Britain in 2021
after Shelley’s ‘England in 1819’

by Rip Bulkeley

An old, bad, foolish and decaying state,
Riddled with racism from empire’s core;
Maltreated refugees, war’s graduates,
Drowning to reach inhospitable shores;
Food banks crowded with families desperate
From poverty; inflation set to roar;
Help services undermined by private cash
While decimated by the plague’s full brunt;
Women and children daily abused, smashed;
The disabled dying from neglect by official scum;
Tower blocks terrified of joining Grenfell’s ash;
Zero hours slavery; the homeless trashed -
Such evil ways unjustly smothered drums
Shall one day summon us to overcome.