Wednesday, March 7, 2012

One Day


I Try to Take One Day at a Time
But lately, Several have Attacked Me at Once

My mom sent me a poster with that saying when I was in college. It seemed so apt for the insanity I faced. Life could never be more busy than it was then, I thought.

Hahahahaha. Yeah, right.

I'm terribly afraid that tonight's post is going to be exceedingly short. I have been attacked on all sides. Much of it having to do with my poor, dear mom falling and breaking several things, hospital visits, long drives etc. It looks like things are going to be fine, but I'm more than a little frayed around the edges.

But, not to leave you totally lost, I'll share with you one of my favorite poems that my mom used to read to us for bedtimes stories (hmm, come to think of it, could this kind of bedtime story be one of the reasons I am the way I am?? Would you read this to your kids at bedtime?)

Anyway, I leave you with some Edward Leer:

 Two Old Bachelors

Two old Bachelors were living in one house;
One caught a Muffin, the other caught a Mouse.
Said he who caught the Muffin to him who caught the Mouse,--
'This happens just in time! For we've nothing in the house,
'Save a tiny slice of lemon and a teaspoonful of honey,
'And what to do for dinner -- since we haven't any money?
'And what can we expect if we haven't any dinner,
'But to loose our teeth and eyelashes and keep on growing thinner?'

Said he who caught the Mouse to him who caught the Muffin,--
'We might cook this little Mouse, if we had only some Stuffin'!
'If we had but Sage and Onion we could do extremely well,
'But how to get that Stuffin' it is difficult to tell'--

Those two old Bachelors ran quickly to the town
And asked for Sage and Onions as they wandered up and down;
They borrowed two large Onions, but no Sage was to be found
In the Shops, or in the Market, or in all the Gardens round.

But some one said, -- 'A hill there is, a little to the north,
'And to its purpledicular top a narrow way leads forth;--
'And there among the rugged rocks abides an ancient Sage,--
'An earnest Man, who reads all day a most perplexing page.
'Climb up, and seize him by the toes! -- all studious as he sits,--
'And pull him down, -- and chop him into endless little bits!
'Then mix him with your Onion, (cut up likewise into Scraps,)--
'When your Stuffin' will be ready -- and very good: perhaps.'

Those two old Bachelors without loss of time
The nearly purpledicular crags at once began to climb;
And at the top, among the rocks, all seated in a nook,
They saw that Sage, a reading of a most enormous book.

'You earnest Sage!' aloud they cried, 'your book you've read enough in!--
'We wish to chop you into bits to mix you into Stuffin'!'--

But that old Sage looked calmly up, and with his awful book,
At those two Bachelors' bald heads a certain aim he took;--
and over crag and precipice they rolled promiscuous down,--
At once they rolled, and never stopped in lane or field or town,--
And when they reached their house, they found
           (besides their want of Stuffin',)
The Mouse had fled; -- and, previously, had eaten up the Muffin.

They left their home in silence by the once convivial door.
And from that hour those Bachelors were never heard of more.
 
* many thanks to nonsenselit.org from whence I found this poem. 
 
~ Susan

7 comments:

  1. That poem was fun. I love picturing it as a bedtime story; no wonder you ended up a writer :) My Dad spent ages reading Oliver Twist to me, and I have no idea if I even followed the story or if I was just in it for the cuddles.

    I hope your mom is on the mend and that you're holding up as well. That sounds very stressful.

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  2. Good luck to you, and to your mom.

    I love scary bedtime stories( and poems) for children. have you ever read The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman? That's my favorite story to tell my children. Scary imaginative stories like that ignite a kids imagination, and get them thinking outside the "Swiper no swiping" mentality, of what's safe. When you think about Fairy Tales that have been passed down throughout history, like Hansel and Gretel almost being eaten by a witch, but burning her up instead, or a giant chasing after Jack, or even Maleficent cursing Aurora, there's always a bit of horror mixed into the good stories that kids will remember enough to tell their kids at bedtimes.

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    1. LOL, Sheena, my son still hasn't forgiven me for The Wolves in the Walls. But *I* love it. I guess I've sheltered them too much from the scarier stuff ;)

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  3. Best wishes for you and your mom and your whole family.

    That poem was pretty funny.

    I never know what will scare my kids. They think the beast from Beauty and the Beast is too scary, but they love the movies Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which are both movies that I find a little disturbing.

    I have to say the books I read to them are pretty tame, especially at bedtime.

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  4. 5 words for you: A Tale Dark and Grimm. I couldn't believe my kids didn't have nightmares for weeks, but they loved it. (My youngest was 6 when he heard it.)

    I'm sorry to hear about your mom, and hope she will be on the mend soon.

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  5. Thanks for your kind comments.
    I'm definitely going to have to check out some of those stories.

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  6. I LOVE that poem!!!! I am so reading it to my kids tonight (we'll see what happens). I hope your mom is doing better and you are catching up with your crazy days.

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