Learned, lofty lawgivers glimpsed rose clad hatted <br />black velvet mourning and beneficiary, <br />among the artful, ambitious and astute. <br />All recalled. Spoiled statesmen, gorged on expenses; <br />slick, sly, subtle the schemers of wilful woe. <br /> <br />Renegades opined the outsider was either <br />a lapsed catholic or Madam Defarge. Shame <br />returned a smile for envy was hers best hidden: <br />Yet those who took the floor soiled, defiled and <br />thwarted the unpretentious powerless poor. <br /> <br />When eye saw all there was to see, together then <br />in search of England's painted history <br />canvas vast past wife who begged on bended knee <br />a king had given his head hacked off; hung high in <br />corridors where the profane practiced power. <br /> <br />Thus rent apart on leaving; recollection <br />of what had been years before when majesty <br />boldly strode through miners ignorant misery <br />rag wrapped, wooden clogs, doffed caps; grateful <br />for mugs of piping hot tea, pockets devoid of coin. <br /> <br />Shoulder still next to a future Chancellor <br />in the House of Commons bar, as across her <br />countenance a brave smile spread though view unchanged: <br />'Dissenter' she thought 'for those who take the floor <br />know nothing at all of the powerless poor '. <br /> <br />For John Carlisle and Barry Simmons. <br /> <br />January 2006 <br />France. <br /> <br />The Future Chancellor in this poem became Prime Minister yesterday 24/6/07. <br />She who wore a black velvet hat with a red rose was a Lone Parent on Income Support. <br /> <br />Gordon Brown resigned as Prime Minister 11/5/10. <br />I shed a tear because he seemed to understand social injustice and poverty.<br /><br />Gillian.E. Shaw<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/recall-to-parliament-93/
