Lessons

To maintain the imperialist myth

Of the white man’s burden

We built heroic likenesses

Placed them on marble plinths

To look out over their domain

A constant reminder of the past

They serve another purpose

These statues of the great

Of those who created empire

Built on world domination

Under the yolk of colonisation

From which arose a nation

Great cities of power and wealth

An empire driven by commerce

Fuelled by barbaric slavery

Subjected to such cruelty

The profits invested for the good

Of those within these isles

Were these redeeming qualities

Of those great men with blood

With blood on their hands

Across so many lands

Should they now be expunged

Historically erased

Or to museums should they go

A forever reminder of the past

From which nations should learn

Of events never to repeat