Friday, February 20, 2009

The Small God Of Parismony

The man shall say “We must cut back”
The woman shall draw near.
Then from the ooze of “What shall we do-s”
A household god shall appear .

We have conjured the small god of parsimony
His body is neat and folds into corners ,
His leathery skin creases at eyes -
That are rueful .Not sad ,but kindly and wise.
He is far from a cosmic deity in a metaphysical scheme,
He is an ancient god of the house.
He knows his way around the tool box

He smells of rolling tobacco, baked potatoes and rabbit stew
He wears sturdy clothes, which he mends
He dislikes “new”
When a tie is bought from a charity shop
He sighs with inner joy
When credit card approaches a computer
He shrieks and slaps his hands on the floor in alarm

He has strong gentle hands
With which to change plugs

And write the family legend,
Of a holiday at my father`s house in Dorset.

When the woman occasionally tells him to 'shoo ',
He accepts defeat

With a good grace

Outside in the night
The great ones fight
Calamity throws thunder and hails despair,
But the small god of parsimony keeps us safe
He sits on the roof and smiles at their noise
He says :
“ When death rumbled across from these skies

I was there , with them all
Making do.
And the strength which comes from small things

Will be more than a match , for you ”





11 comments:

Daisy said...

i remember it being like that when i grew up...and when i was raising my son actually...but now...i find more solace in driving...not anywhere in particular...just being out and taking pictures...i am thankful for the digital camera though as the cost for development of pictures has been eliminated...

Raedwald said...

Oi! That's me, that is!

Newmania said...

Ha ha ...

Anonymous said...

Brilliant.

Change a few small details - like the dead rabbit - and that's me too.

I don't even have a personal credit card, don't use my business credit card and buy all my personal purchases with cash...though that's not just due to parsimony, that's to protect my privacy, as far as possible, from this snooping government:)

Newmania said...

Thaks Flo , I aim low and get half way there , thats the tactic

Little Black Sambo said...

Parismony - is that euros or francs?

Philipa said...

I love your poetry.

This is what occured to me at the weekend but I'll try verse with some poetic licence with metre:

But why do it? I wouldn't try,
I'd just get a man in and watch him die.
I did do he was there, all bloody day,
he'd still be there if I'd let him have his way.
It was getting dark and I said to him 'come out of the way,
go and mix some concrete or you'll be here all day'
so he went and mixed the concrete
and I settled my belly low -
I was 7 and a half months pregnant when I laid that patio.

Newmania said...

Hmmm explain ? Is this a real event ?

Philipa said...

Yup.

Newmania said...

Rather dark Phillipa there seems to be a suggestion of murder in the air

Philipa said...

Yes I missed my chance there. But burying someone beneath the patio is so passe. Tempting though..

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