[Oe List ...] Our ever-dwindling Listserve

Tue Nov 9 09:06:53 PST 2021

Thank you Milan.  Poetry: The best possible words in the best possible
order - my highschool English teacher.

On Tue, Nov 9, 2021, 9:20 AM ML Jones via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> Thank you deeply, Milan, for this awesome work!
> Mary Laura Jones
> Grants Resource Development Consultant
> 53599 Pulver Road
> Three Rivers, MI 49093
> cell: 773 636-2022
> mljones2022 at gmail.com
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 9, 2021 at 9:07 AM Herman Greene via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>> Wonderful message Milan
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 17, 2021, 12:45 AM Milan Hamilton via OE <
>> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks. Love you Nancy❤️🤠
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Sep 16, 2021, at 3:45 PM, Nancy Trask via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 
>>> Dear Milan,
>>> You have completely hit it out of the ballpark and over the parking
>>> lot.  The original Shakespeare is enough to give me goosebumps, but your
>>> "addendum" is goosebumps and tears and amazement, the whole emotional
>>> response.  It is a treasure for us all.  Thank you & thank you & thank you
>>> again.
>>> Grace & peace,
>>> Nancy
>>>
>>> Nancy Trask
>>> (515) 505-0456
>>> NLT462 at gmail.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 12:24 PM Milan Hamilton via OE <
>>> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I believe it was Ken (Fisher?) who coined this greeting in response to
>>>> Joe Ayers completion: “our ever-dwindling Listserve.” This was one of those
>>>> “intrusions”into my psyche that resulted in the following poem and Googling
>>>> the Henry V speech. It made me reflect on the stages of grief and where am
>>>> I. Not only are we dwindling in numbers but the species of our beloved home
>>>> are dwindling even faster. I get up every morning and dutifully tick off
>>>> another of the days of this decade remaining (3,395 today) to have to
>>>> reduce our carbon emission by the proverbial 45-50% in order to have a
>>>> livable earth. And get just a little more angry/sad/resigned/accepting. I
>>>> think I am cycling between resignation and acceptance currently. The
>>>> response this particular notice and comment from Ken generated in me led to
>>>> the following. I share it for the edification of the remnant. Milan H.
>>>>
>>>> *A Chair at the Table*
>>>>
>>>> St Crispin's Day Speech
>>>>
>>>> The *St Crispin's Day speech* is a part of William Shakespeare
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare>'s history play *Henry
>>>> V* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_(play)>, Act IV
>>>> <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Life_of_Henry_the_Fifth#ACT_FOURTH.> Scene
>>>> iii(3) 18–67. On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt>, which fell on Saint
>>>> Crispin's Day <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Crispin%27s_Day>,
>>>> Henry V urges his men, who were vastly outnumbered by the French, to recall
>>>> how the English had previously inflicted great defeats upon the French. The
>>>> speech has been famously portrayed by Laurence Olivier
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier> to raise British
>>>> spirits during the Second World War
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World_War>, and by Kenneth
>>>> Branagh <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Branagh> in the 1989
>>>> film *Henry V* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_(1989_film)>; it
>>>> made famous the phrase "band of brothers".[1]
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin%27s_Day_Speech#cite_note-telegraph-1> The
>>>> play was written around 1600, and several later writers have used parts of
>>>> it in their own texts.
>>>>
>>>> WESTMORLAND
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Neville,_1st_Earl_of_Westmorland>.
>>>> O that we now had here
>>>> But one ten thousand of those men in England
>>>> That do no work to-day!
>>>>
>>>> KING <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England>. What's he
>>>> that wishes so?
>>>> My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin;
>>>> If we are mark'd to die, we are enough
>>>> To do our country loss; and if to live,
>>>> The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
>>>> God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
>>>> By Jove <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(mythology)>, I am not
>>>> covetous for gold,
>>>> Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
>>>> It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
>>>> Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
>>>> But if it be a sin to covet honour,
>>>> I am the most offending soul alive.
>>>> No, faith, my coz <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coz#Noun>, wish not
>>>> a man from England.
>>>> God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
>>>> As one man more methinks would share from me
>>>> For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
>>>> Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
>>>> That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
>>>> Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
>>>> And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
>>>> We would not die in that man's company
>>>> That fears his fellowship to die with us.
>>>> This day is call'd the feast of Crispian
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispin_and_Crispinian>.
>>>> He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
>>>> Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
>>>> And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
>>>> He that shall live this day, and see old age,
>>>> Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
>>>> And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
>>>> Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
>>>> And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
>>>> Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
>>>> But he'll remember, with advantages,
>>>> What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
>>>> Familiar in his mouth as household words—
>>>> Harry the King, Bedford
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_Duke_of_Bedford> and Exeter
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beaufort,_Duke_of_Exeter>,
>>>> Warwick
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beauchamp,_13th_Earl_of_Warwick>
>>>>  and Talbot
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Talbot,_1st_Earl_of_Shrewsbury>,
>>>> Salisbury
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Salisbury>
>>>>  and Gloucester
>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey,_Duke_of_Gloucester>—
>>>> Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
>>>> This story shall the good man teach his son;
>>>> And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
>>>> From this day to the ending of the world,
>>>> But we in it shall be rememberèd—
>>>> We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
>>>> For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
>>>> Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
>>>> This day shall gentle his condition;
>>>> And gentlemen in England now a-bed
>>>> Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
>>>> And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
>>>> That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
>>>>
>>>> *Addendum*
>>>>
>>>> Ah we privileged few that in a land of myst’ry
>>>>
>>>> Sat at table, men and women, facing one another
>>>>
>>>> While girding ourselves for battles of the spirit
>>>>
>>>> More fierce than those we’d face outside
>>>>
>>>> Our hallowed halls where, singing songs familiar
>>>>
>>>> And others learned from theologians’ words
>>>>
>>>> Would stir our hearts and lead us into places
>>>>
>>>> None believed we’d ever tread.
>>>>
>>>> We century twenty band of timid souls
>>>>
>>>> Inspired first to save the Church by teaching
>>>>
>>>> Her to love the World a parish at a time;
>>>>
>>>> Then audacious though it seemed to all but we
>>>>
>>>> On fire with Consciousness flowing like a river
>>>>
>>>> Turned our gaze upon a suffering world four billion then,
>>>>
>>>> Now nearly eight before we blinked an eye, ours not G-O-D’s.
>>>>
>>>> Climbing the Mountain of Care, we thought could demonstrate
>>>>
>>>> Anew a balanced triangle, a band of twenty-four, a humanizing thread
>>>>
>>>> Of hope beyond hope to the poorest of the poor,
>>>>
>>>> Not realizing yet that they were Us, the ones in need.
>>>>
>>>> But wait, opportunity knocks, maybe only this once in a lifetime chance:
>>>>
>>>> The bicentennial of the good old USA! Are you ready for this?
>>>>
>>>> Yes! Said We, let us conduct five thousand Town Meetings
>>>>
>>>> And by the way, let’s make it several thousand more around the world.
>>>>
>>>> Town Meeting ’76! Was off and running. Of course, we did it,
>>>>
>>>> One in every county of the land belov-ed. Ours not G-O-D’s.
>>>>
>>>> And who knows how many in the world belov-ed, G-O-D’s for sure.
>>>>
>>>> What a historical ride on which we privileged few were taken:
>>>>
>>>> Painful years ahead, decisions, decisions, decisions.
>>>>
>>>> Sendouts galore! Broken chains of Care! Did I sign up for this?
>>>>
>>>> Oh Yeah! You did! And now you get to reap the fruits of your labor.
>>>>
>>>> Now the Sea of Tranquility’s becoming clear.
>>>>
>>>> Just got an E-mail about Audrey’s Joe, not the first of us to go to the
>>>> Mystery’s embrace
>>>>
>>>> But there’s always one that wakes you up, not so?
>>>>
>>>> I knew Audrey! No, I don’t mean I knew Audrey, exactly. But I knew
>>>> Audrey
>>>>
>>>> Back in nineteen-sixty-nine, Academy, and Summer 70.
>>>>
>>>> This feeling washed over me, of being one of the privileged ones
>>>>
>>>> Who knew Audrey and Joe, and the others of us who’ve gone to the
>>>> Mystery’s care:
>>>>
>>>> My friend Terry, who “recruited” me, George and David, who taught me,
>>>>
>>>> And Bob, who mentored me and was my friend, and Audrey, who I knew in
>>>> ’69.
>>>>
>>>> Chairs are missing at the table; we are dwindling one by one;
>>>>
>>>> Yet the stories as they leave us, telling us their work is done,
>>>>
>>>> Join with saints of all the ages, beckoning, beckoning, to leave out
>>>> not a single one.
>>>>
>>>> I’m not naming any more of us, you know who you are.
>>>>
>>>> Except for that other Joe, who more importantly, knew me. Remember Joe?
>>>>
>>>> Joe used to say that when he went, all of us who went on ahead would
>>>> wait hey--
>>>>
>>>> At the Pearly Gate hey.
>>>>
>>>> So, we could all march in together hey.
>>>>
>>>> Ah, we privileged few who were there on Crispin’s Day
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Milan Hamilton
>>>>
>>>> September 15, 2021
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> OE mailing list
>>>> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
>>>> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> OE mailing list
>>> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
>>> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> OE mailing list
>>> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
>>> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> OE mailing list
>> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
>> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>>
> _______________________________________________
> OE mailing list
> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20211109/7bbf2dcc/attachment.html>