The Rape Of The Countryside Poem by William Messent

Three thousand years I've rested here,
Looking out across the plain,
Watching over Dragon Hill,
Many changes I have seen.

There was a time when all was green
Excepting where red poppies stand,
But jaundice now afflicts the land -
The fields are full of oilseed rape.

The yellow pollen is the worst
For pollen sufferers to bear;
Enough to make your tear ducts burst!
Its sickly smell pollutes the air.

The farmers feed it nitrogen
To fertilise and quicken yield,
But NOx are formed with oxygen
And acid rain falls o'er the field.

At my age you might think I'd mellow,
But I just can't abide that YELLOW.