No.168

Monday 2nd January 2012

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WISE MEN SAY

The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months! (Edward Payson Powell)

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JOHN'S GALLERY

The Frost Fair on the River Thames, London during the winter 1683/4
by Thomas Wyke

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POETRY FOR PLEASURE

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
When nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit!
Tu-who! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow
And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
When nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit!
Tu-who! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
(William Shakespeare, from "Love's Labour Lost")

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A NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM ABBA

Uploaded by AbbaVEVO

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THOUGHTS ON THE NEW YEAR

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That's not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that's the burden of the year.

(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

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The next post to 80 plus will be on Thursday 5th January

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