The Angry Exile: Popcorn VII

The Hangman

Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame in the courthouse square.
The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.
And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime
That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.
And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead --
Till one cried: "Hangman, who is he
For whom you raised the gallows-tree?"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
"He who serves me best," said he,
"Shall earn the rope of the gallows-tree."
And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another's grief
At the Hangman's hand was our relief
And the gallows-frame on the courthouse lawn
By tomorrow's sun would be struck and gone.
So we gave him way, and no one spoke,
Out of respect for his Hangman's cloak.
The next day's sun looked mildly down
On roof and street in our quiet town,
And stark and black in the morning air
Was the gallows-tree in the courthouse square.
And the Hangman stood at his usual stand
With the yellow hemp in his busy hand;
With his buckshot eye and his jaw like a pike
And his air so knowing and business-like.
And we cried, "Hangman, have you not done
Yesterday, with the foreign one?"
Then we fell silent, and stood amazed,
"Oh, not for him was the gallows raised."
He laughed a laugh as he looked at us:
"Did you think I'd gone to all this fuss
To hang one man? That's a thing I do
To stretch a rope when the rope is new."
Then one cried "Murder!" and one cried "Shame!"
And into our midst the Hangman came
To that man's place. "Do you hold," said he,
"with him that was meant for the gallows-tree?"
And he laid his hand on that one's arm.
And we shrank back in quick alarm!
And we gave him way, and no one spoke
Out of fear of his Hangman's cloak.
That night we saw with dread surprise
The Hangman's scaffold had grown in size.
Fed by the blood beneath the chute,
The gallows-tree had taken root;
Now as wide, or a little more,
Than the steps that led to the courthouse door,
As tall as the writing, or nearly as tall,
Halfway up on the courthouse wall.
The third he took -- we had all heard tell --
Was a usurer, and an infidel.
"What," said the Hangman "have you to do
With the gallows-bound, and he a Jew?"
And we cried out, "Is this one he
Who has served you well and faithfully?"
The Hangman smiled: "It's a clever scheme
to try the strength of the gallows-beam."
The fourth man's dark, accusing song
Had scratched our comfort hard and long;
"And what concern," he gave us back.
"Have you for the doomed -- the doomed and Black?"
The fifth. The sixth. And we cried again,
"Hangman, Hangman, is this the man?"
"It's a trick," he said. "that we hangmen know
For easing the trap when the trap springs slow."
And so we ceased, and asked no more,
As the Hangman tallied his bloody score.
And sun by sun, and night by night,
The gallows grew to monstrous height.
The wings of the scaffold opened wide
Till they covered the square from side to side;
And the monster cross-beam, looking down,
Cast its shadow across the town.
Then through the town the Hangman came,
Through the empty streets, and called my name --
And I looked at the gallows soaring tall,
And thought, "There is no one left at all
For hanging, and so he calls to me
To help pull down the gallows-tree."
So I went out with right good hope
To the Hangman's tree and the Hangman's rope.
He smiled at me as I came down
To the courthouse square through the silent town.
And supple and stretched in his busy hand
Was the yellow twist of the hempen strand.
And he whistled his tune as he tried the trap,
And it sprang down with a ready snap --
And then with a smile of awful command
He laid his hand upon my hand.
"You tricked me. Hangman!," I shouted then,
"That your scaffold was built for other men...
And I no henchman of yours," I cried,
"You lied to me, Hangman. Foully lied!"
Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
"Lied to you? Tricked you?" he said. "Not I.
For I answered straight and I told you true --
The scaffold was raised for none but you.
For who has served me more faithfully
Then you with your coward's hope?" said he,
"And where are the others who might have stood
Side by your side in the common good?"
"Dead," I whispered. And amiably
"Murdered," the Hangman corrected me:
"First the foreigner, then the Jew...
I did no more than you let me do."
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky
None had stood so alone as I.
The Hangman noosed me, and no voice there
Cried "Stop!" for me in the empty square.

Maurice Ogden

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Popcorn VII

And now we come to the unLiberal Democrats.

A number of senior figures in the party have volunteered to refund the taxpayer after being challenged over claims which they now admit were unacceptable.
Polls suggest the Liberal Democrats have so far benefited from the embarrassment of the Tories and Labour over the expenses scandal but the new disclosures will dispel any myth that the party does not need to address the issue.

Well surprise surfuckingprise. Did anyone seriously think that there'd be no troughers there?

In one case, a front bencher spent thousands of pounds on furniture, including a rocking chair and sofa-bed, over the course of a few days in the run up to the deadline for submitting her expenses.
Like MPs from all parties, Liberal Democrats have used their expenses to carry out lavish decorating work and refurbishment of their second homes, often putting the stamp duty and legal costs associated with buying their houses on their expenses.
Expenses claims submitted by 12 Liberal Democrats, from senior spokesmen to a number of back benchers, will be disclosed, with some of those involved having already volunteered to pay back some of the money.

Oh well, they've already "volunteered" to pay ~~it all~~ some of it back. Whoop-de-do. I don't suppose this "voluntary" act had anything to do with having the most time to think about while the other two parties have been under the microscope. Or perhaps that it seems to be working for Dave, though fuck knows why since, as Guido says, stealing and then giving it back doesn't usually cut much ice because the original theft isn't actually undone - burglars don't become innocent by giving the TV back. If the LibDems wanted to impress anyone with their honesty and keep up the pretence that they're not like the other two then they'd have fucking brought all this to light themselves ages ago. Instead we find that they're up to the same kind of tricks.

I know it's been said millions of times probably before I was even born, but they really are all the fucking same. I'd hope that enough people in Britain feel the same way to give all three main parties an lubricant free arse fucking in the elections next month, though I'm trying to work out where the disgusted LibDem voters are supposed to go. The Labour mob have the BNP, the Tory supporters have UKIP (who are the ones I'd vote for even though I'm not a Tory and don't agree with all that UKIP says)..... but there doesn't seem to be such a thing as a small, pro-EU, soft left/centrist party of eco-wibblers, probably because to some extent the whole LibLabCon monster is riddled with pro-Eu soft left/centrist eco-wibblers. So what's Plan B for the angry LibDem supporter? In the absence of an obvious alternative party to give a protest vote the only option for the angry LibDem voter seems to be to stay at home on polling day, so I'm going to guess that the LibDems will be least damaged by this. However, that's a long fucking way from coming up smelling of roses.