A Potted History – Magna Carta

Once upon a time ago
The country was a mess
With King abusing all his powers
And getting in a stress
He’d lost the grip of land in France
Upsetting one and all
Not caring what was going on
Nor seeing the downfall

And Rome effectively had said
Go burn in hell you brat
Whilst back at home the Barons had
Thrown down the gauntlet flat
For they’d got into fisticuffs
With John – the then crowned King
Who thought that all else would pay for
The mess he’d made of things

He’d raised the taxes sky high
Made up his own new rules
That said I’m Lord, I’m King and I
Won’t suffer any fools
Yet in the process failed to hold
Onto old London Town
As Barons now all angered said
“We’re gonna take you down”

So into the frame a Lincoln lad
Archbishop of Canterbury
Stepped up and with scroll in his mitts
Suggested John agree
To sign off a brand new charter
That put him, the King, below
The law; made him accountable
For how he acted so

And to that end they made him sign
A document that sealed
A more just, fair and honest realm
Where John’s powers were repealed
And though he had a sulk and thought
“That flipping cannot be”
At Runnymead he signed the script
That brought ’bout liberty

And so that is the story
Of how the old King John
Was bad as bad eggs fester
But strangely his swan song
Is now linked to our freedom
That gives each one their worth
Whilst holding Magna Carta as
The most prized scroll on Earth!

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Lincoln’s Imp and The Leprechaun

Great Scott!  I see a leprechaun
A walking down the street
With high jinks on his little mind
And taunting all he meets
But it is said he’s heading
Up to old Lincoln’s crown
To rendezvous with a stone imp
Cast spell to get him down
From the cathedral eves
After all these long long years
But mark my word they’ll bring trouble
And this will end in tears!

But there is one solution
Found in an arc of light
To stop these mischief makers
With shenanigans in sight
For with rainbow shining brightly
The leprechaun will go
Just as the fairies bid him to
So very long ago
To guard his hidden booty
Or so the tale is told
As leprechaun less Lincoln’s imp
Must guard his pots of gold!

View image | gettyimages.com

Lincoln Minster

Vestibule of Lincoln’s crown
Set high upon the hill
Still reaching out cross the shire
In awe and wonder still

Set out against the clear blue sky
The Minster’s mission proud
To welcome, greet with open heart
To beckon all aloud

And through the years it’s stood transfixed
In garb of mighty stone
A church, icon, community
Alive and not alone

Lincoln Cathedral from the west, showing all three main towers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lincoln Imp

There’s a wind up on the hill top
A breeze of fortitude
So said, the spirit of an imp
With manners rather rude
For it is told two imps arrived
To Lincoln’s town and heart
With nothing more than impishness
And trouble to impart

For so is said in ancient rune
That when these imps appeared
At Lincoln’s mighty minster gate
They upset bishop’s beard
With all their antics and mischief
It’s said they caused a stir
Disrupting all within their path
With trouble to concur

And even though an angel came
And turned one into stone
It’s said the other slipped her spell
And whistles all alone
Around the minsters outer walls
Up to this very day
In search of Lincoln’s imp who’s there
And cast in rock to stay

Lincoln Imp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)