Poems

ROBBIE BURNS DAY

Robert Burns ~ (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796)

ROBBIE BURNS DAY ~ JANUARY 25

Stock up on the Haggis in order to celebrate Robbie Burns Day in honor of Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns. He wrote poems like “Auld Lang Syne,” “A Red, Red Rose,” and “Ae Fond Kiss”.  Robbie Burns’ work is loved so much, his birthday is celebrated all over the world on January 25th. Highlights of any Robbie Burns Day Celebrations include the bagpipes, Scotsmen in kilts and the reading of Burns’ poem, To A Haggis.

He was a “colourful” personality who loved whiskey, women and the written word.

His birthday has become a good excuse to have a party and celebrate with a libation or two (or three or four).

Robert Burns_Alexander Naysmit 1787

But no Robbie Burns’ festival would be complete without the dish of choice – haggis.

Some say the Haggis is actually nothing more than a large sausage.

HAGGIS RECIPE 

Ingredients:

• 1 sheep’s bag (stomach) and pluck (heart, liver, windpipe and lungs)
• 1/4 lb. suet
• 4 medium sized onions (blanched)
• 1/2 lb. pinhead oatmeal
• 2-4 level tablespoons salt
• 1 level teaspoon black pepper
• 1 level teaspoon powdered herbs

Instructions:

1. Wash the bag in cold water, scrape and clean it well. Leave it overnight in cold water.
2. Wash the pluck and put in a pan of boiling water and boil for one hour. Leave the windpipe hanging out. Place a small bowl under the windpipe to catch any drips.
3. Place the cooked pluck in a bowl, cover with the fluid it was boiled in and leave overnight.
4. The next day cut off the windpipe. Grate the liver and chop the heart, suet and onions.
5. Toast the oatmeal, but make sure the color doesn’t change. Add the oatmeal, salt, pepper, herbs and just over half a liter of liquid in which the pluck was boiled.
6. Mix well. Fill the bag more than half full of the mixture, then sew it up and prick it.
7. Place in boiling water, simmer for three hours, pricking occasionally to keep from bursting.
8. The bag may be cut into several pieces to make smaller haggis; cook one and a half to two hours.

 Before eating the Haggis, if you can stomach it, the host might recite the 

 Selkirk Grace or prayer.

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae the Lord be thankit.

Haggis Joke

Maître d’hôtel: ‘Are you here for a special occasion?’
Campbell: ‘Aye, we won the third prize in the annual Robert Burns Contest, a haggis dinner for two.’

Maître d’hôtel: ‘What were the other prizes?’
Campbell: The second prize was a single haggis dinner, and, if you won the first prize, you didnae have to eat the haggis.’

YEAR OF THE DRAGON ~ BELIEVING IN DRAGONS

Year of the Dragon Poems and Songs

“When the dragons grow too mighty To slay with pen or sword I grow weary of the battle And the storm I walk toward When all around is madness And there’s no safe port in view I long to turn my path homeward To stop a while with you. When life becomes as barren And as cold as winter skies There’s a beacon in the darkness In a distant pair of eyes In vain to search for honor In vain to search for truth But these things can still be given Your love has shown me proof.” —Rush

A Poem about the Dragon

I am an unquenchable fire,

The center of all energy,

The stout heroic heart.

I am truth and light,

I hold power and glory in my sway.

My presence Disperses dark clouds.

I have been chosen To tame the Fates.

I AM THE DRAGON.

-From The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes
-By Theodora Lau

Puff The Magic Dragon

The lyrics for “Puff, the Magic Dragon” were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow

and made popular by Yarrow’s group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 recording.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee, 
Little Jackie paper loved that rascal puff, 
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh 

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee, 
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee. 

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail 
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail, 
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came, 
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh! 

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee, 
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee. 

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys 
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys. 
One grey night it happened, Jackie paper came no more 
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. 

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain, 
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane. 
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave, 
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh! 

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee, 
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea 
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

The song is about the “loss of innocence in children.” The lyrics tell a story of the ageless dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff alone and depressed.

Dragon’s Call
by Author Unknown

It echos through the past,
Binding the owner’s will- fast.

Crying out in mournful wails,

It signals death of an age.

Fight the power- fight the Mage,

he who enslaves- fight the Mage.

Towards freedom it sails,

above the sky, through time

Unending, un ceasing-forever,

crying out long forgotten sorrows.

Or bringing forth the battle, let it-

Go forth through time,

And sail the winds of eternity.

Chinese Dragon
As the sun came up, a ball of red
I followed my friend wherever he led.
He thought his fast horses would leave me behind,
But I rode a dragon as swift as the wind!
Chinese Mother Goose Rhyme

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The JabberwockyBy Lewis Carroll

 

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwocky, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought-
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwocky, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

HAPPY NEW YEAR POEMS

Happy Year of the Dragon

“Gung Hay Fat Choy!”
In China, Every Girl And Boy
Celebrates The New Year
In A Very Special Way —-
With Fireworks And Dragons,
Colored Red And Gold —-
They Welcome In The New Year
And Chase Away The Old!

And ye, who have met with Adversity’s blast,
And been bow’d to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass’d
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen.
~Thomas Hood

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
If it didn’t bring you joy
just leave it behind
Let’s ring in the new year
with good things in mind

Let every bad memory
that brought heartache and pain
And let’s turn a new leaf
with the smell of new rain

Let’s forget past mistakes
making amends for this year
Sending you these greetings
to bring you hope and cheer
Happy New Year!

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I’ve played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest

Happy New Year Poem

A New Year  ~ William Arthur Ward

Another fresh new year is here 

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt, and fear,

To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest ”

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity

Once more to right some wrongs,

To pray for peace, to plant a tree,

And sing more joyful songs!

Christmas Diet Poem

Oh greed is the curse of many a maid

Munching mince pies, quaffing sweet lemonade

With never a thought about midriff bulge

She procedes without caution to over indulge

And then when the scale shows a figure quite shocking

She opens the diet book

That was stuffed in her stocking.

 Poet unknown

Ode To The New Year ~ Christmas Diet Fail

‘Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.

The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I’d taste At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!

When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).

I’d remember the marvellous meals I’d prepared; The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,

The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese And the way I’d never said, ‘No thank you, please.’

As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt And prepared once again to do battle with dirt – I said to myself, as I only can ‘You can’t spend a winter disguised as a man!’

So – away with the last of the sour cream dip, Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished ‘Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won’t have a cookie – not even a lick.

I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie, I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore But isn’t that what January is for?

Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.

Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

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Say Goodbye to 2011

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

Happy December

***********
“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens - 
the garden outdoors, 
the garden of pots and bowls in the house, 
and the garden of the mind’s eye.”
-   Katherine S. White

“All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I went for a walk
On a winter’s day
I’d be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin’
On such a winter’s day.”
-  Mammas and Pappas, California Dreamin

“On the first day of winter,
the earth awakens to the cold touch of itself.
Snow knows no other recourse except
this falling, this sudden letting go
over the small gnomed bushes, all the emptying trees.
Snow puts beauty back into the withered and malnourished,
into the death-wish of nature and the deliberate way
winter insists on nothing less than deference.
waiting all its life, snow says, “Let me cover you.”
-   Laura Lush, The First Day of Winter

“So now is come our joyful feast,
Let every man be jolly;
Each room with ivy leaves is dressed,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine,
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
And let us all be merry.

Now all our neighbors’ chimneys smoke,
And Christmas blocks are burning;
Their ovens they with baked meats choke,
And all their spits are turning.
Without the door let sorrow lie,
And if for cold it hap to die,
We’ll bury it in a Christmas pie,
And evermore be merry.”
-   George Wither, A Christmas Tale

CYBER MONDAY NECK EXERCISES

A few exercises to make your Cyber Monday Shopping less stressful!

and for the end of the day

Life and shopping don’t get any better than this!

Happy Thanksgiving – Poems for our US Friends

Happy Thanksgiving

May your Thanksgiving be blessed with
The bounty of the Season
Love of Friends and Family
And a Harvest of Smiles…

Thanksgiving Time

When all the leaves are off the boughs,

And nuts and apples gathered in,

And cornstalks waiting for the cows,

And pumpkins safe in barn and bin,

Then Mother says, “My children dear,

The fields are brown, and autumn flies;

Thanksgiving Day is very near,

And we must make thanksgiving pies!”

~~Author Unknown.~~

How to observe Thanksgiving.

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;

Count your gains instead of your losses.

Count your joys instead of your woes;

Count your friends instead of your foes.

Count your smiles instead of your tears;

Count your courage instead of your fears.

Count your full years instead of your lean;

Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count your health instead of your wealth;

Count on God instead of yourself.

~~Author Unknown.~~

Thanksgiving

The year has turned its circle,

The seasons come and go.

The harvest all is gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

The fields, their yellow grain,

So open wide the doorway —

Thanksgiving comes again!

~~Old Rhyme.~~

Remembering the horrors of Black November…

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop;
Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know.
His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of ‘Black November’…

“Come about August, now listen to me,
Each day you’ll get six meals instead of just three,
And soon you’ll be thick, where once you were thin,
And you’ll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.

And then one morning, when you’re warm in your bed,
In’ll burst the farmer’s wife, and hack off your head;
Then she’ll pluck out all your feathers so you’re bald ‘n pink,
And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin’ in the sink.”

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,
I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat;
And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,
I’d have to lay low and remain overlooked.

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,
High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola;
And as they ate pastries, chocolates and grapes,
I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes;

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,
And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;
But ’twas I who was laughing, under my breath,
As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;

And sure enough when Black November rolled around,
I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;
So now I’m a pet in the farmer’s wife’s lap;
I haven’t a worry, so I eat and I nap.

She held me today, while sewing and humming,
And smiled at me and said, “Christmas is coming!”