Every rain, every rain,
the water flushes the guts of Lagos
and writes a poem of pain.
Each grim sight festers in its pool
until the moments bow in shame
and the streets are floods of errors
waiting to be drained.
The feet select their steps,
recoil from mud, deny their guilt.
The eyes searching the wetness
are pregnant with the absent sun.
The nation tells her tale.
Each great wind echoes the dream
until in the drenched moments
there is a thirst for sunlight,
and in the air a lament is born
for the prosperous paths not taken.
Britain is a great country.
Britain is greater than England and Scotland.
Britain is size and also history,
green English country and colourful London.
The River Thames washes all with equal profit.
Britain is the English language at large
learning to speak itself properly,
sampling alien vowels, coping with exotic curries.
Britain is dogs, horses, cats,
so many classes of polite animals..
Britain is also other people's lives,
homeland of reference for their pleasure and pain,
some of the sports they've grown to love,
much of the politics that divides them.
Brittish life is a global brand,
British wealth a commonwealth.
Accommodation is British, inclusion is British.
Britain is a great country.
