Long and long I set traps and defences
to keep invaders from my rocky shores.
Lined up the catapults, mangonels and caltrops
In readiness for the enemy bringing war.
The boiling oil seethed richly in the vats,
the youngest children set to watch the pots.
The archers on the ramparts checked their fletching
whilst pikemen honed their weapons and drew lots.
But General Iciness was drunk on duty,
and Legate Caution thought the troops should wait.
Centurions declined to follow orders,
and sent the legions out to hold the gate.
Your army swept across my narrow islet
and bribed my legionaries not to fight.
And impotently watching from my tower
I wept and knew that you would seize the night:
My weapons were outdated and outmoded;
too long I’d faced a weaker enemy.
I’d lived in isolation for too long,
now victim of my own complancency.
Your generals called for aerial bombardment,
their weapons Love, Acceptance, Honesty.
And my commanders, Fear, Doubt and Self-Loathing,
could not defend against your infantry.
So I let down the drawbridge to your generals;
I knew my preparations were undone.
Your army breached the fortress of my heart:
I was outflanked, outmanoevered and outgunned.
(2002)
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