Over Fifty Years Ago

one of my heroes, Roy Harper
wrote a series of angry metaphors
set to a basic, almost punk, guitar strum
which he called 'I Hate The White Man'.

He felt (de)pressed to write it
when he saw the typical figure
of  a custodian of The British Empire
grasping a plastic globe to his heart.

When he wrote it Roy hated The Empire
vehemently enough to lead others,
who were easily roused to anger,
to do the same. How very 1960's!

The song stayed in his set until 1972
when newer and more subtle protest songs
replaced  'White Man' in his sets
and he tired of such easy protests.

The British Empire press less hard
in his life than in it had the distant past,
now that as an artist he look forwards.

The song returned to his sets in 1978
when the world seemed to be rotten place
and suddenly it seemed relevant again.

I don't know where hate goes in middle age
or who The White Man is right now,
or where he lives though his colour is a clue.
There are too many public figures to contemplate
who might be the new 'White Man' we have to hate.

Whoever they are I dedicate this blog to them,
as I try to focus my anger to sticking point
and apply it, when I unwillingly listen to the news.