Friday Poetry Corner The Unknown Contractor

[Ruprect]

[Bagpuss]

Wait until the war is over
And we're both a little older
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Unborn living, living, dead
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And it's all over
For the unknown soldier
It's all over
For the unknown soldier
Make a grave for the unknown soldier
Nestled in your hollow shoulder
The unknown soldier

Breakfast where the news is read
Television children fed
Bullet strikes the helmet's head

And, it's all over
The war is over
It's all over
The war is over

[Central-Scrutiniser]

To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State

He was found by the New Labour Party to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, Alf was a saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.

Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a Office as and electronic filing clerk and never got fired,

But satisfied his Agent, HireandFire Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,

And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.

The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.

Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.

Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,

A DVD, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace, he was for peace; when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.

Was Alf free?

Was Alf happy?

The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.