We are going to see rural england

We are going to see rural England

Which england, people say?

Which England, ask the children?

WHICH ENGLAND?

The only england,

The only english in England,

Sitting behind a barbed-wire fence

Under the floodlights, neon lights,

Sodium lights,

speaking english

On the only patch of grass

In England, in England

(Except the grass by the hoardings

Which doesn’t count ).

We are going to see rural england

And we must be there on time.

First we shall show our passports at the city gate

Then we shall go by underground,

And then we shall go by motorway,

And then by helicopter way,

And the last ten yards we shall have to go on foot.

And now we are going

All the way to see rural england,

We are nearly there,

We are longing to see it,

And so is the crowd

Which is here in thousands

With mounted policemen

And big loudspeakers

And bands and banners,

And everyone has come a long way.

But soon we shall see it

in what we call country

english people being

 – but something has gone wrong !

Why is everyone so angry,

Why is everyone jostling

And slanging and complaining?

Rural england  has gone,

Yes, that england has gone.

It has actually burrowed down into the earth

And found itself  a home, under the earth

Despite all these people.

And what shall we do?

What CAN we do?

It is all a pity, you must be disappointed,

Go home and do something else for today,

Go home again, go home for today.

For you cannot hear this England, under the earth,

Remarking rather sadly to itself, by itself,

As it rests in it’s home, under the earth:

“It won’t be long, they are bound to come,

They are bound to come and find me, even here.”

Peter Handley


Peter Handley was born in a small village next to what was Sherwood Forest in the first decade at the beginning of the end of the age of Aquarius. He has been variously described as an arty farty twat and an Indian Oscar award winning actor and writer. He is published in numerous literary journals, trained, amongst other places, at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and continues to tell stories and bullshit in all the right hostelries to promote positive growth all around the world and in his back garden. His first solo exhibition of works on paper is due out in a fancy gallery in Vienna late 2014.

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