Thank you to those who provided entries to the literary competition. We have had three entries which will be published in the Advisor over the next three Thursdays. Each of our published authors will receive a bottle of wine as thanks for their efforts. In no particular order we begin with an entry from Dr Graham Jones …
A Shilling To Dance Again
When I was very young, my mother introduced me to a famous couple and told me the story of how
they had fallen in love and had been married. In those happily-ever-after days of childhood I
imagined their living forever with an unfaltering love for each other.
It therefore came as a great shock over half a century later to be told that they had started to bicker.
And, because I’m still a child at heart, the relief was even greater to hear that their tale eventually
had a happy outcome. The story begins on the very day of their golden wedding anniversary, with
their little boat adrift on an rapidly outgoing Mersey tide and a storm approaching……
The Owl and the Pussy-cat, all at sea
In their broken-down wind-swept boat,
Had left their spanners – along with their manners –
Wrapped up in an oil-stained coat.
The Owl looked up to the storm above,
And screeched through his thick catarrh,
“Oh bloody weather! Oh bother, oh sod.
Anniversary day’s right on par!
On par,
On par!
Anniversary day’s right on par!”
Pussy spat at the Owl, “You mis’rable foul-
Mouthed creature; how typic’lly you!
Oh, let us be mended – too long we’ve offended
Each other – but how to renew?”
They drifted away from Liverpool Bay,
To the land where togetherness grows,
And there on a seat was a counsellor, neat
In twin-set with spec’s on her nose,
Her nose,
Her nose,
In twin-set with spec’s on her nose.
“Dear miss, are you willing, to sell for one shilling
Your skill?” Said the lady, “I will.”
So they took hope away, and were healed day by day
By the talking that lifts good from ill.
With ne’er a wince they’ve lived ever since,
Having learned to stop banging their spoon,
And hand in hand, on the Mersey’s fair strand,
Still dance by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
Still dance by the light of the moon.
Athenaeum literature competition
Graham Jones (287), Easter 2020