a patriot’s lament

i was born without asking
to the country i grew up to love 
as a britain which deserved the adjective 
of great
because it strove to do
good 
across the political spectrum 
for every citizen 
and so i felt proud of being british i did

but now the tawdry and brexit-ridden 
have renamed my nation-state 
and i can no longer call myself 
the nationality
i was born to:
for i am now officially uk-ish 

but what prideful claim can that deliver
when -ish becomes a "sort of"
instead of a proclamation  
of historical courage 
and grit
and of the terrible determinations 
forged
in times of awful warfare
where everyone of us cared 
for everyone of us 
and no one was ever less 
for owning less 

for this is the patriot's lament:
how the savagely thoughtless 
political class 
we now have upon us 
brutally operate on us  
as they do 
from the boardrooms 
of foul directorships 
and sailing-ships 
run with the dirty monies 
of foreign largesse
embedded and encrusted 
in a society of the most debilitated 

and as it witnesses
the illegitimate invasions
of not-so-distant lands 
we must remember 
that whilst hitler and that other russia
(being the same russia 
after all)
were enemies easy to espy 
and define as such
today's dictators of equally abusive bent
wear suits of the nicest
and tread stages of the finest
and rub shoulders 
with the tech monsters 
of the cruellest  

and so as the patriot i am 
does lament the falling away
of what it once was to be british 
and proud of the fact 
with tact too
that in a hard world
being such was a foundation stone 
of democracy 
still as that patriot of kindly encouragement 
i hold out hope that there may resurge
good forces in the land 
i refuse to rename the uk 
because myself i never will be uk-ish
in that ambiguity
of reclusive criminality 
that i now bear witness to

because being british born 
and british bred
my head tells me i shall always remain 
conscious of the FOUR nations
that SHOULD make up freely our federation 
of beautiful 
and collective 
future-present wisdoms

where the past may no longer need 
to hang heavily 
over what we show to the rest of the world 
and our own heads all 
may equally be held higher 
than the recent past
allows

for what has been
and what we've seen
can just as easily be
a manual of instructions of what NOT to do
as it currently serves those
who serve themselves abusively 
of the rest of us  
in respect of how better 
to constrict our aspirations 
to do good
in a world which desperately needs our would: 
being where we find again
the bravery that being british once meant ...

... before the patriot's lament 
rang out deeply 
and profoundly 
riven as it now is 
with the gravity and sadness
of lives disposed of cheaply
and carelessly 
by business and political leaders both 
who continue to choose 
the roads of personal enrichment 
over public service  

and so it is 
and so it may be
that all of us 
being you and me
and we together 
might find that retribution for evil deeds
need NOT contain the vengeance 
of the gods of old
for we could remember 
that british bred 
and british born 
and having once been 
the mother of all parliaments 
and so fine with this aspiration 
as we furthered a step-by-step process 
of moving slowly but utterly sure
we may return once again 
to being ... 
this GREAT BRITAIN!