Tongue in cheek.

[Benjamin]

My bookish bent.. and convoluted mind,

connects old dots perhaps where it should not.

A quarter tax upon all Englishmen

imposed to ransom Richard Lion-heart.

So he'd be freed to live abroad, and toil

in foreign wars for the Plantagenets..

Cement an empire for his kin to rule.

Nought changes! Least of all the layman's lot.

Which brings me to our recent malady

of ordinary folk around the world;

still suffering from the untouchable

faceless new "Masters of the Universe."

And what a pity there's no single dart

to bring them down, like Richard Lion-heart.

[dcmarti1]

 

And what a pity there's no single dart

to bring them down, like Richard Lion-heart.

 

Just this past weekend I watched a DVD of "The Lion in Winter" about everyones' favorite Angry Angevin, Henry II. I absolutely loved this poem. And my paleo-liberal soul absolutely-absolutely loved this:

 

Least of all the layman's lot.

 

As much as I liked the movie, for all its questionable history (like not mentioning daughters), THEY were not likable, even Eleanor. In your piece I love the English manic relation to Lion-Heart:

 

So he'd be freed to live abroad, and toil

in foreign wars

 

And your ending:

 

And what a pity there's no single dart

to bring them down, like Richard Lion-heart.

[dr_con]

Agree with DC, just lovely. It made me smile and brought my anarchist self hopping out looking for a poison dart!

 

Thanks!

 

Juris

[Benjamin]

dcmarti. The "Devil's Brood" of Henry 2nd and Eleanor of Aquitaine makes fascinating reading. It's not difficult to draw comparisons with todays powerful vested interests.

I'm laid low with seasonal viruses so took the opportunity to start reading well intentioned Christmas presents. Not ready yet however, for "The Star Of The Sea" by Joseph O'Connor. The language is to my taste but Irish politics of 1847 and migration of the starving masses may have to wait until spring.