Post 39: Topical Turnips or Scrumptious Swede?

I was going to relate a heartwarming garden encounter for this next post. But, after the discussion about the replacement of turnips for tomatoes, I was minded to go with this repeat of an ode I wrote in February 2020; which was meant to be a lighthearted take on our exodus from Europe.

BRELEGY       February 2020

Farewell friends from o’er the sea
Where we can no longer be
No excuse for schadenfreude
Or need to cross an EU border
No more Costa, no more Med
English will be all that’s said

No more continental jaunts
To lovely European haunts
No more Bonjour or Bonsoir
Or mildly hopeful Au Revoir
On this island we will be
Eating scones and drinking tea
Amongst our own we’ll have to stay
Keeping foreigners at bay!

No risotto or moussaka
No paella or frittata
No provencale de potage
Or the waft of strong fromage
No more pizza or baguette
Or pungent garlic will we get
No more pasta, no more wine
On British dishes we will dine
Cabbage, spuds and scrumptious swede
Will be all our tummies need!

And, today’s date is my darling hubby’s birthday;  which, we also have to remember, is the first anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine; with the fervent hope that it will be the only one.

Written on St David’s day,  2022

They’re going for it at the army firing range
Over the Ridge, not so far away
The ack ack of small arms fire
The intermittent thuds of tank fire
The whine of rockets
And, sometimes
A window rattling boom

Somewhere, in a country not so far away
‘A quarrel between people’
Of whom we know quite a bit
Those people are hearing
The ack ack of small arms fire
Those people are fearing
The intermittent thuds of tank fire
The whine of rockets
And, all too often
A window shattering boom

And, as I think of those besieged today
I cannot help but wonder
If it felt like this before the last affray
When all was rent asunder