I have to ask what's wrong with davem's use of Sir John Betjeman's
Slough? In the spirit of the original it does not
want Bend to be bombed, but makes an ironic point about fake plastic towns. Of course not all readers might understand the concept of metaphor or irony, but this is one of Britain's most beloved poems and it was used entirely in the spirit of it.
I understand Tolkien himself liked Betjeman too, both were men of a similar mind, so please let's step back from thinking there's any malice, because there wasn't. It's called
British humour, something Tolkien's books are filled with. And to underline the point about irony, Slough
was bombed in the war and nobody held Betjeman responsible or strung him up from a lamp-post in front of a bogus Tudor bar.
Getting quite fed up with the vendetta now. It's childish. And please think about that before censoring
my comments.
Here's the original:
Quote:
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.
Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.
And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:
And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.
But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.
It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead
And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.
In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.
Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.
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