Bread and Circus

State your place and
When appropriate, your purpose
But keep me in your pull of dazzle
Bestow me bread and circus
I’ll stand in roped and gated queue
Camera fingers to my hand
I’m the centre of the universe where
we come to see and come to stand
We wait in line for lights to shine
Rosing for the camera
While lights go out across the realm
On Saturdays we’ll go to Hampshire
And through the week I’ll go my places
I’ll cruise about my business
I’ll tag myself each place I go
But I won’t bear witness
I’ll spend my pounds on liquid fancy
I’ll story novel purchase
My escapades live in the cloud
My bank of bread and circus
I’ll ride the winds of progress
Put coal in AI’s furnace
I’m leading edge into the future
I know not the god I service
Though the wars they multiply and
Blood boils beneath the surface
I raise my glass and bellow a toast
Good health and bread and circus.