Yes/No poem

David Donnison, Emeritus Professor of Urban Studies at Glasgow University, only gave his support to the Yes campaign after long thought, but now sends us this excellent poem on the subject.

Yes or No?

Yes or No? They slug it out in headlines;
bribes are dangled, ruination threatened.
We’ll give you each five hundred pounds a year;
you’ll keep the BBC, the currency …
Stop! I shout. Is that what it’s about?

What kind of country will your U.K. be?
A London tyranny? Punishing
its poorest, its refugees and frozen homeless?
Enemy to human rights and common kindness?
Our sons to die in other countries’ wars
while we bow down to Gods of competition –
leave the hindmost to Atos or the Devil?

If that’s the world we’re promised, let’s take our chances
upon the lonesome oceans of the world.

David Donnison
July 2014