About Me

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I am Miss Pancake Taylor. I have come from very far away to take care of my family Craig and Zita and Niamh and Emmet. Sometimes I have helpers; my friends the Blackthorn-Badgers. They are very old Scotsmen. I am very glad to meet you.

Thursday, 9 April 2020

 The Easter Uprising by Miss Poppy


Today a long time ago some of my friend Zita’s dangerous relatives visited the giant Post Office.

In way far away Dublin.

And they would not give it back. Even when they were asked.

Because they said it was their own Post Office. Not anybody else’s. Oh dear.

And then everybody shot at everybody. Even with canons and giant boats too. Oh dear.

So then all of Zita’s relatives went to jail. Even her grandfather. Oh dear.

That is not so nice.

So then everybody got out and shot at everybody else again.

But Uncle Joe shot so many people that they had to stop.

And then they started again. But on different sides. I do not know why.

So then Uncle Joe’s sister married Zita’s grandfather.



And because everybody had to go to the wedding they stopped shooting each other. Ha.

That was good.



Now the Post Office is all theirs. Still. Ha. That is good.

Because you can not get secret Merry Christmas presents if you do not have a Post Office.

It is known. Ha.

Thursday, 18 April 2019

The Crucifixion

And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe explodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the brilliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he dies.

In the green fields a turnin', a baby is born
His cries crease the wind and mingle with the morn
An assault upon the order, the changing of the guard
Chosen for a challenge that is hopelessly hard
And the only single sound is the sighing of the stars
But to the silence and distance they are sworn

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you


Images of innocence charge him go on
But the decadence of destiny is looking for a pawn
To a nightmare of knowledge he opens up the gate
And a blinding revelation is laid upon his plate
That beneath the greatest love is a hurricane of hate
And God help the critic of the dawn.

So he stands on the sea and shouts to the shore,
But the louder that he screams the longer he's ignored
For the wine of oblivion is drunk to the dregs
And the merchants of the masses almost have to be begged
'Till the giant is aware, someone's pulling at his leg,
And someone is tapping at the door.

To dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you


Then his message gathers meaning and it spreads across the land
The rewarding of his pain is the following of the man
But ignorance is everywhere and people have their way
Success is an enemy to the losers of the day
In the shadows of the churches, who knows what they pray
For blood is the language of the band.

The Spanish bulls are beaten; the crowd is soon beguiled,
The matador is beautiful, a symphony of style
Excitement is ecstatic, passion places bets
Gracefully he bows to ovations that he gets
But the hands that are applauding are slippery with sweat
And saliva is falling from their smiles

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you


Then this overflow of life is crushed into a liar
The gentle soul is ripped apart and tossed into the fire.
First a smile of rejection at the nearness of the night
Truth becomes a tragedy limping from the light
All the heavens are horrified, they stagger from the sight
As the cross is trembling with desire.

They say they can't believe it, it's a sacrilegious shame
Now, who would want to hurt such a hero of the game?
But you know I predicted it; I knew he had to fall
How did it happen? I hope his suffering was small.
Tell me every detail, for I've got to know it all,
And do you have a picture of the pain?

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you


Time takes her toll and the memory fades
but his glory is broken, in the magic that he made.
Reality is ruined; it's the freeing from the fear
The drama is distorted, to what they want to hear
Swimming in their sorrow, in the twisting of a tear
As they wait for the new thrill parade.

Yes, the eyes of the rebel have been branded by the blind
To the safety of sterility, the threat has been refined
The child was created to the slaughterhouse he's led
So good to be alive when the eulogy is read
The climax of emotion, the worship of the dead
And the cycle of sacrifice unwinds.

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you


And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe explodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the brilliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he died.

Phil Ochs

The House of Orange


I took back my hand and I showed him the door
No dollar of mine would I part with this day
For fueling the engines of bloody cruel war
In my forefather's land far away.
Who fled the first Famine wearing all that they owned,
Were called 'Navigators', all ragged and torn,
And built the Grand Trunk here, and found a new home
Wherever their children were born.

Their sons have no politics. None call recall
Allegiance from long generations before.
O'this or O'that name just can't mean a thing
Or be cause enough for to war.
And meanwhile my babies are safe in their home,
Unlike their pale cousins who shiver and cry
While kneecappers nail their poor Dads to the floor
And teach them to hate and to die.

It's those cruel beggars who spurn the fair coin.
The peace for their kids they could take at their will.
Since the day old King Billy prevailed at the Boyne,
They've bombed and they've slain and they've killed.
Now they cry out for money and wail at the door
But Home Rule or Republic, 'tis all of it shame;
And a curse for us here who want nothing of war.
We're kindred in nothing but name.

All rights and all wrongs have long since blown away,
For causes are ashes where children lie slain.
Yet the damned U.D.I and the cruel I.R.A.
Will tomorrow go murdering again.
But no penny of mine will I add to the fray.
"Remember the Boyne!" they will cry out in vain,
For I've given my heart to the place I was born
And forgiven the whole House of Orange
King Billy and the whole House of Orange.


Stan Rogers.

The Harp that Once Through Tara’s Halls


THE HARP that once through Tara’s halls   
  The soul of music shed,   
Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls   
  As if that soul were fled.   
So sleeps the pride of former days,           
  So glory’s thrill is o’er,   
And hearts, that once beat high for praise,   
  Now feel that pulse no more.   

No more to chiefs and ladies bright   
  The harp of Tara swells:           
The chord alone, that breaks at night,   
  Its tale of ruin tells.   
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,   
  The only throb she gives,   
Is when some heart indignant breaks,           
  To show that still she lives.


Thomas Moore
The Folk of the Air

O’DRISCOLL drove with a song   
  The wild duck and the drake   
From the tall and the tufted weeds   
  Of the drear Heart Lake.   

And he saw how the weeds grew dark           
  At the coming of night tide,   
And he dreamed of the long dim hair   
  Of Bridget his bride.   

He heard while he sang and dreamed   
  A piper piping away,           
And never was piping so sad,   
  And never was piping so gay.   

And he saw young men and young girls   
  Who danced on a level place,   
And Bridget his bride among them,           
  With a sad and a gay face.   

The dancers crowded about him,   
  And many a sweet thing said,   
And a young man brought him red wine,   
  And a young girl white bread.           

But Bridget drew him by the sleeve,   
  Away from the merry bands,   
To old men playing at cards   
  With a twinkling of ancient hands.   

The bread and the wine had a doom,           
  For these were the folk of the air;   
He sat and played in a dream   
  Of her long dim hair.   

He played with the merry old men,   
  And thought not of evil chance,           
Until one bore Bridget his bride   
  Away from the merry dance.   

He bore her away in his arms,   
  The handsomest young man there,   
And his neck and his breast and his arms           
  Were drowned in her long dim hair.   

O’Driscoll got up from the grass   
  And scattered the cards with a cry;   
But the old men and dancers were gone   
  As a cloud faded into the sky.           

He knew now the folk of the air,   
  And his heart was blackened by dread,   
And he ran to the door of his house;   
  Old women were keening the dead;   

But he heard high up in the air           
  A piper piping away;   
And never was piping so sad   
  And never was piping so gay.   


William Butler Yeats
The Donkey.

     When fishes flew and forests walked
         And figs grew upon thorn,
     Some moment when the moon was blood
         Then surely I was born.

     With monstrous head and sickening cry
         And ears like errant wings,
     The devil's walking parody
         On all four-footed things.

     The tattered outlaw of the earth,
         Of ancient crooked will;
     Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
         I keep my secret still.

     Fools! For I also had my hour;
         One far fierce hour and sweet:
     There was a shout about my ears,
         And palms before my feet.


Gathering Song of Donald the Black



Pibroch of Donuil Dhu
     Pitbroch of Donuil
Wake thy wild voice anew,
     Summon Clan Conuil.
Come away, come away,
     Hark to the summons!
Come in your war-array,
     Gentles and commons.

Come from deep glen, and
     From mountain so rocky;
The war-pipe and pennon
     Are at Inverlocky.
Come every hill-plaid, and
     True heart that wears one,
Come every steel blade, and
     Strong hand that bears one.

Leave untended the herd,
     The flock without shelter;
Leave the corpse uninterr’d,
     The bride at the altar;
Leave the deer, leave the steer,
     Leave nets and barges:
Come with your fighting gear,
     Broadswords and targes.

Come as the winds come, when
     Forests are rended,
Come as the waves come, when
     Navies are stranded:
Faster come, faster come,
     Faster and faster,
Chief, vassal, page and groom,
     Tenant and master.

Fast they come, fast they come;
     See how they gather!
Wide waves the eagle plume
     Blended with heather.
Cast your plaids, draw your blades,
     Forward each man set!
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu
     Knell for the onset!

by Sir Walter Scott


Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries



These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling,
And took their wages, and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.

A.E. Housman

 

Deirdre's Lamentation

The lions of the hills are gone,
And I am left alone--alone.
Dig the grave both wide and deep,
For I am sick, and fain would sleep.

The falcons of the wood are flown,
And I am left alone--alone.
Dig the grave both deep and wide,
And let us slumber side by side.

The dragons of the rock are sleeping,
Sleep that wakes not for our weeping.
Dig the grave, and make it ready,
Lay me on my true love's body.

Lay their spears and bucklers bright
By the warriors' sides aright.
Many a day the three before me
On their linked bucklers bore me.

Lay the collars, as is meet,
Of their greyhounds at their feet.
Many a time for me have they
Brought the tall red deer to bay.

In the falcon's jesses throw,
Hook and arrow, line and bow.
Never again by stream or plain
Shall the gentle woodsmen go.

Sweet companions, were ye ever
Harsh to me your sister, never.
Woods and wilds, an misty valleys
Were with you as good's a palace.

Oh! To hear my true love singing,
Sweet as sounds of trumpets' ringing.
Like the sway of ocean swelling
Rolled his deep voice round our dwelling.

Oh! To hear the echoes pealing,
Round our green and fairy sheeling,
When the three with soaring chorus
Made the skylark silent o'er us!

Echo, now, sleep morn and even.
Lark, alone, enchant the heaven.
Ardan's lips are scant of breath,
Naisi's tongue is cold in death.

Stag, exult on glen and mountain.
Salmon, leap from loch to fountain.
Heron, in the free air warm ye,
Usnach's sons no more will harm ye.

Erin's stay, no more ye are
Rulers of the ridge of war.
Never more 'twill be your fate
To keep the beam of battle straight.

Woe is me! By fraud and wrong,
Traitors false, and tyrants strong,
Fell Clan Usnach, bought and sold
For Barach's feast and Conor's gold.

Woe to Eman, roof and wall!
Woe to Red Branch, hearth and hall!
Tenfold woe and black dishonour
To the foul and false Clan Conor.

Dig the grave both wide and deep,
Sick I am, and fain would sleep!
Dig the grave, and make it ready,
Lay me on my true love's body.
Easter 1916

I HAVE met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our winged horse;


This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road.
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?


For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

W B Yates