After All (For Tony Benn)

[OwenEdwards]

And after all, was it for nothing
that you withstood the din
the last Bacchalic fling
of a declining era's sins?

And after all, was it no nobility
to withstand blood's siege
and surrender privilege
out of noblesse oblige?

And after all, as the pygmies rule
on every side, was it a crime
to be our last giant, a sign of the time
that renders retrospect cruel?

After all, the days of one nation are dead and rust.
Surely the house divided will fall
and then what were you but dancing dust?
Then what was this all?

Yet after all, I know two things:
we pygmies may aspire to your titan frame
and the carpenter you loved was truly named –
revolutionary saving once and future king.

[David]

Bacchalic ... what's that, then?

I like the rhyming very much, but the wording is a bit contorted at times. (Especially that last line, but it sort of teeters on the Hopkinsian.)

I'm really not sure how much of a giant he was.

Thought this might receive a bit more comment than it has!

Cheers

David

[Ros]

Not sure he surrendered all that much privilege. I rather like the form too. There seem so to be a bit of an inconsistency to complain that pygmies rule and then call us all pygmies.