The Ballad of 1871

The Ballad of 1871

”It’s a sweet little tale,” said the Minister.

What’s your take on it? Coded of course.”

In my job, if a message looked sinister

It meant certain danger – or worse.

I knew where it came from – this ballad –

Our man in Sanremo, Ed Lear.

He would write about worms in a salad,

Meaning something our country should fear.

So why did I smile at the question?

How should Whitehall interpret the news ?

I quickly explained Lear’s intention

Was to clarify, not to confuse.

The romance he so touchingly conjured

Was the war between Prussia and France –

When the Pussycat army surrendered

To the Owl’s final crushing advance.

When my boss asked me, ” Whose was the ring though?”

”Ah, yes! That old soldier! The famed

King-maker, never a king though –

Signor Garibaldi by name.”

He’d fought for both camps, the old warrior.

So they gave him a seat in Dijon* –

But no one respected a foreigner

So uncertain which side he was on.

”And the Turkey?” ”The Vicar of Rome, Sir.”

(On whose blessing Old Europe relied).

”Meanwhile Garibaldi went home, Sir,

The affront far too great for his pride.”

*The National Assembly of Dijon

Footnote:

Several famous British writers were in the intelligence services. Can it be a coincidence that EL wrote his immortal ballad in the same year as the events described above, while he was living in northern Italy ‘convalescing’?