Today’s poem

SOCIAL HISTORY

I think when one looks back in time In search of distant truth, The decade one loves best might be The decade of one’s youth.

I loved the 1950s, For life, for me, was fun. And things kept getting better as The peace at last was won.

All sweets came off the ration and We had a new young queen. We were proud Elizabethans As she graced the royal scene.

We had a fair society, None very rich or poor, With no one begging on the streets, Or sleeping out of doors.

Of course some words and attitudes We had then would not now Be thought politically correct, And cause a major row.

But we should view our history In the context of its time, Accept that people then held views, Which were not thought a crime.

So, yes, I loved the Fifties, I was happy, young and free. And I salute a dear decade That meant so much to me. Jill Rundle, Oundle, Peterborough.

...and Limerick

When speaking his mind, Mr Cole, Is not judges’ pet on the whole. So for his offending The whole thing is ending With poor Brendan facing the dole! Robert Ben-Nathan, Denham, Bucks.