Gloriana (reprise)

Aboard Gloriana, a stately last leg for the Olympic flame

Evening Standard, 27 July 2012

The five-ring circus has woven

this nation into a tapestry

of sorts, its emblematic flame

shuttling all over Albany,

reminding us that patriotic zeal

is now the only sanctioned bigotry.

So get behind the flame, hurrah!

Your indifference smells of heresy

in a land where any Olympic dissent

has become unacceptable, socially,

like wanking in public places

or over photos of Her Majesty.

We can each of us carry a torch

for the games, for democracy

is spoken here if not always practiced

in the interests of the majority.

The royal barge awaits, our chance

to put a torch to the monarchy.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet