Jubilee.

I have avoided the jubilee
As well as a man can try
I have ducked under the bunting
I have unwaved the flags
I have cocked a snoot at the cones
That blocked off the street party roads
Where everybody was indoors
Watching it all on TV
As if it was the 70's
And all the shops were closed.

I have tried not to think about punk
Which was as long ago from today
As the Second World War was from them.
Something more
Than spitting distance
I suppose.

But I'd had a bath and I was bored
And I turned on the telly and there he was:
Rolf Harris
Singing "Two Little Boys", accapella,
A song that can always make me cry
With its final chorus
Such a bittersweet echo of the first
And I thought to myself
"Maybe this whole jubilee thing
Might not be total shit after all"

But then Lenny Henry appeared
(Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry)
During the second verse
And told him to stop now
Stop singing, stop the song in mid-word
Because Stevie Fucking Wonder
Was ready now.

And I felt good again.
I knew my place.
The jubilee thing was not as bad as I'd thought.
It was worse.