St George is Cross by P.A.Levy

in olden days every hamlet
had its village idiot
harmless childlike even amusing

modern times make way for the boozer
bigot washing down a tandoori chicken
or hot vindaloo probably with
a danish lager or a pilsner
starting all his sweaty sentences with
i’ll tell yer this for nothing
as if his philosophies are worth
a million

the latest fashion in racism
with asylum seekers and pakis an ever
popular target
only now asian means arabs
and arabs mean muslim extremists
with blacks and jews and pikeys finding
themselves temporarily relegated to division two
fists thump tables to emphasise
come over here take all our jobs and jump
the housing queue use our NHS and schools

however as i try to enjoy a quiet pint
he tries to engage me in his rants
for he is certain there exists
some kind of anglo-saxon lost link directly
to my heritage
which is not to be confused with the missing link
‘cos it’s not missing
i know exactly where it is
so give the link another drink and a bag
of agincourt flavoured crisps
until he spews up land of hope and glory
jerusalem and god save the queen