Original text in yellow, anagram in pink.
The first line in the anagram is the ORIGINAL sub-title of the poem WRITTEN IN MARCH by William Wordsworth (1770-1850), i.e., "While resting on the Bridge at the foot of Brothers Water." Once called "Broad Water," the lake's name was changed to "Brothers Water" when, "in about 1875, two brothers drowned there ... whilst ice skating." The names mentioned in the anagram -- Kirkstone Pass, Patterdale, Ambleside, as well as "Valley of the Deer" (Hartsop) -- are actual places around the lake (which is located "in the eastern region of the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria.") Ironically, the lake today is better known for the schelly, "a rare and endangered species of freshwater fish, in the whitefish family" and NOT the 19th Century brothers who perished there. (The schelly "is one of only four species of freshwater fish under the protection of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Anglers who do not comply ... face fines of up to £2,500.") As a constraint, the anagram contains a twenty-letter acrostic involving the third letter (yes, March is the third month) of each line, spelling out ENGLAND'S POET LAUREATE. "In 1843, Wordsworth succeeded Robert Southey (1774-1843) as England's poet laureate." |
WRITTEN IN MARCH
by William Wordsworth
The cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter
The green field sleeps in the sun;
The oldest and youngest
Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one!
Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill;
The plowboy is whooping—anon-anon:
There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;
The rain is over and gone!
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While resting on the Bridge at the foot of Brothers Water
ThE placid lake
CoNtains the wake
Of Generations past.
WiLl the inner mind last,
DrAwing memories of old?
HiNdering the shrine, alas! --
SaD lament at Kirkstone Pass,
JuSt grieve then in Patterdale.
WePt; hear Ambleside wail:
"ShOres with a lie we hold!"
WhEn thoughts I'm thinking,
InTertwining, then sinking...
VaLley of the deer
ReAlizing a tear,
MoUrning a story often told.
I'd Rescue the rare schelly
ThEy showed on the telly
LeArning the fate of others.
BuT the two young brothers
ArE forever lost in an icy cold.
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I DREAMED A DREAM
[from Les Miserables]
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
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ME AND FAME
[Dramatic Entertainment Redeems A Disregarded Mademoiselle]
"Tonight, this foolhardiest interviewee
Is an affirmed Elaine Paige wannabe."
Murmured a discreet Piers Morgan,
"From Blackburn, West Lothian,
That forty-seven-year-old small-time cow?"
Susan Boyle did surprise them -- and how!
Warmed every heart there, too!
"Everyone laughed at you,"
Smarmed the refined Amanda Holden.
With her hair glowing golden,
Admitted, "But no-one is laughing now."
Susan Boyle did astonish them -- and how!
How the guarded media is different;
Heralded that female at 'Britain's Got Talent.'
The esteemed Simon Cowell, "What nerve;
A forthright ripe woman with verve!"
Thus admired, awarded her effort, uttered, "Wow!"
Susan Boyle did astound them -- and how!
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