Blake And Convenience

William Blake had no idea that a rude Tesco

Would be erected near where he wrote London; indeed,

Few people appear to have predicted the growth –

Nay, the sprawl – of these inconvenient stores

(None of Hogarth’s paintings feature them and they are never

Mentioned in any volume of Scott’s not inconsiderable                             body of work). 

But Sir William Siggins (1782-1839), in a poignant                                     piece of pastoral

Entitled Asda, My Asda, conceived “A cavernous hall

“In which the populace quailed in thrall”,

A frightening foretaste of what (given half a chance) man                           will  do to man,

Which he penned after reading Kubla Khan.

Valleys turned into funnels, dales hardening into car parks

In Siggins’s horrific vision, presaged the death

Of the cottage industry – wherein the world spun

On leisurely looms and old men smiled in peace.

And so it is with weapons.  The reluctant soldier

Sheathed his cutlass when picking his nose; Alexander

Would never have dreamt of taking his sword to bed with him

(His boys being allergic to sharp metal) and conquered

A goodly swathe of the known world with elegance,

Always appearing in person.  Not so in this age

Of digital destruction.  Men with unseeing eyes

Can raze communities with the appliance

Of software.  And so peace must too embrace

The new technology.  The movement is a broad church,

All faiths and races and every known

Peccadillo are catered for.  Simply download

Details of the war you want brought to an end,

Double click on the dove icon, type in “No more

“Brown trousers, please” and click OK.

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