The Great Lottery

                                           Gerald Gee

COLOR CARNIVAL

THE GREAT LOTTERY

Variegated size and tint;
Similarities? A hint.

The DNA wheel spins around;

In for a penny, in for a pound!

What we land on goodness knows!

Granny's ears or Uncle's nose.

Auntie Annie's double chin

And her liking for pink gin.

A distant cousin's high-pitched laugh;

Her neck resembling a giraffe.

Sometimes, maybe, we inherit

A little something with some merit:

A  rosebud mouth like Auntie Ann's

Or a head of hair like Uncle Dan's.

The scientists head in the direction

Of creating babies of perfection.

They'll tweak the egg or tweak the sperm

( The thought of it just makes me squirm)

And out will pop this perfect creature,

Glorious in every feature.

How boring! How devoid of charm!

I view the future with alarm!

View the row of folk above

To see what I am speaking of.

Not one of them is without a flaw!

They drew wrong numbers in life's draw.

But when I see people such as these

I long to give them all a SQUEEEEEEZE!

*

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THOSE WERE THE SONGS!
(To be sung to the tune of 'Those Were the Days')

Those were the days, my friend;

We thought they'd never end'

But hasn't someone else said that before?

In nineteen sixty-three

Life seemed eternity

And I was never adding up the score.

*
And every Beatles' song,

That, weekly, came along,

Seemed to be written just for me alone.

So now I lie and dream

Remembering every theme,

And every tune and mood and subtle tone.

*
Maybe 'A Hard days Night'

Would make me feel uptight

But John and Ringo made me feel O.K.,

'Eleanor Rigby' then,

Could make me sad again,

But 'All my Loving' drove the blues away.

*
'From Me to You' they said;

It circled in my head;

I felt they meant their loving words for me.

'Here Comes the Sun' they'd say

And, on a rainy day,

I found the world as sunny as could be!

*
I really must include

That song they called 'Hey Jude!'

There was a song that always hypnotised!

'I Want to Hold your Hand'

Made all the world seem grand,

We sang-along and no-one  was surprised!

*
When life was hard on me

I'd simply 'Let it Be'.

And I'd forget my silly  foolish fears.

And then that girl 'Michelle'

Could make me glad as well

Although my French would drive the girl to tears!.

*
We heard 'She Loves You' play

And joined in 'Yea, yea, yea!'

For they were tunes  that never ceased to please.

'The Long And Winding Road'

Led to my own abode

Where Beatles' songs just made me feel at ease.

*
But now I'm lying here

And the main song I hear

Is 'Yesterday' because I'm moving on.

For Father Time decrees

These are old melodies

And I'm aware that something great has gone.
*

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PS

This has been a very busy week so far, with Committee Meeting, Choir practice, poetry presentation, High School class, and Book Group. I only have photos of the latter. We met at Ann's home in the country (about an hour's drive out of the city) and the venue was everything. We arrived at dusk.

I photographed these roses at the entrance.

And this was the view of the welcoming room as I walked along the verandah to the front door.

We didn't discuss a book on this occasion, but had a discussion evening about local and world affairs. And, afterwards, we enjoyed this delicious supper.

*