Britons Poem by Graham Eccles

For too long now have we been oppressed

Our ancient languages suppressed

To most folk now, it’s mystery

A proud nation confined to history

But we’re all still here, just hidden

Our religions, ideas, our freedom

Forbidden!

The emperor brought the rule of Rome

His armies took away our home

Four hundred years, his regal fist

Even warrior Celts could not resist

don’t get me wrong, we fought the fight

Queen Boudicca showed her might

With all our strength, we tried and tried

But those who fought, were those who died

The survivors brainwashed ‘til the armies left

And like all good slaves, we cried, bereft

Through the dark ages we tried to rebuild,

But with imperialistic ideas now, we were filled

Time moved on, the armies gone

And with them went our native tongue

(Latin mixed with Celtic Tones; Christian crosses on native stones)

Our neighbours though, they stayed strong

Irish, Welsh, Scottish, marching on

But we sat waiting, stupefied

For too long now we had relied

On rulers sent down from upon high

Defeated forever, that’s no lie

So we sat and we waited, our regeneration we anticipated

But soon, from overseas did come

A new, longer lasting invasion

Many kings, but all related

The weak they found, and eliminated

The Sons of Arthur tried to rise

Against attack from all sides

But Saxon armies were too strong

The East, forever, soon was gone

The seven kingdoms were created

Although each other, they all hated

Four hundred years more of bloody war

Was all that history now had in store, for us

They killed, they fought, slaves sold, slaves bought

Until King Egbert got support

The strength of Wessex grew and grew

And other kingdoms he overthrew

Then the desperate people all did sing



Praises to the first ‘English’ king