FCB # 160 Poets Corner

 

Poet's Corner

Release the Cudgeon!

It was fine for Dwight D. Eisenhower to base his foreign

policy on the notion that one should,&

„ Talk quietly but carry a big stick!“

but if the person one is talking to is much stronger,

and detects a certain weakness, like a

lack of a „big stick“,

then they tend to stop listening, and take advantage.

There is is an age old

„law of the jungle“,

a „law“ much older than the human race,

and it is based on, initialy the

„survival of the strongest“,

Unfortuately humanity has once more admitted,

that it is still not yet fit enough,

to talk quietly and wisely enough, and to argue convincingly,

without a sufficiently large accompanying stick.

It is to mankind’s disdain,

if we must in future,

come to the Grimm conclusion and

permanently release the cudgeon out of the sack,

in order to win over minds and so prevent future wars.

John Harrison

PS as Detlef quite rightly pointed out, you will not find the word  "Cudgeon" in the dictionary, although you will find the words "cudgel" acnd "bludgeon". Adding the suffix "-eon" indicating timelessness and for eternity onto the word cudgel expressed the desired sense better without the goriness of bludgeon, which was a thick stick sometimes strengthened with lead at its centre. The invented word "cudgeon" conveys, I hope, a more permanent display of Eisenhower's "big stick" than the brief, although effective, brief "cudgel out of the sack" forays in Grimms' fairy tales.

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This one was inspired by the post-Brexit demise of British shops in Germany due to the exorbitant cost of health certificates on food imports. The saving grace of REWE's house brand "JA" introducing a tea blend of Ceylon and Indian tea with a box of  50 teabags costing only €0,99 per box, which actually works out at 1.98 cents per bag, but this was near enough to two cents and has enhanced life for me.

Two Cents A Brew

CHORUS

It’s two cents a brew x 2

And there’s nothing quite like it for

Two cents a brew!

When you’re distraught and full of fear

Your first thought is often to reach for a beer,

But as often as not, there’s much more sense,

If you’re only half as mad as me, to settle down and rest,

With a nice cup of tea!

CHORUS

When you are feeling frail, and it’s wintertime,

And outside there’s just sleet and sheet and hail,

What’s better than a very nice cup of tea?

Well, just count me in, I’ll be glad to join you in

A very nice cup of tea.

CHORUS

If we’d never have had any explorers,

Then we would have perhaps never known of this,

Such a soothing brew from the sub-continent of India,

So simply refreshing and soothing and tranquil, and all a’ that,

For merely a measly two cents a brew!

John Harrison