The Blue City

BLUE MONDAY

THE BLUE CITY

Quite an advertising stunt!

Tourists on a city hunt

Make Jodhpur their destination

To enjoy a new sensation.

The houses are of a matching hue;

Every one is a startling blue.

But, wait a minute, not so fast!

This colour-scheme relates to caste,

Not to the well-loved tourist dollar!

In India some lived in squalor,

Seen by all as low and vile,

While Brahmins sat on the top of the pile.

These Brahmins, to show they were superior,

Lorded it over each inferior.

'Let's paint our houses blue' they said,

'Not that boring white instead.

We'll be different and folk will see

We belong to the top-notch fraternity!'

Soon royal blue houses were on show,

To be a sign to the lowly low.

'Enough of this!' cried each lower caste,

'This showing-off just cannot last!

We'll get paint of a paler hue

And then all the houses will be blue!'

This they did and now we see 

Houses displaying conformity.

And tourists flock, as tourists do,

To see the city painted blue.

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SAIL AWAY!

Rob is off on the canal to sail the summer through.

It seems to him to be the only sensible thing to do.

His boat is cocooned for winter, but, come the first hint of Spring,

He's off on the canal again and 'doing his own thing'.

And are his journeys short or long, is the weather wet or dry?

It matters not as Rob drifts on 'the quiet waters by.'

He stops when he feels like stopping; he goes when his heart cries 'Go!'

The birds above are singing and the pace of life is slow.

The skies above may threaten or blaze with burnished blue;

If England wasn't so far, Rob, I'd sail away with you.

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