Ten Sixty Six

I’m not all that politically minded but when I visited the site of the Battle of Hastings at Battle Abby the other day..I couldn’t help thinking..here we are 900 odd years on, doing it again. Dividing our forces, losing the initiative and remaining under the thumb of the EU.

Ten Sixty  Six

The clash of steel near Hastings on a cold October day,
As Norman knights and English men charged into the fray.
Round shields locked together the English stood their ground,
The fighting raged throughout the day, ears filled with battle sound.

The English may have won the day, if they’d just stayed in line,
But when the Normans turned and ran, they thought it was a sign.
So breaking ranks some followed them..seeking victory that day,
But the Norman knights surrounded them, and made the English pay.

Swords and battle axes, archers with their bows,
The battlefield turned red with blood, where now the green grass grows.
The king of England died that day, an arrow pierced his eye,
And we were under Norman rule as fifty years rolled by.

Nine centuries of history, brings us to where we are today,
A nation now divided…have we somehow lost our way?
Everyone has voted, do we exit or remain?
We do not need 1066 to happen once again.

It would seem that major parties..have a different axe to grind,
Wasting time in searching for, common ground that they can’t find.
In actual fact the answer is..behind Battle Abby’s wall,
United we will always stand..but divided we will fall.

©️Martin Silvester 17/5/2019.