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Blood and Lead
by James Fenton
Blood and Lead - James Fenton
Blood and Lead
Listen to what they did.
Don’t listen to what they said.
What was written in blood
Has been set up in lead.
Lead tears the heart.
Lead tears the brain.
What was written in blood
Has been set up again.
The heart is a drum.
The drum has a snare.
The snare is in the blood.
The blood is in the air.
Listen to what they did.
Listen to what’s to come.
Listen to the blood.
Listen to the drum.
from New Selected Poems (Penguin, 2006), © James Fenton 2006, used by permission of the author.