Comments on: Ten Pieces of Inspiration #52

By: David

David — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:59:05 +0000

“Ring Out Wild Bells” is indeed by Tennyson, not Chesterton. The latter, though, did write many poems to do with Christmas, and to keep the balance straight I reproduce (as faithfully as my poor memory serves) one of them here.

A certain day when Henry Chard
Was standing on his head,
The King came by with all his Guard,
With officers all plumed and starred,
And said “I wish, oh Master Chard,
I could do that instead.”

He tried in vain, then with a sigh
Our Henry he did choose
And made him Duke and CSI
And ZPC and KXY,
And he was everything that’s high,
Till he at last was mentioned by
The London Daily News.

When Henry Chard heard this, his gay
Indifference was shocking.
He said “I won’t be AQK
Or XYL or PDA -
Your friends are Dukes, I guess, and they
Seem to be anything but gay,
And all I want on Christmas Day
Is something in my stocking.”

The King he swore a mighty vow
And did not seek to hide it.
“By Heaven and this Imperial brow,
There’s something in your stocking now
That Heaven has put there – Heaven knows how -
Though you have never spied it;
A wonderful thing with ears and eyes
And cartwheels turned and wondrous cries.
O, the self is sad and the soul is gone
For all the kings that the sun shone on,
But well for you when all is done
If you can put your stocking on
And find yourself inside it.”

By: Misha

Misha — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:41:37 +0000

Kate @#6: Trent didn’t cite the “song” so he has a perfect right to make up any brown paper wording for the title that he wants.

No, I’m sorry, if someone follows that up, as Trent did, with the phrase “These are a few of my favorite things,” that is absolutely citing the song.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:32:58 +0000

Ring Out Wild Bells is Tennyson, not Chesterton. One of my favorites as well, from my all-time favorite poet.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:36:00 +0000

It’s sad to see that Trent’s readers can be snarky, even around brown paper Christmas packages. Trent didn’t cite the “song” so he has a perfect right to make up any brown paper wording for the title that he wants.
#2 is so true: as a public educator, I realize that many parents are not readers themselves so they do not value reading and don’t give their children the encouragement to read…in fact, ridicule is often given to a reader in a non-reading family.
#4: giving can be done with time and often that is the one thing that organizations need and don’t get. We had very little extra money when my children were young, but I gave freely of my time in their schools and in their extra-curricular activities.
Happy Holidays to all!

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:15:48 +0000

“The actual words are “Brown paper packages tied up with strings”. Jules and David have caught this recurring error, thank you both.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

By: Kathy M

Kathy M — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:00:05 +0000

Merry Christmas, Trent. Blessings to you all.

By: Jules

Jules — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:40:45 +0000

Argh. For a guy that professes to love them, Trent sure manages to bungle the “brown paper packages” lyric every time. Seriously. It’s not that hard to google the correct one, and this is the third time, at least, that it’s been mangled.

And I agree–the packages look very pretty. But unlike the packages that Trent had up as his examples, you can tell that work, and love, and care went into it.

By: David

David — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:15:59 +0000

The actual words are “Brown paper packages tied up with strings”, although while Hammerstein was writing the song his original and preferable cod lyric was “Cute little babies that fall out of swings”.