| || fence, larva, rotary, submit, "at your service".
Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed!
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
15 comments:
Rory the woodpecker was feeling mighty nervous.
Where was his meaning? Could he say, "I'm at your service"?
He rid fence posts and trees of destructive beetle larva,
But was that enough in the scheme of things much larga'?
His brain was perplexed, he was in a total tizzy.
His hammering beak was like a rotary saw getting dizzy.
Woodpeckers aren't the smartest dinosaur progeny,
But he submitted an application to Habitat for Humanity!
I see we had two earlier visitors. Great!
But isn't it strange that my first reaction was defensive? I thought: How dare they intrude on our privacy?!
FLN: Wilbur ~ Ah! Glad to see details of the battle. As you can tell from my last couple of reactions, I feared you were only going to offer summary reports. But I love to read the details of the assault on the castle and the fate of the combatants-- so I thank you for the blow-by-blow and look forward to more action! I hope it is as much fun for you to write as for us to read it!
FLN: Sandy ~ I don't know if you went back after your last post, but I left a "Brava" for you & wanted you to know how much I enjoyed your verse.
~ OMK
____________
PS. (Today's solution) In the hour before acting a role, Sarah Bernhardt experienced her own form of performance tension. She said she had a heightened alertness in all her senses, but that she was "not fearful and was neither sad nor nervous."
And I thank you & Rory, Owen, for a good laugh before sleep!
If he's treating his hammering beak like a spinning rotary saw, he's sure to find his poor neck in a bit of a twist.
~ OMK
"The Anxious Deacon"
The deacon was feeling tense,
A decision was on the fence,
Unclear if she should carve a
A pious text like a larva,
Or serve her coterie
A sermon sharp yet rotary,
Or perhaps she should submit
A lecture full of wit.
How could she not be nervous
On this day of her first service.
Misty ~
List, ye:
Ol' Will might answer you in words like this.
And then to show he's done, a couplet, viz.:
"The sharper she can focus all her sense,
the less likely she'll find reason to be tense."
~ OMK
Great advice, Ol'Man Keith, I'll pass it on to her. And she should really pay attention to Owen's and Wilbur's wonderful poems with their sophisticated language.
Armand De Bracy never shrank from the thick of battle
He lunged at the Knight of the Fetlock making his armor rattle
He fought, darting and fencing akin to a rotary joint
But a mighty blow from the King found him at the point
Of a poinard. "Submit", said the knight, "and I'll spare your life"
While the Black Knight whispered in his ear. Thus ended the strife.
"I'm at your service, m'lord, on my honor I do thee vow
And the wounded knight is Wilfred and he's inside now."
The sable knight rushed in and there was Rebecca with her charge
"I've cleared the larvae from his wound and sewn up the discharge"
Richard instantly carried Wilfred out, though the door he did unbar
But Rebecca was not long alone, for soon came the Knight Templar.
WC
I went back to Friday. I somehow overlooked Sandy's very erudite piece of "blank" verse. Yes, Friday was a tough Jumble day for combining J's.
Is that part of a mystery that perhaps you've read before?
And yes, OMK, my "paean" would be correctly termed "Free" verse. Rythym was my main goal. Spoken aloud it flowed. My wife btw, happened to say that she had a vision of the deceased in the sky and she heard the word "LIVE"
Do I had to include that.
WC
Ps, I see I posted that tribute twice, somehow. I deleted the second.
"... for soon came the Knight Templar."
You've left us here with bated breath--and with my teeth a-jar!
I asked for it, didn't I? Now we're getting the "juicy" details of battle, even to the grisly (Ugh-factor) mess of larvae in gashed flesh.
But it is what it is, and I do appreciate it, Wilbur! Keep it coming!
~ OMK
Yes, the Templar is under the spell of the ravishing Jewess, totally verboten by his order. She's under the spell of Wilfred of Ivanhoe. As is Rowena*. And DeBracy was under her spell.
Ulrica if you missed it was under the spell of Revenge and is calling on the ancient Saxon gods(Vernabok). Scott the poet puts a long ranting dirge into her mouth as the castle burns around her.
WC
* As I pointed out Thackeray wrote "Rebecca and Rowena" a sequel to Ivanhoe. Talk about dull. I may take another crack at it. It's available online.
WC
Here's the part about Ulrica
Ulrica, who had first kindled it, appeared on a turret, in the guise of one of the ancient furies, yelling forth a war-song, such as was of yore raised on the field of battle by the scalds of the yet heathen Saxons. Her long dishevelled grey hair flew back from her uncovered head; the inebriating delight of gratified vengeance contended in her eyes with the fire of insanity; and she brandished the distaff which she held in her hand, as if she had been one of the Fatal Sisters, who spin and abridge the thread of human life. Tradition has preserved some wild strophes of the barbarous hymn which she chanted wildly amid that scene of fire and of slaughter:—
1.
Whet the bright steel,
Sons of the White Dragon!
Kindle the torch,
Daughter of Hengist!
The steel glimmers not for the carving of the banquet,
It is hard, broad, and sharply pointed;
The torch goeth not to the bridal chamber,
It steams and glitters blue with sulphur.
Whet the steel, the raven croaks!
Light the torch, Zernebock is yelling!
Whet the steel, sons of the Dragon!
Kindle the torch, daughter of Hengist!
It goes on for 30+ lines
You make it all very exciting, Wilbur. Thanks so much for your efforts.
The jumble wasn't difficult today. I look forward to having two jumbles tomorrow.
Really happy to have Owen's ingenious, entertaining, very clever poems back. Always look forward to them.
An amazing story, Wilbur. Where do you find all this incredible mythical information? It's just astonishing.
Here's the rest of Ulrica/Ulfried's rant
2.
The black cloud is low over the thane's castle
The eagle screams—he rides on its bosom.
Scream not, grey rider of the sable cloud,
Thy banquet is prepared!
The maidens of Valhalla look forth,
The race of Hengist will send them guests.
Shake your black tresses, maidens of Valhalla!
And strike your loud timbrels for joy!
Many a haughty step bends to your halls,
Many a helmed head.
3.
Dark sits the evening upon the thanes castle,
The black clouds gather round;
Soon shall they be red as the blood of the valiant!
The destroyer of forests shall shake his red crest against
them.
He, the bright consumer of palaces,
Broad waves he his blazing banner,
Red, wide and dusky,
Over the strife of the valiant:
His joy is in the clashing swords and broken bucklers;
He loves to lick the hissing blood as it bursts warm from the
wound!
4.
All must perish!
The sword cleaveth the helmet;
The strong armour is pierced by the lance;
Fire devoureth the dwelling of princes,
Engines break down the fences of the battle.
All must perish!
The race of Hengist is gone—
The name of Horsa is no more!
Shrink not then from your doom, sons of the sword!
Let your blades drink blood like wine;
Feast ye in the banquet of slaughter,
By the light of the blazing halls!
Strong be your swords while your blood is warm,
And spare neither for pity nor fear,
For vengeance hath but an hour;
Strong hate itself shall expire
I also must perish! 39
WC
Post a Comment