MJ Walker wrote:
> Pretty close, Ken, the quote - 2 lines :
> "and the Republic summons Ike,
> the mausoleum in her heart."
Close enough for government work, I suppose. It's that mausoleum in her
heart thing that gets to me...it's pure genius.
> Is your girlfriend by any chance quoting that lady who was getting her
> head chopped off during the Tudor period - the headsman missed her neck
> & sliced off a piece of her head, whereupon she raised her head and said
> "Can..." I read this years ago in some history of British execution &
> torture.
Aha. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. I'd read that the headsman, who must
have been a real klutz, missed her neck on the first stroke and took a
chunk of the back of her head, then kept on hacking until he got it
done--supposedly two more strokes. At least Henry VIII had the decency
to accord Anne Boleyn a skilled French swordsman who didn't have to
wield some 20-pound meat cleaver. On the first stroke, Mary was heard
to murmur "Sweet Jesus!" or something like that. I suppose that's
reasonable given the circumstances. You are joking about her final
words, but in a sad way "Can I go home now?" would also be an
appropriate expression for a woman being dismembered by an incompetent
on the orders of her cousin who'd never met her, pace Schiller,
Donizetti, Thirties Hollywood, and whoever else got into the act.
Depends on what a devout Catholic like Mary meant my "home" or "Home."
The official version is that when the headsman went to display her head
to the onlookers in the castle, her wig fell off, revealing gray hair.
She was 44 years old and I believe had been imprisoned for 18 years.
Then again, my hair went gray in my 20s and I only spent one day in jail
in my life.
Given the dog stories of earlier this week, the fate of Mary's Skye
terrier is the saddest aspect. The dog cowered under his mistress's
skirt during the beheading, was found bloodied afterwards, would not
leave her, was washed, but starved himself to death. Dogs....
> The better half of the US American nation has my profoundest sympathy.
> Couldn't you secede?
I have considered whether we could return ourselves to the UK.
Something like "Oh well, that Revolution wasn't quite what we planned,
would you like to start with Arkansas and West Virginia?" and reannex
ourselves. However, would someone send Prince Harry to Tierra del Fuego
first? The kid's brain seems never to have quite developed in whatever
area controls morality or not acting like a public asshole. Elizabeth
must be so proud. Philip must be looking in the mirror.
Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538
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