Thursday, July 5, 2012

Stranger Than Fiction


THE MAG
asks us to use the illustration above

STRANGER THAN FICTION

Ophelia was a lady who went completely mad
Then drowned herself; a story we all find very sad.
Shakespeare, in his 'Hamlet', told her gruesome tale.......
An innocent young damsel who was pining for a male.
She drowned herself in the river, looking beautiful, of course,
Proving that true love can be a very potent force.
*
But forget the ancient story, I have another link,
Proving that the brain can have more influence than we think.
In the eighteenth century, a lady claimed some fame,
Acting the part of Ophelia. Susan Mountfort was her name.
Jilted by a lover, she also lost her mind
Heart-broken by the gentleman who'd proved to be unkind.
One night she went to the theatre to see 'Hamlet' on the stage
And she became quite violent, possessed of demoniac rage.
She sprang out of her seat, and pushed the actress to one side,
And stood there as Ophelia, another jilted bride.
She spoke the words of Ophelia in a manner quite obsessed
While the audience sat petrified and, some of them, distressed.
Then, as she reached the climax, she flung her arms out wide
And, speaking the words of Ophelia, fell on the stage and ......died!
*
Truth is stranger than fiction! She actually lived the part
Of Ophelia, the damsel who died of a broken heart.
*
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                                                                                                     Olivier

PINK SUNGLASSES

In my youth, the 'me' of me
Was hidden beneath uniformity.
Unwritten rules of fashioned ordained
That regulation was retained.
'Everyone' wore one length of skirt;
'Everyone' wore a business shirt.
No-one decided to deviate
The retribution was too great.
It was clear that one was beyond the Pale,
If female intermixed with male
On the fashion scene. The man above
Knows exactly what he's thinking of;
He's out and about on the city street
Slightly whacky and effete,
But being 'himself' for all to see
Thumbing his nose at conformity.
Colourful, crazy, and on show,
When, in the days of long ago,
He'd have been in a three-piece suit!
Nowadays, who gives a hoot?
I feel envy, I admit;
I missed out on the fun of it.
*

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