Two Worlds
Parasols and gowns,
Wigs and frowns,
Cards and chateaus,
Feasting, hats and bows.
Open sewers and slums,
Armies and drums,
Tatters and rags,
Workhouses, gin and hags.
Two worlds that never touch;
That exist side by side.
Two peoples born apart;
One takes the other for a ride.
28.4.2019
I was watching a period drama and was struck by what wasn’t shown. It was all prim ladies in fine gowns, clutching lapdogs, shaded by parasols, wandering through extensive gardens, waited on hand and foot by obsequious servants. There were men in wigs and frock coats with lace and buckles, scowling and ordering, gambling and fornicating, fighting with swords and duelling, being driven in carriages.
Outside the gates the masses lived in squalor. The army was their only escape. There was poverty, open sewers. They were dressed in rags, lived short, disease-ridden lives, aged quickly and died in workhouses. The wealth they created through their long hours of back-breaking work was what bought the parasols.
The carriages waited. They both were taking each other for a ride in different ways.