Ho! Why dost thou shiver and shake, Gaffer Gray? And why doth thy nose look so blue? “’Tis the weather that’s cold; ’Tis I’m grown very old, And my doublet is not very new, Well-a-day!' Then line thy worn doublet with ale, Gaffer Gray; And warm thy old heart with a glass. “Nay but credit I’ve none; And my money’s all gone; Then say how may that come to pass? Well-a-day!” Hie away to the house on the brow, Gaffer Gray; And knock at the jolly priest’s door. “The priest often preaches Against worldly riches; But ne’er gives a mite to the poor, Well-a-day!” The lawyer lives under the hill, Gaffer Gray: Warmly fenced both in back and in front. “He will fasten his locks, And will threaten the stocks, Should he ever more find me in want, Well-a-day!” The squire has fat beeves and brown ale, Gaffer Gray; And the season will welcome you there. “His fat beeves and his beer, And his merry new year, Are all for the flush and the fair, Well-a-day!” My keg is but low I confess, Gaffer Gray; What then? While it lasts, man, we’ll live. The poor man alone, When he hears the poor moan, Of his morsel a morsel will give, Well-a-day! Thomas Holcroft (1745-1809) - "Gaffer Gray" from The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth-Century Verse
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#230 – The mythology of the bear, and Byron gets apocalyptic – Human Voices Wake Us
An episode from 5/18/26: Tonight I read about the bear in folklore and mythology from two books everybody should have on their shelves: the Taschen Book of Symbols and the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. Browsing through either puts you in contact with our best stories and, with the Taschen book, some of our best artwork.Next, I read Lord Byron’s (1788-1824) apocalyptic poem Darkness from 1816. You can read more about the volcanic eruption that inspired poem, and produced the “year without summer,” here.Finally, I read a few passages on revelation and the religious experience from the rabbi, theologian and civil rights activist Abraham Joshua Heshel’s (1907-1962) God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism.The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
- #230 – The mythology of the bear, and Byron gets apocalyptic
- #229 : Mother Earth and myths of mining and agriculture
- #228 – What Ted Bundy did on July 14, 1974
- #227 – The Great Fire of London and the destruction of Jerusalem
- #226: The Vitality and terror of cities
- #225 – The invention of the wheel, and the power of storytelling
- #224: Let's talk about William Blake
- #223 – How to write two novels at the same time, with Charles Dickens
- #222: Seamus Heaney – 10 Essential Poems
- #221: Volcanoes, Plagues & the Childhood of a Kabbalist
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