Tag: poetry

Remember: never pay any one Dane-geld

Remember: never pay any one Dane-geld


Danegeld


IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:
“We invaded you last night – we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:

“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

Rudyard Kipling –

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Tian An Men 04-06-1989

Tian An Men 04-06-1989


A song was heard in China In the city of Beijing.
In the spring of 1989
You could hear the people sing.
And it was the song of freedom
That was ringing in the square,
The world could feel the passion of
The people gathered there.

Oh children, blood is on the square.

For many nights and many days,
Waiting in the square.
“To build a better nation”
Was the song that echoed there.
“For we are China’s children,
We love our native land,
For brotherhood and freedom
We are joining hand in hand.”

Oh children, blood is on the square.

Then came the People’s army
With trucks and tanks and guns.
The government was frightened
Of their daughters and their sons.
But in the square was courage and
A vision true and fair,
The Army of the People would not harm
The young ones there.

Oh children, blood is on the square.
On June the 3rd in China,
In the spring of ’89,
An order came from high above
And passed on down the line.
The soldiers opened fire,
Young people bled and died,
The blood of thousands on the square
That lies can never hide.

Oh children, blood is on the square.

For four more days of fury
The people faced the guns.
How many thousands slaughtered
When their grisly work was done?
They quickly burned the bodies
To hide their coward’s shame,
But blood is thick upon their hands and
Darkness on their names.

Oh children, blood is on the square.

There are tears that flow in China
For her children that are gone.
There is fear and there is hiding,
For the killing still goes on.
And the iron hand of terror can
Buy silence for today,
But the blood that lies upon the square
Cannot be washed away.

Oh children, blood is on the squar

Song of Tian An Men

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