“My mother was in control of us and of the English language. These two things were her dominion and she made no error in the order of either. I am unable to spell or to punctuate reliably and this was a disappointment. When we were losing her and she had few words left, it was grammar that was rewar...
I’ll preserve the U
Preserve the English U, for you
For you because you always knew where it would be
I want to save the U
Safeguard the English U, for you
For you
Because I need
I need to find the you
You wanted me to see
I want to know the comma
Though I neglect to honour
Every breath implied, uncertain of its need
Happenchance I am wanton
Misplacing or forgotten
You were always sure to tell me
What to read
I am made quite otherwise it seems
A criminal to grammar
To apostrophe - the hammer
All that you made matter as to dream
Read to me, I’m always listening
I wish to spell correctly
To spell is elementary
And that I fail is not to disagree
I’m pretty sound with tenses
With when and which and whences
But the order of the letters are degrees
I am made quite otherwise it seems
A criminal to grammar
To apostrophe - the hammer
All that you made matter as to dream
Read to me, I’m always listening
You kept beautiful words in soft carbon pages
As beautiful worlds went missing in stages
Scattered in sandstorms and stolen in rages
A cache of books inside your pillow cases
Read to me, I’m always listening
The English U was written by Richard Walters & Guy Sigsworth & Alison Moyet.
The English U was produced by Guy Sigsworth.