No.17

This is me trying on my new cardigan and becoming completely tangled up inside it. Help!

-o0o-

I sit beside the fire and think
J.R.R. Tolkien

I sit beside the fire and think

Of all that I have seen

Of meadow flowers and butterflies

In summers that have been,

Of yellow leaves and gossamer

In autumns that there were

With morning mist and silver sun

And wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think

Of how the world will be

When winter comes without a spring

That I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things

That I have never seen

In every wood in every spring

There is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think

Of people long ago

And people that will see a world

That I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think

Of times there were before,

I listen for returning feet

And voices at the door.

-o0o-


Sorry. I have no information about this great photo.

-o0o-

One day a friend called on Michelangelo and found him busy at the final stages of a statue he had been working on.

A week or so later he returned and, finding the sculptor at the same task, said “It appears that you have been idle since I was last here.”

“Indeed, no,” was the answer, “I’ve retouched this part, I’ve polished that part, I’ve softened this feature, I’ve brought out that muscle and I’ve given more expression to the lower lip.”

“But surely all these things are just trifles?” said his friend.

“Perhaps so,” Michelangelo replied, “But trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.”

-o0o-

The Vending Machine
by Pam Ayres

I am a cunning vending machine lurkin' in the hall

So you can't kick me delicate parts I'm bolted to the wall.
Come on, drop in your money, don't let's hang about,
I'll do my level best to see you don't get nothing out.

I sees you all approachin', the fagless and the dry,
All fumblin' in your pockets and expectant in the eye.
I might be in your place of work, or on the High Street wall,
Trust in me, in theory, I cater for you all.

Within these windows I provide for every human state,
Hunger, night starvation, and remembering birthdays late.
Just read the information, pop the money in - that's grand,
And I'll see nothing ever drops down in your hand.

I might be in your swimming bath, and you'd come cold and wet,
With a shilling in your hand, some hot soup for to get.
And as you stand in wet anticipation for a sup,
I will dispense the soup, but I will not dispense the cup.

And then it's all-out war, because you lost your half-a-nicker.
Mighty kicks and blows with bricks will make me neon flicker.
But if you bash me up, so I'm removed, me pipes run dry,
There's no way you can win, I'll send me brother by and by.

Once there was friendly ladies, years and years before,
Who stood with giant teapots saying, "What can I do you for?"
They'd hand you all the proper change, and pour your cup of tea,
But they're not economic so -  hard luck! You're stuck with me.

-o0o-

"No, I'm not feeling sad. This is how my face looks normally."