New Countrymen
POSTED IN contemporary poetry August 15, 2013
New Countrymen
And then the Romans came
With their towers and houses; and marble statues;
Things are no more the same,
With their strange, civilised Gods.
Where are the Druids, now we have need?
Where are my people?
Is it silence, now?
Is it, indeed?
Our forest is not strong anymore
Since the Romans brought their cities and culture.
Old trees have been felled;
The old spirit cannot capture
The old ways, anymore.
They shouldn’t have cut down the trees;
There was no need for that;
The Romans do as they please,
And there is nothing we can do about that.
What do they want of our misty land
When they are cold here?
Why do they do this to us
When they feel unwelcome here?
Why have they left their sunny land
When they are not content here?
Where are my people?
Times are changing all over the land;
Stonehenge has let fall some stones.
We fear an end is at hand,
The way our country groans.
What are these Romans?
They are not like us;
They have slighted our land
Yet our Gods do not harm them.
Only once have I seen such ill;
That was when Morrigan came;
She plagues my memories still.
Old Greenwood waits and calls
As more harm is done,
And as more trees die, their falls
Rock the Greenwood.
Few know the old ways now;
The hidden old straight track.
In Stonehenge’s sacred enclave
I see children playing their games.
These Romans no longer attack;
They go about their own business now
And call for us to slave,
And to stop our old ways;
Where are my people now?
Who are these Romans now?
Maybe the land will welcome them;
Maybe she is not too hurt by them;
Maybe we can understand them;
Maybe we can yet tame them.
Richard Jones
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