Just For Tea.


Love sits still for those who wait
as others pass upon thy gate
ambling freely bounding thee
time enough and just for tea.

Beautiful Sandy I connect many things with the 'British way of life', the rapidly disappearing one I mean. Examples are red telephone boxes, church meetings - and taking tea. Just For Tea taps into that rich vein again

The Wallops

Of all the different places
That England has to boast,
Among their charms and graces
Which pleases you the most?

From Windermere and Pinner
To Land’s End in the sun
The Wallops are my winner;
Three villages in one.

They lack the fame of Dover
And York’s impressive wall
But Nether, Middle, Over:
Each Wallop beats them all.

Although the name is funny
This Hampshire spot’s defined
By thatched roofs sweet as honey
And country lanes that wind.

A cottage world that dozes,
Not only does it glare
With perfect garden roses,
They filmed Miss Marple there.

As peaceful as doves cooing,
Refreshing as ice cream,
Like English teapots brewing
The Wallops are my dream.


©

Did you know that the word 'wallop' was an old English term for beer or beer drinkers ? I presume in your 'Wallops' they used to grow hops. .

A wallop was what I used to get across the back of the head when I was wee.

Wow! While others sleep. Morning all.

Great definitions my friends For the actual village though Wallops comes from:

Wella - valley
Hop - stream

It took centuries for wella and hop in old English to become The Wallops

It was a busy night Biz

A rewrite (expanded improved I hope)

That Man In That Hat

Abe Lincoln was thought quite a paragon
compared to your King Henry the Eighth;
for one thing he never executed his wife,
nor dumped one like Catherine of Aragon.
He wore a certain suspicially tall black hat,
rumour had it he kept a tower of pancakes
there and once mid-speech to the masses
an awed populace became gradually aware
drips from Abe's hair may just be molasses.
"Government of the people ... by the people,
for the people," Abe paused within his oration
lending a gravitas to this leader's noble station;
hat flourish now would seem most Presidential
but that exact moment was not so providential.
On his forehead the stovepipe firmly remained,
above a brow smeared with syrup and stained.
Suffering succotash thought Abe. Oh untimeous
luck .. that damned hat's stuck on fast yet again.

Here Endeth The Lesson

I remember the moment
As clear as a bell
My teacher's description
Of heaven and hell.

Fire and brimstone
Awaits if you're bad
So do as you're told
Better be a good lad.

How God had created
In only six days
The world that we live in
So offer him praise.

That God had a son
Who suffered our pain
He died for our sins
But we'll see him again.

The teacher continued
For over an hour
Explaining that God
Has incredible power.

So endeth the lesson
And what did I find?
If you think God exists
Then you're out of your mind.

Such a funny poem Frank I hope you don't mind me saying, but I preferred the original - the syrup bit was hilarious I thought I'm really enjoying your historical figure odes


What a cracker Meno - it's to the point and has a killer ending I have my own personal faith but I love reading religious poems, even atheist ones. The clash of views has always interested me.

You may have missed my comments on your Night Swimming, which I enjoyed immensely. Welcome to the thread by the way

Update on the bizarrely unresolvable steam train question - I've gone with the word 'retarded'. My thanks to Biz and Dark Star Their opinions helped to make the poem's eventual form better. The final version has rekindled happy childhood memories for someone on the American forum, I'm pleased to say

Thanks Musty.

very nice Musty

Ta Sandy - whenever I drive west to places like Stonehenge and Avebury I always pass through The Wallops The sign post never fails to amuse me and the village never fails to impress me

does it have a village green?

I've never seen the traditional sort there. The village is in three parts and I do recall Wiki describing one of the greens as a 'meadow'!

As I read through this I thought there must be a sting in the tail - and there it was.


It certainly brought back memories for me too. I remember travelling back from Edinburgh once during a rail strike; the train was pulled by a steam engine, and we were in old separate compartments - the kind without a corridor. It was stop and start all the way.

Interesting to hear that you settled for retarded (and that Dark Star thought so too), because I later regretted having meddled.

Whenever I hear Abe Lincoln's name in future Frank, I'll have that picture in my mind.

You didn't meddle Biz - I brought up the question and you were perfectly entitled to comment Sometimes an outsider's perspective helps greatly, as in this case

That train ride sounds fun I wonder what the early captains of the steam train industry would have made of all these high speed links?

This thread has got rather busy as of late which is nice.

I noticed that too Sandy It's nice to see a rise in numbers - as the actress said to the mathematician

what was his reply?

Hope you haven't been out in that cold wind today. I was walking down the road and some fellow's hat blew off, he managed to catch it, otherwise who knows where it could have ended up.

Time for a new page