{"id":1294,"date":"2004-05-29T19:16:06","date_gmt":"2004-05-30T00:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/?p=1294"},"modified":"2004-05-29T19:16:06","modified_gmt":"2004-05-30T00:16:06","slug":"happy-birthday-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2004\/05\/happy-birthday-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Birthday GKC!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Narwen <\/a>via Gerard<\/a> for the reminder.
\nChesterton loved children, and was often tapped to play Old King Cole in pageants. Here’s some verse by Chesterton that always gives me the giggles:<\/p>\n

Old King Cole
\nWas a merry old soul
\nAnd a merry old soul was he
\nHe called for his pipe
\nand he called for his bowl
\nand he called for his fiddlers three
\nafter Lord Tennyson:<\/i>
\nCole, that unwearied prince of Colchester,
\nGrowing more gay with age and with long days
\nDeeper in laughter and desire of life
\nAs that Virginian climber on our walls
\nFlames scarlet with the fading of the year;
\nCalled for his wassail and that other weed
\nVirginian also, from the western woods
\nWhere English Raleigh checked the boast of Spain,
\nAnd lighting joy with joy, and piling up
\nPleasure as crown for pleasure, bade me bring
\nThose three, the minstrels whose emblazoned coats
\nShone with the oyster-shells of Colchester;
\nAnd these three played, and playing grew more fain
\nOf mirth and music; till the heathen came
\nAnd the King slept beside the northern sea.
\nafter W.B. Yeats:<\/i>
\nOf an old King in a story
\nFrom the grey sea-folk I have heard
\nWhose heart was no more broken
\nThan the wings of a bird.
\nAs soon as the moon was silver
\nAnd the thin stars began,
\nHe took his pipe and his tankard,
\nLike an old peasant man.
\nAnd three tall shadows were with him
\nAnd came at his command;
\nAnd played before him for ever
\nThe fiddles of fairyland.
\nAnd he died in the young summer
\nOf the world’s desire;
\nBefore our hearts were broken
\nLike sticks in a fire.
\n
\nafter Walt Whitman:<\/i>
\nMe clairvoyant,
\nMe conscious of you, old camarado,
\nNeeding no telescope, lorgnette, field-glass, opera-glass, myopic pince-nez,
\nMe piercing two thousand years with eye naked and not ashamed;
\nThe crown cannot hide you from me,
\nMusty old feudal-heraldic trappings cannot hide you from me,
\nI perceive that you drink.
\n(I am drinking with you. I am as drunk as you are.)
\nI see you are inhaling tobacco, puffing, smoking, spitting
\n(I do not object to your spitting),
\nYou prophetic of American largeness,
\nYou anticipating the broad masculine manners of these States;
\nI see in you also there are movements, tremors, tears, desire for the melodious,
\nI salute your three violinists, endlessly making vibrations,
\nRigid, relentless, capable of going on for ever;
\nThey play my accompaniment; but I shall take no notice of any accompaniment;
\nI myself am a complete orchestra.
\nSo long.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Narwen via Gerard for the reminder. Chesterton loved children, and was often tapped to play Old King Cole in pageants. Here’s some verse by Chesterton that always gives me the giggles: Old King Cole Was a merry old soul And a merry old soul was he He called for his pipe and he… Continue reading Happy Birthday GKC!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commonplace-book","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moss-place.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}