Poetry

Tuesday 11 February 2020

An Englishman leaves Hungary

Me arriving at Erste Bank Nepfürdő reception: Jo Napot Kivanak, Hogy Vagy?
Female Security Guards: Jol Kössönöm, és te hogy vagy?
Me: Jól, (looking around the foyer): "Alot of people! Sok Emberek!"
Security guards look unsure
Me: "There are a lot of people here"
"Sok emberek", I repeat
There are a lot of people here
Female security guard: "Then go home"
"Englishman leave Hungary"
Me: (laugh as that seems the only way to deal with this comment) Yes, I will, soon I hope.

An Englishman leaves Hungary
Where does he leave it
Is it any better off
Than if he hadn't seen it?
Is he any better off for having been here
Well we will see, but it must be
That an Englishman leaves Hungary

An Englishman leaves Hungary
All alone in Europe
He leaves it with its fences
Its, ropes and guarded borders
He leaves it with its hope
Of Splendid isolation
He leaves it in the airport
Or from the bus station

An Englishman's home is his castle
He has rode far and long
Trying to slay a dragon? Or trying to write a song?
They don't need no dragon slayer,
They've got their own carry on
Leave it to the barbarians
To invite the dragons along
They've invited the bear,
They've invited the wolf
They really wouldn't care
If together they fell into the gulf
An Englishman has no place here
In a country so racist and wild
No place left for the native
No refuge for the lost child

An Englishman leaves Hungary
Going out with a bang?
No going out as he came in
Like a condemned man refusing to hang

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