy Croft, email [email protected].