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Listen Britannia!
Listen Britannia! All ye who would never be slaves.
Hear the word of the Lord, He who rescues and saves,
_For they who won’t hark will dwell in the dark,
__And will slump under rule of the knaves.
Listen Britannia! Shed all your shackles and chains.
All ye remember the blood of great kings in your veins.
_Let there be light for the dame and the knight
__You must watch for your freedom—it wanes!
Listen Britannia! Put on thy shield, thy armour.
How far can we fall, from the days of Churchill to Starmer.
_Whether Labor or Tory the same is the story,
__Neither think of the workman or farmer.
Listen Britannia! Not all hope is lost to the Isles,
For the charm of the snake and his way full of wiles
_Will soon be dead, Britain’s foes full of dread,
__As man’s gulf with his God reconciles.
Oh England oh Scotland return the wind to sails,
Loose the flame again from the dragon of Wales,
_Let Ireland blaze, as lady justice is raised,
__And a balance returns to her scales.
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Jordan Smith is a poet living in Perth, Australia.
Jordan, I was stunned with the intensity and greatness of your poem reflecting the demise of Britannia in the political and cultural morass on the edge of the abyss in which it now finds itself. Only prayers and a return to God can save it now.
Thanks Roy. I appreciate your feedback. I have been following the UK for some time now. I’m hopefully Britannia can turn things around.
I’m so glad to read this here, Jordan! Just yesterday I was rereading the text of “Rule, Britannia!” and mourning what has happened there. The haughty tyrants have to all appearances won the day, and manly hearts don’t seem to be guarding the fair. As an American Anglican, I’ve thought of the Church of England as our mother church— and no one wants to see his mother treated this way. Thank you for the clear call to God’s freedom— the only true kind.
Hi Cynthia, Thanks for your comment. My dear wife is an Australian Anglican. I’m an American and it may seem odd for me to write about Britain in this way but America and Britain have shared values and shared history and I want for them peace and greater happiness. The leaders of the Uk are so out of touch it is remarkable but I’m optimistic still and I hope that comes out in the poem. Best wishes from Australia.
The problem with England is that while it does have many sincere conservatives, none of them has a rough populist edge. The English Tories are TOO DAMNED POLITE. There is no Donald Trump in the U.K., ready to say whatever he thinks and kick ass at the same time.
Oxford and Cambridge have gelded everyone there, and people are too frightened to spit out statements that are harsh, offensive, contemptuous of the left, and painfully true. One of the saving graces of the United States is that we are not ashamed to be vulgar and insulting to our so-called “betters.” That’s what MAGA is all about. England doesn’t have that.
There are too many welshers there, and they just don’t listen. I lean Anglican, and my name is Scottish, so I commiserate.
Yes, I am listening. ‘Britannia’ brings to mind an empire and a navy that once dominated the seven seas. Those days are long gone.
A few weeks ago, I was in Parliament Square looking at the great wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill’s statue. I was also explaining to visitors I was escorting around London, and who were taking pictures of the Women’s War Memorial, how my grandmother worked nights in a munitions factory during the Blitz. This momentarily fascinated them more than their phone screens. I didn’t mention on the earlier river cruise, however, that my great-grandfather was a docker, who got day work as long as he was fit enough and young enough, and that pensions and heath care were non-existent in his day.
Two months ago I was based in West Sussex, where life goes on much as it always has, with a trek from a Hogwarts-like boarding school, across meadows full of bridle paths and dog walkers to a nearby Tesco Express being a highlight of the day. Meanwhile, my work colleagues were as diverse and eclectic a group of individuals as you can imagine. We bonded, formed into a team (with the occasional hiccup) and dispersed after our month-long work assignment the best of friends.
Fast forward to last month when I was ensconced in Hounslow, London (location for the independent film ‘Bend it Like Beckham’), a multiethnic community where people get on together surprisingly well considering all the problems the made-up-news platforms are constantly harping on about or ramping up for the benefit of clicks and likes.
We can all be nostalgic and wear rose-tinted glasses from afar while waving our Anglo-Saxon credentials, but time’s moved on in Britain.
Jordan, thanks for the inspirational exhortation to the homeland and the bloodlines, too, of so many in the Anglophone world. History is long, and though Paul Freeman is right that time’s moved on in Britain, it will keep moving. There are many, many periods when matters have looked very bad. When the Scot James Thomson wrote “Rule Britannia” in the 18th century, pirates from the Mediterranean were raiding Ireland and taking slaves. It was the American colonials (at the time) who after independence took on the task of stopping the depredations–despite their own murky relationship with slavery. A call to the ideals of cherished heritage is never wasted.
Thanks Margaret. I appreciate your reflection. I agree with Paul but perhaps not for the same reasons. Yes people have moved on from pride in Britain because for decades they have been encouraged to live under this cloud of shame for the past and almost all areas where the old empire did good is ignored. The British love self deprecating humour which is fine but at what point are you really just a sad people who’ve been made such because celebrating the past and culture is taboo?
I look at figures like the Scottish missionary who went to Africa and learned the language and became one with the people who then invited him to hear the message he had about Christianity. He did not come withe force or coercion. Sati was abolished in India which had to be the greatest, if not the greatest act for the welfare of women imaginable. I also look at Enoch Powell, when the empire fell short of it’s ideals at Hola Camp in Africa, he gave one of his greatest speeches ever, encouraging Britain that the same rules and expectations had in Britain had to be in place in Africa and in any other place in the world. He condemned the massacre.
History should be taught in full and not so selectively to lower the mood and morale of a people they are willing to accept such dreadfully poor policies from lawmakers.
I could go on but just wanted to thank you and wish you well.