The Last of England

Billy came home from the war
To Appledore, drifting in the carpark of
The second church to be sold since spring
And in his redlining is a wing
A feather to the throttle, God
The absent father who stopped calling

I got bored to madness that June
Spitting at the sun
Hollowing the moon

And then we were the last of England
Rotten to the core
When came a fireblight, hallelujah
Ripped us shore to shore

And what we lost that year
Came clear in the emigration of
Whose conscription
Not called out in the sound mirror
But I was cruising, Gawain in the mist
There as we kissed
Up against the Pendle Hill oak
The green king
Deep in doggerland woke

I got born into this sadness
Just like you
Cried the white horse of the sun
To the inverted moon

And there we were, the last of England
Rotten to the core
When came a fireblight, Hallelujah
Ripped us shore to shore

And by Mabon
Were you dancing the broom?
By the light of the burning pier
Or were you gone?

To the last
Rotten to the core