Gaze Upon my Words, Ye Silent ones…

Take up the British burden
Send forth the best ye breed
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve Afghani’s need;
To wait in heavy harness
For Taliban folk, and wild
Be-burkha’d sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the British burden –
Under surveillance to abide,
To check the threat of terror
On which they all have lied;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain.
The blogger’s simple duty is,
To print the truth again.

Take up the Blogger’s burden –
The savage wars of peace!
Be rid of Gordon Brown
And bid the sickness cease;
And when our goal is nearest
The election sorely sought,
Watch proportional representation,
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the Blogger’s burden –
Nu-Labour rule as kings!
We toil as serf and writer –
And dream of simple things.
The Troughers dragged from office,
Their leaders hung from trees.
Go pierce them with your writing,
And let them hear your voice!

Take up the Blogger’s burden –
And reap the old reward:
The words of Ollie Cromwell,
Momentarily recalled.
The cry of freedom for the people!
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light: –
“Why brought ye us from bondage,
To give up without a fight?”

Take up the Blogger’s burden –
Ye dare not stoop to less –
Nor call too loud on freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Are waiting just for you.

Take up the Blogger’s burden –
Have done with childish days –
The lightly proffered laurel,
The faint, ungrudged praise.
Come now, to search your manhood
For all have part to play,
The Internet is now your voice,
Rise up and have your say!

With ‘umble apologies to Rudyard Kipling.

Anna is the landlady of the Raccoon Arms. She lives in the Monbazillac area of South West France and still takes a keen interest in British politics.