Mum’s the Word

dedicated to my mother Mary Jane who now is a resident of Heaven…

by Ian Leslie

     I owe this woman the supreme debt. Life itself. I have no doubt, given the deplorable circumstances surrounding my first three years, that had a lesser person held my life in her hands… I would not have survived. Not only did she give me life she taught me how to live life. Right from wrong: fairness and consideration for others. The kind of values that make the world a better place. It is not enough to say Ian Leslie was lucky to have such a Mum. He was blessed !  

Does this resemble any Mom you know?

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Humpty-Trumpty’s Big Adventure

Humpty-Trumpty sat on a street named Wall

Humpty-Trumpty saw the stock market fall

Humpty-Trumpty came up with a scheme

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting

To be the best president ever, his ambitious dream.

 

He formally announced his grandiose aspirations

June 16, 2015 with myriad pretensions

From the tower he erected,

With an eye to be elected,

Trumpty regaled his plans for a great wall

To all U.S. citizens both big and small

 

From August to December Trumpty touted his agenda

With supporters and voters who thought he was splendid.

He touted all things they wanted to believe

While not a soul understood he had other things up his sleeve.

 

For the wall he’d make certain for Mexico to pay

But their presidente said, “No Way, Jose’!”

For his tax plan he said, “I’ll make this simple.”

If you make near nothing you won’t pay a pimple.

 

Otherwise, if you’re wealthy

You know, over 30 thou- something healthy

You’ll simply pay a mere 15%

And soon I will be the next president.

 

In New Hampshire he said “refugees could be Isis”

These Syrians could be “a 200,000 man” crisis

These tempest t’ost are a ploy, they’ll attack.

“It could be possible- so they’re going back.”

 

Pressure was on, the Dems and Hil asked for proof

From Trumpty’s doctor to see if his health was a spoof.

The letter looked forged. It was wordy and simplistic:

“Astonishingly excellent”, “physical strength and stamina extraordinary”

“If elected, I can state unequivocally,

Will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

 

By December that year Trumpty’s rallies had reached

A crescendo of chaos and all saneness was breeched.

They cried, “Lock her up!” as if that really mattered,

Then dragged protestors out with the peace fully shattered.

 

In 2016 the rallies got steadily worse

Trumpty’s speeches were as bad as a Las Vegas curse

To protestors he said, “I’d like to punch him in the face!”

While dressed like a gentleman. What a disgrace!

 

Still up for the Republican nomination bid,

Trumpty beat around the Bushes then flipped his lid.

He dashed all Ryan’s hopes then the guy changed his mind

Then convinced Mr. Sessions, even though not his kind.

 

Trumpty hired Kellyanne Conway to appeal to the girls

Becoming the first GOP presidential campaign manager in curls.

This should stop all those nasty allegations, Trumpty said with a smirk,

But when all’s said and done, did not really work.

 

With 1,238 delegates in full loyalty

Trumpty won the nomination as if he was royalty.

He once hired and fired his way to the top

But at the debates his mouth still didn’t stop.

 

The tweets from his iPhone seem never to quit

And much of those twitters are nothing but s**t,

But on July 15 he announced Mike Pence

His running mate-to-be almost past tense.

 

Media endorsement favored Hillary, overall

Republican, democrat, libertarian even small

Newspapers. They hedged the name Trump.

USA Today nixed on the fake-tanned chump.

 

Debates then took place starting in Fall

Through all three, Trumpty spewed lies full of gall.

Afterward some GOP papers endorsed only Hil

Divided they weren’t and Trumpty swallowed that pill.

 

When Trumpty said “This election is rigged.”

He urged voters to do something and jiggity-jigged.

Up stepped a supporter by the name of Ms. Rote

Who decided the best thing was twice to vote!

 

By November 8, the electoral tally was in

56.9% said that Trumpty received the win

But the popular vote revealed 2.8 million more

Hillary Clinton received, as her total score.

 

This is no rigging if you can perceive

It’s unfair and unwise, no one barked up a sleeve!

Interference by Russia is mirrors and smoke

And the Electoral College is the real joke.

 

Segue to Trump Tower on January 6

Where Trumpty, as yet, had not been sworn in,

I.C.s converged to deliver a dossier without pics

Blaming Russian hackers for the sins of Putin.

 

Denials, denials they came fast and furious

But everyone thinks that it’s rather curious

The Donald colluded several times right there

Letting Vlad do his worst on a wild dare.

 

Sparking the conspiracy of Trumpgate

The Donald several times himself to incriminate

Fired every person who tried to get to the truth.

Jon Lovitz could not have done better, forsooth!

 

Humpty-Trumpty will have to wait for his wall.

Humpty-Trumpty will have a great fall.

All Trumpty’s money

And all Trumpty’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty-Trumpty back

In the Oval office again.

 © Evelyn M. Wallace May 2, 2019

All rights reserved by author

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

– Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence

 

A plausible insignificant word, in the mouth of an expert demagogue,

is a dangerous and deceitful weapon.

– Robert South II, English churchman, in 1716

(born in Hackney, London, Sept. 4, 1634)

With all due respect,

May Day in England 1851

This depiction is Queen Victoria holding little Prince Arthur who has Lily of the Valley (or Muguet des Bois) in his right hand to present to the Duke of Wellington (whose name was Arthur, as well!). The Duke is also presenting a gift for the infant for his future while Prince Albert stands by, wistfully. This may be a traditional French holiday but it is proof of how much influence the French had on the English and Saxon  royalty and aristocracy. – The Castle Lady

Painting by Franz Xavier Winterhalter

Methinks…

This poem may be quite popular from the 20^th century, as the first line of it was often quoted by my mother. Not knowing how Ms. Brontë’s popularity grew through time, I dare not say for sure. Certainly not the first poet to be recited so often in one line or two, I can only state for sure that much of her poetry has a familiar ring to it and that tells me more than 1,000 books sold ever could. I urge one and all to obtain the books I have listed beneath this final entry for poetry month and as you read her poems ask yourself if you have once or twice heard someone say those very words…

By Emily Brontë

Methinks this heart should rest awhile

So stilly round the evening falls

The veiled sun sheds no parting smile

Nor mirth nor music wakes my Halls

I have sat lonely all the day

Watching the drizzly mist descend

And first conceal the hills in grey

And then along the valleys wend

And I have sat and watched the trees

And the sad flowers how drear they blow

Those flowers were formed to feel the breeze

Wave their light leaves in summer’s glow

Yet their lives passed in gloomy woe

And hopeless comes its dark decline

And I lament because I know

That cold departure pictures mine

Presented by

Poems   Emily Brontë (Fount Paperbacks)

ISBN 0 00 627994 5

Emily Jane Brontë The Complete Poems 

(Penguin Classics) Ed. by Janet Gezari

Riches

This poem was written at a time when she had given up on a teaching post at nearby Halifax in West Yorkshire and had yet to have gone abroad with Charlotte, her older sister, to study European languages in Brussels. Since she and her sisters (Anne was the youngest) were all destined to write classical literature, one does not have to wonder where the theme from these stanzas were launched. Much of her poetry was her very life. – The Castle Lady

Many feel this is Charlotte Bronte even though when Charlotte saw it, cried and said it looked like Emily!

by Emily Brontë

Riches I hold in light esteem

And Love I laugh to scorn

And Lust of Fame was but a dream

That vanished with the morn-

And if I pray- the only prayer

That moves my lips for me

Is- ‘Leave the heart that now I bear

And give me liberty’.

Yes, as my swift days near their goal

‘Tis all that I implore-

Through life and death, a chainless soul

With courage to endure!

March 1, 1841

Dedicated to all courageous souls,

The Visionary

by Emily Brontë

Silent is the house: all are laid asleep:

One alone looks out o’er the snow-wreaths deep;

Watching every cloud, dreading every breeze

That whirls the wildering drift, and bends the groaning trees.

 

Cheerful is the hearth, soft the matted floor;

Not one shivering gust creeps through pane or door;

The little lamp burns straight, its rays shoot strong and far:

I trim it well, to be the wanderer’s guiding-star.

 

Frown, my haughty sire! chide, my angry dame!

Set your slaves to spy; threaten me with shame:

But neither sire nor dame, nor prying serf shall know,

What angel nightly tracks that waste of frozen snow.

 

What I love shall come like visitant of air,

Safe in secret power from lurking human snare;

What loves me, no word of mine shall e’er betray,

Though for faith unstained my life must forfeit pay.

 

Burn, then, little lamp; glimmer straight and clear-

Hush! a rustling wing stirs, methinks, the air:

He for whom I wait, thus ever comes to me;

Strange Power! I trust thy might; trust thou my constancy.

(This harkens to the atmosphere of Wuthering Heights!)

Emily’s Best Shortest Shorts

Woods, ye need not frown on me-

Spectral trees, that so dolefully

Shake your heads in the dreary sky,

Ye need not mock so bitterly!

      (1836)

 

The sun has set, and the long grass now

Waves drearily in the evening wind;

And the wild bird has flown from the old grey stone,

In some warm nook a couch to find.

In all the lonely landscape round

I see no sight and hear no sound,

Except the wind that far away

Comes sighing o’er the heathy sea.

(1837)

 

Lady in your Palace Hall

Once perchance my face was seen

Can no memory now recall

Thought again to what has been

        ( 1837)

But the hearts that once adored me

Have long forgot their vow

And the friends that mustered round me

Have all forsaken now

‘Twas in a dream revealed to me

But not a dream of sleep

A dream of watchful agony

Of grief that would not weep

Now do not harshly turn away

 

excerpt from O God of Heaven:

But this is past, and why return

O’er such a past to brood and mourn?

Shake off the fetters, break the chain,

And live and love and smile again.

     August 7, 1837

Brevity is the soul of wit!

Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee?

Shall Earth no more inspire thee,

Thou lonely dreamer now?

Since passion may not fire thee

Shall Nature cease to bow?

 

Thy mind is ever moving

In regions dark to thee;

Recall its useless roving-

Come back and dwell with me.

 

I know my mountain-breezes

Enchant and soothe thee still-

I know my sunshine pleases

Despite thy wayward will.

 

When day with evening blending

Sinks from the summer sky,

I’ve seen thy spirit bending

In fond idolatry.

 

I’ve watched thee every hour-

I know my mighty sway-

I know my magic power

To drive thy griefs away.

 

Few hearts to mortals given

On earth so wildly pine

Yet none would ask a Heaven

More like the Earth than thine.

 

Then  let my winds caress thee-

Thy comrade let me be-

Since nought beside can bless thee

Return and dwell with me

Happy Earth Day! The Castle Lady

 

Emily Brontë  May 16, 1841

Butterfly Dreams

a retitled poem written by

Michael Wicinski

 

Do the caterpillars dream of flying while walking on their many feet?

Do they think of the nectar they’ll have one day while deciding which leaf to eat?

Do they dream of the beautiful colors they’ll wear while floating on currents of air?

Do they realize there’s something better for them, waiting in their future out there?

Do the butterflies remember days long past when they walked upon the ground?

Do they ever recall the days of being so woolly and green or brown?

Have those memories been forever erased from their little butterfly minds?

Have they forgotten the memories of the past?

To those thoughts, have their minds gone blind?

We live our life in caterpillar reality while walking day to day.

Most butterfly dreams we possibly have will never change the way

our life goes on. Yet, we still ponder the things we wish could be

In love, in life, in everything, if we could but find the key

To change us from the caterpillar into the butterfly.

We’re sure our life would be much better and we could touch the sky.

I’ve never heard a caterpillar complain, nor a butterfly talk in remorse

But we,

as dreamers,

as wishers,

as schemers,

 will always do it, of course.

Happy

from The Castle Lady

Evening Solace

Today marks the 203rd anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth. I know it’s also Easter but this poem, I think, gives a true case for the grace of her poetry and insight far beyond her years at the time. Ever the optimist, her ending sounds like a better resurrection. –The Castle Lady

 by Charlotte Brontë

THE human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;­
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.
And days may pass in gay confusion,
And nights in rosy riot fly,
While, lost in Fame’s or Wealth’s illusion,
The memory of the Past may die.

But, there are hours of lonely musing,
Such as in evening silence come,
When, soft as birds their pinions closing,
The heart’s best feelings gather home.
Then in our souls there seems to languish
A tender grief that is not woe;
And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish,
Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,
Float softly back­- a faded dream;
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,
The tale of others’ sufferings seem.
Oh ! when the heart is freshly bleeding,
How longs it for that time to be,
When, through the mist of years receding,
Its woes but live in reverie !

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress­
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven,
Seeking a life and world to come.

Happy Easter !

The Castle Lady