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4 February 2013updated 07 Sep 2021 11:03am

2 September 1939: “Nerves“ by Sagittarius

Information overload.

By sagittarius

I think I’ll get the paper,
I think I’d better wait.
I’ll hear the news at six o’clock,
That’s much more up to date.

It’s just like last September,
Absurd how time stands still;
They’re bound to make a statement.
I don’t suppose they will.

I think I’d better stroll around.
Perhaps it’s best to stay.
I think I’ll have a whisky neat,
I can’t this time of day.

I think I’ll have another smoke.
I don’t know what to do.
I promised to ring someone up,
I can’t remember who.

They say it’s been averted.
They say we’re on the brink.
I’ll wait for the New Statesman,
I wonder what they think.

They’re shouting. It’s a Special.
It’s not. It’s just street cries.
I think the heat is frightful.
God damn these bloody flies.

I see the nation’s keeping cool,
The public calm is fine.
This crisis can’t shake England’s nerves…
It’s playing hell with mine.

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By Sagittarius (Olga Katzin), 1939.

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