From ‘The Jolly Beggars‘ 1785
…
“Life is al a variorum,
We regard not how it goes;
Let them cant about decorum,
Who have character to lose.
A fig for, &c.
Here’s to budgets, bags and wallets!
Here’s to all the wandering train.
Here’s our ragged brats and callets,
One and all cry out, Amen!
Chorus
A fig for those by law protected!
Liberty’s a glorious feast!
Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest.”
scented cloth is coming to town, a seizure when you’re sleeping, it snows when you’re a fake, its toes fissures are bagerhood , soapy good for goodnesssake, bedder washout, batter nut cry, better big hat, alms telling ewes why ~makes no sense but it makes mo cents!
oily bed
oily rice
make amen
hell fray
well fry
and why?
All art is performance art; only some have a live audience. -macusweil
because this man, naked except for 7 layers of cellophane wrapped neatly around his groin, had no friends, 13 emphysema patients were allowed to bludgeon him with plastic sand toys, you know those little buckets and the like in assorted colours?
well anyway when he bled we all felt pretty bad and so I guess thirteen really is an unlucky number. -macusweil
Altitudes in excess of 62.5 miles (100 kilometers) is the internationally recognized boundary of outer space.
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
~ Art Linkletter
“It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” -William Gibson
The Maxwell family name originated in Scotland’s border region over a half millennium ago. As part of the family heraldry an the emblem was adopted of a standing heart with Saint Andrew’s saltire cross through the middle. Early in family history Sir John Maxwell, the Earl of Nithsdale, head of the clan constructed a formidable castle near the English border. It was raised by the edge of the Irish Sea and known as Caerlaverock. Through the course of centuries the castle was embattled many times over causes few alive exactly remember.
Within this moated stronghold the symbol of the heart & cross was carved onto the red sandstone façade around 1634AD. The castle was again laid siege just a few years later. This time during the wars of religion that shook the Scottish nation. A bloody conflict raged between Catholics and Protestant Christians, all of course children of God. Though fiercely allegiant to King Charles I those within were left abandoned of aid by their monarch. Grossly outnumbered they succumbed to those outside intent on the castle’s demise in the name of religion. After many weeks the walled fortress fell. The standoff ended with surrender. Caerlaverock was partially destroyed and has lain in ruins since.
If one visits the castle’s remnant relic today they’ll find a fortress no more and stately apartment within mere crumbling rock. An intriguing question arises. What can this fallen structure, missing stones, within- without and a moat fallen wall & tower indicate? There is something challenging here for us all. Imagine this condition for the better. Wars long ended and peace long prevails. The once grand assemblance of stones now lacks all amenities. The Earl’s residence with every possession long ago stolen or decayed and potent defenses shattered. Ironically as such it is been rendered impervious; no future attacks will be plotted and sprung save time itself.
A walking tour of this historic site reveals something miraculous. The engraved heart and cross are still standing over a doorway as it has for more than three hundred years. To the current generation of Maxwell’s the heart and saltire or crux decussata (cross upon which Saint Andrew was crucified) image still resonates strong. The heart and the cross taken together embody the power of love and forgiveness.
Here is history’s rich dispatch to a way of life. Do not allow our hearts and minds to become a fortress of sorts but rather strive to be an open force of change for good in the world. Embrace love and forgiveness.
