The Murder of Civilisation

An Englishman lost in afternoon tea, Memories of a lotus flower love Rajas and elephants in Delhi Livingstone the explorer Religion to convert Laurence of Arabia A leader of men The Boers and the Zulus Gordon and Khartoum These are the things that shook the world Silk and Cotton, The wealth of Empire Earl Mountbatten our man in Burma The cry of Bombay and Ceylon Oblivious to a young man’s dream England was the world Her Empire was great For the sun never did sett On her wealth The jewel in this noble crown Yet History was not kind Exploitation her crime Though civilisation came hand in hand For Freedom we planted Democracy you chanted The union jack you did burn And what have you learned Greed breeds poverty in silence Sectarian dogma your anthem Murder by the chosen few How flourishes your tree When your morals all flee With bombs in the souk And murder by troops Education restricted The poor evicted To make way for corruption And tyrants consumption Look to the horizon For there lies Britain It's empire gone But our pride lingers on Can your freedom say the same? Or is oil to blame? Who shall we accuse? For your freedoms abuse? Not the British Love us or hate us England brought you civilisation And civilisation lives on In this green and pleasant land