By: Simon Brooke :: 4 January 2015
[I originally posted the Levellers Rant eight months ago, following the death of Margaret Thatcher, as part of a long essay. Go there for the background, and the arguments, behind it. But I've found as time has passed that I think about it more and more. It's rough, demotic verse at best; but yet it says a great deal of what I have to say.]
The wicked witch is lately dead
The tower clock is silenced
That else had toll'd her to her bed
Ding Dong. Yet when all's said
Her hagiographers are read
She's cast a sanct, her people led
Tae 'freedom', a land promised -
Her people, no us lesser bred
It's time tae rise as levellers again
Ilk' pauper pays their Vee Aye Tee On aa they need tae live or dee Fae whilk the lairds aa dip their fee Their 'agriculture subsidy' On land they lang syne stole fae ye Land that they haud, whit's mair, scott free Sall we bide douce, an let this be? It's time tae rise as levellers again
Nae dykes stood when this land was new An when enclosit for the few On ilka barn the red cock crew The new big't dykes we overthrew I tell ye, swear ye, this is true And though thae dykes are raised anew As we did then sae we can do It's time tae rise as levellers again.
The model army, tired of war Sat doon wi Cromwell, days of yore There wis yin grief at irked them sore If maisters rose still as before If folk weren't equal 'fore the law One vote for each, though rich or poor 'Twas but mercenary arms they bore It's time tae rise as levellers again
The Queen sits in far London toon (Dunfermline's lang syne tummelt doon) Yet owns the pairks for miles aroon Her courtiers, tae, in hose and shoen Haud lands fae here tae Campbelltoon An siller, aye, round as the moon That's taen fae ilka honest loon Its time tae rise as levellers again
A rising tide will float aa boats? Aye, sheep are sheep and goats are goats Thei tak the gold and leave us groats Thei buy the banks and hazard loads And when the hale baloon explodes Thei tax us mair tae sauf their coats Aye right! We'll stuff it doon their throats It's time tae rise as levellers again.
Noo Scotland's free! Watch in amaze The Queen still in her palace stays Across the sky the rockets blaze The bankers gang their greedy ways An ilka working karl still pays Tae line the pokes o lairds who laze On Cote d'Azure, Bahama keys It's time tae rise as levellers again
We Scots were ae a motley band Cam fae ilk airt intil this strand But Scotland. noo, is whaur we'll stand. Sall 'indy' be oor sole demand While six hunner haud half the land An aa the siller in their haund? Aye right. That's no whit we hae planned! It's time tae rise, it's time tae rise, it's time tae rise, it's time tae rise We're here tae rise as levellers again!
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