History in Poetry

[worddancer]

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 5TH of NOVEMBER.

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot.
How Guy Fawkes baulked the government,
It’s decisions and, covenants.
And how he plotted to blow up the lot.

Children hunt while mothers groan,
‘Why can’t we be left alone?
All we want is a place to rest,
But all we hear is, ‘Where’s Grandpa’s vest?
Where’s those old trousers you threw out,
And those shoes, with their soles half out?
If I threw them out, then they’re no good,
So please be quiet you know you should.’

‘We won’t be noisy; we will be good.
We’re looking for two long bits of wood.’
‘Hey Mum, we found these sticks, in the bombed out houses.
Can we have Dad’s old coat; and these old trousers?’
Stuffed with paper and rags; gosh, he’s fat!
The bonfire’s ready, but where’s the Guy’s hat?
Oh there it is, stuck fast in that briar,
Now Guy Fawkes is ready for our street’s Bon Fire.

Mum’s doin’ the washin’, Dad’s at his works,
We need some money to buy fireworks.
‘Penny for the Guy, Mister,’ heard outside the shop,
‘We must have some crackers when we put him up top.’
Bangers and Jumping Jacks, thrown on the ground
To give all a fright and make feet dodge around.
There’re bottles with rockets that fly to the sky.
There’re hands in pockets; warm and dry.

The flames rise high, we could see through the fire
The Guy stands up on his funeral pyre.
He cannot jump off the great pile of wood
He’s tied tight to the chair that used to be good.
And on the chair’s legs, we all scratched our names,
Remembering the reason as it goes up in flames.
On each 5th of November, we remember Guy Fawkes,
When he planned to blow up the House of Lords.

Tortured; guilty of treason, the story is told
How he cheated The Hangman; he jumped off the scaffold.
This did not go well with government and Crown
Who draw and quarter, their enemies of renown.
They enforced a law that all should remember
And proclaimed a holiday, for the 5th of November

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot.
Fawkes disagreed with the government,
It’s decisions and, covenants.
But it made sure Guy Fawkes, was never forgot!


Guy Fawkes 1570 – 1606
He really should have chosen his friends better than he did.
A group planned to assassinate King James and restore a Catholic Monarch to the throne of England.
An anonymous letter caused the authorities to search Westminster Palace.
Left by his Catholic friends to guard the Gunpowder under the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes was arrested. He was questioned and tortured for the following few days and then taken out for execution.
The holiday was proclaimed as a warning that was supposed to remind anyone who may have had the same idea that they won’t get away with it.
They were really peeved that they couldn’t pull him apart and send the parts to all points of the compass.
Gruesome Lot, weren’t they?
There is a comprehensive biography here: www.britannia.com/history/g-fawkes.html

if we had learnt History like this, we would have remember more!

[Maureen K Clifford]

Eliza that bought back memories I had long forgotten especially the pulling of timber out of bombed out buildings and begging on the streets for the penny for the Guy. As a kid fireworks day was always huge - I remember Dad helping build the massive bonfire on the local common, as a fireman I guess he just wanted to be sure it was done safely.

I agree if history were taught like this kids might remember it but I don't even know if they teach history anymore - probably to old hat these days and lets face it with the twin towers explosions in our current history the attempted blowing up of the HP pales into significance.

Great write though and thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Cheers

Maureen

[worddancer]

Thank you Maureen for coming down The Lane with me.

The successful blowing up of the Twin Towers and The White House just shows that the mind set of a determined few has not changed.
Their methods of befriending and use of a few 'patsies' to do the dirty-work hasn't changed either. Only their methods and tools to carry out the plots have moved with the times.

ELiza

[Heather]

Thanks for the poem and the history lesson Eliza. I have very faint memories of Guy Fawkes night as a kid. The problem was that my father worked at the Royal Children's Hospital as a photographer and would take photos of "before" and "after" of kids who had burnt themselves with fireworks and fire - it made me very wary. (I didn't see the photos I hasten to add, just heard about the stories).

Heather