Post by ladylinda on Oct 10, 2015 6:49:19 GMT -5
I'm posting three poems about Britishness.
There will be more to come!
The British Poem
Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Zephaniah (15 April 1958 / Birmingham)
Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.
Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.
Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.
Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.
Leave the ingredients to simmer.
As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.
Allow time to be cool.
Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.
Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.
Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.
Benjamin Zephaniah
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Britishness – Poem: mongrels of the world, and proud of it
Zettel Film Reviewer
Britishness
The British are not ethnic
we’re the mongrels of the world
an antidote to racism harbingers of hope
we give the living lie
to the hateful myth of blood
What we are is mingled, muddled, mixed
conquered by the Romans
yet inspired by the Greeks
we are passionate moderation
hating all extremes
of race of politics and faith
We long to be well led
but hate all government
We have conquered
and yes exploited worlds
but returned them with a will
We have enslaved peoples
yet somehow set them free
We are weary warriors
grown tired of death and hate
but still subjects no one shall
ever subjugate
We were Saxon Angle Pict and Scot
with the spice of Celtic salt
and a dash of Viking yeast
to ferment our ethnic brew
now African, Asian, Caribbean peoples too
Jew and Christian Muslim and Hindu
Bhuddist Zoroastrian a Jedi knight or two
Our engineers helped build the world
our scientists its thought
our language is a melting pot you see
of Shakespeare Dickens and Eliots George and T
We are complicated simple folk
who like to fight and drink
we even sometimes love to sing
though dancing you will think
is not yet quite our thing.
Through conquest empire
arrogance and shame
through every heresy
of every faith
we’ve learnt they are impostors all
and treat them just the same
So come all and join us
come share what we can see
we’ll make you laugh
we’ll make you cry
at our genteel hypocrisy
we’ll mock your faith
to keep it safe
from deluded certainty
we’re black and white
and every shade between
absurdity our only creed
We see through hats and suits and ties
through crowns and burkhas
epaulettes and gowns
to the naked foolishness
of human frailty
We are fool and king
genius and ass
but in our diversity
we hold one true thing dear
In thought and deed and faith
a passion to stay free
All you need to join us
is a bloody-minded streak
to stand up for the underdog
outgunned but still not weak
Our only hates are show-offs
and demagoguery
we demand the right to argue
to question challenge disagree
but leave your Gods in heaven
where they must ever be
your only sacredness is your humanity.
British Muslim, British Jew
Christian English Welsh and Scot
with a transcendental Irishness
we hate the nation state
privilege and patronage
and self aggrandisement
through a history of suffering and hate
we are many mongrel peoples
united in dissent
holding hands for comfort
as we face a common fate
-------------------------------
The Dumfries Volunteers
Robert Burns
Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?
Then let the louns beware, Sir;
There's wooden walls upon our seas,
And volunteers on shore, Sir:
The Nith shall run to Corsincon,
And Criffel sink in Solway,
Ere we permit a Foreign Foe
On British ground to rally!
We'll ne'er permit a Foreign Foe
On British ground to rally!
O let us not, like snarling curs,
In wrangling be divided,
Till, slap! come in an unco loun,
And wi' a rung decide it!
Be Britain still to Britain true,
Amang ourselves united;
For never but by British hands
Maun British wrangs be righted!
No! never but by British hands
Shall British wrangs be righted!
The Kettle o' the Kirk and State,
Perhaps a clout may fail in't;
But deil a foreign tinkler loun
Shall ever ca'a nail in't.
Our father's blude the Kettle bought,
And wha wad dare to spoil it;
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
Shall fuel be to boil it!
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
Shall fuel be to boil it!
The wretch that would a tyrant own,
And the wretch, his true-born brother,
Who would set the Mob aboon the Throne,
May they be damn'd together!
Who will not sing "God save the King,"
Shall hang as high's the steeple;
But while we sing "God save the King,"
We'll ne'er forget The People!
But while we sing "God save the King,"
We'll ne'er forget The People!
There will be more to come!
The British Poem
Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Zephaniah (15 April 1958 / Birmingham)
Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.
Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.
Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.
Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.
Leave the ingredients to simmer.
As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.
Allow time to be cool.
Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.
Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.
Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.
Benjamin Zephaniah
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Britishness – Poem: mongrels of the world, and proud of it
Zettel Film Reviewer
Britishness
The British are not ethnic
we’re the mongrels of the world
an antidote to racism harbingers of hope
we give the living lie
to the hateful myth of blood
What we are is mingled, muddled, mixed
conquered by the Romans
yet inspired by the Greeks
we are passionate moderation
hating all extremes
of race of politics and faith
We long to be well led
but hate all government
We have conquered
and yes exploited worlds
but returned them with a will
We have enslaved peoples
yet somehow set them free
We are weary warriors
grown tired of death and hate
but still subjects no one shall
ever subjugate
We were Saxon Angle Pict and Scot
with the spice of Celtic salt
and a dash of Viking yeast
to ferment our ethnic brew
now African, Asian, Caribbean peoples too
Jew and Christian Muslim and Hindu
Bhuddist Zoroastrian a Jedi knight or two
Our engineers helped build the world
our scientists its thought
our language is a melting pot you see
of Shakespeare Dickens and Eliots George and T
We are complicated simple folk
who like to fight and drink
we even sometimes love to sing
though dancing you will think
is not yet quite our thing.
Through conquest empire
arrogance and shame
through every heresy
of every faith
we’ve learnt they are impostors all
and treat them just the same
So come all and join us
come share what we can see
we’ll make you laugh
we’ll make you cry
at our genteel hypocrisy
we’ll mock your faith
to keep it safe
from deluded certainty
we’re black and white
and every shade between
absurdity our only creed
We see through hats and suits and ties
through crowns and burkhas
epaulettes and gowns
to the naked foolishness
of human frailty
We are fool and king
genius and ass
but in our diversity
we hold one true thing dear
In thought and deed and faith
a passion to stay free
All you need to join us
is a bloody-minded streak
to stand up for the underdog
outgunned but still not weak
Our only hates are show-offs
and demagoguery
we demand the right to argue
to question challenge disagree
but leave your Gods in heaven
where they must ever be
your only sacredness is your humanity.
British Muslim, British Jew
Christian English Welsh and Scot
with a transcendental Irishness
we hate the nation state
privilege and patronage
and self aggrandisement
through a history of suffering and hate
we are many mongrel peoples
united in dissent
holding hands for comfort
as we face a common fate
-------------------------------
The Dumfries Volunteers
Robert Burns
Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?
Then let the louns beware, Sir;
There's wooden walls upon our seas,
And volunteers on shore, Sir:
The Nith shall run to Corsincon,
And Criffel sink in Solway,
Ere we permit a Foreign Foe
On British ground to rally!
We'll ne'er permit a Foreign Foe
On British ground to rally!
O let us not, like snarling curs,
In wrangling be divided,
Till, slap! come in an unco loun,
And wi' a rung decide it!
Be Britain still to Britain true,
Amang ourselves united;
For never but by British hands
Maun British wrangs be righted!
No! never but by British hands
Shall British wrangs be righted!
The Kettle o' the Kirk and State,
Perhaps a clout may fail in't;
But deil a foreign tinkler loun
Shall ever ca'a nail in't.
Our father's blude the Kettle bought,
And wha wad dare to spoil it;
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
Shall fuel be to boil it!
By Heav'ns! the sacrilegious dog
Shall fuel be to boil it!
The wretch that would a tyrant own,
And the wretch, his true-born brother,
Who would set the Mob aboon the Throne,
May they be damn'd together!
Who will not sing "God save the King,"
Shall hang as high's the steeple;
But while we sing "God save the King,"
We'll ne'er forget The People!
But while we sing "God save the King,"
We'll ne'er forget The People!