Tell Us Something Really Trivial About Your Life Volume 37

Tell Us Something Really Trivial About Your Life Volume 37

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glenrobbo

35,242 posts

150 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Woah Woah Woah!

Cottage pie was had this eve
With carrots, swede and peas
And lashings of rich gravy
From a tray perched on my knees

For dessert I now do crave,
For something cold and sweet:.
Assaulted caramel ice cream dish
That chills me to my feet.

But what is this you've served me?
Some vile abhorrent meat?
Upon a bed of rotten fish
Garnished with albatross' feet!

'Tis breast and leg of albatross! yikes
I just can't eat this thing!
This bird that helped protect us
Whilst soaring on the wing.

What have we done? What shall we do?
The hour of reckoning comes
When we shall cross the Rubicon
With rafts under our bums.

'Tis sink or swim, the bosun says,
Paddle for all you're worth!
But guilt from poor slain albatross
Can only make it worse

So near, so far to strive for
On land a short brisk waddle,
But here we are in modest craft
Up st creek without a paddle


DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Bomma R1 said:
DickyC said:
Two and a bit pages to go.
Are you sure? I'm on page 249 here. I'm not sure if that's where I should be, but that's where I'm at.
Well into Page 498 here.

DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Sorry, just started Page 499.

Best part of two pages to go.

pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.

I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown.'—
Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.

The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.

I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.

I closed my lids, and kept them close,
And the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay dead like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.

The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Nor rot nor reek did they:
The look with which they looked on me
Had never passed away.

An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.

The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside—

Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
Like April hoar-frost spread;
But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charmèd water burnt alway
A still and awful red.

Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.

Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.

O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.

The self-same moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

...

Bomma R1

14,495 posts

125 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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I'm on 250 now.

Excellent ode by glenrobbo there, now things are moving...

pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.

The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.

My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.

I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light—almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a blessed ghost.

And soon I heard a roaring wind:
It did not come anear;
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere.

The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.

And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge,
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
The Moon was at its edge.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.

The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on!
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.

They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.

The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools—
We were a ghastly crew.

The body of my brother's son
Stood by me, knee to knee:
The body and I pulled at one rope,
But he said nought to me.

...

glenrobbo

35,242 posts

150 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Our only course to steer must lie
In the hand upon the tiller
A firm resolve, a jaw set firm
And I've only just had dinner

And so we must all repent
And place our faith in Trivia
And pray the Good Lord guide us
'Cross this bloody great big river.

I see ahead a golden glow
Of a Volume bright and shiny
I hope that we can make it
'Cross this rough and windswept briny.

I think we're going to get there,
I really think we oughter
So close your eyes and grit your teeth
And push against this water.

Oh Spirit of our Albatross,
Oh great white ocean soarer
Forgive us our transgressions
And guide us to the border.


pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!'
Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
'Twas not those souls that fled in pain,
Which to their corses came again,
But a troop of spirits blest:

For when it dawned—they dropped their arms,
And clustered round the mast;
Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,
And from their bodies passed.

Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;
Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mixed, now one by one.

Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that are,
How they seemed to fill the sea and air
With their sweet jargoning!

And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute.

It ceased; yet still the sails made on
A pleasant noise till noon,
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.

Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath.

Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.

The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fixed her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion—
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.

Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.

How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.

'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'

The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do.'

...

glenrobbo

35,242 posts

150 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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The coast draws near, 'tis now in reach,
We could almost swim from here:
But not with woollen swimming trunks
And tankards full of beer.

Are we nearly there yet? cried a voice from in the rear
I really hope so, sailor, cos we're almost out of beer!
Keep yer eyes peeled matey, watch that building near the shore
And hope that it's a licenced pub where we can get some more.


pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

First Voice
'But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing—
What makes that ship drive on so fast?
What is the ocean doing?'

Second Voice
Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast;
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast—

If he may know which way to go;
For she guides him smooth or grim.
See, brother, see! how graciously
She looketh down on him.'

First Voice
'But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?'

Second Voice
'The air is cut away before,
And closes from behind.

Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated:
For slow and slow that ship will go,
When the Mariner's trance is abated.'

I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather:
'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;
The dead men stood together.

All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.

The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
Nor turn them up to pray.

And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw
Of what had else been seen—

Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.

But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring—
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—
On me alone it blew.

...

glenrobbo

35,242 posts

150 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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shoutAHOY THERE!!! ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET?

DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Bomma R1 said:
I'm on 250 now.
That's the problem with the Big Boy Pages. You lose sight of the big picture. Can't see the trees for the wood. That sort of caper.

DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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glenrobbo said:
shoutAHOY THERE!!! ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET?
27 posts to go.

pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?

We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,
And I with sobs did pray—
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck—
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood!
A man all light, a seraph-man,
On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart—
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.

The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.

I saw a third—I heard his voice:
It is the Hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The Albatross's blood.

...

DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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I'm going to miss the handover.

frown

pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

This Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.

He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve—
He hath a cushion plump:
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.

The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
'Why, this is strange, I trow!
Where are those lights so many and fair,
That signal made but now?'

'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said—
'And they answered not our cheer!
The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
How thin they are and sere!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young.'

'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look—
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared'—'Push on, push on!'
Said the Hermit cheerily.

The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.

Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,
Like one that hath been seven days drowned
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.

...

DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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Something's come up.

spikeyhead

17,310 posts

197 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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DickyC said:
Something's come up.
BOING!!!

Said Zebedee


DickyC

49,726 posts

198 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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spikeyhead said:
DickyC said:
Something's come up.
BOING!!!

Said Zebedee
Nah. It was a dilemma involving the consumption of or abstinence from a buttered scone*. I meant to eat one earlier but forgot and it was this argument that persuaded me I could in fact live without it. One more for tomorrow is a bonus.

*not a spring loaded scone. that would be ridiculous

pequod

8,997 posts

138 months

Saturday 27th November 2021
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...

Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.

...
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