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of Christopher Whitby |
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Just So
The camel just said... 'Humph!' Elizabeth Replies – she does a good 'Humph!' – but as I Watch her smile, something snatches at my breath And I am adrift on a Medusa raft Of memories, eyeing each other up. I feel the water lap about my thigh As my father on the bathroom stool says 'Humph!' And grins a scowl with all his storyteller's craft. A younger son, I don't expect to feel The weight of family continuity or Have tradition dragging at my heel, And yet... and yet, I'd almost ask for more If he and I could co-exist again And fuse, O Best Beloved, my now and then. |
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Jan 2007
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| If you know Kipling's Just So stories, you will understand, O Best Beloved, about camels and 'Humph!' If you don't, get a copy and read them to your children. The story (and painting) of the raft of survivors from the wreck of the Medusa is a different matter, but has particular implications. | ||
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| A Picture Seen When Browsing in a Bookshop They stand in line, their shaven heads An affront. Loose limbed, but ill at ease, A few glance at the camera. The rest Watch mutely as an officer strides by With purpose in his boots. The trees behind Stand guard in mocking stripes of light and dark Beside a building housing God knows what, For these, the caption tells, are woods near Belsen. A lifetime on, the focus is the man |
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Feb 2007
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| Copyright | ||