The Cottager’s Reply

Five hundred thousand English pounds
For this old house and a piece of ground,
You and your wife have always planned
To settle down in Cotswold land.
Well you’d best come in, you’d best sit down
It’s such a long drive from London town
Would you like some tea now while I tell?
The reasons why I will not sell.
This stone built house that you call nice
Was gained at far too high a price,
For me to gaily sign away
What others toiled for night and day.
They hammered bluestone by the yard
And they found the rent when times where hard,
And they lived and died beneath the sun
Tending the fields you’re gazing on.
Well they’re all gone, but as for me
The wild hare still runs as free,
And at dusk the badger travels still
Ancestral highways on the hill.
I am as Cotswold bred as these
And I still need these field and trees,
And I need the soil that bore my race
And holds their bones beneath this place.
You say you’ll pay five hundred pounds
For this old house and a piece of land,
Well London’s about four hours for me
But in your 4 x 4 you’ll do it in three.