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                 Joke's 
                  finally over, let's look to the future 
                There're 
                  battles to be fought and rights to be won 
                 
                  Or did you think that yesterday's heroes 
                Left 
                  a comfortable world where the work's all been done? 
                 
                   
                    
                 
                  This half-life is the only half you've got 
                So 
                  make certain you don't sell yourselves off cheap 
                A 
                  whole life's much more expensive 
                And 
                  you've got to start sowing before you can reap 
                 
                   
                    
                Another 
                  suffragette'll have suffered in vain 
                If 
                  no-one picks up where she left off 
                Don't 
                  expect people to stand up and applaud 
                Reactionaries'll 
                  condemn, complain and scoff 
                 
                   
                    
                So, 
                  will you skulk about living your half-life 
                Or 
                  are you half a person enough 
                To 
                  show them your new clear brilliance 
                Evoking 
                  memories of an old revolutionary's stuff? 
                 
                   
                    
                 
                  They're your cudgels now, it's your time on the frontline 
                You're 
                  being called to account so make us all proud 
                 
                  We're the past, you're the present, so shout to the future 
                Let 
                  the world hear your message... Say it out loud! 
                 
                   
                    
                © 
                  Stefan Lewis-Fish 
                  (31 August 1999) 
                 
                   
                   
              
            
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