Sunlight and Monsters

I can see a world. 
A green and blue marble
of clean seas
and emerald forests
and cities that sparkle in the sun 

Can you see it?
A world where you can live your best life
and no child is bombed or starved, but free to grow
free to wonder at the dinosaurs below 
and the twinkling stars above
free to explore with the sun on their face 
and the wind at their backs

Or are you trapped in a never-ending night
with a shadowy hulk 
sunning itself in its gas lamps
as it extends its tentacles
deep into every aspect of
our lives?

Don't imagine better, it whispers from the shadows,
tentacles gently strumming the deep dark web
to conjure fear as it wraps the world
in hatred and bigotry 
like a tasty scapegoat
drenched in tar

Whatever you want to hear, it will tell you.
Whoever you want to hurt, it will hurt gleefully
even as it tentacles reaches out for you
with eagerly questing suckers 

It's so hungry
hungry for what you have
hungry for what your neighbours have
your country has
this world has

A tentacle flicks by, so close now...

Stay quiet, 
I am the monster under the bed, and in the closet,
tighten your belt until your ribs show
and I might take you last, 
after I've blocked the sun 
strangled the trees
starved the children
murdered the innocent and the brave
and left you hollow and complicit

And still I see the light beyond the monster
the brave people waving flags to welcome the day
the world of plenty, that we could have, should have, would have
if we stopped feeding the monster

Can you see the sunlight?
Can you touch it?
Can you taste it?
Can you vote for it?
Can you walk for it?
Can you open your doors and demand your representatives stop feeding it, or letting it feed them?

I can see a world
free from the monster

A world of life and love and light
where everyone's needs are met
but it's slipping away
in a puddle of oil