Sweet young Prudence
saved up thruppence
for a liquorice stick
which cost but tuppence
and gave it a lick
plus a penn'orth of sherbet
for Herbert
the love of her life
hoping some day
she'd be his wife
but he drifted way
then when at last
she knew marriage prospects had passed
our dear Pru' wed Ted instead
amid gaiety and laughter
and as two birds on a telephone wire
they lived happily ever after
Our climate is warming
The speed is alarming
Could this be a warning
Our greenhouse gases rise
Polluting worldwide skies
Now comes a surprise
The planet is heating
From our carbon burning
And we’re still not learning
We aim for personal gain
And simply show no shame
As we play selfish game
But now we get the flack
Nature’s on the attack
The pendulum swings back
We’d enough for our need
But then we turned to greed
And made our planet bleed
We didn’t care tuppence
Ignoring common sense
Now we face consequence
Our climate is warming
The speed is alarming
Could this be a warning
Milk bottles we would rinse out and return.
Pop bottles take back to claim the tuppence.
Kellogg’s cartons collected for the kids
To cut and paste and learn creative art.
Unburnt cinders reclaim from last night’s fire
And add to burn again with today’s coals.
Rinsed food cans collected by rag-bone man.
Blue sugar-bag take back to the Coop
To be filled once more with weighed out sugar.
Cut up old clothes to use as cleaning rags.
Collect carthorse droppings for garden plants.
Newspapers take to chippy for free chips
Or use to roll and twist as fire-lighters.
Naught went to waste in those austere times.
Bluebird, it's cold outside today
So be it, you just stay
In here with me, I'll keep you warm
And wrap you up inside my form
Rest your wings within my love
While snowflakes falling from above
Just serve to make the scene surreal
To be with you is my ideal
When once upon a time one had to knock at your friends door to see if they were in because your parents had put a cap on the phone bill to stop you ringing ....
When you recycled your bottles of pop for pocket money, a halfpenny for your fruit salad chew and you couldn't resist a black jack that turned your tongue blue ..
When your first job was picking fresh organic field mushrooms for the local grocery , a Tuppence a punet was plenty ....
When you helped the elders of your community across the road because their glasses were stuck together with sticky tape balanced on their nose ......
When your friend called Cyril the dog taught you to swim in the river and the sea and you adventured in the pond on your makeshift barrelled boat , your spirit was free swinging on a rope amongst the river trees ...
When it was safe to walk to the park through your village , your community ,and you know you felt safe because everyone knew , you see ...
When the day finished off with scraps wrapped in The Sun newspaper shared amongst your friends whom you spent climbing trees navigating yourselves scumping apples over the old mans private fence ...
Comeuppance is a useful word
when confronted by a beggar nerd
Give him no more than tuppence
a fitting and proper comeuppance
Tuppence to my name
Tuppence after the bills are
Paid
Tuppence for A Thought
Tuppence was a lot of money
Back in the day
When we were young
Tuppence was a lot of money
For salad creams and strawberry bon bons ...
I got Tuppence to my name
The bank takes takes takes as it plays
Out its strategic takeover game...
Tuppence to my name
Tuppence after the bills are Paid
Tuppence for a thought
I'd be rich
If life was not a ....
Tuppence for A Thought
I'd be poor
If id become a whore
Tuppence for A Thought
Put it in the charity box
Hope blessed are thee
Put it in the charity box and it'll come back three fold , you'll see ...
Oh, don’t flatter me with presents from the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Tis the season for nostalgia, but those feelings never last.
It’s a gift-wrapped empty promise not worth tuppence on the street,
Or a ticket to the opera when you’ve nothing left to eat.
Oh, don’t weary me with visions from the Ghost of Christmas Gone.
It’s a fairy tale for paupers who’ll be just as poor come dawn.
I’ve no sympathy for indolence, nor ignorance and want.
If you’re looking for compassion, find another bank to haunt.
Oh, don’t bother me with worries from the Ghost of Christmas Done.
Send those children of the gutter to the workhouse, every one!
Put their noses to the grindstone in a more productive game;
Earning porridge making bootstraps for the barefoot and the lame.
Oh, don’t humbug me with pleadings from the Ghost of Christmas Lost.
Sir, the figures on my balance sheet won’t justify the cost.
So, our business is concluded and I’m free to wash my hands.
Tell the Sisters of St. Alban’s, the eviction notice stands!
There was an old stripper called Jacky,
who's act was deemed rather tacky.
But she got her comeuppance
when, out of her tuppence,
fell six pipes, fifty fags and some baccy.
Shoeshine Joe.
Thruppence for a shoeshine, that's what Joe will shout.
Tuppence for a bulling up as he smiles and looks about.
Drumming up trade these days is harder than before
his dad was a lad and ran this pad when he was twenty-four.
But jobs they're hard to come by with many on the dole.
I'll give you fourpence one man shouts for tongue, top and sole.
Blimey that's a good one he snaps him up right quick.
Sits him down with a smile and cleans his shoes real slick.
That's grand the man retorts as his shoes reflect his face
He pays Joe with a sixpence and says, don't leave this space.
From that day on shoeshine Joe's business began to grow.
And now he owns a shoeshine shop.
The best shoeshine from Joe.
There was a crook named Jum Tuppence
Who stole from people of meager substance.
He tried it on an undercover cop
And was caught right on the spot.
Now Jum is due to get his comeuppance.
a day's work by lunchtime
another one by bed
her thoughts they keep running
around in her head
the world won't address her
or listen at all
to her female opinion
'tain't worth bugger all
if not for her mother
if one she has got
there'd be little comfort
when tied in a knot
by rules and conventions
invented by men
and that's not to mention
a 'good slap' now and then
so silent she wanders
through every day
in search of a foothold
for children at play
and life as an equal
at home and abroad
no wonder she's lonely
frustrated and bored
but men will be menfolk
and boys will be boys
and that's why i wonder
i don't hear a noise
when tuppence talk turns to
a fair go for she
who walks without mention
a slave to the free
for women's day
Through the Dark Woods crooked pathways
Out beyond the crooked mile
Lived a Tinker who tended the crooked river dam
And He wore a crooked smile
He tinked til the wee hours of morning
Upon finest jewels of luster sheen
He tinked gold for crowns and bracelets
To be placed upon the Queen
Each day at noon he shut the rivers gates
To protect the palace in the valley low
Though he was a Master Tinker
He also cared for ebb and flow
He was paid a meager tuppence
For the many laborious hours he spent
He kept it in an old biscuit box
And never spent one cent
One day the Queen sent a messenger
A new tinker she had found
His services were hereby cancelled
His severence less than half a pound
A tinker's tear had fallen
From off his crooked brow
Left suddenly with a jobless future
There was only one action left for him now
Noon came upon the mountain
With the dam bursting at the seams
He opened every river gate
Creating raging torrents out of streams
He gazed down upon the valley
Where a Queen's palace once did stand
And thought, You can mess with this crooked tinker
Just don't mess with a tinker's dam
For Richard Lamoureux's "Any line" contest.
Richard Seale-d Door's line: slammed shut are the doors in "A mind made up".
You told me before
slammed shut are the doors
when my love for you went astray
I got my comeuppance
he's worth not a tuppence
and rumor has it he's gay
Lest I've need of another
visit to me brother
sometime for a quick howdy-do
or longing for discourse
in code as of Morse
on the stealth oiled a hinge, p'haps two
Ah, found me a crack
Leech-a is back
my love for the other's dissipated
you smile goodly, warmly
longingly, lovingly
my return welcome and anticipated
Delysia Hendricks
Limerick croisés : Once our Senorita from Sevilla – 11
Once our Senorita from Sevilla
Shed tears for Don Carlo in Opera
Touched by Verdi in heart
Present in Phillip’s Court
She could give her life for Isabella !
Oh ! How she cursed the Princess Eboli
Denounced hers-Inquisitor’s treachery
Upped her seat in Act IV
Hung around Exit Door :
Which caused King Phillip’s heirless Court to flee
So there she slept till the next performance
When tocsin rang the King’s comeuppance
Carlos Quinto’s grandson
All spruced-up as Mammon
Wed Senorita richer by tuppence !
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2013
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