I was reflecting on life in general and I realised that when you think about it, it’s all totally absurd! You have to laugh at life and learn not to take it so seriously and where better than to take part in a limerick writing challenge.
So here is a challenge hosted by Esther Chilton on her blog, click on the link below to take part.
The Challenge was to write a limerick containing the word ‘Back’. So here is my attempt:
You can reflect on your life and your lack, but nothing can come from this tack, There’s one thing that’s so true each day brings something new and in life, you can never go back.
We have lost a great songwriter in Stephen Sondheim and I think I was channeling him somehow when I wrote this poem because it sounds a bit like a song…
Also, the word of the day was Sure, and that set me off…
I thought of a couple of songs that fit this theme.
Firstly, was an old song, and you know how much I love old songs, that was released in 1959. It comes from a time when life was very different and some things that were enjoyed referenced cultures in a way that some may find offensive nowadays. I happen to like this song very much and I would never set out to offend (well, not unless provoked), so I am sorry if you do find this song and its reference to Native American culture offensive.
The song is Running Bear, sung by Johnny Preston.
The Song was written by J P Richardson, also known as The Big Bopper, who provided the backing vocal but died in the plane crash with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, before the release of this song about a year after his death.
On the bank of the river stood Running Bear, young Indian brave On the other side of the river stood his lovely Indian maid Little White Dove was her name, such a lovely sight to see But their tribes fought with each other, so their love could never be
Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love big as the sky Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love that couldn’t die
He couldn’t swim the raging river ’cause the river was too wide He couldn’t reach the Little White Dove waiting on the other side In the moonlight he could see her throwing kisses ‘cross the waves Her little heart was beating faster waiting for her Indian brave
Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love big as the sky Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love that couldn’t die
Running Bear dove in the water, Little White Dove did the same And they swam out to each other through the swirling stream they came As their hands touched and their lips met, the raging river pulled them down Now they’ll always be together in their happy hunting ground
Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love big as the sky Running Bear loved Little White Dove With a love that couldn’t die
Songwriters: Richardson J P
The second song that came to mind, with some trepidation, is a song performed by Tony Christie and The All Seeing I and Written by Jarvis Cocker of the band Pulp, it is called Walk Like a Panther. As well as the Agile Panther, it also mentions Lions and Eagles in the lyrics.
Why the trepidation on my part? Well, it only made it to number 10 in the UK charts and I’m not sure how well known it would be, but then you may enjoy being introduced to something different.
Marie has set up home With a man who’s half my age A halfwit in a leotard stands on my stage The standards have fallen My value has dropped But don’t shed a tear Some walk like they own the place Whilst others creep in fear Try if you can to walk like a man But you don’t come near
You’ve got to fly like an eagle Prowl like a lion in Africa Leap like a salmon home from the sea To keep up with me You’ve got to walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight
The old hometown just looks the same Like a derelict man who had died out of shame Like a jumble sale left out in the rain It’s not good, it’s not right The standards have fallen My value has dropped But don’t shed a tear Some walk like they own the place Whilst others creep in fear Try if you can to walk like a man But you don’t come near
You’ve got to fly like an eagle Prowl like a lion in Africa Leap like a salmon home from the sea To keep up with me You’ve got to walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight
Where did you leave all self-respect? You look like a reptile, your house is a wreck Your existence an insult Stains that are suspect cover your clothes The standards have fallen My value has dropped But don’t shed a tear Some walk like they own the place Whilst others creep in fear Try if you can to walk like a man But you don’t come near
You’ve got to fly like an eagle Prowl like a lion in Africa Leap like a salmon home from the sea To keep up with me You’ve got to walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight Walk like a panther tonight
My Response is that growing up, I was not really introduced to exotic stuff, in fact, it would surprise you to hear the sort of things that in my family we thought of as exotic!
My mum wouldn’t eat Rice or Pasta, so if Marks and Spencers hadn’t done Spaghetti Bolognese ready meals, I’d have never known the joys of Italian food in my life. I now know the joys of real Italian food and have even attempted to make some myself.
Bearing that in mind, it was not without trepidation that I tried the following:
1) Norweigian Brown Cheese (Brunost) which is made from Whey rather than curds and tastes like a cross between Fudge and Cheese, it’s a savoury fudgy cheese…. Weird or What?
Now for my Vegetarian and Vegan friends, please look away for the next two.
2) Crocodile. I had this at an evening dinner party in the desert after watching the sunset over Uluru (it was an organised touristy thing but very nice), I didn’t like the taste of Crocodile, it tasted like Salty, Soapy Chicken…
3) Kangaroo. At the same event, I tried Kangaroo and LOVED it. This Agile animal is very much like Venison in taste and the meat is very lean, and consequently has to either be cooked quickly like the best beef steak or casseroled very slowly.
4) Ethiopian Cuisine – Now this was a really exotic experience for me (bearing in mind how unadventurous my culinary experiences had been) and I loved it. There are a few Ethiopian restaurants in London. The Queen of Sheba in Kentish Town is wonderful. The food is spiced but flavoursome and you eat it with rolled up giant pancakes (or its like pancakes), delicious,
5) Mole ( this is pronounced Molay, and is a Mexican sauce and NOT the burrowing animal), This is a very thick brown sauce, savoury and very complex tasting notes but made with chocolate. I have to say, I thought it was not very nice at all.
Please forgive me my friend, Irene, who writes the blog “My Slice of Mexico”, if you are reading this. By way of apology, I post a link to her blog below, her recipes always look really tasty.
Last week I took part in Jim Adam’s Song Lyric Sunday Challenge, the theme was songs that feature the lyrics of either Past, Present, or Future. It’s all about Time.
I think this time of year sparks thoughts of reflection on life and death. As the year draws to a close and before the time of festivity begins, we often look back and think about what we have achieved or failed to achieve. It also makes us consider our own mortality. Sometimes I look back at my life, almost like I’d been sold a ticket to a show from one of those showmen without scruple, and think about whether it was worth the ticket? We all get a different show, some of us experience a rollercoaster ride of excitement and perils, others get a quiet ride. Remember that you are in the driving seat of your life and you may face obstacles or have to overcome great challenges.
The challenge this week is to think of a song with lyrics about Birth, Life or Death and there were three songs that came to my mind.
Firstly, Season in the Sun, by Terry Jacks.
The song is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 song “Le Moribond” by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel[2] with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by American singer-poet Rod McKuen,[3] portraying a dying man’s farewell to his loved ones.
Goodbye to you, my trusted friend We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten Together we’ve climbed hills and trees Learned of love and ABC’s Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees
Goodbye my friend, it’s hard to die When all the birds are singing in the sky Now that the spring is in the air Pretty girls are everywhere Think of me and I’ll be there
We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the hills that we climbed Were just seasons out of time
Goodbye Papa, please pray for me I was the black sheep of the family You tried to teach me right from wrong Too much wine and too much song Wonder how I got along
Goodbye Papa it’s hard to die When all the birds are singing in the sky Now that the spring is in the air Little children everywhere When you see them, I’ll be there
We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the wine and the song Like the seasons have all gone We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the wine and the song Like the seasons have all gone
Goodbye Michelle, my little one You gave me love and helped me find the sun And every time that I was down You would always come around And get my feet back on the ground
Goodbye Michelle, it’s hard to die When all the birds are singing in the sky Now that the spring is in the air With the flowers everywhere I wish that we could both be there
We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the stars we could reach Were just starfish on the beach
We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the stars we could reach Were just starfish on the beach
We had joy, we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the wine and the song Like the seasons have all gone
All our lives we had fun We had seasons in the sun But the hills that we climbed Were just seasons out of time
Source: LyricFindSongwriters: Jacques Brel / Rod Mckuen
Secondly, I thought of the song by The Who, My Generation, which contains the lyric “I hope I die before I get old”. I wonder if anyone has asked Pete Townshend if he has changed his mind now he is older?
People try to put us d-down (talkin’ ’bout my generation) Just because we get around (talkin’ ’bout my generation) Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin’ ’bout my generation) I hope I die before I get old (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
This is my generation This is my generation, baby
Why don’t you all f-fade away (talkin’ ’bout my generation) And don’t try dig what we all s-s-say (talkin’ ’bout my generation) I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (talkin’ ’bout my generation) I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-generation (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
My generation This is my generation, baby
Why don’t you all f-fade away (talkin’ ’bout my generation) And don’t try d-dig what we all s-s-say (talkin’ ’bout my generation) I’m not trying to cause a big sensation (talkin’ ’bout my generation) I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-generation (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
This is my generation This is my generation, baby My, my g-generation My, my, my, my, my generation
People try to put us d-down (talkin’ ’bout my generation) Just because we g-g-get around (talkin’ ’bout my generation) Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin’ ’bout my generation) Yeah, I hope I die before I get old (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
This is my generation This is my generation, baby My, my, my, my, my generation (generation)
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (talkin’ about) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (my generation) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (my generation) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (this is my generation, baby)
Talkin’ ’bout my generation (this is my generation) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (generation) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (this is my generation) Talkin’ ’bout my generation (this is my generation)
There’s no time for us There’s no place for us What is this thing that builds our dreams, yet slips away from us
Who wants to live forever Who wants to live forever Oh ooo oh There’s no chance for us It’s all decided for us This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us
Who wants to live forever Who wants to live forever Ooh Who dares to love forever Oh oo woh, when love must die
But touch my tears with your lips Touch my world with your fingertips And we can have forever And we can love forever Forever is our today
Who wants to live forever Who wants to live forever Forever is our today Who waits forever anyway?
She’d overslept again. This was the third time this week!
Luckily, she had only overslept by five minutes and she always allowed enough time to get ready for work. She would have to do something simple with her hair again, no time to blow-dry, just a pony tail.
Walking into the bathroom she checked her face.
Was that a new wrinkle? There just above her right eyebrow?
She didn’t remember seeing it before. She had a few frown lines on her forehead, but who didn’t when they’d passed the thirty mark?
After her shower she slapped on a bit of extra moisturiser, just to try to keep the lines at bay. She also promised herself a spa day in the not too distant future.
Her commute into work wasn’t remarkable. The usual traffic, the usual impatient honking of horns. The idiot who cut into her lane without any indication. Why did people insist on driving without bothering to let others know what they are going to do? They’ll end up on a slab one day in the morgue where she worked.
She worked as a mortician at the local morgue. Not a glamorous job but it was stable, there will always be a constant supply of customers, that was for sure.
As she arrived at work her colleagues all greeted her. It may surprise people to know that people who work in the morgue were actually quite upbeat and friendly. She got on with almost everyone. Of course, she spent most of her time with the customers and they couldn’t answer back or get on her nerves. She probably had the best customers of any company anywhere in the world!
Stan came up to her to give her the news.
“Morning Jenny, you’ve got two new ones come in this morning. Do your best to a make them look nice for their families. One is a lady in her early 90’s who died in her sleep. The other’s a girl in her early twenties, had an overdose, poor thing. See what you can do.”
She went into her studio and looked at her customers. What a contrast.
One was as wrinkled as a burlap sack. There wasn’t much skin that wasn’t wrinkled.
The other was as perfect as a body could be. Not a blemish on it. The face didn’t have a single wrinkle. It was flawless.
And yet, here was a woman who had lived a long life. Who had had children and grandchildren and who, judging from the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and around her mouth, must have enjoyed a good laugh. The wrinkles were like life’s calling card etched on her body for all to see.
And there was this poor, lovely, unblemished girl who had not really had much of a chance to live life to the full.
She realised who she most wanted to be like.
Never again would she look at a wrinkle in the same way.
It wasn’t a curse, each was a little blessing.
She was lucky to have her wrinkles. So many people didn’t live long enough to get them.
Today’s word prompts are Marble, Plaster,Dream and Derivative.
These made me recall an old lyric of a song written by Michael William Balfe with the word by Alfred Bunn in the Opera, The Bohemian Girl, written in 1843. It was later arranged and recorded by Enya.
Here are the Lyrics:
I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs at my side
And of all who assembled within those walls
That I was the hope and the pride
I had riches too great to count, could boast
Of a high ancestral name
But I also dreamt, which pleased me most
That you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same
I dreamt that suitors sought my hand
That knights upon bended knee
And with vows, no maiden heart could withstand
They pledged their faith to me
And I dreamt that one of that noble host
Came forth my hand to claim
But I also dreamt, which charmed me most
That you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same
Tales from the mind of Kristian 
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