Best Cromwell Poems
I beseech you in
the bowels of Christ
think it possible
you may [really] be
mistaken [just wrong]
Categories:
cromwell, math,
Form:
London’s Guildhall, John Lilburne is frogmarched in
A man Cromwell considered a friend,
To stand before him accused of high treason
His actions against parliament to defend
As radical leader of the ‘Levellers’
John opposed Parliament fervently,
With his clandestine printing network
Speaking out of its tyranny;
Power, John Lilburne argued
Belonged with the common man,
His pamphlet ‘Agreement of the People’
Defined how, in the ‘Levellers Plan’.
In ‘England’s New Chains Discovered’
He urged soldiers and citizens, ‘unite-
Reject the rule of the Grandees!’
He was arrested and charged with mutinous incite.
Cromwell brought him to the Guildhall
Amid the strictest security
Troubled his trial would cause civil unrest,
Such was John’s popularity
Although eventually acquitted and exiled
He lived the rest of his life a marked man,
And our constitution, today, owes its birth
To the ideals of his ‘Levellers Plan’.
Categories:
cromwell, history, political
Form:
Quatrain
Enough
Jonny likes to lie and cheat
Daisy’s had enough
Suffocates him while he sleeps
Now he’s not so tough
Bennys into gaslighting
Susie grabs a knife
She stabs him several hundred times
before she could think twice
Joey is an aggressive sort
Chloe bought a gun
Shoots him twice in the head
To end that tyrants fun
Bobby’s tired, goes up to bed
Mary finds her bat
Proceeds to club him in the face
because he called her fat
Murders in the headlines
They make quite a hit
All these women killed their mates
cause they were tired of their...
~J.D. Cromwell
Categories:
cromwell, abuse, death, murder,
Form:
This house was part-founded by the nobles
Who counseled the monarchs of our land
Then strengthened by the Magna Carter
Signed by King Johns’ royal hand
At first its foundations were rocky
As house and monarchs just couldn’t agree
On decisions, and who had the final say
From time to time, it would end violently
As in the 17th century with civil unrest
Between the Kings’ Cavaliers and the roundheads
The house, led by Cromwell, won the war
King Charles alas, ended up dead
The clash between house and Kings ended
With the ‘Glorious Revolution’,
And the passing of ‘the Bill of Rights’
Giving rise to our Constitution
The house since then has seen changes
At the passing of each new decade,
With the Constitution amended
As each new bill has been made
Today the house has elected officials,
The peoples ‘voices’ to represent
Standing proud in the name of democracy
This old house that is our Parliament.
Categories:
cromwell, history, politicalhouse, house,
Form:
Quatrain
AN INFAMOUS LEGEND
King Henry XIII was indeed quite a boy,
He had no clue how to spell the word coy,
He was consumed by a quest that
A wife bear,
And give birth to a male heir,
He was fat, red headed and
Dressed with flamboyant flair!
Not quite my thing,
For a ruling King!
He wedded his first wife Catherine of Aragon,
Who did not bear a son
And grew to loathe this noble lady
He had done!
Cromwell, Henry’s adviser was used,
And finally abused, he had
To ask parliament to pass a bill,
Which made divorce a common drill.
One morning King Henry got out of
The wrong side of the bed,
And had Cromwell beheaded,
The executioner had trouble
Severing his head!
This Bill made Henry, head
Of the Protestant faith.
The Pope excommunicated King Henry
From Rome,
A disliked King who sat on
England’s throne!
Catherine now belonged in the past,
Enter Anne Boleyn,
Their marriage was short and ill fated
For she was publicly beheaded!
In between marriages and wives,
Henry had affairs,
One wonders how far his seed was spread,
Let’s not split hairs,
Probably he could fill a today’s
Rugby stadium!
With his family jewels downstairs!
Jane Seymour, his third wife was
Was the love of his life,
She gave birth to an heir, a son,
But his beloved wife died,
Henry was sad and perhaps
A single tear dried!
Now Henry had a son,
But needed to still live his life
So he spied wife number four
Who willingly came to knock
On his door.
But Henry divorced Anne of Cleves,
Wow lucky lady!
And so entered wife number five,
Who was brave and plucky,
She had a short married life,
Tried and sentenced for treason,
This was an excuse for a reason
To have Catherine Howard beheaded,
Soon after they were wedded!
Congratulations to Catherine Parr,
For though she was the last,
She outlived the King by far,
And brought to rest his cast,
And lewd past!
In fifteen hundred and forty seven,
King Henry died,
We doubt he went to Heaven,
And was laid to rest next to Jane,
His third wife, and beloved bride.
Perhaps Henry's family jewels should
Have been shredded or beheaded,
And then he be remembered,
As an infamous legend.
Categories:
cromwell, funny, history,
Form:
Rhyme
Behind the tinseled shamrocks you will see
There hides a profound history.
An island tale from the land so fair
So much deeper than a mug of green beer
Lilting words are charming, but burden is high,
And here’s a part of the why:
While sampling corned beef and cabbage
P’raps learn about the land Cromwell ravaged
Mighty Cu Chulainn, alas, an aeon late,
To spare fair Eireann this fate.
From waves of invaders the Celts did slay
Come the Red and Black Irish you see today
Through the religious apartheid,
Internecine hatred a mile wide.
And those who flew the great potato famine is why—
Got to read the signs: “Irish need not apply.”
So visit the Moors and castles, should you get a chance
Lift a glass, if you do, and learn the dance.
For despite the travails of this fair nation,
Some think we Irish saved civilization!
3/17/16
Categories:
cromwell, history, ireland, remember,
Form:
Couplet
I love the castle, I love the river
I love the city, Of Newark
The castle is like a big wall of history, next to the river which is like a massive water
wilderness, in the city of Newark
I love the hills
I love the Devon
I love the converted boat in the city of Newark
The hills are like a massive fortress
which is like the river Devon
in the city of Newark
I love the market I love church
I love the queen of sconce where Oliver Cromwell fired his bullets
which hit the church
On September the 1st
Now you see the wonders of Newark, people are like butterfly calm and gentle
floating to and from the city of Newark
BY JAMES CHRISTIAN
Categories:
cromwell, happiness, love, city, love,
Form:
Sonnet
On a recent visit to Warwick Castle,
We saw the death mask of Oliver Cromwell:
The man famous for asking an artist to paint
His portrait and show him warts and all.
I studied the stern features of the wax mask,
And noted the prominent warts.
He banned festivities, games and entertainments;
Had the joyless people preferred their lives
The way they once were with their king?
Or did they continue to rejoice the regicide?
As I studied Cromwell's likeness I wondered
Had the man who cast the mask thanked heaven
For ridding them of another dictator?
Jack Horne for Nette's Mask Time contest
Categories:
cromwell, history
Form:
Free verse
I love the castle, I love the river
I love the city, Of Newark
The castle is like a big wall of history, next to the river which is like a massive water
wilderness, in the city of Newark
I love the hills, I love the Devon, love the converted boat in the city of Newark
The hills are like a massive fortress, which is like the river of Devon, in the city of Newark
I love the market I love church
I love the queen of sconce where Oliver Cromwell fired his bullets which hit the church
On September the 1st
Now you see the wonders of Newark, people are like butterfly calm and gentle floating to
and from the city of Newark
Categories:
cromwell, adventurecity, love, river,
Form:
I've asked this question before,
but I'm going to ask it once more,
If religion is right and your God has the might,
where is the need to bicker and fight?
How strong is the faith you subscribe to,
if it's strong then it needs no defence,
If the message it sends is divine,
it will be seen as being sublime.
If someone insults you, don’t be so intense,
To feel you should kill him, it doesn't make sense,
And God, in his wisdom, will not take the blame,
For you using his name, in the killing game.
You cannot be more insulting to God,
than to take a life, that he has created,
For religion's sake, is the excuse that you make,
but that is just belated.
And we both know, that man is dead,
Because, he is someone you hated,
If religion espouses hatred and death,
those doctrines came not, from God's sweet breath.
Has religion represented God well on earth,
The Creator of all, since man's first birth?
Well Cromwell Massacred the Irish,
sinn fein killed 3000 up north,
In Gujarat, many Muslims were killed,
by Hindus I think you will find,
The Armenians were slaughtered by Turkish forces,
At the time, no one seemed to mind.
The biggest massacre the holocaust,
should never ever be forgotten,
Or else mankind is condemned to be,
forever truly rotten,
And it is from those who survived,
That a nation in hope, was derived.
If that hope can be shared for the good,
And all aspirations are mutually understood.
Then the hopes of a people who are just like you,
And if for a moment, you balance all points of view.
The Palestinian aspirations are easy to see,
they Just want control of their own destiny.
Categories:
cromwell, forgiveness, god, religion,
Form:
Verse
that moment
we tasted victory
as the sun
elevated to
the highest point
with it
Cromwell eyes
burst into
medieval tears
Categories:
cromwell, visionary,
Form:
Free verse
This whole left V right is starting to get boring
The only honest one is Jeremy Corbyn.
They convince the old he can not lead
Judge him on his character i do plead.
Debts or the people is the last thing on their mind
Its about protecting their way of life I think you'll find.
Hated by the media and both sides of the house
He's stuck to his morals he's not a mouse.
With all the elites pressure he refuses to kneel
A touch of Cromwell I do feel.
Vote after vote the people they decided
Yet the labour party is still divided.
Money grabbing leaches like snakes in the grass
All puckering up to kiss Blair's ass.
A true Red this country does need
Jeremy Corbyn, someone for the people, someone who'll lead.
Please do not listen to the lies media tell
They sold their souls, they're going to Hell.
Categories:
cromwell, hope, humanity, people, political,
Form:
Couplet
I arrived earlier in time
To witness the great work of creation
When from the dust emerged the first man
I saw the destruction of the Noah’s world
And the reconstruction thereafter
The earliest civilization on Egypt soil
Unfolded before my very eyes
The reign of the Greek gods and
The might of Roman, I shared
I walked the streets of Paris
On the eve of Robespierre’s revolution
The triumph of Lenin, Trosky and the royal guards
Were mine at the proletariat Russia
With Cromwell, I drank from victory cistern
In Britain, in the battle against the crown
In the boat beside Columbus
We discovered the new world, America
In Berlin, we sat and scrambled
For Africa’s partition
From the rocks ravines of Kenya
I fought in the Mau Mau’s rebellion
Behind Ghandi, I walked
Paving the streets of India for independence
At Capetown, I teamed up with Mandela
For freedom in apartheid South Africa
I saw the the CIA at Congo Kinshasa
Murdering young Patrice Lumumba
At Lagos and Accra, I saw the magic wand
Waving over the peoples in the hands of Zik and Nkrumah
On stage with Bob Marley in old Rhodesia
I danced redemption song on the first of Zimbabwe
Last centuries, yesteryears, yesterdays
Today, tomorrow on pages and lines of books
Open before my very eyes and mind.
Categories:
cromwell, education, history, on writing
Form:
Rhyme
Drudgery
Monday I’m groggy
Want to stay in my bed
Tuesday’s a bit better
But wish I were dead
Wednesday is hump day
I don’t care one single bit
Thursday’s pre-Friday
And I’m ready to quit
Friday drags on
I need a few beers
Saturday’s cheerful
No need to shed tears
Sunday’s much needed
Off early to bed
‘Twas a long week
There’s another ahead...
~J.D. Cromwell
Categories:
cromwell, depression,
Form:
I let a boy, a Roundhead* boy, to live...
I knocked him down, and said, 'stay down my boy!
You're fourteen, and your mother waits to give
You letters** - HEY THEN! THAT is not a TOY!'
(For he'd stuck me a bit wi' a little knife,)
It only hurted summat, so I took it,
And said, 'stay DOWN! THESE words are worth your life!'
He cried a bit -- I took his hand and shook it,
Then, I pulled out the knife, and gave it back.
And knocked him out, then, and left him for dead,
'You'll wake up well alive, lad!' Then a 'crack'!
A Roundhead* bullet took me in the head.
So, I lay down a bit, to rest me eyes,
And I am lying there still, I must surmise...
* 'Roundhead' was the Kingsmen's name for the Parliamentarian forces of Oliver
Cromwell
** it was not uncommon, after a battle, once the boys were furloughed, for
family to send the boys back with letters for the men who still fought
Categories:
cromwell, courage, death, devotion, irony,
Form:
Sonnet