6. TERRITORIALITY
(the laterinerved)
'The moment we care for anything deeply, the world - that is, all the other miscellaneous interests - becomes our enemy.' - G.K. Chesterton
Llandudno beach is soaked with crowds,
Pock-marked with huddles, peppered with somebodies:
Dominating space, groups bunch like clouds,
Units protective of the ties each embodies.
So family and true friends beautify the possessive
Reflex, and even, fearing strangers, the aggressive -
While the girl not defending her space is anybody's.
Who gains my trust I take in to my redoubt,
But I disown the abuser - like the defaulting borrower
And her sister, mocking me who bailed her out.
The bane of good neighbourliness is manifold: the drug-pusher,
The corrupt, the unruly, the thief, the parasitical,
The nit-picker, the gossip, the wife-stealer, the vandal
Of real roots and sympathies are the overthrower.
Trust and property are the markers of territory,
Making kin our kingdom, complete with a castle.
But trust must be honoured or property miscarry,
And the territorial imperative is no Band-Aid facile
For a stultifying home-life, workplace or nation,
Not marching towards human fulfilment and toleration,
Not fostering mutuality instead of the vassal.