Land of Nod

I found this small booklet in amongst all the photos that have been scanned recently. It has only got about 30 pages and contains 12 poems by EW Wilcox.  She is an American poet who used good old end rhyme as you did in the late 1800's.  This is the final stanza from one of the poems.

Down the river of sleep, our barque shall sweep,

Till it reaches that mystical isle.

Which no man hath seen, but where all have been,

And there we will pause awhile.

I will croon you a song as we float along,

To that shore that is blessed of God,

Then Ho! for that fair land, we're off for that rare land,

That beautiful land of Nod.

To QLD

 I am pressing on with the plans to visit QLD despite the borders being closed at the moment.  The rumour is that they will reopen by the end of Feb.  I have two scenarios the first based around Mar 10 and the second around Mar 18.  This baby business is never an exact science. In both cases a possible start is Mar 1st.  We will do a bit of a tour to the North of Brisbane and move closer as each day passes.  I have never bought one way flights before and in this case we have flying credits from previous cancellations.  The other thing that gets you out of the comfort zone is going without booking all the accommodation.  Years ago I hitch hiked around New Zealand without knowing where you would end up, so this is simple compared to that. 

I have had a go at a limerick.  These have structured lines like 8 8 5 5 8 syllables or close to it.

Womb Words

To position a baby with speech

Requires it to hear what you teach

"I'm pointing my toes"

"As everyone knows"

"You can't see them unless I am breech"

Something Wicked this way comes

In following up the previous reference by Steinbeck from Macbeth, I dug out another school book, being Shakespeare's complete works and I read through the Macbeth play. For some reason as a schoolboy, we spent a whole term on just a few acts of Twelfth Night and also Macbeth, yet now I can read it in two hours. There is much murder and mayhem but the witches chant is the best.

Double double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

So the "something wicked" was Macbeth but he got his in the end.

Hecate's disciples

Infusion Land

Here we stand in Infusion Land
Herding chickens and planning grand
The trip was made and the plans are laid
The keeping Angels not afraid

Around the world the keepers count
But business falls and losses mount
To stem the tide Pure Books arrived
For all the keepers do we strive

On Boracay we saved the day
And got the keepers lots more pay
So join up keepers don't delay
Pure Bookkeeping is the only way



It's a bit cryptic this one but I guess you had to be here.

Lying in Counterpane

Whether sleeping fine or lathered
Deep beneath the quilts are gathered

Stuff of skin and hair and other
So much of it nightmares smother

Dreaming of the beasts that smite us
All just there in sleep's detritus

Counterpane is a land of dread
Where sleep walkers never leave the bed

Very small but mighty motes
Living, breathing in our throats

So do not toss and stir with grievings
Sleep in peace with the body's leavings