In honor of this National poetry day think, I have been thinking of the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
In my writing today, I am already at 2400 words, bringing the week so far to 9200. A few more and I will have met my weekly goal today, a day early, way above the original goals for the month.
Went to Costco today to do some shopping and arrange for a down grade of the Business Executive card to a normal card. They offered me money, and said they would also send a check. That felt good. But they offered the wrong amount and put a hold on the card when I checked out. That wasn’t good.
In Gratitude today:
- Cheryl
- Exercise, riding the stationary bike to keep the diabetes under control
- Music, having everything on the computer means I can listen to anything instantly
- The Internet, still many more new things will come before it reaches its full potential (thanks Kevin for getting me out of dial-up and the old commercial online communities, which seemed so great when they first came out lo, fifteen years ago.)
- Clean water
When all was done for the day, 3500+ words. Nearly 55,000 words so far since last writers group.
