Saturday, December 10, 2011

The Bonnet Bee



SATURDAY CENTUS
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com
asks us to use the phrase in blue.


THE BONNET BEE

There's a bee in my bonnet, an insistent bee,
That buzzes and buzzes constantly.
Over the years I've loudly cried
'Spelling should be simplified!'
Texting is latching-on right now,
Simplifying and showing us how
We can say the things we need
Merely with sounds that we can read.
'OUGH' need not trip the unwary!
Spelling need not be so scary.
When I think of the endless years
With learning to spell causing groans and tears!
It doesn't have to be that way!
What we see can be what we say.
I proved it in my long career
And now I reiterate it here!
Forty sounds are all we need
To write in a way that others can read.
Purists will say 'Ah, but our T.O.*
Is the only way to go.
The beauty of the Mother Tongue,
Whether read or said or sung
Must be preserved for evermore;
And you have shocked us to the core'.
But the English language has chopped and changed,
Altered and wildly rearranged;
Picked up foreign bits here and there
Over the years, with a certain flair.
It's a bastard language, refined or coarser;
Or we'd all spell the same as Chaucer!
There's so much more that I could say
But........it doesn't have to be that way!
* Traditional Orthography
*

----------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT I WANT

I want for nothing! What a claim!
There's nothing essential I can name!
I'm one of the world's most fortunate few;
In every hundred maybe one or two!
The earth is full of folk in need,
And I need nothing! Bliss, indeed.
I'm clothed, I'm fed, I'm free to speak;
I'm healthy, save for a minor creak!
I've a lovely family near at hand;
I live in a bounteous, kindly land.
I want for nothing! Not quite true.
I have two needs; yes, only two.
I find it hard to feel truly blessed
While millions and millions are repressed,
Hungry, homeless, not treated fairly,
Scraping a living, and that but barely.
As soon as I feel gratitude
For my cosy bed and tasty food
The vision of 'want' invades my mind.
I want what I have for humankind.
And the second 'want' applies to me.....
No big deal.......
Immortality!
*

10 comments:

bj said...

Oh, sweet lady....you are so good at all this. I am just stumbling along on the Sat. Centus...I'd love you to come by.
Thanks so much for blessing me with your poems and rhymes....
xo bj

Deborah said...

Both are a joy to read as always :o)

Thank you for your comment on my blog ... I'm not really hearts and flowers either :o) x

Nonna said...

Beautiful poems ! I love the message of your Saturday Centus poem. We have hacked up the English language, killing much of the beauty it should posess...so very tragic !

Judie said...

This is a very interesting piece, but I am such a stickler for correct spelling and grammar, it would be terribly hard for me to change. I can see what you are saying here--I just don't think I could do it.

Your second piece is so lovely! You are a gift!

21 Wits said...

...as always I treasure reading your words...they are most always straight from the heart...but also a sampling of life itself....I will read this again later ...after all the this and that's happening right now...busy as a bee I shall be! Have a wonderful weekend....thanks for brightening my day!

Tracy said...

very clever

anitamombanita said...

Very interesting take on Saturday Centus...we've totally overcomplicated our language, haven't we?

jfb57 said...

Interesting and brave pieces. You do realise Miss Jenny is a stickler for the rules? They are such fun though I'm sure she'll forgive you just this once!

Kim Lehnhoff said...

Even though I regularly disregard Jenny's rules, I am one of those sticklers about spelling...I'm not sure I could get into the orthography thing.

Jenny said...

U r so gr8.

This made me laugh AND think.

And I realize that sometimes after I spend a long time texting I actually do forget how to spell.

Great SC!

Sending warm wishes for a safe New Years Eve and the start of a beautifully creative 2012.