Mrs Thatcher and the Daffodils

Mrs Thatcher and the Daffodils

By Rosemary Evans

(Margaret Thatcher was campaigning for the Tories at Bolton, in northern England, when a woman came forward apparently offering a bunch of daffodils. Mrs Thatcher smilingly stretched forward to take them, whereupon the woman thumped her on the arm with them before being dragged away by police.)

I wandered on the Tory trails

Midst northern cities, valleys, hills,

I put up with the howling gales,

Ferocious rain and sneezy chills.

campaigned hard, and often thought

What pleasure being PM had brought
Crowds booed at me, but some had brought

Bouquets, and so, in happy mood

I reached for offered daffs, but got

A wallop on the arm — how crude!

Now, rather green about the gills,

I keep away from daffodils.

From GLW issue 52