Category: Folksongs

Charge

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lightning in sky at night
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Charge

A lightning flash –
        one-thousand-and-one
Its photons dash
        one-thousand-and-two
Into my eyes
        one-thousand-and-three
Through rain-soaked skies.
        one-thousand-and-four
I wonder how far
        one-thousand-and-five
Those flashes are ?
        one-thousand-and-six
Been brewing all week,
        one-thousand-and-seven
This cleansing streak.
        one-thousand-and-eight
Hang on, have I missed it ?
        one-thousand-and-nine
Or is it too distant ?
        one-thousand-and-ten
I feel a bit cheated,
        one-thousand-eleven
The clap uncompleted –
        one-thousand-and-twelve
You can’t give us flashes
        one-thousand-and-thirteen
Without giving crashes…
        one-thousand-and-f……finally !

Sing a Song of Sixty

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Lyrebird
Lyrebirds by John Gould

Sing a Song of Sixty

Liar liar lyrebird, imitating ev’rything:
Ev’ry chord and ev’ry word – nothing roared and nothing slurred.
Never tire, lyrebird – add another to your role –
Ev’ry song you ever sang, you stole.

Liar liar lyrebird, add another to your role:
Ev’ry chord and ev’ry word – none ignored and none preferred.
Never tire, lyrebird, imitating ev’rything –
Ev’ry sound you ever heard, you sing.

Hymn of Mimicry

Mockingbirds mock,
And the mocking-hens flock –
But how do they know
It’s a mocking-cock’s show ?

Two for one – the second poem is from a former verse of the first which never really fitted, and then the first one was substantially altered and out if had to go.

Month of Fertility

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Prairial by Louis Lafitte, from the French Republican Calendar

Month of Fertility

From Penny Blacks to Let It Be,
The launch of the National Gallery,
The trial and death of Anne Boleyn,
And Celtic’s European win.
The English Commonwealth declared,
And Dracula has readers scared,
John Cabot and the Matthew sail,
Oscar Wilde and Reading Gaol.
The sudden Indian Mutiny,
The abolition of slavery,
Jenner finds the smallpox fix,
And the General Strike of ’26.
The Good Friday Accord endorsed,
Henry and Katherine get divorced,
Pagan rites and Labour Day:
All in the glorious month of May.

Behold the very height of spring,
When Simon de Montfort topples the king,
With Black Narcissus at the flicks,
And Big Ben’s clock begins its ticks.
Paint it Black is number one,
And City of Truro reaches the ton,
Joan of Arc gets burned alive,
And VE Day in ’45.
The restoration of Charlie Two,
Everest conquered, and what a view !
The first election where ev’ryone votes,
And rescue by the Dunkirk boats.
The Crown Jewels pinched while the Tower sleeps,
The final entry of Samuel Pepys,
The printing of Mrs Dalloway:
All in those thirty-one days of May.

I don’t think it would have been possible to even write this poem before Wikipedia !

ags: Po