On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Graham Stark wrote:
> How about T.S. Elliot's The Fall of Rome:
>
> Fantastic grow the evening gowns;
> Agents of the Fisc pursue
> Absconding tax-defaulters through
> The sewers of provincial towns.
> [..]
> Caesar's double-bed is warm
> As an unimportant clerk
> Writes I DO NOT LIKE MY WORK
> On a pink official form.
>
Yes, that one's very good. I do like his compressed imagery. Let's
complete the fall, for people who don't know it:
Unendowed with wealth or pity,
Little birds with scarlet legs,
Sitting on their speckled eggs,
Eye each flu-infected city.
Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.
(It's Auden, by the way, not Eliot.) Anyway, to indicate how the fall
might come about, with a bit of economic dynamics, may I suggest this
song:
There's a hole in my budget, dear Harold, dear Harold,
There's a hole in my budget, dear Harold, my dear.
Then mend it, dear Healy, dear Dennis, dear Dennis,
Then mend it dear chancellor, dear Dennis, my dear.
But how shall I mend it, dear Wilson, dear Wilson,
But how shall I mend it, dear Wilson, my dear?
By building up exports, dear Dennis, dear Dennis,
By increased production, dear eyebrows, my dear.
But that means working harder, dear Harold, dear Harold,
And the workers must have more incentives, my dear.
Then decrease taxation, dear Healy, dear Healy,
And raise all their wages, dear Healy, my dear.
But where is the money to come from, dear Premier,
But where is the money to come from, my dear?
Why, out of your budget, dear Healy, dear Healy,
Why, out of your budget, dear Dennis, my dear.
But there's a hole in my budget, dear Harold, my dear!
This is "There's a Hole in my Budget" by Flanders and Swann, sung as a
duet between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the day, as they
walz roud the room in a steadily increasing inflationary spiral...
Jocelyn Paine
http://www.j-paine.org
http://www.virtual-worlds.biz
+44 (0)7768 534 091
> maybe that's not the spirit of the day, though..
>
> Graham
>
> > Sometime ago we had a thread about suitable pop songs for use in an
> > economics/business class. With National Poetry Day fast approaching
> > (9/10), I wondered if colleagues had any ideas for a short suitable
> > piece of poetry with which to enter into the spirit of the day?
> > Any suggestions gratefully received!
> > Alison
> --
> Graham Stark, Virtual Worlds
> phone: (+044) 01908 618239 mobile: 07952 633185
> Homepage http://www.virtual-worlds.biz
> Virtual Learning Arcade http://www.bized.ac.uk/virtual/vla
> Virtual Economy http://www.bized.ac.uk/virtual/economy
>
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