The Angry Exile: Lightweights.

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

Thursday, 31 December 2009

Lightweights.

Oh Christ, why is the UK even bothering to carry on fighting in the 'Stan? Why, when the chickenshits in charge have already let terrorists score so many victories? Attacked supposedly for our decadent, western, freedom loving ways the whole fucking west responds by restricting the freedom of its citizens. Thanks to knowing which buttons to press a few headjobs have ensured that getting on a plane is now a colossal pain in the arse and that you can't take a photograph without attracting the attention of some overbearing, gum chewing, busybody, bullying cocksocket who makes Constable Savage look reasonable. And now it seems that it's spread to sport.

England is poised to pull out of next year’s Commonwealth Games over fears that athletes will be victims of a terrorist attack, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Just like all those years and years didn't go anywhere where we were threatened by Irish republican terrorists, right? Oh, wait....

Police and security advisers fear that the English team will be targeted by Pakistani terrorists and feel that athletes’ safety cannot be guaranteed at present.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, visited the Indian capital earlier this month to inspect the Games sites and was said to have voiced “serious concerns” about the security arrangements.

Whereas you can guarantee their safety at home because there's never been a successful attack in the UK, has there? Oh, wait....

Although a formal decision on England’s participation will not be taken until the new year, senior Whitehall sources told The Daily Telegraph that there was “virtually no chance” a team would be sent.

I don't know about anyone else but I'd call that match point to Terrorism.

If the English team withdraws, the entire competition would be in jeopardy. The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish teams would almost certainly follow suit, as could countries such as Australia and Canada which also have troops in Afghanistan — the likely justification for any terrorist attack. Several high-profile English athletes have already pulled out of the Games citing other commitments.

Oh fuck. Shall we just call it game, set, match, tournament and many years of bragging rights?

What the fuck happened over the last ten years? When did we become such softcocks? When did we let other people decide for us whether it's safe to go somewhere? Why do so many of us roll over so meekly and allow our fucking governments - the cunts that are supposed to be elected to make sure what we say gets done (yes, ahahahahahahahahaha, I know, ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha) - to hand the win to religious nutters because there might be yet another one prepared to set his underpants on fire? In short why can't any sportspeople who want to compete and are willing to take the risk stick a big middle finger up to terrorists and spineless governments alike and go anyway?*

The bottom line is that by changing our lives so much for the terrorist threat we lose and they win. Let's go back to being us and if they want to carry on, well, I can't put it much better than the inimitable P&T.

Business as usual, motherfuckers, because madmen in caves can't get us all. So let's harden the fuck up and send as much of the team that wants to compete anyway to the Commonwealth Games.

* Obviously there may be an element of the Orwellian perpetual war thing going on to keep the proles under control.

2 comments:

Dick Puddlecote said...: Absolutely spot on, AE. It was intensely irritating in 2005 to hear almost everyone saying, post 7/7, that the terrorists won't win, we're going to carry on regardles blah blah blah. Yet the next day, the underground was almost empty as everyone pissed their pants.

Since 9/11, the terrorists must have been barely off of their backs holding their sides and kicking their legs in the air at the hysterical panic they have put the west through.

The US reaction to an underwear bomber is astoundingly crap. Full pat-down (err, the crotch was where the bomb was) which will do nothing. And apparently, no-one allowed out of their seat for the last hour of flight. No, seriously.

WTF?

Security we have is good enough. A yank has 'done the math'. You can take 20 flights per year, and still be less likely to be on a plane with a terrorist than being struck by lightning.

Whatever happened to not panicking?

Love the Penn & Teller vid.; 31 December 2009 at 07:31
Angry Exile said...: Didn't see the US reaction to the underpants bomber. Well, I'm too happily married to go for a crotch check even if the septics hire only gorgeous wasp waisted creatures with golden hair. Since it's more likely to be some overweight guy called Jerry, fuck 'em (not literally). As for not being allowed out of the seat for the last hour I'd be tempted to spend the entire flight eating sweets out of a box ostentatiously marked 'incredibly strong laxatives' and then ask to go to the little Exile's room 45 minutes before landing. I suspect fellow passengers might support my request ;-)

More seriously it's just another reason to avoid flying in general if you can, and flying to America at all unless you really absolutely have to. It's not the fucking terrorists who've made the process of flying such an abominably miserable experience, it's the over reaction by western nations.; 31 December 2009 at 19:45