Heroes are people we know nothing about
I should know, I’ve followed a few in my time
Heroes are substitutes for I’m not quite sure what
And we follow them without reason or rhyme.

The usual suspects have been up on my wall
John Lennon, and Lenin and Mao
Up on the pedestal was Marley of course
With Karl Marx as the sacred old cow.

Malcolm X was a beacon for many a young man
And the women were attracted to him too
And Bob Dylan is still elevated to god like status
Though what he stands for I still haven’t a clue.

Brave women have made it to the podium as well
With Rosa Luxembourg way up in the stars
But before her was the wonderfully defiant Emily Pankhurst
Who fought both sides of those cruel iron bars.

Now many women are up in the vanguard
There’s Naomi and Ayaan and Arundhati
The lucidity and force of their radical arguments
Reduces their reactionary opponents to putty.

Colour is no impediment to hero status these days
Mandela, King and Ghandi can testify to this
And who could forget the indefatigable Angela Davis
Though the establishment continue to hiss.

Each country produces its own heroes
Though they have enemies and detractors aplenty
In one land a man maybe be hailed a hero
In another he has a terrorist identity.

Sports stars and celebrities form the latest batch of heroes
Beckham, Madonna and Lady Gaga come to mind
They are brilliant at exploiting the marketing system
Though their enduring talent is often difficult to find.

Footballers are now our most common heroes
Kissing their shirts every time they are called on to play
Beseeching god to bless their every effort
As if He had nothing better to do with his day.

These days common soldiers are hailed as heroes
‘Help for Heroes’ say the words on the banner
But there’s an argument to say they’re just mercenaries
Destroying nations by every conceivable manner.

There are plenty of discredited and fallen heroes these days
Tiger Woods, Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris
The papers are littered with their crimes and misdemeanours
From London, from New York and from Paris

Scientists occasionally are voted as heroes
There’s Steven Hawkin and Richard Dawkins for a start
Though we invariably can’t follow their intricate science
Their pronouncements seem to give us much heart.

Religions have had their fair share of heroes
Buddha and Jesus and Mohammed to name but a few
But unbeknown to these early social campaigners
It’s only hatred that their modern devotees now view

Some people still regard royalty as heroes
Though to me they’re just a heredity parasite
They live life in a comfortable tax-payers funded bubble
Without a single care for the working man’s plight.

Then there are what we call the anti-heroes
Their notoriety is known across the globe
Russell Brand is infamous for his once sordid lifestyle
Now it’s sordid capitalism he seeks to disrobe.

In the bygone age before TV and the Internet
It was playwrights and poets that got the fame
Now our heroes seem a little more ephemeral
Any transient pop star can now carry the flame.

I must confess to still having my heroes
Though these days they’re slightly more cerebral in feel
Mike Leigh and Mantel and Linton Kwesi Johnson
These thoughtful artists seem to be the real deal.

But what is this obsession with heroes?
That we seem to be unable to shake
What is this need to create heroes?
When behind the glamour it’s all rather fake.
Of course we’re all trying to find sense in the world
A unified ideology is what we’re all seeking to make
Whether religious or secular or atheist
Our need for heroes seems impossible to break.

I’ve decided that my next New Year resolution
Is to banish heroes from every thought in my brain
And I know just the person to help me achieve this
A person at the very top of their game
This person is destined to become my next hero
A person without blemish or stain
And as I herald the dawn of a new era
My entire thesis is slip-sliding down the drain.