England

ENGLAND Cool ways through undulating field of grains Giving way to chrysanthemum hills, chalk-manned * Off to the north the low mountains And lakes mark the land limit of England. But the England of the mind stretches far Around the world to people who own The freedom to think and speak; and are Without orders from trumpet, drum, or crown. The ways, the laws, of England’s foundation Are hated by despot and dictator, Revealing the weakness of the tyrant’s nation, Marked by hills manned with battlefield armour. ‘mums - and high tea with buttered crumpets * Speak louder than battered drums and trumpets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Notes 1…. “chalk-manned” - many of the chalk hills of Southern England have a carving in their bedrock showing a horse or a man. 2…. ‘mums ….is a common abbreviation for “chrysanthemums”