Flags

So many mushrooms
Competing for space
Sudden tree-vines and
Props for the race

Loud coloured, mass produced
Full moon and clear star
Fast rocket and bright eye
Weaving new hope from afar

Old scales of justice
Tilting left and right
Rows and rows and rows
They came in the night

Marking territories
So many things to say
Poles that cut through flesh
Reminders of dues to pay

Screens splitting tables
New walls grown in-between
Friends and neighbours leave
Wounds felt but not seen

As flowers fade and vanish
They go, quick as they came
We saw the victor clinch the wreath
We know the familiar name

The flags will disappear
But scars take their time
Not too long they'll return again
Five years down the line