Poetry

An Englishman lost in afternoon tea,
Memories of a lotus flower love
Rajas and elephants in Delhi
Livingstone the explorer
Religion to convert
 
Laurence of Arabia
A leader of men
The Boers and the Zulus
Gordon and Khartoum
These are the things that shook the world
 
 Silk and Cotton,
The wealth of Empire
Earl Mountbatten our man in Burma
The cry of Bombay and Ceylon
Oblivious to a young man’s dream
 
England was the world
Her Empire was great
For the sun never did sett
On her wealth
The jewel in this noble crown
 
Yet History was not kind
Exploitation her crime
Though civilisation came hand in hand
For Freedom we planted
Democracy you chanted
The union jack you did burn
And what have you learned
 
Greed breeds poverty in silence
Sectarian dogma your anthem
Murder by the chosen few
 
How flourishes your tree
When your morals all flee
With bombs in the souk
And murder by troops
Education restricted
The poor evicted
To make way for corruption
And tyrants consumption
 
Look to the horizon
For there lies Britain
It's empire gone
But our pride lingers on
 
Can your freedom say the same?
Or is oil to blame?
Who shall we accuse?
For your freedoms abuse?
 
Not the British
Love us or hate us
 England brought you civilisation
And civilisation lives on
In this green and pleasant land