Some Verse

A Requiem for the Twentieth Century

I used to be a spaceman, the fastest guy alive,
So I’ll take you to the junkyard to see Fireball XL5,
It’s lying there with the Dancettes, eight-tracks and tranny radios,
The Skylon and the Wonderloaf and high-fat chocolate Cheerios.

We’ve turned our backs on Daddies’ Sauce, Post Toasties and Sweetheart,
And Smarties, Force and Shredded Wheat must sing a Nestlé part.
The Guinness clock at Battersea no longer tells the time,
And Festival Park has been rebuilt to take the Jubilee Line.

Victrollas have been silenced, His Master’s Voice is mute,
And at Billy Butlin’s holiday camps stand giant water chutes.
The Spitfires that so bravely fought now live in a museum
And the Battle of Britain has been lost in the sands of the coliseum.

The Blackpool Tower has turned to rust, the Palace Pier is lost
And Southport, Morecambe and Great Yarmouth are to the ocean tossed.
We’ve all forgotten Yuri Gargaren, Liberace and Simon Dee,
And forsaken all our history books for the interactive DVD.