AS I GROW OLD I WILL MARCH NOT SHUFFLE by Brian Bilston

As I grow old

I will not shuffle to the beat

of self-interest

and make that slow retreat

​​​to the right.

I will be a septuagenarian insurrectionist

marching with the kids. I shall sing

‘La Marseillaise’, whilst brandishing

homemade placards that proclaim

‘DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING’.

I will be an octogenarian obstructionist,

and build unscalable barricades

from bottles of flat lemonade,

tartan blankets and chicken wire.

I will hurl prejudice upon the brazier’s fire.

I will be a nonagenarian nonconformist,

armed with a ballpoint pen

and a hand that shakes with rage not age

at politicians’ latest crimes,

in strongly-worded letters to The Times.

I will be a centenarian centurion

and allow injustice no admittance.

I will stage longstanding sit-ins.

My mobility scooter and I

will move for no-one.

And when I die

I will be the scattered ashes

that attach themselves to the lashes

and blind the eyes

of racists and fascists.

     - - - Brian Bilston