The Reckoning

Hey folks. We have something interesting for you today. Vieux Bill sent in a portion of the poem, The Reckoning by Robert Service. He knew how to convey some of the same sentiments as the author of Everyman but briefly. Check it out. Have you noticed that the word bill appears often. Perhaps Vieux Bill collects bill poetry? I wonder.



Here is a site of Service if you want to explore Robert's musing on the Yukon.
http://www.classicreader.com/booktoc.php/sid.4/bookid.269/

Robert Service (1874 - 1958)

The Reckoning

It's fine to have a blow-out in a fancy restaurant,
With terrapin and canvas-back and all the wine you want;
To enjoy the flowers and music, watch the pretty women pass,
Smoke a choice cigar, and sip the wealthy water in your glass.
It's bully in a high-toned joint to eat and drink your fill,
But it's quite another matter when you
Pay the bill.

It's great to go out every night on fun or pleasure bent;
To wear your glad rags always and to never save a cent;
To drift along regardless, have a good time every trip;
To hit the high spots sometimes, and to let your chances slip;
To know you're acting foolish, yet to go on fooling still,
Till Nature calls a show-down, and you
Pay the bill.

Time has got a little bill -- get wise while yet you may,
For the debit side's increasing in a most alarming way;
The things you had no right to do, the things you should have done,
They're all put down; it's up to you to pay for every one.
So eat, drink and be merry, have a good time if you will,
But God help you when the time comes, and you
Foot the bill.

Halloween Leoni

Well, if it isn't the great masses, tuning into this little bit of Halloween fun. Actually, this is just Lament, returning to the land of petite marionette. It has been awhile. But as the Great White North becomes just that, it is time to head indoors for the weekends and find more academic or artist pursuits.

So I have returned to the land of the glue gun and burnt fingers. What I have left of them after craving some feet for the peasant standing in my bar scene. Still have not found the piece of my finger that is floating around my den.

This weekend I tried my hand at painting again. I must say I respect painters more and more. But I can not stop just because I bite at painting. I will just say it is a primitive form and that was what I was going for instead of that was all I can get. But here you will see the finishing touches on the graveyard scene. Just in time for All Hollows Eve.

This will be the scene where the Everyman is in despair and goes to meet the few virtues that will stick by him on this quest to confront God well prepared. There will be a marionette that will rise out of the wooden coffin in this scene. You will see that the grave marker has the name of Arch Stanton, the name on the grave next to the unknown grave that marks the site of the $200,000 in gold that Tuco and Blondie dig up in the final moments of The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

The grave in the foreground is based on some of the tombs that I viewed at the old cemeteries on the New Orleans graveyard site on the net. check them out. There is even a Holt Cemetery there: http://members.aol.com/crescntcem/page_history.html

Anyhow. It is good to be back. If anyone is interested please send me suggestions or comments. Verbal abuse is also welcome. Actually anything is welcome.