DOI article:
Davidson, John: Fleet Street Eclogue: St. George's Day
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21806#0312
3IO
Fleet Street Eclogue
Who saved old Scotland from its friends,
Were mighty northern Englishmen.
Brian.
And Parnell, who so greatly fought
To make a mob people, then
With Fate inevitably wrought
That Irish should be Englishmen.
Basil.
By bogland, highland, down, and fen,
All Englishmen, all Englishmen !
Menzies.
There is no England now, I say—
Brian.
No England now ? My grief, my grief!
Menzies.
We lie widespread, the dragon-prey
Of any Cappadocian thief.
In Arctic and Pacific seas
We lounge and loaf; and either pole
We reach with sprawling colonies—
Unwieldy limbs that lack a soul.
Basil.
Fleet Street Eclogue
Who saved old Scotland from its friends,
Were mighty northern Englishmen.
Brian.
And Parnell, who so greatly fought
To make a mob people, then
With Fate inevitably wrought
That Irish should be Englishmen.
Basil.
By bogland, highland, down, and fen,
All Englishmen, all Englishmen !
Menzies.
There is no England now, I say—
Brian.
No England now ? My grief, my grief!
Menzies.
We lie widespread, the dragon-prey
Of any Cappadocian thief.
In Arctic and Pacific seas
We lounge and loaf; and either pole
We reach with sprawling colonies—
Unwieldy limbs that lack a soul.
Basil.