Song of Myself, Stanza 14

14

The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listening close,
Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.

The sharp-hoof'd moose of the north, the cat on the housesill,
the chickadee, the prairie-dog,
The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,
The brood of the turkey-hen and she with her half-spread
wings,
I see in them and myself the same old law.

The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred
affections,
They scorn the best I can do to relate them.

I am enamour'd of growing out-doors,
Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods,
Of the builders and steerers of ships and the wielders of axes
and mauls, and the drivers of horses,
I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.

What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me,
Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take
me,
Not asking the sky to come down to my good will,
Scattering it freely forever.

(no subject)

Veggie tempura, mmmmmmm.

G. picked it for lunch, and we shared. I woulda had sushi, but whatev. He's six, he gets to pick.

Spoof

I did not write this. I don't know who did, but it's making the email rounds these days. Enjoy.


Based on "The Major-General's Song"

from



Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance"


PRESIDENT:
I am the very model of a bible-bound creationist
A blinkered, blind, and narrow-minded dumb-ass revelationist
I find it hard distinguishing religious from political
And so I make decisions that are highly hypocritical

I try and change the law to save the life of someone comatose
While ordering a war and killing anyone who comes too close
The latest body count was twenty-thousand-plus civilians
But I've got policies that could cause carnage by the milli-ons

ALL:
But he's got policies that could cause carnage by the milli-ons
But he's got policies that could cause carnage by the mili-ons
But he's got policies that could cause carnage by the milli-ons

PRESIDENT:
I know the world was made for us, and has been since it first begun
It says so there in Genesis, and God knows I'm a Christ-ee-yun
In short, in matters biblical, a congre-gaggin-nationist
I am the very model of a bible-bound creationist

ALL:
In short, in matters biblical, a congre-gaggin-nationist
He is the very model of a bible-bound creationist

PRESIDENT:
My country's use of gasoline is profligate and decadent
It's harming our economy and the whole world's environment
Global warming morons warn of crises so hysteric and
It makes me thank the Lord that I was born to be American

Like anyone in power who wants to show their adherence
I pick and choose the bits I use from both Old and New Testaments
The Satanic secular types show how much they fear me
When I announce that evolution's no more than a theory

ALL:
When he announces evolution's no more than a theory
When he announces evolution's no more than a theory
When he announces evolution's no more than a theory

PRESIDENT:
Then I can draft a scary bill that's more than taking liberties
But arguing impugns your patriotic sensitivities
In short, in matters patriotic, criminal or terrorist
I am the very model of a bible-bound creationist

ALL:
In short, in matters patriotic, criminal or terrorist
I am the very model of a bible-bound creationist

PRESIDENT:
In fact, when I know what is meant by true religious parity
When I don't think the West is under threat from secularity

When my lack of brain-power's not undermined by literacy

And when my foreign policy's less gunboat, more diplomacy



When I have learnt the difference 'tween sandwiches and sand wedges

When I can use with confidence the whole damn English lang-u-wedge
In short, when I can state a statement oh, so very statedly
You'll say no president's ever misunderestimatedly

ALL:
You'll say no president's ever misunderestimatedly
You'll say no president's ever misunderestimatedly
You'll say no president's ever misunderestimatedly

PRESIDENT:
I know there ain't much knowledge that's contained within my cranium
I went to see the Wizard, but he can't give me a brainium
But still, in things political or educa-ca-cationist
I am the very model of a bible-bound creationist

ALL:
But still, in things political or educa-ca-cationist
He is the very model of a bible-bound creationist