Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Nancy in Wonderland

Tongues are wagging today concerning Trump and Biden and the Ukraine and Nancy Pelosi, who seemed loonier than ever in her announcement yesterday about impeaching the president. Big news for the moment, I had the thought that it's all just jabberwocky passing through the collective consciousness right now.

There's a difference, though: "Jabberwocky," a nonsense poem included in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, is remembered today, while this minute's political nonsense will be gone in matter of months. (Remember the Mueller Report?) For your amusement, here's "Jabberwocky": 

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
      Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
      And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
      The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
      And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
      The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
      He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
      Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
      He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
      And the mome raths outgrabe."



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