What Can I Do To Help

Thinking of the various meanings of the word 'mean' and working as a community worker in a Brexit-Britain, this is what came to mind:

What Can I Do To Help?

Why are you mean?

What makes it seem

Like the right thing to do

Are you only thinking of you?

Why are you mean

What does it mean

When it seems you don't care

Enough to share

Why are you mean?

Now meaning is lost

And understanding past

Selfishness and greed

Set in and outlast

And people in need

Are the ones to ask

What can I do to help?

What can I do to help?

In the flotsam and jetsam

I'm the seaweed and kelp

I float in a commune

I am helped when I help

People with the least

Will share their last crust

They know what it's like

When needs must

They know how to rely

On their fellow man

And when someone's in need

They do what they can

But sometimes desperation

Seeps up from below

And the powerful forget

Or pretend not to know

And feather their beds

And build up their walls

Razor-wire their loved ones

And bubble-wrap their falls

And the fear of loss

Overcomes the will

And the ultimate cost

Is not in the till

So we go from baby

To child to teen

And arriving at adult

We are suddenly mean

Just wanting to keep

Our fears hidden deep

In the power we feel

In control of the keel

Of our seafaring boat

While others can't float

We let the sun cast our eyes

To brighter blue skies

While fishing for castaways

And gutting their lives

In the flotsam and jetsam

I'm the seaweed and kelp

I float in a commune

I am helped when I help

Why are you mean?

What makes it seem

Like the right thing to do

Are you only thinking of you?

What can I do to help?

What can I do to help?

Why am I mean?

What makes it seem

Like the right thing to do

Why don't I think of you?

Why am I mean?

What does it mean

When it seems I don't care

Enough to share

Why am I mean? 

What can I do to help?