Doggerland

Our footsteps o'er the Doggerland
Chased retreating ice and snow
Left us breathing high and dry
Land's End to Scapa Flow
The seeds of Albion, wind-blown
Free, scattered to the moors
Dormant beneath the soggy heath
Where stouter oaks will grow

All across the Doggerland
All across before the tides
Across with boar and elk and wolves
Take the high lands near and wide

Strike with rock and flint and
Bone, follow trail and hoof
Onwards to another place
A place to raise a roof
And these four walls to shelter us
Upon this blessed plot:
This earth, this realm, this England
- island, alone, aloof

All across the Doggerland
All across before the tides
Across with boar and elk and wolves
Take the high lands, near and wide

Back across the Doggerland
Costa villa overkill
Warm farmhouses in Tuscany
Challenge winter's will
We pensionable, geriatric
Sun-creased wrinkles long
For this earth, this realm, this England
A burial ground to fill

All across the Doggerland
All across before the tides
Across with luggage, kids and sunscreen
Melted mortgage, dreams that died
All across the Doggerland
All across before the tides
Across with boar and elk and wolves
Take the high lands near and wide