Here's Adieu to Old England.......pretty apt at present!

Tim Radford

ADIEU TO OLD ENGLAND - George Blake, 30 May 1906 - version

Oh once I could ride in a coach,
Had horses to drag me about:
But now I’m confined in a gaol so strong
And I know not which way to get out.

        Here’s adieu to old England, adieu
        Here’s adieu to ten thousand, that’s more.
        If the world had been ended whilst I had been young
        My sorrows I ne’er should have known.

Oh once I could lie on a bed
That was made of the finest of down.
But now I am glad of a truss of green grass,
To keep my head from the cold ground.

Once I could eat of the bread
That was made from the finest of wheat
But now I am glad with a knolly bread crust
I’m glad I can get it to eat.

Oh once I could drink of that wine
That was made from the finest of grapes,
But now I am glad with a clear water spring
I’m glad I can get it to drink.