Islanders

I came from these islands, from these green and pleasant fields
I worked in the shires and the northern textile mills
I sailed from the harbours and ports out to the seas
I fought in the trenches to keep this country free

I’m a writer, I’m an author, I’m a scribe from the distant past
I wrote the Magna Carta and classics unsurpassed
I penned the Act of Union that joined these island lands
I translated the Bible guided by some sacred hand

I am an Englishman, a Welshman and a Scot
I come from Northern Ireland and I’ve been around a lot
I’m scarred from many battles, but I’ll never be forgot
You’ll know me when it’s time for us to meet
I’m the reflection in the mirror that you see

I killed Thomas Becket and the wives of a Tudor King
I’m a Cavalier, a Roundhead, and a soldier for my kin
I fought against my brothers in fields in civil wars
I stood at the last battle at Culloden in the north

I went into the earth and dug for ore and lumps of coal
That fuelled the many factories and made the engines roar
I built the iron bridges that have stood for a hundred years
I’m a farmer, I’m a miner, gave my blood, my sweat my tears

I am an Englishman, a Welshman and a Scot
I come from Northern Ireland and I’ve been around a lot
I’m scarred from many battles, but I’ll never be forgot
You’ll know me when it’s time for us to meet
The reflection the mirror that you see

R L P Auger – 2020