Looking Back on England

My poor England. Where have you gone? These are dis-eased times in which each morning I wake thinking - "surely it will be better today" and find it isn't. This old place is tearing itself apart and what we stand for is being burned and buried.  Treacherous, mocking crows call and lie and strut across the grave of something fine.
We are a proud mongrel race. We are of the Celts ,the  Saxons, the Jew the Danes; Of Huguenots, and Bengalis and the Caribbean; the sons and daughters of a vagabond heart. I am no less English for being British, no less British for being European. I am not diminished for believing in a world where people come together to build a better one for ordinary folks, I am not empowered when I walk away from my companions. 
England is a place of rogues; rebels; thieves and acrobats but deep within it flows something profound and worthy. Those who lead us betray us.

I have felt like this before though not as painfully. 25 years ago I wrote the following song-  - the tune was done with my good buddy Tim Gadsby.

Looking Back on England

On the side of a hill, looking back on England,
Looking down the years to the way we were,
The spirit of the age, not cold hearth or furnace,
Time was standing still, in the evening sun,
Jenny, I said would you please hold my hand
Till the end of the day and the last glow has gone
From the side of a hill, looking back on England
Looking down the years to the way we were

Was it really there, could you hear it breathing?
Across the holy water, a glimpse of Avalon,
Somewhere in the past, or somewhere in the future,
As the farmer turns the hours and the rocks into the sun
Jenny, I said, nothing could be so wrong,
As to climb down this hill, and head home again,
Was it really there, could you hear it breathing,
Across the holy water, a glimpse of Avalon,
​
As the wicket starts to turn, as the long day closes,
On the last man in, As the shadows start to grow,
On a nation split in two, a state of Armageddon,
Ruled by hollow men, I’ll be staying here with you,
Jenny I said, although you might think it strange,
To see the moon in your eyes, is all I desire
As the wicket starts to turn, as the long day closes,
On the last man in, As the shadows start to grow,

We’ve been storm rocked and battered, until nothing else matters,
But to stay here, and lay here, and sleep by your side,
We’ve been cheated
and flattered, our hopes have been shattered,
But I’ll stay here and lay here and dream by your side

Looking Back on England Steve Bonham and Tim Gadsby (c) 1993 Recorded on 'The Moon's High Tide - Steve Bonham