CUT FROM DIFFERENT CLOTH

My parents were born between the wars,
And in their day
People were cut from different cloth
A sturdy resilient cloth
A cloth that bound the nation together
They were tougher people
Who lived through tough times
The general strike, the depression
The Second World War
20 years of rationing
But life had greater value
Because its pleasures came hard
And life was more than a measure
Of what could be possessed
The post baby boomers
Roll their eyes at such talk
But our country is weaker
And its people
Less sturdy, less resilient
Today we are a ragged nation
Just a collection of frayed threads