Chewing the Cud

Cherry

By luigi_pagano

Mon, 14 Aug 2023
  • 339 reads
8 comments
 

My friend Bill is rather glib
and quite often he tells a fib.
I listened carefully to my bud
and discreetly chewed the cud.

“I wandered lonely as a cow”.
He told me that this is how
Wordsworth wrote the first line
of a sweet ballad to a bovine.

Maybe it was just a misspelling
but there is no way of telling;
perhaps William was cowed 
into changing cow to cloud

by his always forceful sister
and he could not resist her.
Or by chance he had read
her journal where she said

that on a walk by the lake
she had had a lucky break
and, feeling quite tranquil,
seen some golden jonquils.

So he wrote about daffodils,
an ode that generated thrills
among inveterate romantics
but extrinsic to semantics.

 

© Luigi Pagano 2023

Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Humour
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

You've had some fun with this! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

It's something I remember having read many years ago when someone seriously suggested that it was actually the original line that the poet wrote but later changed following his sister Dorothy's suggestion. You are correct in assuming that I had fun writing it. Too ridiculous for words.

Hope you are well, Luigi x

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

that is funny! Really enjoyed :0) But cows don't wander lonely! They are in herds? Thinking about it, clouds tend to be in herds too, or perhaps flocks? I love the idea it was Wordsworth's sister who was the Romantic genius poet and Wordsworth was wanting to write limmericks :0)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hi, Di. Perhaps our William hadn't heard the phrase herd of cows or was too absorbed in creating poetry to notice. laugh
Although there isn't a collective noun for clouds, I suppose you could use the word flock as sometimes they look like sheep. In Italy we have a proverb saying that when the clouds look like little sheep we are going to have a bucketful of rain.

Thanks for reading and commenting, Luigi x

 

 

Submitted by marandina on

"..perhaps William was cowed 
into changing cow to cloud..."
 

Cleverly done, Luigi. Certainly made me smile. Your poetic dexterity remains as nimble and skilful as ever. Keep well. Paul :)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thank you, Paul.  I have a propensity to play with words, that's all. laugh

Cheers, Luigi.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

William Wordsworth's sister... who'd have know?

I'm away now to google the sisters of other great writers.

I've heard of Shakespeare's Sister.

I wonder if Virginia Woolf had an influential brother.

Great poem Luigi. Good on you.

Turlough

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

I remember Shakespeares Sister, a good singing duo who split up and reunited after a long feud. 
Good hunting in your search for the siblings of other authors but if you don't find any, you can always invent them. laugh

Cheers, Luigi