Southampton

The  brass band played

Streamers cascaded

Klaxons blared

We lined the rails overlooking the quay

New York far off,

Distant

Rule Britannia,

 A life on the ocean wave

The British grenadiers ,and ,as we cast off

God save the queen

White gloved stewards fussed

The horn blasted  farewell from the funnels

As we headed for a new life

And Cowes slipped sliding  away

Our bows submerged under grey  green tumult

Until Brooklyn bridge framed a horizon broken by giant buildings scratching at th skies

And Liberty beckoned

Boing

Zeberdee liked to spring in

Mais, Pourquoi tout le monde parle-t-il français ? he asked

Parce que nous sommes en France. Brian replied

Dylan was away, on tour

He was always on tour

He looked at Dougal whose hair needed brushing

He remined him of Boris Johnson, but much grumpier

Florence smiled like Rachel reeves smiles when she days she isn’t going to put up taxes

Brian held  a piece of  paper

Keir Starmer had asked him to put together  a plan to stop boat people

Brian hadn’t thought about it.

 His home was on his back ,  

Why doesn’t everyone do that he thought?

Ermintrude thought that we should be kinder to everyone

Florence agreed

Zeberdee bounced up high again

It was then that he noticed it

Someone had painted a red cross on the Magic Roundabout

Florence looked at it from a ladder

“Some people are so silly” she said

Everyone nodded their heads’

Apart from Dylan

– because he wasn’t there