I.
Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel!
Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye!
They could not in the self-same mansion dwell
Without some stir of heart, some malady;
They could not sit at meals but feel how well
It soothed each to be the other by;
They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep
But to each other dream, and nightly weep.

II.
With every morn their love grew tenderer,
With every eve deeper and tenderer still;
He might not in house, field, or garden stir,
But her full shape would all his seeing fill;
And his continual voice was pleasanter
To her, than noise of trees or hidden rill;
Her lute-string gave an echo of his name,
She spoilt her half-done broidery with the same.

III.
He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch,
Before the door had given her to his eyes;
And from her chamber-window he would catch
Her beauty farther than the falcon spies;
And constant as her vespers would he watch,
Because her face was turn'd to the same skies;
And with sick longing all the night outwear,
To hear her morning-step upon the stair.

IV.
A whole long month of May in this sad plight
Made their cheeks paler by the break of June:
"To morrow will I bow to my delight,
"To-morrow will I ask my lady's boon."--
"O may I never see another night,
"Lorenzo, if thy lips breathe not love's tune."--
So spake they to their pillows; but, alas,
Honeyless days and days did he let pass;

V.
Until sweet Isabella's untouch'd cheek
Fell sick within the rose's just domain,
Fell thin as a young mother's, who doth seek
By every lull to cool her infant's pain:
"How ill she is," said he, "I may not speak,
"And yet I will, and tell my love all plain:
"If looks speak love-laws, I will drink her tears,
"And at the least 'twill startle off her cares."

VI.
So said he one fair morning, and all day
His heart beat awfully against his side;
And to his heart he inwardly did pray
For power to speak; but still the ruddy tide
Stifled his voice, and puls'd resolve away--
Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride,
Yet brought him to the meekness of a child:
Alas! when passion is both meek and wild!

VII.
So once more he had wak'd and anguished
A dreary night of love and misery,
If Isabel's quick eye had not been wed
To every symbol on his forehead high;
She saw it waxing very pale and dead,
And straight all flush'd; so, lisped tenderly,
"Lorenzo!"--here she ceas'd her timid quest,
But in her tone and look he read the rest.

VIII.
"O Isabella, I can half perceive
"That I may speak my grief into thine ear;
"If thou didst ever any thing believe,
"Believe how I love thee, believe how near
"My soul is to its doom: I would not grieve
"Thy hand by unwelcome pressing, would not fear
"Thine eyes by gazing; but I cannot live
"Another night, and not my passion shrive.

IX.
"Love! thou art leading me from wintry cold,
"Lady! thou leadest me to summer clime,
"And I must taste the blossoms that unfold
"In its ripe warmth this gracious morning time."
So said, his erewhile timid lips grew bold,
And poesied with hers in dewy rhyme:
Great bliss was with them, and great happiness
Grew, like a ***** flower in June's caress.

X.
Parting they seem'd to tread upon the air,
Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart
Only to meet again more close, and share
The inward fragrance of each other's heart.
She, to her chamber gone, a ditty fair
Sang, of delicious love and honey'd dart;
He with light steps went up a western hill,
And bade the sun farewell, and joy'd his fill.

XI.
All close they met again, before the dusk
Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,
All close they met, all eves, before the dusk
Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,
Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk,
Unknown of any, free from whispering tale.
Ah! better had it been for ever so,
Than idle ears should pleasure in their woe.

XII.
Were they unhappy then?--It cannot be--
Too many tears for lovers have been shed,
Too many sighs give we to them in fee,
Too much of pity after they are dead,
Too many doleful stories do we see,
Whose matter in bright gold were best be read;
Except in such a page where Theseus' spouse
Over the pathless waves towards him bows.

XIII.
But, for the general award of love,
The little sweet doth **** much bitterness;
Though Dido silent is in under-grove,
And Isabella's was a great distress,
Though young Lorenzo in warm Indian clove
Was not embalm'd, this truth is not the less--
Even bees, the little almsmen of spring-bowers,
Know there is richest juice in poison-flowers.

XIV.
With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt,
Enriched from ancestral merchandize,
And for them many a weary hand did swelt
In torched mines and noisy factories,
And many once proud-quiver'd ***** did melt
In blood from stinging whip;--with hollow eyes
Many all day in dazzling river stood,
To take the rich-ored driftings of the flood.

XV.
For them the Ceylon diver held his breath,
And went all naked to the hungry shark;
For them his ears gush'd blood; for them in death
The seal on the cold ice with piteous bark
Lay full of darts; for them alone did seethe
A thousand men in troubles wide and dark:
Half-ignorant, they turn'd an easy wheel,
That set sharp racks at work, to pinch and peel.

XVI.
Why were they proud? Because their marble founts
Gush'd with more pride than do a wretch's tears?--
Why were they proud? Because fair orange-mounts
Were of more soft ascent than lazar stairs?--
Why were they proud? Because red-lin'd accounts
Were richer than the songs of Grecian years?--
Why were they proud? again we ask aloud,
Why in the name of Glory were they proud?

XVII.
Yet were these Florentines as self-retired
In hungry pride and gainful cowardice,
As two close Hebrews in that land inspired,
Paled in and vineyarded from beggar-spies,
The hawks of ship-mast forests--the untired
And pannier'd mules for ducats and old lies--
Quick cat's-paws on the generous stray-away,--
Great wits in Spanish, Tuscan, and Malay.

XVIII.
How was it these same ledger-men could spy
Fair Isabella in her downy nest?
How could they find out in Lorenzo's eye
A straying from his toil? Hot Egypt's pest
Into their vision covetous and sly!
How could these money-bags see east and west?--
Yet so they did--and every dealer fair
Must see behind, as doth the hunted hare.

XIX.
O eloquent and famed Boccaccio!
Of thee we now should ask forgiving boon,
And of thy spicy myrtles as they blow,
And of thy roses amorous of the moon,
And of thy lilies, that do paler grow
Now they can no more hear thy ghittern's tune,
For venturing syllables that ill beseem
The quiet glooms of such a piteous theme.

**.
Grant thou a pardon here, and then the tale
Shall move on soberly, as it is meet;
There is no other crime, no mad assail
To make old prose in modern rhyme more sweet:
But it is done--succeed the verse or fail--
To honour thee, and thy gone spirit greet;
To stead thee as a verse in English tongue,
An echo of thee in the north-wind sung.

XXI.
These brethren having found by many signs
What love Lorenzo for their sister had,
And how she lov'd him too, each unconfines
His bitter thoughts to other, well nigh mad
That he, the servant of their trade designs,
Should in their sister's love be blithe and glad,
When 'twas their plan to coax her by degrees
To some high noble and his olive-trees.

XXII.
And many a jealous conference had they,
And many times they bit their lips alone,
Before they fix'd upon a surest way
To make the youngster for his crime atone;
And at the last, these men of cruel clay
Cut Mercy with a sharp knife to the bone;
For they resolved in some forest dim
To **** Lorenzo, and there bury him.

XXIII.
So on a pleasant morning, as he leant
Into the sun-rise, o'er the balustrade
Of the garden-terrace, towards him they bent
Their footing through the dews; and to him said,
"You seem there in the quiet of content,
"Lorenzo, and we are most loth to invade
"Calm speculation; but if you are wise,
"Bestride your steed while cold is in the skies.

XXIV.
"To-day we purpose, ay, this hour we mount
"To spur three leagues towards the Apennine;
"Come down, we pray thee, ere the hot sun count
"His dewy rosary on the eglantine."
Lorenzo, courteously as he was wont,
Bow'd a fair greeting to these serpents' whine;
And went in haste, to get in readiness,
With belt, and spur, and bracing huntsman's dress.

XXV.
And as he to the court-yard pass'd along,
Each third step did he pause, and listen'd oft
If he could hear his lady's matin-song,
Or the light whisper of her footstep soft;
And as he thus over his passion hung,
He heard a laugh full musical aloft;
When, looking up, he saw her features bright
Smile through an in-door lattice, all delight.

XXVI.
"Love, Isabel!" said he, "I was in pain
"Lest I should miss to bid thee a good morrow:
"Ah! what if I should lose thee, when so fain
"I am to stifle all the heavy sorrow
"Of a poor three hours' absence? but we'll gain
"Out of the amorous dark what day doth borrow.
"Good bye! I'll soon be back."--"Good bye!" said she:--
And as he went she chanted merrily.

XXVII.
So the two brothers and their ******'d man
Rode past fair Florence, to where Arno's stream
Gurgles through straiten'd banks, and still doth fan
Itself with dancing bulrush, and the bream
Keeps head against the freshets. Sick and wan
The brothers' faces in the ford did seem,
Lorenzo's flush with love.--They pass'd the water
Into a forest quiet for the slaughter.

XXVIII.
There was Lorenzo slain and buried in,
There in that forest did his great love cease;
Ah! when a soul doth thus its freedom win,
It aches in loneliness--is ill at peace
As the break-covert blood-hounds of such sin:
They dipp'd their swords in the water, and did tease
Their horses homeward, with convulsed spur,
Each richer by his being a murderer.

XXIX.
They told their sister how, with sudden speed,
Lorenzo had ta'en ship for foreign lands,
Because of some great urgency and need
In their affairs, requiring trusty hands.
Poor Girl! put on thy stifling widow's ****,
And 'scape at once from Hope's accursed bands;
To-day thou wilt not see him, nor to-morrow,
And the next day will be a day of sorrow.

***.
She weeps alone for pleasures not to be;
Sorely she wept until the night came on,
And then, instead of love, O misery!
She brooded o'er the luxury alone:
His image in the dusk she seem'd to see,
And to the silence made a gentle moan,
Spreading her perfect arms upon the air,
And on her couch low murmuring, "Where? O where?"

XXXI.
But Selfishness, Love's cousin, held not long
Its fiery vigil in her single breast;
She fretted for the golden hour, and hung
Upon the time with feverish unrest--
Not long--for soon into her heart a throng
Of higher occupants, a richer zest,
Came tragic; passion not to be subdued,
And sorrow for her love in travels rude.

XXXII.
In the mid days of autumn, on their eves
The breath of Winter comes from far away,
And the sick west continually bereaves
Of some gold tinge, and plays a roundelay
Of death among the bushes and the leaves,
To make all bare before he dares to stray
From his north cavern. So sweet Isabel
By gradual decay from beauty fell,

XXXIII.
Because Lorenzo came not. Oftentimes
She ask'd her brothers, with an eye all pale,
Striving to be itself, what dungeon climes
Could keep him off so long? They spake a tale
Time after time, to quiet her. Their crimes
Came on them, like a smoke from Hinnom's vale;
And every night in dreams they groan'd aloud,
To see their sister in her snowy shroud.

XXXIV.
And she had died in drowsy ignorance,
But for a thing more deadly dark than all;
It came like a fierce potion, drunk by chance,
Which saves a sick man from the feather'd pall
For some few gasping moments; like a lance,
Waking an Indian from his cloudy hall
With cruel pierce, and bringing him again
Sense of the gnawing fire at heart and brain.

XXXV.
It was a vision.--In the drowsy gloom,
The dull of midnight, at her couch's foot
Lorenzo stood, and wept: the forest tomb
Had marr'd his glossy hair which once could shoot
Lustre into the sun, and put cold doom
Upon his lips, and taken the soft lute
From his lorn voice, and past his loamed ears
Had made a miry channel for his tears.

XXXVI.
Strange sound it was, when the pale shadow spake;
For there was striving, in its piteous tongue,
To speak as when on earth it was awake,
And Isabella on its music hung:
Languor there was in it, and tremulous shake,
As in a palsied Druid's harp unstrung;
And through it moan'd a ghostly under-song,
Like hoarse night-gusts sepulchral briars among.

XXXVII.
Its eyes, though wild, were still all dewy bright
With love, and kept all phantom fear aloof
From the poor girl by magic of their light,
The while it did unthread the horrid woof
Of the late darken'd time,--the murderous spite
Of pride and avarice,--the dark pine roof
In the forest,--and the sodden turfed dell,
Where, without any word, from stabs he fell.

XXXVIII.
Saying moreover, "Isabel, my sweet!
"Red whortle-berries droop above my head,
"And a large flint-stone weighs upon my feet;
"Around me beeches and high chestnuts shed
"Their leaves and prickly nuts; a sheep-fold bleat
"Comes from beyond the river to my bed:
"Go, shed one tear upon my heather-bloom,
"And it shall comfort me within the tomb.

XXXIX.
"I am a shadow now, alas! alas!
"Upon the skirts of human-nature dwelling
"Alone: I chant alone the holy mass,
"While little sounds of life are round me knelling,
"And glossy bees at noon do fieldward pass,
"And many a chapel bell the hour is telling,
"Paining me through: those sounds grow strange to me,
"And thou art distant in Humanity.

XL.
"I know what was, I feel full well what is,
"And I should rage, if spirits could go mad;
"Though I forget the taste of earthly bliss,
"That paleness warms my grave, as though I had
"A Seraph chosen from the bright abyss
"To be my spouse: thy paleness makes me glad;
"Thy beauty grows upon me, and I feel
"A greater love through all my essence steal."

XLI.
The Spirit mourn'd "Adieu!"--dissolv'd, and left
The atom darkness in a slow turmoil;
As when of healthful midnight sleep bereft,
Thinking on rugged hours and fruitless toil,
We put our eyes into a pillowy cleft,
And see the spangly gloom froth up and boil:
It made sad Isabella's eyelids ache,
And in the dawn she started up awake;

XLII.
"Ha! ha!" said she, "I knew not this hard life,
"I thought the worst was simple misery;
"I thought some Fate with pleasure or with strife
"Portion'd us--happy days, or else to die;
"But there is crime--a brother's ****** knife!
"Sweet Spirit, thou hast school'd my infancy:
"I'll visit thee for this, and kiss thine eyes,
"And greet thee morn and even in the skies."

XLIII.
When the full morning came, she had devised
How she might secret to the forest hie;
How she might find the clay, so dearly prized,
And sing to it one latest lullaby;
How her short absence might be unsurmised,
While she the inmost of the dream would try.
Resolv'd, she took with her an aged nurse,
And went into that dismal forest-hearse.

XLIV.
See, as they creep along the river side,
How she doth whisper to that aged Dame,
And, after looking round the champaign wide,
Shows her a knife.--"What feverous hectic flame
"Burns in thee, child?--What good can thee betide,
"That thou should'st smile again?"--The evening came,
And they had found Lorenzo's earthy bed;
The flint was there, the berries at his head.

XLV.
Who hath not loiter'd in a green church-yard,
And let his spirit, like a demon-mole,
Work through the clayey soil and gravel hard,
To see skull, coffin'd bones, and funeral stole;
Pitying each form that hungry Death hath marr'd,
And filling it once more with human soul?
Ah! this is holiday to what was felt
When Isabella by Lorenzo knelt.

XLVI.
She gaz'd into the fresh-thrown mould, as though
One glance did fully all its secrets tell;
Clearly she saw, as other eyes would know
Pale limbs at bottom of a crystal well;
Upon the murderous spot she seem'd to grow,
Like to a native lily of the dell:
Then with her knife, all sudden, she began
To dig more fervently than misers can.

XLVII.
Soon she turn'd up a soiled glove, whereon
Her silk had play'd in purple phantasies,
She kiss'd it with a lip more chill than stone,
And put it in her *****, where it dries
And freezes utterly unto the bone
Those dainties made to still an infant's cries:
Then 'gan she work again; nor stay'd her care,
But to throw back at times her vei

‘This is a pleasure. A composer in our midst, and you’re seeing Plas Brondanw at its June best.’ Amabel strides across the lawn from house to the table Sally has laid for tea. Tea for three in the almost shade of the vast plain tree, and nearly the height of the house. Look up into its branches. It is convalescing after major surgery, ropes and bindings still in place.
 
Yes, I am certainly seeing this Welsh manor house, the home of the William-Ellis family for four hundred years, on a day of days. The mountains that ring this estate seem to take the sky blue into themselves. They look almost fragile in the heat.
 
‘Nigel, you’re here?’ Clough appears next. He sounds surprised, as though the journey across Snowdonia was trepidatious adventure. ‘Of course you are, and on this glorious day. Glorious, glorious. You’ve walked up from below perhaps? Of course, of course. Did you detour to the ruin? You must. We’ll walk down after tea.’
 
And he flicks the tails of his russet brown frock coat behind him and sits on the marble bench beside Amabel. She is a little frail at 85, but the twinkling eyes hardly leave my face. Clough is checking the garden for birds. A yellowhammer swoops up from the lower garden and is gone. He gestures as though miming its flight. There are curious bird-like calls from the house. Amabel turns house-ward.
 
‘Our parrots,’ she says with a girlish smile.
 
‘Your letter was so sweet you know.’ She continues. ‘Fancy composing a piece about our village. We’ve had a film, that TV series, so many books, and now music. So exciting. And when do we hear this?’
 
I explain that the BBC will be filming and recording next month, but tomorrow David will appear with his double bass, a cameraman and a sound recordist to ‘do’ the cadenzas in some of the more intriguing locations. And he will come here to see how it sounds in the ‘vale’.
 
‘Are we doing luncheon for the BBC men? They are all men I suppose? When we were on Gardeners’ World it was all gals with clipboards and dark glasses, and it was raining for heaven’s sake. They had no idea about the right shoes, except that Alys person who interviewed me and was so lovely about the topiary and the fireman’s room. Now she wore a sensible skirt and the kind of sandals I wear in the garden. Of course we had to go to Mary’s house to see the thing as you know Clough won’t have a television in the house.’
 
‘I loath the sound of it from a distance. There’s nothing worse that hearing disembodied voices and music. Why do they have to put music with everything? I won’t go near a shop if there’s that canned music about.’
 
‘But surely it was TV’s The Prisoner that put the place on the map,’ I venture to suggest.
 
‘Oh yes, yes, but the mess, and all those Japanese descending on us with questions we simply couldn’t answer. I have to this day no i------de-------a-------‘, he stretches this word like a piece of elastic as far as it might go before breaking in two, ‘ simply no I------de------a------ what the whole thing was about.’ He pauses to take a tea cup freshly poured by Amabel. ‘Patrick was a dear though, and stayed with us of course. He loved the light of the place and would get up before dawn to watch the sun rise over the mountains at the back of us.’
 
‘But I digress. Music, music, yes music . . . ‘ Amabel takes his lead
 
‘We’ve had concerts before at P. outside in the formal gardens by AJ’s studio.’ She has placed her hands on her green velvet skirt and leans forward purposefully. ‘He had musicians about all the time and used to play the piano himself vigorously in the early hours of the morning. Showing off to those models that used to appear. I remember walking past his studio early one morning and there he was asleep on the floor with two of them . . .’
 
Clough smiles and laughs, laughs and smiles at a memory from the late 1920s.
 
‘Everyone thought we were completely mad to do the village.’ He leans back against the gentle curve of the balustrade, and closes his eyes for a moment. ‘Completely mad.’
 
It’s cool under the tree, but where the sunlight strays through my hand seems to gather freckles by the minute. I am enjoying the second slice of Mary’s Bara Brith. ‘It’s the marmalade,’ says Amabel, realising my delight in the texture and taste, ‘Clough brought the recipe back from Ceylon and I’ve taught all my cooks to make it. Of course, Mary isn’t a cook, she’s everything. A wonder, but you’ll discover this later at dinner. You are staying? And you’re going to play too?’
 
I’m certainly going to play in the drawing room studio on the third floor. It’s distractingly full of paintings by ‘friends’ – Duncan Grant, Mondrian, Augustus John, Patrick Heron, Winifred Nicholson (she so loved the garden but would bring that awful Raine woman with her). There’s  Clough’s architectural watercolours (now collectors want these things I used to wiz off for clients – stupid prices – just wish I’d kept more behind before giving them to the AA – (The Architectural Association ed.) And so many books, first editions everywhere. Photographs of Amabel’s flying saucer investigations occupy a shelf along with her many books on fairy tales and four novels, a batch of biographies and pictures of the two girls Susan and Charlotte as teenagers. Susan’s pottery features prominently. There’s a Panda skin from Luchan under the piano.
 
These two eighty somethings have been working since 8.0am. ‘We don’t bother with lunch.’ Amabel is reviewing the latest Ursula le Guin. ‘I stayed with her in Oregon last May. A lovely little house by the sea. Such a darling, and what a gardener! She creates all the ideas for her books in her garden. I so wish I could, but there’s just too much to distract me. Gardening is a serious business because although Jane comes over from Corrieg and says no to this and no to that and I have to stand my corner,  I have to concentrate and go to my books. Did you know the RHS voted this one of the ten most significant gardens in the UK? But look, there’s no one here today except you!’
 
No one but me. And tea is over. ‘A little rest before your endeavours perhaps,’ says Clough, probably anxious to get back to letter to Kenzo Piano.
 
‘Now let’s go and say hello to the fireman,’ says Amabel who takes my arm. And so we walk through the topiary to her favourite ‘room’,  a water feature with the fireman on his column (mid pond). ‘In memory of the great fire, ‘ she says. ‘He keeps a keen eye on the building now.’ He is a two-foot cherub with a hose and wearing a fireman’s helmet.
 
The pond reflects the column and the fireman looks down on us as we gaze into the pool. ‘Health, ‘ she says, ‘We keep a keen eye on it.’
 
The parrots are singing wildly. I didn’t realise they sang. I thought they squawked.
 
‘Will they sing when I play?’ I ask.
 
‘Undoubtedly,’ Amabel says with her girlish smile and squeezes my arm.

Finally it is done.

For months I have been
collecting ingredients
for the magical elixir -
home grown ginger and rosemary,
fresh organic garlic, onions and lemon,
finely chopped jalapeno pepper,
powdered turmeric,
Ceylon cinnamon,
tulsi, kelp and black pepper.

What eluded me was the
pungent, fresh horseradish,
unexpectedly absent in our stores
and farmers markets,
until a birthday trip to New York,
when we found the massive roots
in a Russian market.

And, once properly chopped
and shredded and zested,
all is covered and bathed
in organic apple cider vinegar,
a superfood in itself,
where it will draw out the
healing constituents
of each vital ingredient,
creating a powerhouse of wellness.

And now we wait.

Four to eight weeks
of shaking the jars every day
before we drain the lot,
run the pulp through a juice extractor
and add the final touch ...
local honey, raw and unfiltered,
adding sweetness and
its own preserving power,
along with a strong boost to health.

A long time to wait
for this Nectar of the Gods,
but so very worth it:
a shot of this each day
and colds and flu stand no chance -
bacteria and virus alike
overwhelmed -
say goodbye to illness.

Let us now give thanks
to our grandmothers
and all the lay herbalists
of generations long past,
for through their efforts,
our own knowledge
is greatly enriched.

We stand on the shoulders of giants.

5July2015

I've never had trouble with blue;
Not the kind of trouble you'ld imagine, anyway.
Blue isn't sticky or hot,
It isn't painful, doesn't get in your way.
It might feel a bit weighty sometimes,
But no more than that.
I suppose if I was a criminal I'd be afraid of blue -
A big criminal, that is,
But being only a very small criminal, and friendly at that,
I find the blue a pretty friendly place.
And if ever I have to do an honest day's work,
Which isn't too often,
Then I find the blue
Is a good place to go afterwards to recover.
You might think that blue is difficult
To get hold of, difficult to see;
But I've never found that.
When I was very small, everything was blue,
Especially other people's eyes.
Where I lived as a boy,
The hills in springtime were covered with blue:
Millions of blue bells
Clothing the hills in glorious raiment,
Filling the woods with paeans of joy.
When I was six my mother took me
Over the hills surrounding our valley,
And suddenly, there, way down over the other side,
Very far below and a long way away,
Was the steel blue sea, vast, enormous, curved, beyond measure,
Echoing the enormity of the pale blue sky above.
There wasn't any lack
Of dark blue either in my childhood:
The night sky was pretty dark blue even though
There were a million stars.
I had no grey hairs when I discovered that blue
Lay in a kind of haze around grave stones;
It descended particularly thickly, like a kind of fog,
When my grandfather died.
Of course I assumed he'd just drifted off in it.
How I wanted to fly off into the blue myself;
But my body being much too heavy
I had to wait for dream-time,
And then there was no holding me back;
I was off into the blue like a shot.
At school, I met blue in the physics lab:
There were big fat blue sparks,
And incredible blues singing out of the spectroscope.
And when I looked through a telescope
There seemed to be an awful lot of dark blue
Between me and the moon,
Which is where I wanted to go.
We had a swimming pool at boarding school
And the water and the bottom and sides of that were blue.
I never had any problems diving into that blue pool,
Even into the end where the blue bottom
Seemed a long rippling way down.
When I got a bit older and began to notice girls,
Things got even bluer.
Especially when girls were around
But even the blue absence of girls was absorbing.
I soon found that all singers sing in blue,
And it all seemed too true.
Blue was the way things were,
The way things had to be.
What wasn't blue wasn't true.
The blue vanished for a while
When my first love showed up,
But I felt so strange without blue
That I brought her a big blue sapphire
Which dangled snugly where I had intended,
Reminding me and her
Where Truth sometimes lay
But not for long.
And when I first spent the night with a girl
I got yet another angle on blue.
When I got married, blue seemed to recede for a bit,
But after a while, blue came looking for me,
As if to say "Where have you been?"
Then I began to look at paintings,
And I noticed a lot of blue in them,
Especially in the Trés Riche Heures
Of the Duc de Berry.
The blue of those paintings
Seemed to be saying something -
Singing of freedom and joy;
This was a blue different
From the blue I'd been used to.
The blue I'd been used to was kind of blue blue;
It started somewhere in your guts
And shone right through you
And everything else, every other colour
Was kind of on top of that -
Less than blue, coming out of blue, returning to blue.
I painted in blue too.
I painted blue mountains, rank on rank,
Growing fainter and fainter into the distance
Until they disappeared into the distant blue sky
Out of which they materialized again.
It seemed to me perfectly obvious
That blue was the basic colour
Especially when one day I went up Mont Blanc
And saw that even rocks and ice and snow were blue.
One day, assisted by metal wings,
I took to the sky;
How wonderful to float in it -
To float in a vastness of pure blue
So vast that it dwarfed the broad earth;
So vast that it outstretched even the mountainous clouds
And the foam flecked blue-green sea.
I went to New Zealand to see
If the blue at the bottom of the world
Was the same as the blue at the top.
It was just the same,
But when they told me there
That I had a blue aura
I began to suspect
That I couldn't be objective about blue.
In any case, the Antipodean lasses
Made me feel as blue as I had ever felt.
Is blue really real, I thought to myself one day
As I ate a bowl full of Psilocybe mushrooms.
Half an hour later my eyes were fixed
On the blue door
And I knew it to be the doorway to Paradise.
I walked through it
And the sky outside was huge, grey-blue,
Crowded with dark blue elephants of heaven.
And standing proudly in the midst of space
Was the perfect arc of a rainbow,
And I knew that my old friend Akshobhya
Was not far away.
Even the car that we drove in was blue -
A rich, dark, velvety blue.
Years later I was in the Orient;
There the sky is a blue
Difficult to imagine
Until you have seen it.
On the island of Ceylon the blue is so blue
It seems to press down on and penetrate everything -
It's irresistible, adamantine blue.
But of course it's subtle too, that Ceylonese blue.
Sometimes it's pale, so pale that you wonder
Whether it's blue at all,
Or whether it's your own mind you're seeing.
But more often it's that rich, luminous, velvety blue
That baffles the eye and baffles the brain:
Where is the blue?
Is it near or far, inside or outside?
Now, in middle age, I have no real difficulty with blue.
My blue has become deeper and more pervasive.
It has filled my head, my lungs and my heart.
Turning towards a picture of the Buddha,
I feel the blue in and around me
Is continuous with the blue in and around Him.

Gordon and I waited outside, while the Australian soldiers were carried onto one of the transports. They were all stretcher cases, men who had been shot or blown up by Malayan terrorists I think. When every one was taken on board, Gordon and I were told to board the other Dakota type aircraft, along with a large chest of spare parts, and two air frame fitters. Both aircraft were identical and equally sparse and noisy, described as flying pigs by the pilot of our aircraft, who was a Flight Searjeant. There were two nursing sisters on the other aircraft, looking after the injured men,  our aircraft was almost empty by comparison. We took off with the engines roar filling our ears, and turned towards Ceylon, now renamed Sri Lanka. I prefer the former name personally. That part of the flight went ok, although there was no sight of land until we touched down in Colombo.
Colombo was quite beautiful and I can't recall where we were billeted but I do recall that there were rows of wooden bungalow's set amidst cocoanut palms. There were lot's of nuts on the ground, still in their husks, but we could not break them open without some kind of tool. We were also warned to keep clear of falling nuts, which could be lethal to anyone below.  The following morning we left Ceylon and headed out across The Java Sea, looking for a small island which if memory serves was called Koepeng.  That's when things started to get a little hairy!!

I've never been to China

I almost went to France,

I missed a flight to Russia once

I only missed by chance

Rome's intoxicating

The air there is sublime

But, I've never been there either

I just didn't have the time

I missed a train to Scotland

Bypassed Wales, and well Why Not?

There's nothing there in Cardiff

Other countries haven't got

I thought about the islands

Bui I do not  like the sun

So I thought about a cruse ship

Still, I've never been on one

Alaska, has the mountains

forests wide and big brown bears

But as you can imagine

I've also not been there

I thought about Hawaii

but I never made that trip

I thought about the hula

And I thought I'd  hurt my hip

I booked a flight to Cairo

Never went as you could guess

Saw a story on the news one day

And Jesus, what a mess

The pyramids had scaffolding

The place was full of sand

So I stayed home and watched telly

And then that trip was canned

I've never been to Ireland

or Cuba or Ceylon

And at the rate I'm going

It won't be long before their gone

I've thought about the Norway fjords

and lovely Swedish parks

but I've heard that all their fjords are filled

With big man eating sjarks!

I've never been most anyplace

I ever set to go

I'm not sure why I stayed here

I really do not know

Next week I have a trip planned

I'm not going to Spain

And then a fortnight after

I'm not going again!

There was a young man from Ceylon                                    Another man from Sri Lanka
Whose turkey went on and on                                                Penned an original tanka
Each piece on his plate                                                            ­ With himself he was pleased
He dutifully ate                                                              ­           But his friends they just teased
Till every morsel was gone                                                       And called him a silly old....wally


Turkey in soup, turkey in curry,turkey in sandwiches when in a hurry,turkey for breakfast,turkey for tea, fed up with turkey soon I shall be. Ways to eat turkey different and clever, man this turkey goes on for ever. Can we have something else now please, put the rest in containers to freeze.

Kippers and toast for breakfast,
washed down by a fairtrade Ceylon,
eagerly anticipating the Christain Aid appeal
through my letter box.
Aware of others earthly disengage
their morning monotony flickers  through their lounge,
consummate hypocrites watching the repeat soap operas,
the profundity of their silence radiates through to the adverts.
as they had a cause too,
until its auto recluse with the
outside world
the news slot borders on paranoia
a dent to exclusivity.

The Victorian ladies bubbly
Her back-hand-fly Hubby
At the back wing, he had her
high swing voice pls another
try Oh! my he's mouth dry
The aircraft of man
The spell lift oh! ****
Grand slam fascination
Had their private
back room with the singer
Tina Turner the rolling river

Don't be a two-faced wing
Not left in the back feeling sick
On your back burner- Goes-flick

Wing debate became
The revelation who
will back up
your words
We need stronger wings
of communication

Recount music reverberation
Catches my butterfly
Butterfly tip nails
Say goodbye to the messenger
The back Man Voyager
The trip candlelight lover
Butterwing lobster red-fish
wing hippy hop sing

The tower Trump
She had a collection
of stamps feeling
Larger than butterflies
in her stomach

One of a kind muscle's
No  bumps the best
butterfly kissing

The Tattooed was a fraud
The bash the wings all clashed
Around the bend, they
left one wing not to be fooled
So heartbroken more that
meets two wings
to be eye spoken

Life is complicated
Butterfly Malabar
Your eyes cried every
night in the daylights
I never stop to
wing him book-nights

How she phoned
I saw his light starry-bright
The North Star
The banded Native
New Yorker Hub

The gift of gab
All wings of disorder
Rehab more lovers
What wings to order
She's Fragile heart
He's fly by night so
domineer
Buttercream cake was
the best year
Every emotion high-gear
Bewildered by wing's
Wrong time to be
Glancy with her sigh
Always high in life

Not to be the burden
But why such big
production
The backyard mansion
But down to earth
butterfly takes flighty
fashion

The Lotto money rolling
But I  stay flying__
Butterfly bedtime
The sticker Honey
lullaby Airforce

Army-green but her
honey eyes bitter-fly
course
The back of her
butterfly dress
He was impressed
At her best not to
be married

The Cosmo
Morpho one
Zebra longwing needed
a short circuit to pursue
her  long wing___*
engagement
Ms. Chicken
Got burned so many wings'
What an embarrassment
Sapho longwing Sax

Milestones away Mexico
hot humid  outwinged
Maybe the print was forged
But Sage flower colorful warm
cocoa browns so dazed
Kachi Polo suits
She is wearing the butterfly
pin she was backed away

The Bed-put up his front
So tucked in
He had an extra wing
The trousers melody
Madame Butterfly was in
What a blessing of the sing
They were eating like
babies butterfly flounder

Wing talk became flighty
inflictions without
her medication
On her butterfly tablet
Such lucidity of visions
Made quite the
Butterfly reactions

Like the Aphrodite Queen
with Greater love diction

Syiphina Glasswinged
butterflies names
Try the eighty-eights
Of courageous wings
of fame play eights
one summer he screams

He came to see her in four
love generations
In his sunshine
Floridian hummer
Not the ****** birds
In the norm Palm trees
Met the butterfly storm

Ceylon Rose endangered
The Habitat off
With their hats

With her Man and her
butterfly hat she waves
and asks to sit in another
lower back sting
She just hears his
voice and sings

First thing in the morning
just as daylight is dawning
what starts me off you see
is a English Breakfast Tea

Then when I commute by train
and the crowds do drive you insane
I try to stay very calm
with a cup of Assam

Then when I get to the office
with inbox filled to the brim
I think ****** it all
and have a cup of Darjeeling

Then by midday
to keep my woes away
I have a sneaky cup
of my favorite Earl Grey

The when work is done
and I want some fun
to heaven I go
with a cup of Ceylon


By Christos Andreas Kourtis aka NeonSolaris

In 1972,
Nixon shook hands with Mao
and the world turned its back on Taiwan.

In 1972,
Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka,
Okinawa returned to Japan,
and Jane Fonda became Hanoi Jane.

In 1972,
twin Olympics were held,
hungry tigers on wooden skis dashing
down the white slopes of Sapporo,
while the streets of Munich ran red
with the blood of slain Israelis.

In 1972,
Elvis was still the king,
Elton wasn’t quite the queen
and Prince was still a quiet teen.

On September 21, 1972,
Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos
placed my grandmother’s homeland under martial law.
I was born that day
while my grandmother wept.

Ceylon cinnamon tea,
cardamon, ginger
from painted cups,
drank she

Because I want to
doesn't mean I have to
but I will do
because I want to.

I looked at her ( maybe )
and the look that she gave me ( definitely )
said that she might be ( interested )

and it depends on how I look at it
as to whether I will take her up on it

and here
I will cut to the chase,
there was no chase,
and that's no fun
so I cut out
and went home.

"Congratulations" The head nurse was an attractive lady with the rank of squadron leader, I think." You have Amoebic Dysentery, that means you can't eat and you must drink at least eight pints of chilled water every day until you are clear, when you have eaten your first meal without any problems, you can go, until then keep drinking the chilled water, and under no circumstances must you eat any food at all"
We remained in the isolation hospital for about five weeks, It was tedious in the extreme but it had to be done, After the indignity of a medical, involving a swab of cotton wool on a pair of long nosed forceps, we were both given the all clear and discharged. We were instructed to go to the transit block and wait there for further orders, we would be sent for when a flight was available to take us to rejoin the rest of the unit in Australia.
the transit block was a huge empty three storied building that had once been used as a prison camp by the Japanese.  We chose a smaller room at the end of the ground floor, it was a bit more comfortable there.
We used it as a base, for exploring the camp, no one seemed to want us, and as the days passed we spent a lot of the time swimming in the pool at the Selarang barracks. which was only a couple of miles down the road.
The walking and swimming was good excersize, but we needed to keep our eyes open, there were often snakes on the road, ready to bite the unwary.
One afternoon, we were stopped by a redcap. He demanded to see our twelve fifties ( identification cards). "Where have you two been for the last three weeks." "In the transit block Sergeant."  "No you haven't, I have checked it every day." Where is your gear?"  "In the transit block Sergeant."  "Show me." he demanded. We did. "This is not the transit block, this room is reserved for fire pickets!" We have been searching for you two for weeks."  I couldn't help smiling. The sergeant was not amused!  Two days later we climbed aboard a twin engined transport .
We were bound for Australia via Ceylon and a small Island somewhere in The East Timor Sea. Of course nothing could go wrong, it was just  going to be a routine flight!

Arms and the Heroes, who from Lisbon's shore,
Through seas where sail was never spread before,
Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,
And waves her woods above the watery waste,
With prowess more than human forced their way
To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:
What wars they waged, what seas, what dangers passed,
What glorious empire crowned their toils at last,
Venturous I sing, on soaring pinions borne,
And all my country's wars the song adorn;
What kings, what heroes of my native land
Thundered on Asia and Afric's strand:
Illustrious shades, who levelled in the dust
The idol-temples and the shrines of lust:
And where, erewhile, foul demons were revered,
To Holy Faith unnumbered altars reared
Illustrious names, with deathless laurels crowned,
While time rolls on in every clime renown'd!

I.
I turned the kettle on
by pressing a little button
on its metallic side
slightly downward.
The light went on,
a cold blue hue,
warming the water,
while I sat
while I looked out the window.
It wasn't raining
but I wished it was.
An idle hand took the kettle
and poured boiling water over my head.
It spilled on carpeted floors.
They were ****** but
hot water doesn't ruin carpet.
****.
It rained.

II.
I turned the kettle on
by pressing the contoured button
slightly downward.
I stared into the see-through opening
to watch it boil.
It didn't
because the power was out.
I should have known
because the refrigerator
smelled of dead fish.

III.
I turned the kettle on
by pressing the little button
slightly downward.
The light went on
so I knew it was working
and sat down to look out the window.
It was raining.
I wished to smell it
so I opened the window.
It smelled of rain.
I was not surprised.
The bubbling sound
was made by boiling water.
I was not surprised.
The ceylon tea
smelled of earth.
It was refreshing.
Vapor danced over the surface
of the hot water,
over the wet herbs infused in it.
I danced holding the cup.
The vapor danced with me.
I put the hot tea to my lips.
It warmed me while
I cooled it.
It spilled on the carpet
But I did not care,
for I had more water
and it was ****** carpet anyway.

Crooked widows like to bat
when the moon is high.
Under scoreboard asylum
they sip Ceylon tea
and scoff invisible buns
laughing at first love,
long after they realised
Cricket beats creases

as it happens, i didn't have a particular need to scribble any of this, part prose, part something best kept to a private journal, but since it's rather pointless to merely drink & not scribble words... there's this or there's... you, dear reader... reading some journalism that might make your blood boil, that might polarise you, that might you choking on opinions about society... well... call this self-indulgence... i think i'd rather call it a detour... the world can keep to itself.

i would wish such days upon everyone to have -
so simple yet so beyond simplicity,
the day beginning with a bountiful breakfast:
a selection of cheeses, hard-boiled eggs
(with a slightly runny yoke), mayonnaise,
green romaine salad, cherry tomatoes,
some duck liver pâté accompanied by freshly
baked ciabatta mini-breads...
     immediately serve with sweet black tea:
dilmah ceylon... all these years drinking tea
like the English drink... with milk... ugh...
the profanity! perhaps with very strong brews
like Yorkshire... but not when the tea is more
refined... like a dilmah ceylon...
    then doing some clothes washing... hanging them
on the line in the garden: in the pinching cold...
then off to get a haircut...
   Nicky... my hairdresser... ***-beast...
           probably coming to her 50s but i still would...
a a blonde-bombshell like no other...
sitting before the mirror in the salon with eyes closed
i was hoping for her ******* to accidently rub against
my shoulders...
well... no luck... but a finer trim i couldn't ask for:
for ten quid...
                      she asked whether i wanted my hair washed
i relied: i always was my hair prior to coming, does it make
any difference? none at all...
well... but you're touching my hair: why would i come
to you with oily hair?
i leave the trimming of the beard to the Turk...
then some grocery shopping: carrots, parsley root,
chicken for Sunday's broth... some ***** to purify
a subsequent cyst - antibiotic spray at home:
bad blood bulge on my ***...
back home: i'm left to my own devices...
take the washing off the line in the garden & transfer it
to a drying rack in the attic... clean the oven...
in secret go for 35cl of whiskey & 3 ciders &
some salt & vinegar Pringles... because?
England will be facing off South Africa at Twickenham...
what a match! there's nothing better than
a rugby match... all other team sports fall short...
what a match! 27 - 26... so close... but not really...
the second match in the afternoon:
Wales vs. Australia... now that was a match...
Australia playing with only 14 players...
since a foul tackle had one its players sent off:
arm around the neck / head-to-head contact...
then 10 minutes with 15 vs. 13 players...
29 - 28 the end result... i was convinced that Australia
had clinched a heroic victory... ah... the last 10 minutes...
which is not to say that the last match
today wasn't any worse... but Wales vs. Australia
was certainly most admirable...
France vs. New Zealand... a stunner for a different
reason... it probably came close to...
that famous match in the Brazil World Cup semi-final
between Brazil vs. Germany... 1 - 7...
my god... how thrilling the La Marseillaise sounds
outside the realm of the team lined up before
the start of the game... as it continues to resound...
no other anthem in the world can be returned
to... &... more thrilling than that...
it starts with music... but then the chorus of the people
takes over, everyone is so in tune that
there's no need for music... the anthem is subsequently
sang: a cappella...
unlike the Spanish anthem: which has all the music
but no lyrics...
France vs. New Zealand... 40 - 25...
but at one point it was only 27 - 25... 10 minutes to spare?
boom! out of "nowhere"... a completely obliteration...
football looks so anaemic by comparison...
even though: a decent football match is a decent football
match... it's still never going to be a rugby match...
just like boxing will never be...

  hmm... i'm not feeling this scribbling...
i haven't drunk enough... perhaps i'm just too content
i guess that's the problem...
i haven't drank enough, the day has given too much...

for dinner making spicy pork dumplings...
with a soy sauce, sriracha, mirin, rice vinegar,
sesame seeds, scallions dipping sauce...

      then some match of the day... & now: as i sit down
to write this terrible writing...
for two weeks i kept replaying & replaying
Maanam's Night Patrol from 1983...
not that i'm bored... just tired...
another album...
  Maanam's Mental Cut...
          oh god... from the opening song: simple story...
an interlude with mentalny kot...
onto lucciola... another interlude: Dobranoc Albert...
Przerwa na papierosa... Nowy Przewodnik...
   Kreon...
              i'm yet to finish the album... need to take
another swig at the whiskey:
songs to come:
     You & Me... Kowboje O.K.,
                               Lipstick on the Glass...
hmm... some pretty decent music existed from
under the Iron Curtain... how "strange"...
i'm not surprised: not one bit...
                i know i started looking at some obscure
outlets: highly recommended:
the Harakiri Diat channel on youtube...
primitive knot (puritan)...
           ШТАДТ - Мразь...
     years of denial - body map...
elsewhere :wumpscut....
   vomito *****...
    black soul - computer soul...
trevor something - into your heart...
   so much more so much so much...
            there's no time to listen to Mozart...
however it is worth...
Prokofiev... Schubert... what a mash-up...
then throw in some blues, some jazz...
               oh... i guess now i know:
i write for only those who want to read it...
no point turning into an ******* & wanting
for EVERYONE to read me...
   no... in the future... not that everyone will be famous
for 15 minutes...
******* & sociopaths will do battle for 15 minutes
of fame...
some of us will do battle for... 15 souls...
or... ha ha... not that i'm implying anything...
how many disciples did Jesus have?
12... like the number of hours on the clock's face...
too much too soon... no wonder fame is contrived
as a translation of the ultra-temporal now...
there's never any late... i'm growing old...
i just hope i'm not somehow becoming mediocre...
for such a perfect day...
come on... the luxury of watching three rugby matches
on t.v.: drinking a cider...
munching on some salt & vinegar Pringles...
making myself some Chinese dumplings...
finishing off the day with a classic album from
under the Iron Curtain?
              i love the night & for what the night brings...
obscurity...
the alpha & beta males can have their little
tug of war... i'll be the omega man...
after all... what's that famous saying?
i'm the alpha & the omega...
                       well... so i am... half-baked at being
bothered...
best advice anyone could ever give:
when you're cutting down...
drink the whiskey prior to the ciders...
never drink the ciders prior...
chances are: you'll still arrive at the... ahem...
"BUZZ"...
you'll probably also take out the garbage...
should this odd hour of 2am come...
sober people & their sober concerns....
their sensibilities... also sober...

that i am a drunk... well... if drinkers were gearing
up to the authority of being bus drivers...
that would be rather, problematic...
but in the realm of public opinion...
i'm tired... dating advice...
feminism... trans-activists....
pedohpile advocacy groups....
the mystery of lawlessness...
what else is on the table?
  how the journalism must be defended
while at the same time... waiting
for it to prop its ugly Hydra head
via the tabloid press & perform the dictions
of Brutus? that... shortbread cookie
of a "conundrum"?
    
     hmm.... just the right sort of time to invest in
a genetic lineage: in having children...
   good music, even greater sport spectacles...
best cider & even better whiskey...
a decent hairdresser: a plump pushing 50
blonde bombshell... a Turk at it with the ****** *****...
a Turkish *******...

           sure... there might be the times i bemoan
nothing having children...
but who's to bemoan the sadness & the worries
that children also bring: as they become...
individualistic... out of one's control out of one's
influence?!
            it only takes the years for them to reach
teenage years
            when peers take control:
& stupid decisions are made...
                      
such terrible writing... shrapnel at best... at worst...
no... there could possibly be nothing worse than:
i ought to be writing tabloids...
or Harlequin novels...
             give me from 3am through to 9am
to sleep a while...
            i want to wake into a reality where
i can forget the world...
where the world is not invited...

  what a grandiose day... yet at the same time...
thank god i drank the whiskey prior
to the cider....
now i've reached the zenith!

blondie - maria....
vs. the rolling stone's revival with...
anybody seen my baby...
from the said album...
eh... saint of me... would have been
the better choice for the comeback...
Hey-Zeus... this...
Hey-Zeus that...
        by the knee of the kneeling crowd
of a man entrapped in an iron maiden...
the whiskey comes first...
the cider comes second...

        i'm almost drunk with a headache...
or is that counting the required number
of high fibre beans
that so displeased Pythagoras?

          hmm... never mind... what's to be minded?
deer / bears struck by a lightning
of fakery of drinking?

                  yes, this day has been...
aplenty... there has been too much of night
with it also: invoked...
trailing off...
            to have let these tired limbs linger for
so much longer as to scribble...
these bogus words...
                        some... what's it called...
a "love" for women, wine & song...
LOVE?!
                        enough of "wine": and plenty of song...
can't make up the arithmetic with
regards to women: even though... i'd love to...
lucky me... clearly lucky: me...
i'd hate the idea of some simple pleasures
become: all serious... beta-projects and
all that's to be revelled in "redemption"
of the last callous bite...
probably also the first...
            
  let the Kyrenia ship... the Vasa sink...
but please... as is the case: keep it intact...
like a mummy... in a museum...
              let's party!

In which land?
In which sea?
In which island,
I seek thee?
Under the rising sun of Japan,
or the moon-marked sky of Palestine?
In Afghanistan or Paraguay,
Italy or Guinea?
Look! Look!
The Mississippi is the tear of the people of the sun, slips on the face of the Gulf of Mexico;
the Nile is the tear of thousands of Joseph, falling into the sea;
the Himalaya is the restless heart of the earth, jumped out of its chest;
Ceylon is a teardrop of the India, sitting in the corner of the ocean's eyes.
Ah!
Australia, faraway and distracted,
Europe, stupefied and drugged,
Africa, miserable and sad,
Asia, pale and bad,
America, red with anger and mad.
Chilean poesy springs are dry, and
Greece is at her wit's end.
Aye!
O magnificent dream,
O Imam of the time,
come with Christ!

I am drinking
a canary yellow mug of
hot Ceylon black tea
wafting fragrant tea-steam into my nose;
as I sip the tea into my mouth
the water nourishes my thirst and
the hot tea warms my lips, teeth and tongue
and as I swallow
spreads warmth
into my throat
and down across my chest
and into my stomach.
I feel
nourished,
refreshed,
rejuvenated,
warmed-up.

Grey blue and black swishes dash
To and fro up and down
In luminous swirling stairwells
Leading to the shared bunkers where short dreams
Teleport young minds to Gotham City or Mordor.

Clap clap – wake up wake up wake up!
Self-same stairwell raided anew,
Fresh faces now need fast fuel.
Rosary bearers offer only two anecdotes:
A blue cup of Ceylon and hot syrupy pancakes.

Stop stop – line up line up line up!
Uniforms adjusted first,
Cup and plate received next,
Off we went to the low face brick wall,
Overlooking the garden with fat cabbages and bright carrots.

The magically sweet and warm feast
Lightened hearts and rouged cheeks,
Enticing talk of marbles, dolls and brave rabbits.
What did you do with your lives, friends?
When will we dine by the garden patch again?

FUNNY THAT!

He was knocked out
by the Wagner.

It had fallen from
the first floor.

He had never liked
Wagner.

His body fell
in the shape

of a broken
*******.

Funny.
That.

Blood ebbed
into the snow

below his head
like a badly drawn

map of
Ceylon.

She had been throwing
her boyfriend's belongings

...out...out...out!

Clothes.
Wagner.
An etc. of her anger,

The Wagner was
barely scratched.

But the phonograph
was completely kaput.

There was more blood
than damage done.

The enraged young lady
went on to meet and marry

a postman who
adored Cesar Frank.

No one knows or cares
what happen to the chap who

owned
the discarded possessions.

The poor passer by in time
recovered and went on to

write poetry though
he had never written poetry before.

Funny.
That.

He never tired
of telling of

his great escape
when drunk.

Indeed he had been
very drunk that day.

Didn't know
what happened to him.

It never ceased
to annoy him when

he wasn't believed!
"Yeah yeah...sure sure!"

After that he never
liked music.

*

The phonograph missed by an inch otherwise he would have been dead but the Wagner record skimmed him just at the hairline so producing an inordinate amount of blood before settling on a bank of snow without even a scratch.


I had asked her how she had met her husband and she started telling me this tale and I thought she had married the guy she nearly clobbered but not a bit of it! She had got rid of
" 'orrible boyfriend" and all his things through the window and the passerby was just collateral damage. She disliked Wagner and "'orrible boyfriend" and the neighbour on the top floor came down to see if she was ok and that was that. Out with the old and ring on the finger for the new. She had heard him play Frank's Symphony in D minor in that long snowy month. So you could say she chucked Wagner for Frank.

The passerby boy was just unlucky is all and in time came to write a poem about it. Whenever he got drunk he would recall it all. They all knew it happened as there were actually eyewitnesses to the event but they would pretend to not believe him which drove him mad and to another drink.

Funny. That!

An old Persian name for
Sri Lanka, later becoming
Serendipity, chance, lucky.

It used to be Ceylon, which
incorporated the Kingdom
of Kandy.

Serendip can hardly now be
be associated with it's original
three princes of good fortune.