Falluja-in-Charlbury revisited 

Falluja-in-Charlbury Revisited

The old man
Waves
Twisted stumps of steel into the sky
Abuzz with whirring mosquito men
Agitated Americans
Flash by in their copters
Trigger unhappy
A big one is down
Down
Down

This bird will no longer fly
This eagle will not command
Their skies again

The Fallujans have brought down a big helicopter
15 Americans are dead
Revenge is sweet for some
A strange poetic justice

In Charlbury
The Kingfisher dives into the stream
The swallows have fled
War seems to be over
The rebels have disbanded
The banner that stood before Parliament is gone

We wave nothing
Either in anger or in greeting
At the American planes flying in from the gulf
We place no masks of Bush or Blair
On our bonfire festival effigies

We are more successfully oppressed
Than our angry Arab brothers

Today
Guy Fawkes is an immigrant burned on the cricket ground

We will keep on burning
His impiety
Full of shallow good cheer
His fight for freedom
Burnt out
Like our indignation