The Drums Of Battersea

They cant hear in West o London, where the worst dine with the best,     Deaf to all save lies and laughter, they cant hear in London West,     Tailored brutes and splendid harlots, and the parasites that be,     They cant hear the warning thunder of the Drums of Battersea.     More drums! War drums!     Drums of Misery,     Beating from the hearts of men, the Drums of Battersea.     Where the hearses hurry ever, and where man lives like a beast,     They can feel the war-drums beating, men of Hell! and London East.     And the far-off foreign farmers, fighting fiercely to be free,     Found new courage in the echo of the Drums of Battersea.     More drums! War drums!     Beating for the free,     Beating on the hearts of men, the Drums of Battersea.     And the drummers! Ah! the drummers!, stern and haggard men are those     Standing grimly at their meetings; and their washed and mended clothes     Speak of worn-out wives behind them and of grinding poverty,     But the English of the English beat the Drums of Battersea!     More drums! War drums!     Drums of agony,     The big bruised heart of Englands in the Drums of Battersea.     Where in fields slave Englishwomen, Oh! the sound of drums is there:     I have heard it in the laughter of the nights of Leicester Square,     Sailing southward with the summer, London but a dream to me,     Still I feel the distant thunder of the Drums of Battersea!     More drums! War drums!     Drums of Liberty,     Rolling round the English world, the Drums of Battersea.     Oh! I heard them in the Queens Hall, aye! and London heard that night,     While we formed up round the leaders while they struck one blow for right!     And the old strength, that old fire, that I thought was dead in me,     Blazed up fiercely at the beating of the Drums of Battersea!     More drums! War drums!     They beat for victory,     When above the roar of Jingoes rolled the Drums of Battersea.     And whereer my feet may wander, and howeer I lay my head,     I shall hear them while Im dreaming, I shall hear them when Im dead!     For they beat for men and women, beat for Christ, and you and me:     There is hope and there is terror in the Drums of Battersea!     More drums! War drums!     Drums of destiny,     Theres hope!, theres hope for England in the Drums of Battersea.