Her Majesty’s Government is cavorting
like the plot of a Gilbert and Sullivan
operetta, but without the witty words
and tunes; cavorting like Fred Karno’s army,
but without the deadpan genius
of Charlie Chaplin or Stan Laurel.
It as if those diagrams of the ascent
of man – from amoebae through dinosaurs
and whales to primates each less simian
than its predecessor – were to end
not in an upright homo sapiens
walking steadfastly into the future
to take his place before the wicket
or through the barbed wire towards the foe,
KEEPING THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING
'CROSSING THE BROOK': J.M.W. TURNER
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OLD RAPTURES
THE OCCASIONAL JUBILEE