Obituary for Britain.

OBITUARY FOR BRITAIN.

Our fathers built us an empire great.
With cities grand, and welfare state.
A greater nation you never did see.
To better our lives, and our liberty.

They worked the mines for heat and power,
and worked the mills for such long hours.
They smelted iron to cast the plough,
and earned the freedoms we all know now.

Then came men from over the sea.
They saw this prize and went away,
and returned with armies, ships and planes,
but their intentions failed in vain.

We stood our ground and held it fast,
for six long years the siege did last,
though many fell, we did not give way,
and we honour the lost, on remembrance day.

Through years of peace, we toiled and gained,
our prosperity and growth sustained.
While devious foes, with envious eyes,
among us came, in friendly guise.

In contented lives and ignorant bliss,
we did not taste their poisoned kiss.
Like a plague, the corruption spread,
our economy ravaged, whole towns left dead.

Too late, we realised our plight.
Fortunes lost and squandered overnight,
and with the morning, another news story,
no jobs, no homes, no rights, no glory.

What traitorous leaders, and sleight of hand!
To deceive us all, and betray our land.
This privilege bestowed in trust to hold,
all credibility lost in your greed for gold.

I walked the streets of an empty town.
I passed the shops, all now shut down.
Although I saw people in the streets,
not a hopeful gaze did my eyes meet.

Some ragged cloth, in an overfilled skip.
Blowing in the wind, like a stranded ship.
A ragged woman stuffed a carrier bag,
with old clothes for her scrawny lad.

I found a flag, ‘The Union Jack’,
and feeling cold, wore it on my back.
It kept me warm all through the night,
and I folded it up at first daylight.

I walked out onto a country fell.
A beloved place that I knew well.
I dug a hole and then I prayed,
and laid the flag down in it’s grave.

I buried it deep down in the earth,
then covered it with fresh green turf.
I turned and left with heart enraged,
as I laid to rest our heritage.

My loyalty, I’ll no longer bestow,
unto a government that sinks so low.
It will take a lifetime to regain the trust,
of people, whose lives and hopes you crushed.

By,
The Minstrel Boy.