CUTS THROUGH HISTORY
(Composed c.1972, no known manuscript; reconstructed from memory by the editor)Those lines were inscribèd across English history,
Those lines were incisèd through an ancient fair land.
Farewell to Old England, when slashed through her scenery
Go ribbons of steel at the railways’ command!
Those lines were imposèd upon our New Jerusalem,
Those lines were intended for to make Britain great.
Those lines were constructed by men, not machinery,
But now they are obsolescent, so what is their fate?
Those lines we are now replacing with bright modern motorways
For articulated lorries and buses and cars,
While back to Old England in a tangle of greenery
The lines that we have abandoned are fading like scars.
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