The
Beauty
Of her face
Filled men’ hearts with
Passion and desire
An epic war was fought
For her love and her favour
Paris wooed Helen from her throne
Menelaus jilted sought revenge
A thousand ships set sail, bringing Troy’s end
Padre
Helen
History
Crucible
Eight score years ago
Capital dome – like the nation incomplete
Lincoln stood upon the stairs
Reconciliation he did seek
“The bonds of affection,” he said, were suffering strain
But that those bonds of friendship should yet remain
Four years later
The dome now complete
He called for there to be no malice
To rebuild – no conflict to repeat
Today we see that white doomed bastion
Of liberty in receipt
Of scenes of bitter hatred
Enough to make one weep
These are times of testing
A crucible of pain
Let us heed old Abraham’s words
So peace and democracy – can remain
Padre
Weekend Writing Prompt #191 – Crucible in 100 words
Sweet Betsy (Bessie)
Sweet Betsy (Bessie) from Pike is an American folk song. There are several variations of it (like with many traditional songs). It does meet Jim Adams’ lyrical challenge to write about a song that includes Bird/Cat/Dog/Fish/Pet. Well our Betsy surely has an old yellow dog!
Padre
Lyrics:
Did you ever hear tell of sweet Bessie from Pike?
She crossed the high mountains with her lover Ike,
With a tall yoke of oxen, and an old yellow dog,
A big shanghai rooster, and an old spotted hog.
[One evening quite early they camped on the Platte,
‘Twas near by the road on a green shady flat,
Where Bessie, sore-footed, lay down to repose,
With wonder Ike gazed on his Pike County rose.]
[The shanghai ran off and their cattle all died,
That morning the last piece of bacon was fried;
Poor Ike was discouraged and Bessie got mad;
The dog drooped his tail and looked wondrously sad.]
They stopped at Salt Lake to enquire the way,
Old Brigham he swore that sweet Bessie would stay,
Sweet Bessie got scared, run away like a deer,
Old Brigham he pawed up the ground like a steer.
[Sweet Bessie got up in a great deal of pain,
Declared she’d go back to Pike County again;
But Ike gave a sigh, and they fondly embraced,
And they traveled along with his arm ’round her waist.]
[This Pike County couple got married of course,
But Ike became jealous, obtained a divorce.
Sweet Bessie, well satisfied, said with a great shout,
“Good-by, you big lummox, I’m glad you backed out!”]
Source: https://mnheritagesongbook.net/the-songs/addition-song-with-recordings/sweet-bessie-from-pike/
Threshold
Threshold to antiquity?
Door to our past extant?
Are you the entrance to our history?
And do you exit here just by chance?
Padre
Crimson’s Creative Challenge: #101
Shared on dVerse
Tudor Tutorial
Henry had Henry
Who had Ed, Mary, and Liz
That’s the way it works
In the royalty bizz
Spanish Mary failed – to give Eight a son
So he divorced her
And sent her to live like a nun
He then married Anne because she was hot
But to do so – he became a Prot
Exit Rome, to monks say goodbye,
Till Mary made her entrance and Cranmer did die
Along came Liz and the papacy she forbids
She sank some Spanish boats –
But she didn’t have kids
To Scotland for a new monarch
An invitation – they did send
So there our Tudorial must come to an end
Padre
Saturday Mix – Opposing Forces:
Our words this week are:
– divorced and married
– exit and entrance
One Hundred Years
In 1920 – it was “the bottom line”
But the bubble burst in Twenty-nine
In the 30s – years of economic decline
Then Hitler with Poland crossed a line
Along came the 50s – East and West aligned
While back in Happy Days all seemed fine
Camelot came – and but so did a Bay of Swine
Then a war in Asia – made the headlines
And Tricky Dick – his own office maligned
Soon came smiling Jimmy from South of the Dixon Line
He was followed by Ronnie with his hardline
Then the Arkansas guy and the “that woman line”
Followed by Bush-s – Obsessed with pipelines
And Barack crossed some colour lines
And all the while – with growing waistlines
We spent way to much of our lives surfing online
As by Corona we were left confined
Padre
Covered
Childhood memories of a Kentucky past
Romantic bridges along my traveled way
Oil paintings on the living room wall
The work of relatives now passed-away
Covered reminders of a heritage
The then and now to bridge
Padre
Wheat Field
Pixabay
Wheat field – stands of golden grain
Bread basket – our lives to sustain
A staff of life – giving us our fill
And yet Wheat field can be a bitter pill
The Wheat field – and the harvesting of grain
But also a harvest of inhuman pain
At Gettysburg – Sickles – ironic his name
As by his order – a Wheatfield –
Was filled with the slain
Wheat field golden – production of bread
Name associated with life, and the dead
Padre
Half Truths and Prevarication
Dachau Gate^
The way to control your people
Is to lie and then lie again
Make the lies so huge and colossal
That there’s no doubt that they could be pretend*
And then when you think you’ve got them
Half truths and prevarications extend
Be it a Dachau or Oswiecim
On people’s hopes and fears depend**
If you want to convince your people
Of your need to go to war
Tell them that mass destruction awaits them
In 45 minutes – not a moment more
Remind the public often
They live in a democracy
Where everyone’s free and equal –
Just maybe – not as much as thee
Padre
^”Work Makes You Free” A Doublespeak
Going Dutch
CCC#90
No – it’s not Holland –
Not Amsterdam with canals grand
Nor Harlaam with straight cut waterway
Where on these sails do nobly stand
But in Norfolk far away –
Where it was a Dutchman – thus –
After much effort and strain
That finally got through to us
How our land to drain
Padre
Padre's Ramblings 