JETS
As recorded by Alan Melville on "Melvillainy" (2011)

I've a little house in Kent
Where I've lived in great content
Undisturbed, uninterrupted all my days.
In my garden, I may add,
I've a greenhouse, or I had,
With a frame for all the seedlings that I raise.
I've collected chandeliers
Over many, many years.
I've installed the type of windows known as French.
I've Venetian glass galore,
Bits of Dresden by the score,
For my thirst for objets d'art I cannot quench.

In amassing things like these, one quite forgets
Jets.

Each time a jet travels faster than sound,
Crash go two more chandeliers to the ground.
Each time a speed supersonic they pass,
Four more French windows are minus their glass.
Each time test pilots fly low overhead,
Small bits of Dresden are found in my bed.
Each time a record is broken, in fact,
There's hardly a pane of my greenhouse intact,
And I think of the care and the money I've spent
On my quiet little home near an airfield in Kent.

Each time a jet plane starts looping the loop,
Delft, Ming, and Spode all land plop in my soup.
Each time I duck from a jet-propelled craft,
My glass-enclosed loggia lets in more draft.
Each time I hear the sound barriers boom,
My char, Mrs Jackson, appears with her broom.
Each time planes pass with a deafening roar,
My pussy gets small bits of Sèvres in its paw.
And I think I shall lease at a very low rent
My quiet little home near that airfield in Kent.