Canterbury Celebrated

Write their names in better than the dark mud Where they died; their life like the wasted sud Of washed out things; they were the soldiers of the village The warriors of a hidden war They saved us from plunder and pillage And wore with honor their stigma and scar We had the worst address in the world paling Nazareth too But we had love, cared for each other Minotaur saw the weak and knew our brother Wrap their names in flags of honor too. Teddy, the short one, Galdys' son Lascelles, the handsome one, And Big Ben with muscles to lift a ton The athletes were Little wicked, and Sonny The fell like leaves one by one And no flag flew at half mast in Canterbury But look at the place, how each find its rank And without order besieged the bank. O Canterbury, I remember your sons Your daughters, and the runs Of formal power without justice to the rooms Disshevelled like graveclothes in empty tombs.