Referendum Poem

You cheered when you saw the news today,

so glad to have your country back at last.

You did it! But it won’t be you who’ll pay.

Two years, at least, before we break away:

by then your better days will be long past.

You cheered when you saw the news today

because, for you, so little seems at stake,

so why not nail your colours to the mast?

You did. But it will not be you who’ll pay:

your children and their children have to face

the consequences, while your cackling ghost

recalls the cheer with which it hailed the news that day,

Great Britain once more great again! Hooray!

Your children and their children didn’t laugh.

You did. But it will not be you who’ll pay:

the young will be hurt most, denied their say,

will live the longest with what you unleashed.

You cheered when you saw the news today:

we didn’t. We know far too well who’ll pay.