Hilaire Belloc (1870 – 1953)
British writer and poet, known chiefly for his essays and children's books; he was sometimes referred to by the nickname "Old Thunder".
The accursed power which stands on Privilege
(And goes with Women, and Champagne and Bridge)
Broke — and Democracy resumed her reign:
(Which goes with Bridge, and Women and Champagne).
Of three in One and One in three
My narrow mind would doubting be
Till Beauty, Grace and Kindness met
And all at once were Juliet.
The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.
I put my pencil upon the paper, doubtfully, and drew little lines, considering my theme. But I would not long hesitate in this manner, for I knew that all creation must be chaos first, and then gestures in the void before it can cast out the completed thing.
Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one's Eyes;
Her Aunt, who from her Earliest Youth,
Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
Attempted to Believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her.
Loss and Possession, Death and Life are one.
There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.
Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring.
The world is full of double beds
And most delightful maidenheads,
Which being so, there’s no excuse
For sodomy or self-abuse.
I said to Heart, "How goes it?" Heart replied:
"Right as a Ribstone Pippin!" But it lied.
You shall receive me when the clouds are high
With evening and the sheep attain the fold.
This is the faith that I have held and hold,
And this is that in which I mean to die.
Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not.
Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have left the vulgar stuff alone.
Oh, my friends, be warned by me,
That Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, and Tea
Are all the Human Frame requires.
It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.
Kings live in Palaces, and Pigs in sties,
And youth in Expectation. Youth is wise.
That I grow sour, who only lack delight;
That I descend to sneer, who only grieve;
That from my depth I should
condemn your height,
That with my blame my mockery you receive—
Huntress and splendor of the woodland night—
Diana of this world, do not believe.
[M]others of large families (who claim to common sense)
Will find a Tiger well repay the trouble and expense.
When I am dead, I hope it may be said:
'His sins were scarlet, But his books were read'.
Here richly, with ridiculous display,
The Politician's corpse was laid away.
While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged
I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged.
The tender Evenlode that makes
Her meadows hush to hear the sound
Of waters mingling in the brakes,
And binds my heart to English ground.
?
A lovely river, all alone,
She lingers in the hills and holds
A hundred little towns of stone,
Forgotten in the western wolds.