My first May Day: walked and walked
Lost among the legs of the comrades,
On our table piles of coppers for Spain -
But not enough money to stop the raids

Of the fascist bombers, then on Guernica
And later on us. The glorious rallies
Came after the War with a sky full of banners
And in tens of thousands we cheered at the sallies

Of our Aneurin, who promised us leisure
And decent homes and schools and health -
And some of us got them. But even then
Big money was everywhere gnawing by stealth

At the hope and the vision. But still we marched
On May Day, left and right wing together,
Clean and corrupt, blustering and meek.
But then one missed because of the weather.

Now May Day is just a Bank Holiday Monday
And round the odd maypole some children dance.
Not Easter nor May Day nor Pentecost
Against a day’s shopping stands any chance.

The Union banners are in a museum.
In the face of the prison camps, what could we say?
The bankers have won and the world is theirs –
And it cries out: “Mayday, mayday, mayday!”