A Rejoinder of Sorts in an Old Dispute
by T.S. Kerrigan
Sir Farquar Fitz-Arthur Fitz-Arse,
Dismount from your oppressive horse.
Go taunt those Celts, the Welshman, Scot,
But save your anti-Irish rot.
You scorn our Church of statues, flowers,
Our crucifix, our books of hours,
Yet prayers to Shakespeare, Milton, Blake,
Will not be heard, a grave mistake.
St. Aidan — there’s a man for you,
As venerable as you know who.
He saw to heathen England’s need
Before there ever was a Bede,
And proved himself an Anglophile
When England was a savage isle.
The name ‘Sir Farquar Fitz-Arthur Fitz-Arse’ is borrowed with the generous permission of John Whitworth from his book Being the Bad Guy.
