… Or maybe I should live for me,
And scrap the drab commuter squeeze.
I’ll leap and thrash for what I please;
A careless cod in life’s blue sea!
No – can’t forget my fellow man,
For what’s a cod without his school?
A sad, lonely, vulnerable fool –
Would likely end up in the pan.
The righteous road the best have trod
Pursues delight for one and all,
Gives up itself in human thrall.
Yes, that’s the way to live, by God…
God! Ah, fuck! By breezy decree,
He’ll kick me straight to fire and rot,
And watch me writhe in that dark lot,
For serving man, or blasphemy.
Probably best to hedge my fate,
And, like Pascal (the wily fox),
Busily spend my sighs and stocks
To win a pass through Peter’s gate.
But why not back a different long
Shot: Allah, Vishnu, Yhi, Ajok?
What if that airy, mindless stork
Dropped me off where they got it wrong?
And what if I was dropped off late,
Once winning faith had come and gone?
The dusty Zeus, the wheezy Dôn,
Should I not wager on their hate?
Oh, sod that superstitious shit,
I know my bloody country’s real!
I’ll live for old St George’s zeal
And lion-hearted, prideful grit!
For every sister and brother,
Throughout this green and pleasant land,
I’ll spit and curse and lose my hand
To fend off something or other!
No – wait – might need to temper that;
I won’t for all give toil and pain;
Yeah, not the short man on my train
Who always slobs his food – the twat.
The ‘land’ is what I’ll guard instead;
The solemn oak; the rose uncut;
Rivers unspoiled and joyful – but
I’d rather not get my feet wet.
Agh! Long we’ve built, with tuts and snorts,
The tapestry of wits from scratch,
Yet not a single sorry patch
Has neatly bound my simple thoughts.
That’s it! I’ll take a stitch from each,
And weave a new and clever thing!
A proud, meek, polytheistic,
Selfish, selfless, hedonistic,
Humanistic, pantheistic –
Oh! Milk milk milk… yeah…
And potatoes…?
…
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