THE CENTURY THAT RAN

THE CENTURY THAT RAN

The nineteen hundreds entered
With smoke in the air,
With hope in its pocket
And war everywhere.

Men left on the railway,
Their mothers stood still,
The trains crossed the country,
Then vanished uphill.

The trenches were waiting,
All flooded with rain,
And boys who loved football
Came limping through pain.

The women made weapons,
Drove buses and trains,
Then fought for their freedom
When peace came again.

The century shuddered,
Then stumbled ahead,
While names filled the papers
And fields filled with dead.

Another war followed,
The whole darkness grew,
And skies over London
Turned fire into blue.

Yet people kept dancing,
They sang underground,
While bombs shook the buildings
And fear shook the ground.

Then televisions flickered,
Man walked on the moon,
The old world was changing,
And changing too soon.

The young wore their colours,
The Beatles sang loud,
And dreams of rebellion
Ran wild through the crowd.

Computers grew clever,
The old walls came down,
And neon-lit motorways
Circled each town.

We gained many wonders,
We carried much shame,
We changed how we lived,
But our hearts stayed the same.

The century departed
At midnight alone,
Leaving wars in the history
And ghosts in each home.

It gave us tomorrow,
But warned us to see,
No future is promised
Unless we stay free.