POETRY CORNER

[Stanley]

I thought we had a topic for poetry but if we have I can't find it so I have started one.
Is your brain ever attacked by a fragment of poetry that becomes one of Wendy's ear worms? Mine is and I have one today that is nagging me and I can't find a source for it. Here it si.

Today's my daughter's wedding day, ten thousand pounds I'll give away.
Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah.

On second thoughts, I think it best, to stow it away in the old oak chest.
(chorus) You dirty rotten B****rd!

Has anyone else heard it or has any idea where it came from.....

[PanBiker]

It's in other hobbies and interests on the home page.

Other Hobbies and Interests

[Big Kev]

I thought we had a topic for poetry but if we have I can't find it so I have started one.
Is your brain ever attacked by a fragment of poetry that becomes one of Wendy's ear worms? Mine is and I have one today that is nagging me and I can't find a source for it. Here it si.

Today's my daughter's wedding day, ten thousand pounds I'll give away.
Hurrah Hurrah Hurrah.

On second thoughts, I think it best, to stow it away in the old oak chest.
(chorus) You dirty rotten B****rd!

Has anyone else heard it or has any idea where it came from.....

Landlady's Daughter https://share.google/4w7ULneBxuyqJKPUP

[Tripps]

Thanks for the link Kev. I've just had a nice hour or so surfing round.

I'd heard a version of the poem, buy can't remember where it came from. I associate it with the army somehow - it's the kind of thing you might hear spontaneously from a drinking companion. I guess it's quite old.


Please don't delete the thread - better to have two such, rather than delete this one. No one will notice.

Current;y I keep going back to this. . . .l

[Stanley]

That was quite splendid David..... Thank you.

[PanBiker]

I will move the topic into the existing Poetry category.

[Stanley]

Thanks Ian!
Here's part of the sound track of my youth.... Owen Brannigan accompanied by Ernest Lush singing 'On the Road to Mandalay'.

[Stanley]

I think it was the Road to Mandalay that triggered my next ear worm....

[Stanley]

[Tripps]

This is a case where reading is better than listening - I'd say. . . .

For all we have and are,
For all our children’s fate,
Stand up and take the war.
The Hun is at the gate!
Our world has passed away
In wantonness o’erthrown.
There is nothing left to-day
But steel and fire and stone!
Though all we knew depart,
The old Commandments stand—
“In courage keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand.”

Once more we hear the word
That sickened earth of old:—
“No law except the Sword
Unsheathed and uncontrolled.”
Once more it knits mankind
Once more the nations go
To meet and break and bind
A crazed and driven foe.

Comfort, content, delight,
The ages’ slow-bought gain,
They shrivelled in a night.
Only ourselves remain
To face the naked days
In silent fortitude,
Through perils and dismays
Renewed and re-renewed.
Though all we made depart,
The old Commandments stand:—
“In patience keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand.”

No easy hope or lies
Shall bring us to our goal,
But iron sacrifice
Of body, will, and soul.
There is but one task for all—
One life for each to give.
What stands if Freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?


PS I checked out the words of Gunga Din - quickly turning to Page 327 of The Complete Works - and found as I thought that the reader pronounced "pani lao " wrongly. If you want reassurance that AI won't take over the world - do an AI search on 'pani lao' and relax. It just means 'bring water quickly'. AI has other ideas and can't get the country of Laos out of its focus.


PPS Just in case if anyone's interested - the Romany Gypsy word for water is also 'pani'. It is said they originated from India. I knew that little gem would come in handy one day.

[Stanley]

You could be right David.... It does read well. Problem is that poetry has so little general appeal and I thought that perhaps if it was read it might get more attention....