|

Gandhi Came To Lancashire Once…

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Gandhi came to Lancashire once
September 1931
Along the cobbled stones
He walked this “half-naked fakir”
As Churchill called him
And Gandhi answered
“One day I hope to be…”
And made his way through the
Crowns of gold and ruby jewels
To the dirty flowers of Britains neglected treasure
Hidden within her slums and squalour
To the children of the East End
Who loved to see this strangely dressed man
Walk among them
And they would shout
“Gandhi, Where’s your pants?”
And Gandhi answered
With laughter and friendship and peace…
In the cloth factories of the North
Jobs where being lost bellies empty
And voices passed in silence
Indian cotton spun now by Indian hands
Rightly so
But what of those now left behind
Their anger to the little man in cloth
In boos and jeers
And then he spoke
Of Britain’s daughters and sons
Those who had not worked for many months
Of the food no more than bread and butter…
And then he spoke
Of India’s daughters and sons
Those who could never find work
Those who had no food at all
And as Gandhi talked
The British workers listened
And when he had finished
They cheered him…
And now Lancashire
From whose soil came Sir Tom Finney and John Lennon
From whose soil came the playing fields of Football
From whose struggles came the Peterloo Martyrs
Proves that 8 Rights can make countless wrongs.

Notes

(observation of bnp votes in Burnley)

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/gandhi-came-to-lancashire-once-2/