To Tony Blair

You've had your best
Now leave the rest
to catch the crest
lest you become
a looming pest

You gave your best
and bore no rest
Now be the test
of honour's crest
So take your rest

You won't be lost
to history's ghost
Nor can blast
the recent past
So take your rest

Though as you go
there's much so left
The rumour mills
Some leaky tips
More misty laps
Oh, Tony Boy, cast
them aside
They needn't be your cost...
just your cross!

Every leader their load to bear
So what
Every season their loathe to give
So what
We be the story and the sorry
save there is no grit in us
We be the worry and the wary
save there be just air to us
Every leader, every people:
this day
past day
future day
It is a song whose tune, cold lyrics
and tense rhythm
may mix here and there
but plays all the same

It played for others
it plays for you
it will play again
So so, dearest Tony
tap your gain
zap your pain
and grab your rest
It's cheerio!


It was bound to come. Now it has. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has to go. Has agreed to go. If the media must be believed, it may be sooner than later. It may also be acrimonious. It must not come to sour grapes or opportunism. Need not.

In a way, the bad blood (if it exists) and the bad press (which now persists) will damage party and harm country, if not curbed. So all hands must be on deck, right away.

To one of my most favourite PMs, I plead aloud: Leave, with party and country as intact and hopeful as 1998! Do so, soon.

To one of my most favourite Chancellors of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, I ask this loud: Help party and country remain high. Rally the troops, warts and all, behind the common goal. Help Tony, your friend - it has its rewards!