The English façade

European
Football
Championship
2020/21

The facade

Did its
Job
All across
The terraces

The façade
Faces
Formed
A blob
White
And round

The façade
Of the mob

Battalion
Of dolls
In football shirts

An English facade
It’s not
55 years of hurt
It’s 55 years
Of a façade
Broken down
Chasing the cat
Its eyes stare
Just before
You make it
No more

-Dead-

It covered
The stadium
Like a darkness
Above
And above
The darkness
A giant face

The face of England

It covered the stadium
Like a ghostly film
A thick roof
Of black fog
With
Anger
Right in the middle

It blanketed
The game
With the emotions
Of millions
Of people
Who were not
Even
There

This fog
Of darkness
This blanket
Of emotion

That came
From the TV
Across the sky
Like a frightened black
Cloud
And covered
The game
That descended
Into defeat

And the players
Were playing
Like playing cards

The English façade

Then onto the stage
Came the mask
That wore
The man

The drainpipe man
In the drip-dry shirt

And a set of dreams
From the bank fried clam

The 55 years of hurt

It’s not from football
It’s from the façade

The English façade

Its furry paws
Grabbed the rug
Tug
A million faces
Fall like skittles

No
It’s not
The opponent

The paws
Are higher up
They maul
And tear
At the flesh
Of the nation

Behind
The English façade

That plants
The seeds of thought
Into our heart

Poor men
Poor squad
Thrown to the mob

Overall
No love
No love
From the nation

But a smog
The English façade

It was heavy
It was dark
Its was
The English façade

They came
To teach us
A lesson
And they succeeded

The amphitheatre
Belonged to them
It was Caesars