Poem: Birthday honours
By David Cozens
Birthday honours big and small
Shower from the royal stall
There are plenty to bestow
On crawlers and grabbers high and low
Medals and titles by the score
Are given to those who rob the poor
Gongs for service to the ruling class
Gongs to people dishonest and crass
Birthday honours for crooks and spies
To politicians for telling lies
To union leaders for holding back
The struggle of workers against the sack
The gongs are given far and wide
But hypocrisy they cannot hide
For many recipients crow and shout
“In the rulers’ trough I’ve got my snout!”
To the honest few that earned some praise
The award is demeaned by a stinking malaise
By inbuilt corruption from on high
By a stench that reaches to the sky
So let us cease this annual charade
Replace it with a May Day parade
That honours all who fought and died
For working-class honour, unity, pride
