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Collection of Poems from The late Ms. Wendy Winter Garcia 1940-2005 of Pillagoda fame, who was resident in Spain |
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Rude songs for rude people
A wandering minstrel I A thing of rags and tatters Like an Emperor with no clothes Do you think it really matters? Gaily the troubadour Strummed his guitar If he's an Indian He'll strum his sitar. From Land's End to Landsker John O'Groats and Finisterre Texaco and Burmah You can hear a cri de coeur Why does our computer Suffer from mal de mer While still on terra firma? Incest and incipient insanity
Great Potiphar Egypt's pharoah Was potty for His father and mother Were sister and brother. Monogamy
Were I footloose and
fancy free A merry widow or a gay divorcée Or if they legalize polyandry I'd have you for breakfast and dinner and tea. The pension fund
Had great grandma been tempted to sin Whilst dancing a passionate samba With a gaucho from Vilcabamba Would heredity then result in Such incredible longevity That a moment's quick calculation Would give us a rough estimation Of what our new pension would then be? Non-Valentine
No heart nor love have I to spare And I'm quite certain you don't care Instead of a Valentine I send a Yellow inter-office memoranda. No cooing dove To tell my love Or marguerite You to entreat No red rose I enclose Only this verse I've penned To you I promptly send On a pretty yellow Inter-office memo. Ballad of Davy Jones Locker-O!
(Or the doubtful fate suffered by a ex-naval
computer expert in a cosmetic company) Once sailor Davy roamed the sea But now he buckles at the knee No long can he heave-ho-O! Did he with Raleigh westward go? Like Henry Morgan sing yo-ho? And a bottle of fine bay rum! Now nevermore can Davy sleep Rocked in the cradle of the deep To dream of Robinson Crusoe. But he must burn the midnight oil And at his figures work and toil Try hard to subtract or add'em. Nocturnal vigil he must keep While our computer's on the bleep The day he came he rues so-O! Now two by two when multiplied Make four not five - can he divide By three, six or eight, a fathom? Like Ralph the Rover, he tears his hair Our Davy's sunk in deep despair Because he cannot do so-O! Oh! For a life on the ocean wave So far from pesky aftershave Toilet water, eau de parfum! Lipsitcks bright red and
powder pink Lower and lower did he sink Together with his crew go down-O! Did he long sail the seven seas With electronic expertise By astrolabe - or rule of thumb? By Southern Cross and Polaris He doesn't where Plymouth is Or why the west wind blew so-O! Neptune's Trident, St. Elmo's Fire Not in South Hants but Devonshire Sound loud the fife and beat Drake's Drum! Coral is red and the Aegean blue For Davy and his motley crew Ah why? They never knew, no-O! Please someone find the scurvy knave A windy, wet and watery grave Down in the deep ocean's bottom. By Barbarossa, Davy Jones Jolly Roger, skull and crossbones Blackbeard, ne'er dare fly so-O! Hymn for the Electronic Eighties
All thing bright and beautiful All people great and small On wealth, health and happiness Pay taxes one and all. The rich man in his castle The poor man at his gate We pay them, high or lowly These servants of our state. Tax each humble charity The blind, the halt, the lame Do not exclude from V.A:T. Mite which from widow came. The naked civil servant
Bare but inflation proof Don't increase his pension And he will raise the roof Diplomat who fornicates With buxom Russian maid Wild passion on taxes and rates The paedophile's well paid. Professor emeritus He, by appointment, queen Exhibits such detritus All honours traitors glean. Surveillance electronic
On populace to spy Methods telephonic Great eyeball in the sky. Each pansy soon shall open Each little bird shall sing Philby, Maclean and
Burgess Who will the future bring? Yellow butter mountain Wine river running by Milk and honey fountain Let's feed a Russian spy. Feed not the starving millions On Affrick's sunny shore Just let then die by trillions Save not, San Salvador! If by hypothermia The aged shall not die Let's try euthanasia Soon in the grave they'll lie. The cold wind in the winter Our pensioners will freeze No coin to fill the meter Pay all the strikers please. Suffering little children
Come, come to Heaven's gate Jolly will thee hasten With his D.F. one one eight. If in royal London's city Shall virgin child conceive No contraceptive scarcity Abortion she'll receive. Handicapped or sound of limb All infants weak and small Engles shall watch over
thee Trotsky, Marx et al. Aborted babe, hush cry thee not Great God did thee create Thee, in furnace brightly hot Man shall incinerate. Those in peril in the sea Eternal Father save Whale and seal and manatee From oil polluted wave. Defoliate lush forests Under the tropic sun The tall trees in our greenwood Just cut them, one by one. The sunrise in the morning Bright sunset or rainbow Horizon far adorning Or nuclear afterglow? Aurora borealis In a polluted sky L.S.D. or cannabis In summer's heat they dry. Jail the jobless nigger The Ripper may roam free Asian we'll repatriate Though he hardworking be. God rest ye merry churchmen Priests female thee dismay But in the Church of England The vicar may be gay. Patriots with burning bow Your hovel shall burn down No defence Excalibur Because your skin is brown. Lament, O swan of Avon Pendragon slumbers on In Albion fair, no haven For refugee forlorn. The quango
(Facit indignatio
versum). Just what do you do all day? Tell me quango, quango,
quango Sitting on your derriére Torpid quango, quango,
quango Spewing paper in your tray Superfluous, quango,quango While the sun shines making hay Fruitless quango, quango,
quango If you should go far away With your quango, quango,
gang-oh
Not a person you'd dismay Would we care a hang-oh, quango? Just what do you do all day? I will tell you quango, quango Just dulce far
niente Useless quango, quango,
quango Just disappear we pray With a loud explosive bang-oh. O Tempora! O Mores!
In golden tongue of wise Hellenes Economy housekeeping means Milton Friedman or Maynard Keynes Raised they kids on cans of beans? Chorus. Ho! Ho! Ho!, the jolly working man With Foot he'll slog With Benn he´ll ban He'll close the country down If he can! On dreaming spires that soar or stand In ivory towers this happy band Elysium for us they planned Valhalla midst cloud cuckoo land. Crumbling tower blocks they built high Towers of Babel to reach the sky Whose Mums with prams and grannies try Climbing Jacob's ladder - and sigh! Great pyramid and Parthenon By moonlight Taj Mahal
lives on Built by slaves, not Oxbridge don They're still here - our tower block's gone. Utopia they promised us Not train on time nor autobus In Brave New World - please do not fuss To prison - if in streets you cuss. Solomon in his wisdom knew How he could find a mother true She who would to another give Her babe - so that it may live. Aborted babes incinerate Unwanted - in our Welfare State By artifice inseminate All those who cannot consummate. By Merlin's ancient prophecy Plagues shall suffer Albion - three To fungus by some strange fairy Shall all our metal turnéd be. An armoured giant, he shall steal All Britain's store of corn and meal On Mayday shall great tumult peel That makes our whole kingdom reel. By inflation and EEC
By Foot and Benn and TUC Those who plan our economy Is fulfilled Merlin's augury. Ye socialistic Oxbridge deans O give us more than cans of beans Milk and honey, not tower that leans Nor concrete cows in Milton Keynes. In Fleet Street once have fletchers strung Bows of wych elm or yew that flung Clothyard arrows that death
have sung At Agincourt, like bees have stung. Nodens I pray my arrow
fleet Soft, silent, sure mine foe may meet Make Victory mine - my foe to beat May they never Death's clutches cheat. Land's End
Lost Lyonesse beneath the sea A tolling bell Rings out its knell. By Tamar's stream pale Guinevere Laments Lancelot In Camelot. Cloud banners wave from highest tor Dark sentinel Of Tintagel. Dozmary flaunts Excalibur Which Arthur bore To Bodmin Moor. With windswept mane, on moonlit shore White stallion Of Avalon. Enchanted isle of Pendragon By Merlin bound Sleeps 'neath the mound. Great Arthur once and future king Gareth, Gawain Yseult, Ygraine Brave Parsifal and fair Elaine Mordred and Kay Morgan le Fay. Still dreaming lie in Avalon To wake one morn To Roland's horn. Of silence and small things Death, come not as a stranger. When you hear the sound of silence, I am come. The whispering ivy tendrils wrapped About the walls of your deserted cities Restless wings of fluttering swallows In the solitude of shadowy eaves And soft grey mice scuttling In greyer shadows of a shrouded house. The speckled deer grazing in fallow fields That were once high with
brazen corn. Now sleeping enmantled Under a scarlet profusion of poppies. Songbirds in deserted gardens Wrapped in love-in-the mist and columbine Tangled sweet briar and Canterbury bells Where the Purple Emperor now holds sway In his court of Peacocks Painted Ladies and Red Admirals. The sound of silence heralds my coming. The sea waves' sibilance over shifting sand Whirlpools swirling round stones That were once the proud spanning arches Of your arrogant bridges Now no more; the haunt of swans. The russet rustling autumn leaves Snowflakes swirling soft as swansdown The gentle spring blossom lacing The abandoned orchard, newly greened When you hear the sound of silence, remember me. The swan's song Not life, but the manner of my living Not death, but the manner of my dying This, the sum's total. Swan boat, thy sails unfurling Black wings me enveloping Across the dark seas The moon's path following To a new awakening On a far shore. To heaven ever ascending To earth again descending My soul, how like dark water! Brief phosphorescence my living The ocean's surface rippling My fate, how like the wind! Suspiro del moro In sorrow sighed the Moorish king, On leaving noble Granada Through his bitter, salt tears gazing At the high Sierra Nevada Snowcapped mountain Where a knight was cruelly slain Of Abencerraje's race For loving a fair Moorish queen A palace of petrified lace, Leonine fountain. Through avenues, cool waters rise In a secret and walled garden Where the fountains of paradise Spray dew on lily, jasmine, rose Garden of Eden. Renaissance In may blossom silken gowned Blushing Sprinrg, infant new born The dew on spider's silver net Crystalline: at dove grey dawn. At dusk, the captive evening star Caught on sickle moon's sharp horn, Mirrored on the river's flaw Smoothly glides the snowy swan. Rays of dandelion suns Gild fair summer's mantle green Pearled day-eyed marguerites Iris sceptred, rose-crowned queen, Amidst the dormant wheat, wind-blown Scarlet poppy's banner seen. Heard on cloudless azure height Plaint of burnished falcon keen. Pierced and torn the mist-veiled sky Swift spiralling swallows flight, Flaming spears of autumn trees Fiery red, the rowan bright; Leaves windblown, the steely rain. Gleaming gold the brackens' light, Shadowed on the harvest moon Poplars, stalwart, black, upright. Chandeliers of pendant ice Scintillate in star's cold shine White-winged winter, ermine-cloaked, Raven'darkened skies enshire. With feathered snowflakes frosted, Black lace of bare trees entwine, Ivy, holly mistletoe Eternal spire of fir and pine.
Watersprite My laughter echoes in the song of the stream My whisper is heard through the damp mist's grey hush Moisture I breathe on the mossy velvat bank On stalwart iris and the rose's morning blush. My gown's foamd laced, the rainbow's iridescence, Veiled in the waterfall's spray. I am Ondine, The grass silvers, caressed by my dancing feet My tears, the dew at dawn, diamantine My face is mirrored in the emerald pool My fingers, rain tapping on the window I leap joyously high in the fountain cool. Througho the heather's
purple, in the highland brook The river ripples my water weed tresses Running scented by the pine forest's green Tumbling wind tossed in the weir's turbulent froth In the calm of the still mountain lake I'm seen. SPANISH Levante Tu que naciste Debajo de un sol abrasador meriodinal Que nunca viste Los cisnes blancos
como la nevada boreal O la encina Contra el cielo gris,
negra, desnuda, helada Con la escarcha Como la filigrana de las rejas forjadas De casas blancas Dormitando bajo el sol de mediodia Tan inquietas Las golondrinas revoloteando
dia por dia Sus alas negras Buscan la solana, huyen la nevisca fria Y ansiosas Como yo buscando
tu cلlida caricia Del aire del sur. Si me querيas Como vuela el halcَn Hacia el sol Volarل mi corazon Si me querيas Como dulce cancion Del ruiseٌor Cantarل mi corazon Si me querيas Como paloma blanca Busca pareja Mi anhelante alma Busca la tuya Si tu vendrيas Sobre las salinas Se ciernan Las golondrinas Del mar Y alegres vienen Para siempre amar Si tu vendrيas En mis brazos
quedar Y me besarيas Sin jamas parar Como el ave marino Te amaré Sempiterno cariٌo Te entregaré. Wenn ich ein Vِglein war Si yo ave fuera Y dos alas tuviera Volarيa junto a ti. Como no soy pلjaro Y volar no puedo He de quedarme aqui. Aunque estas lejos Te veo en sueٌos Aْn hablo contigo. Pero cuando despierto Me encuentro solo No estas conmigo. Ni por la noche
siquiera Pasa hora cualquiera En que no despierte Mi corazon, velando Mil veces pensando
Que el tuyo me diste. (Traducciَn del poema de Goethe) Orihuela Ay! que huela
Orihuela Aurariola como apesta! Su urbanismo padece
estrabismo Porque no ven como construyen Sin ninguno permiso
chaletito para extranjero. Como defraude el ajeno
y el borrego foraneo Aurariola que tufo, de la Segura sumidero! Su Palacio de Justicia no toma nunca noticia De denuncia cualquiera Sus funcionarios son justicieros callejeros. En el fuero de Teodomiro En el reino de Leovigildo En Orihuela no hay justicia
aunque en el portal hay diosa Que los ojos no venden pero injusticias no ven Saque de los ojos el madero antes de juzgar el vecino. Aurariola que hedor Orihuela
sin pudor Orihuela, que ramera, ciudad pazpuerca Juzgue que no sea juzgado que con el mismo fallo No serل juzgado en el ْltimo juicio Por el Juez Supremo del Universo entero. De Abderahman el reino
de Cَrdoba el emirato De Alfonso decimo Auroriola
el feudo San Juan de Jerusلlen hospitalero Resuscita y ven al Hospital de Bartolomeo Matasano y matadero De la fértil Vega Baja, Orihuela legaٌosa Verguenza,sinverguenza de la Espaٌa entera. El sueٌo Viniste a mي En la oscura Y fresca noche Cuando dormي En ti soٌaba En silencio Al amanecer Se disipaba Mis sueٌo de ti Como niebla Se desvanece Por la maٌana Pinatarense Verde pino Pinar, pinatar Oloroso De resina Cristalina Ambarinos Tus ojos Morunos De ciervo Del monte pinoso Pinar, pinatar Verde mar Barcos de pesca En mar de plata Bajo la luna Luz de luna En el pinar Pinatar Tu beso Olor de romero Como hiedra Cariٌosa Que abraza La glorieta Te abrazo Blanca La paloma Del palomar Mi amor lleva A tu ventana Del rosal la rosa Roja Gloriosa Perfumada Mi amor seٌala Recuerdos A rememorar, romero Que a ti te quiero Mucho Una rosa para mi amor Por un beso una flor Doy Trebol para la suerte Laurel hasta la muerte Fiel Guirnalda de ciprés No me olvides Nunca Flores Limon, limonero Flores del naranjal Oro de Levante Clavel en el ojal A la desposada Flores del naranjal Al fiel amante Flores del romeral A la bien amada Las flores del rosal Flor refrescante Para amor leal. |