A Potted History – Magna Carta
Once upon a time ago
The country was a mess
With King abusing all his powers
And getting in a stress
He’d lost the grip of land in France
Upsetting one and all
Not caring what was going on
Nor seeing the downfall
And Rome effectively had said
Go burn in hell you brat
Whilst back at home the Barons had
Thrown down the gauntlet flat
For they’d got into fisticuffs
With John – the then crowned King
Who thought that all else would pay for
The mess he’d made of things
He’d raised the taxes sky high
Made up his own new rules
That said I’m Lord, I’m King and I
Won’t suffer any fools
Yet in the process failed to hold
Onto old London Town
As Barons now all angered said
“We’re gonna take you down”
So into the frame a Lincoln lad
Archbishop of Canterbury
Stepped up and with scroll in his mitts
Suggested John agree
To sign off a brand new charter
That put him, the King, below
The law; made him accountable
For how he acted so
And to that end they made him sign
A document that sealed
A more just, fair and honest realm
Where John’s powers were repealed
And though he had a sulk and thought
“That flipping cannot be”
At Runnymead he signed the script
That brought ’bout liberty
And so that is the story
Of how the old King John
Was bad as bad eggs fester
But strangely his swan song
Is now linked to our freedom
That gives each one their worth
Whilst holding Magna Carta as
The most prized scroll on Earth!
Ginz&Tonic 