To talk of many things... Methuselah, Mermaids, and the Magic Flute

On this last Friday in May,

a bit of humor, whimsy, and enchantment...

The Walrus and The Carpenter
Sir John Tenniel

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:

Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax,

Of cabbages and kings;

Andy why the sea is boiling hot-

And whether pigs have wings."

-Lewis Carroll

One night in late October

When I was far from sober

Returning with my load of manly pride

My feet began to stutter

So I lay down in the gutter,

And a pig came near and lay down by my side;

A lady passing by was heard to say:

"You can tell a man who boozes

By the company he chooses"

And the pig got up and slowly walked away."

"Judged By The Company One Keeps"

Unknown

"And this little piggy went,
"Wee! Wee! Wee! Wee!"
All the way home!"

Methuselah ate what he found on his plate,

And never, as people do now,

Did he note the amount of the calory count;

He ate it because it was chow.

He wasn't disturbed as at dinner he sat,

Devouring a roast or a pie,

To think it was lacking in granular fat

Or a couple of vitamins shy.

He cheerfully chewed each species of food,

Unmindful of troubles or fears

Lest his health might be hurt

By some fancy dessert;

And he lived over nine hundred years.

"Methuselah"

Unknown

"So Methuselah lived 969 years

and he died."

Genesis 5:27

The amazingly ancient Methuselah Bristlecone Pine grows

in an undisclosed location inside the Inyo National Forest

Eastern Sierra Nevada Range, California

"The coming and going, Of music is fleet,

Low laughter or ecstacy, Of lutes, piercing sweet.

Now plaintive, now dulcet!, Now joyous and clear,

Till the rapture of night-in-gales, Is silent to hear!

O marvel of music! O song, passing sweet!

What is lovely eludes us, For beauty is fleet"

"The Magic Flute"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"The Magic Flute"

Marc Chagall

(1967)

Twas Friday morn when we set sail,

And were not far from the land,

When a captain spied a lovely mermaid

With a comb and a glass in her hand.

Oh, the ocean waves may roll,

And the stormy winds may blow,

While we poor sailors go skipping to the tops,

And land lubbers lie down below, below,

And land lubbers lie down below.

(refrain)

Then up spake the captain of our gallant ship,

And a well spoken man was he;

"I've married a wife in Salem town,

And tonight she a widow will be"

Then up spake the cook of our gallant ship,

And a red hot cook was he;

"I care much more for my kettles and pots

Than I do for the depths of the sea."

Then three times around went our gallant ship,

And three times around went she

Then three times around went our gallant ship

And she sank to the depths of the sea."

The Mermaid

Author Unknown

Mermaid

John William Waterhouse

(1900)