Sing Me a Song of The Old Ways

A look back in verse at the way we were.

Sing me a song of me old ways;

tell me a tale of the past.

Of the time when England was mighty

and everyone thought it would last.

When men raised their hats to the ladies

and ladies wore dresses and skirts,

and children respected their elders

or received a sharp tap where it hurts.

When lovers were pleased to get married

and made do with what little they had,

kept out of debt and were happy

and the young ones knew their own dad.

When parents showed by example,

the ways and means to get by

through hard work and honest endeavour

and today those rules still apply.

Tell me the tale of the schoolroom,

when teachers were strict and upright,

where discipline ruled and we knew it,

but we all learned to read and to write.

Where they taught us the value of friendship,

and to get stuck in with a grin,

an esprit de corps that was solid,

working together to win.

We listened and learned when they told us,

that nothing was gained by the cheat,

played hard by the rules and triumphed

and stood on our own two feet.

So sing me a song of the old ways,

of pride in the land of our birth,

and tell the world of this England

the noblest place on Gods earth.

Anonymous