The Ice Age, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age,

Have all contributed to the development of man,

But it is still less than six thousand years,

When civilisation as we know it first began.

Up to that time man had hunted, and collected herbs and berries,

What they had to eat really was quite bland,

Then someone realised they could have a better diet,

If only they were prepared to till the land.

They began to live together in small communities,

To live together for the common good,

They worked together to grow crops and feed animals,

Building houses to live in from wattle and of mud.

The first cities were built in Mesopotamia,

About five or six thousand years ago,

On the fertile land between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates,

A very good place for their crops to grow.

Every city had its own market place,

Where the harvest of the fields could be sold,

The wealth provided allowed them to develop other skills,

Records were kept so we know how people lived in days of old.

Another group of cities were built in the country now known as Pakistan,

By those who farmed on the hills of the valley where the River Indus flows,

Their cities were built to a more orderly pattern,

Laid out with a system of connecting roads.

And so it was that man started to live together,

In walled cities that helped them overcome their fears,

This was the beginning of our civilisation,

The start of a process which had continued down the years.

How far has our civilisation developed?

Is this really the kind of world our forbears desired.

Are we still working together for the common good?

Have we achieved the aims to which our ancestors aspired?

If we look closely then we shall quickly see,

Our world is one which seems to have lost its sense of direction,

Those seeking power have torn the world asunder,

What we see is a world full of imperfection.

We still live together in communities,

And some efforts are made for the common good,

But selfishness is still the order of the day,

Very few people do what they really should.

We really, really should make more effort,

To fulfill the hopes which prevailed when civilisation first began,

When everybody has a common purpose,

And thus to achieve the brotherhood of man.