We really rather love our Mr Wag.
A bag of music, music in a bag.
Such masterpieces did he once produce.
We listen every day to Mr Wag.
Oh such a man, a wit was Mr Wag.
Oh what a dish of gifts, oh what a bag.
A Ring he made for us to hear, not wear.
The Nibelungen sent by Mr Wag.
So Rheingold was the first from Mr Wag.
And then we had Walküre in the bag.
The Ring then brought us Siegfried as the third.
The fourth one's hard to say, dear Mr Wag.
Could cause some difficulty, Mr Wag,
for Götterdämmerung is in this bag
and can be hard, this Götterdämmerung.
You see that “o” and “a” there, Mr Wag?
There's also that name here, oh Mr Wag.
We say as Vahgner, and it's in the bag.
So “Wag”, you see, is “Wagner”, that OK?
For that word's in the bag now, Mr Wag.
(16 Jul 2023)
I love it,
Our morning ritual of tea,
Just you and me.
But the milkman, and the maid
The kids wailing,
Like the newly awoken dead
Won’t have it.
Gotterdammerung
They scream.
Or something
That sounds
Just like it.
Tea gone cold.
The morning
Feels old.
Got up from the sofa with sleep in my eyes
As the dawn was beginning to break.
I went to the kitchen to clean up the mess
From the previous evening’s mistake.
I’d thought it was worth it. I gave it a try,
But my dinner plans didn’t go right.
We got past the entree and served the dessert
When my ex and I started to fight.
She told me, “You ought to...” I answered, “No way!”
Then she mockingly called me a fool.
I said she was pushy and oughta back off.
She responded with more ridicule.
I called her a bully. She called me a bum
And a loser, then said, “Kiss my ass!”
I gave her the finger and called her a witch
As the cabernet flew from her glass.
I tried hard to duck, but I stumbled instead,
Lost my balance and started to fall,
I grabbed for the tablecloth as I went down,
But the act didn’t help me at all.
The glasses and dishes and chicken and sauce;
Gotterdammerung down on the floor.
It all went to pieces, it all went to hell.
My ex walked out slamming the door.
Yesterday’s coffee is bitter and cold
As it pours dark as sin through the spout.
Yesterday’s love tastes exactly the same,
But it’s something I’ll manage without.
14 May 1940
Rotterdam was brung
Gotterdammerung
..............................................................................
Note
(a ) In 1940 the Germans bombed most of the city
centre of Rotterdam, killing thousands of civilians
and destroying the city centre.
(b ) “Gotterdammerung” is a German word meaning total
destruction. The word is also the title of an opera.
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