Cyril's Gleans

A poem at 6:30 AM MT, 12/04

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Christmas Bells

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

I've got thm blue-footed booby blues in the night

Abstinence makes the booby's feet grow bluer and its heart fonder
Times Online - Hannah Devlin - ‎In a study of the blue-footed booby, which is native to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador, they found that when birds had a year off from reproducing their feet got an even bluer sky-blue.

Writer(s): Mercer/Arlen/Cyril

My mama done tol' me, when I was in knee-pants
My mama done tol' me, "Son, a woman'll sweet talk"
And give ya the big eye, but when the sweet talkin's done
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blue-footed booby blues in the night.

Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train a-callin, "Whooee!"
(My mama done tol' me) Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, "Whooee!"
(My mama done tol' me) A-whooee-dah-whooee o' clickety-clack's a-echoin' back the blue-footed booby blues in the night.
The evenin' breeze will start the trees to cryin' and the moon will hide its light when you get the blue-footed booby blues in the night.

And take my word, that mockingbird’ll sing the saddest kind of song, he knows things are wrong, and he's so right.

From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blow
I’ve been in some big towns and I heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I know
A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blue-footed booby blues in the night.

My mama was right, there's blue-footed booby blues in the night.

gleans at 8:10 AM MT, 12/01

On a falconry adventure day, Gary King finds that fearsome birds of prey are best kept at arm’s length

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/outdoors/6691415/Falconry-adventure-days-Britains-got-talons.html

An art student based in a warehouse in east London has invented a product already being described as the best thing since Sellotape and Blu-Tack.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6684351/Sugru-Is-this-the-best-invention-since-Sellotape.html

Aleppo: My kind of town. Head to the Syrian city of Aleppo for exoticism, medieval shopping malls and deep-fried falafel, says Gail Simmons.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middleeast/6699294/Aleppo-Syria-my-kind-of-town.html

Toby Clements finds pleasure in books for the loo or the bedside table, including Schott's Almanac 2010, and the blackly witty Seasonal Suicide Notes by Roger Lewis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6662722/Humour-books-of-the-year.html

Lived in London: Blue Plaques and the Stories Behind Them - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/28/london-plaques-emily-cole-review

A Week At The Airport: A Heathrow Diary (Paperback)
~ Alain de Botton (Author) - http://www.amazon.com/Week-At-Airport-Heathrow-Diary/dp/1846683599/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259680164&sr=1-1

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy's 'Poetical Matter' Notebook by Pamela Dalziel and Michael Millgate (Hardcover - April 15, 2009)

Afterwards ~ Thomas Hardy

When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay,
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say,
'He was a man who used to notice such things'?

If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid's soundless blink,
The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight
Upon the wind-warped upland thorn, a gazer may think,
'To him this must have been a familiar sight.'

If I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm,
When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn,
One may say, 'He strove that such innocent creatures should come to no harm,
But he could do little for them; and now he is gone.'

If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,
Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees
Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more,
'He was one who had an eye for such mysteries'?

And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom,
'He hears it not now, but used to notice such things'?

the older Cyril gets, the more he likes Hardy - will he ever get old enough to like Browning?

gleans + 1xaddenda + 1xlagniappe at 8:55 AM MT, 11/29

In Alexandria, Teresa Levonian Cole marvels at a city where remnants of an ancient past are the foundation for its modern charm.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/egypt/6669741/Alexandria-Egypt-in-praise-of-Alex.html

On the eve of its reissue, Elizabeth Day assesses Mary McCarthy's seminal novel, The Group, and its influence on other writers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/29/the-group-mary-mccarthy

addenda

Subject: AFP: Swiss voters favour minaret ban: exit polls
I was surprised to read in this article that Muslims are the largest
religious minority, at 400,000 strong, in Switzerland.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDDsYuOT2IORXFSlII4d2bOeYRIQ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Switzerland

Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland (82% of total resident population). 11% of the total population are irreligious. The largest minority religion is Islam (4%, figures as of 2000).

The two major religious confessions are the Roman Catholic Church (42% of the population) and the Swiss Reformed Church (35%). The country is historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant regions. The larger cities (Bern, Zürich, Basel, Geneva) are traditionally Protestant, while Central Switzerland and the Ticino are traditionally Catholic.

Immigration has brought Islam (4.26% as of 2000, compared to 0.26% in 1970) and Eastern Orthodoxy (1.8%) as sizeable minority religions.[2]. Other minority communities include various Protestant denominations (totalling 1.9%), the New Apostolic Church (0.45%), Hinduism (0.38%), Buddhism (0.29%), Judaism (0.25%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.23%) and the Old Catholic Church (0.18%). Various other communities account for 0.31%. 11.1% of the Swiss were irreligious as of 2000, another 4.3% refused to make a statement.[3]

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[4]

48% of Swiss citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
39% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
9% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".

lagniappe

Sam Walter Foss

House by the Side of the Road
public domain

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

MUGGs at 1:35 AM MT, 11/29

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Recipe: Pasta with Chicken and Mushrooms, Risotto Style
 

Pressures on Pakistan's president mount
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's unpopular president is coming under increasing pressure from the powerful army and political opponents to resign or relinquish most of his powers, fueling political turmoil just as the West wants the country to focus on the threat posed by al-Qaida and the Taliban.
 
New details of Tiger Woods' night-time car crash which left him bleeding on the road outside his home have led only to more questions, not answers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/6679716/The-curious-incident-of-Tiger-Woods-crash-in-the-night-time-poses-puzzling-questions.html

Nick Redmayne is swiftly conquered by the historical and cultural charm of Valletta, Europe's smallest capital.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/malta/6669743/Valletta-the-heartbeat-of-Malta.html

Banzan:
Farewell...                                          
I pass as all things do                       
dew on the grass.  
 
What is dignity?
To some, dignity is an innate and noble quality of humanity, for others it is either a meaningless notion or a complicating factor in human relationships. Mark Tully explores the meaning of dignity on Something Understood.

Duration: 28 minutes
Listen