"The Ballad of The Good Lord Nelson" by Lawrence Durrell (poetry reading)

[Pedant32]

Turd in the bush clearly refers to Turdus Turdus which is the Latin name for the Thrush - nothing vulgar about that !

[Walkemor]

Working on her like a galley slave! lol

[aprilliston]

I love the last verse. It's very true.

[vootie44]

There are some changes from the version I've always read. "sea" in the fourth verse-not ocean. In particular in the ninth verse: what I learned was "a cast in the bush"-(as in toss) instead of "turd".I think it fits better. This was in an anthology edited by Oscar Williams.

I realise this is the Master himself declaiming, perhaps from memory, and he possibly has chosen "turd" for its greater vulgarity.

All in all it's a fun poem. A real party stopper in the company of patriotic Brits.

[SpokenVerse]

@vootie44 Thank you for your comments. "Turd in the bush" is original, logically because it refers to the saying is "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" - and changing it to "cast" is merely a sub-editor being squeamish.

I have tell you that it's not actually the "Master himself declaiming", this in my voice. I'm Tom O'Bedlam and I read everything in the SpokenVerse channel.

I agree that it's a gas and good Brit-wit.

[historicbloke]

great verse thanks

[thallassocracy]

I went to school in a building that was reputedly haunted by the ghost of Lord Nelson. It had formerly been the home of the Crawshay family, whom Horatio and Emma stayed with during their long Welsh holiday in 1803.

It was years later I discovered that the building became the family home only in 1825 - twenty years after Nelson died.

The ghost must have moved house. Now that's what I call loyalty.