Keep Off The Grass (Poetry)

KEEP OFF THE GRASS — the sign is plain
and yet nobody much takes heed
but ignores the rule time and again
enforced so seldom — some old creed
that doesn’t matter any more
like PRIVATE ENTRY — PLEASE KEEP CLEAR
or EXIT ONLY on the door
who cares? — there’s no one watching here!

And there’s the blatant ones who drop
their litter walking down the street
or jump the lights too dumb to stop
with so few coppers on the beat
the pavement’s thick with chavs on bikes
while wheelchair users speed along
some uncouth kid shouts what he likes
and no one dares complain it’s wrong

to swear in public — eff and blind
enough to make your granny flinch
but he’s that sort — the common kind
destroying culture inch by inch
small incidents — we shrug and sigh
it may not seem like much at all
but add them up and by and by
our English way of life will fall