American Idyll

yes, the river knows

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation


Steeleye Span: Parcel of Rogues

And what joy,
think ye,
did they feel
after the exceedingly long
and troublous ascent?
---After scrambling,
pulling, pushing, lifting,
gasping, looking, hoping,
despairing, climbing,
holding on, falling off,
trying, puffing, loosing,
gathering, talking,
stepping, grumbling,
anathematizing, scraping,
hacking, bumping, jogging,
overturning, hunting, standing,
---for know ye,
by these methods alone
are the most divine mysteries
of the Quest revealed?
--J. Norman Collie
(on Scotland's Tower Ridge in winter)


Alastair McDonald: Parcel of Rogues


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