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.
