The Suburban Classes

There is far too much of the suburban classes

Spiritually not geographically speaking. They’re asses.

Menacing the greatness of our beloved England, they lie

Propagating their kind in an eightroomed stye.

Now I have a plan which I will enfold

(There’s this to be said for them, they do as they’re told)

Then tell them their country’s in mortal peril

They believed it before and again will not cavil

Put it in caption form firm and slick

If they see it in print it is bound to stick:

‘Your King and your Country need you Dead’

You see the idea? Well, let it spread.

Have a suitable drug under string and label

Free for every Registered Reader’s table.

For the rest of the gang who are not patriotic

I’ve another appeal they’ll discover hypnotic:

Tell them it’s smart to be dead and won’t hurt

And they’ll gobble up drug as they gobble up dirt.

Source: The New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1988)