Sunday 22 March 2015

A Candle for the King

On the reburial of alleged child-murderer Richard III, in Leicester Cathedral, after a great fuss about getting the liturgy right. 

Goodbye Yorkshire Rose
Though I never knew you alive
You've been lying in Leicestershire
Since 1485.

They found you in a car park
And they measured out your skull
They treated you like a saint
Set the charges against you null.

And it seems to me we're gonna light
A tea light for the king
Even though you killed your nephew
And his brother too.

And I would have liked to have known you
But then I wasn't there
You were in in a car park - why
does anybody care?

Succession for the throne
The toughest role you ever played
They say you killed your nephews
And Bosworth was the price you paid

Even when you died
Henry Tudor still hounded you
They cut you to the ground
And found your crown in a thorn bush too.

And it seems to me we're gonna light
A tea light for King Dick
Even if you killed your nephews
Which still seems pretty sick.

And I would have liked to have known you
But then I wasn't there
You were in a car park - why
does anybody care?

Goodbye Yorkshire Rose
From the cynic with a tea light
To put Leicester Uni on the map
They wasted hours of telly Sunday night.

York Window at Fotheringhay

2 comments :

  1. I was waving my tea-light in time with the singing, and wax ran down my thumb ...

    ReplyDelete

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