Stroud Farmers' Market and a Navvy's Curse

If you put this market out to tender

(And make the wrong decision),

Springs might rise up from the pavement,

Drown Cornhill’s imagination,

Cut ditches through your anxious brow.

If you put this market out to tender

(And make the wrong decision),

Captain Swing will wander through your dreams,

Stretch your nightmares out on tenterhooks,

Turn your eyes a sleepless Stroud Scarlet.

If you put this market out to tender

(And make the wrong decision),

And talk of ‘Value for Money’,

Then don’t be surprised if Stroud’s Genius Loci

Boycotts a misplaced innovation.

If you put this market out to tender

(And make the wrong decision),

Grass will grow in your pockets,

Celandine in your bank vaults,

Weeds in your account books.

But if you leave things as they are,

Then money will rain upon your heads,

Goodness will grow within your heart,

And generosity within your soul.