K.L.Caley’s#writephoto : Subsea.

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a speckled fish emerging from a pot in an underwater scene.

Subsea – Image by KL Caley

This is not a good look, Morgarna thought to herself. As she left one amphorae to investigate the next! It was empty too, she was beginning to lose her patience.
Merlin had tricked her again, he’d said, “beautiful clear waters, warmth and sun, sea and plenty to drink, what’s not to like” no mention of being under water with no hope of getting out, and instead of white rum ..water, salt water.
No Merlin owed her this time he’d gone too far, why was it always her that got the dirty end of the stick?
As Morgarna flipped back and forth she was, rather reluctantly, impressed with her swimming skills, very agile she mused.
Just as she was about to give up she saw it, a perfectly round golden sphere, the golden pearl of Atlantis.
There it was floating Infront of the amphora on the right. Okay all she had to do was capture it then job done and she’d make sure Merlin paid for it!
As she was wondering just how a fish might catch and transport a golden pearl, she saw a large fish approaching fast. He didn’t look like he was going to ask her out to dinner. He was looking at her as if she was the dinner.
Without thinking Morgarna swallowed the pearl, and darted off upward! The large fish was in hot persuit and gaining.
Come on thought Morgarna where are you. As she swerved this way and that feeling the large fish snapping at her tail she thought of all the ways she was going to make Merlin pay!
Then she felt sharp teeth gripping her tail, a slight panic began to rise somewhere inside the body she was in. (hard to tell where when it’s not your body)
Just as she decided she’d better make a few “Mea Culpas” she saw the anomaly inches away. With all her might Morgarna threw herself into it.

Landing with a splosh on the Laboratory carpet, naked as the day she was born and with a medium sized fish attached to her bum. She looked up and saw a shocked Merlin looking down on her!
He reached out to help her up but she batted his hand away. Removing the fish gently from her behind she got up and relocated it in the large fish tank by the coffee machine.
“Did you get it?” asked Merlin ..
“Oh! Thanks Hun, yes I am okay, soaking bloody wet and my hair will take ages to recover from the sea water! Plus I have a bruised arse! ” Morgarna hissed.
“Yes I know” Merlin replied, “but did you get it.”
“Of course I did” she replied grimacing. “Can I see it?” Merlin was getting irritated now.
A smile crossed Morgarna’s face. “Yes in a couple of days time….it’s in my tummy, it needs to be digested and expelled, then sweetie you can have it …and clean it!” Morgarna ended on a shout.
Turning on her heal she marched off to the bathroom calling over her shoulder, “anything but fish and chips for dinner …. Hun.”
Merlin watch her gorgeous back disappear into the bathroom, he smiled to himself and grabbed the car keys.
Later on the sofa enjoying her second Bacrdi and coke Morgarna felt movement in her gut…. She decided not to tell Merlin yet…. He could stew a while! “

******

THIS IS PART OF K.L. CALEYS #WRITEPHOTO.

#WRITEPHOTO – The Secret in the Stone .

For visually challenged writers, the image shows a stone or a tomb with a key-like inscription but no words upon it.

The Secret in the stone – Image by KL Caley.

They all look at my stone from the wrong end. Hey go to the other end and you’ll clearly see the story of my fate…. Why does nobody listen, or even think. It’s so cold down here I have been trapped so long.

Well as no one will make the leap of fate and view my story from the right end I will enlighten any of you with time to listen.

Just before the days of old, when knights were bold and round tables were something of an oddity. I was a young trainee to a black witch called Morgana. That’s black witch as in black magic. I had been stolen by Morgana just after I emerged from my mother’s womb. There I lay exhausted and cold waiting for some warm milk to fill my tummy.

Suddenly i was snatched away by this swirling, heaving cloak which was the witch. Now to be fair I had not bonded with my mother as she was not altogether interested in me. I had heard her cursing my existence each day I was inside her, and she didn’t have time to repent any of that or grieve for me because she died hours after my birth.

Anyway I am not asking for any sympathy because Morgana turned out to be a brilliant mother right from the start. I was kept warm , well fed and she loved me … She wanted me.

I grew and learned everything I was taught willingly. Morgana was delighted with my progress. I became as beautiful as she and as clever and that pleased her.

Now I have all the time in world but I can tell by the way you are all hopping from one foot to the other you don’t! So I will get a move on. every five years we would meet with the old wizard Merlin and his charge Arthur. Apart from being a boy Arthur was very like me. Not in looks but in provenance, his mother had died shortly after giving birth and he had been taken and brought up by Merlin, a white wizard …. infact we were yin and yan. We always got on well and played happily, which is more than could be said of our wards!

Now Morgana and Merlin both had interpreted what was written in stone a different way. Merlin construed that young Arthur was to be king and unite the Britons where as Morgana’s vision, the true one, saw me, Arthura as Queen of all Briton.

The day of our 20th birthdays arrived and we were called to the King’s stone to see which of us could extract Excalibur from the stone. You all know the story, “who ever could pull the sword from stone would rule all Briton.” Many had tried and they had all failed.

Arthur and Merlin arrived at the same time as us and though Merlin wanted Arthur to try the sword first, Arthur insisted ladies first. I approached the stone hitched my purple cloak over my shoulder and grabbed Excalibur by the hilt the sword began to slip from the stone. Suddenly it went dark the sun had been put out! No one saw Merlin hit me on the back of my head with his crook! As I lay on the cold ground I heard Merlin whisper, “sorry lass t’was not meant to be” I felt my life slipping away, as the sun reignited.

The crowd were all terrified and screaming, they were huddled together in fear of their lives, after all the sun had just gone out. Their minds had been wiped of all memories of me! Morgana cursing Merlin swooped in and bore me up and away.

Arthur, who had had his mind wiped of all memory of me too stepped up to the stone and with ease he withdrew Excalibur. The rest is, as they say history or myth. Or as I would say bloody unfair!

At dead of night Morgana brought me here and buried me, weeping all the while , she never forgave Merlin.

Morgana told my story on my tomb stone! Sadly Merlin thrawted her again. He cast a spell on it so that all who gazed up it only saw the carving upsidedown. So good ladies and gentlemen if you can turn your screens or the image the other way up. You will see Merlin’s hand holding the staff he murdered me with, and the sword Excalibur waiting to be removed from the stone.

It should of been me!

KL Caley at Novel Ideas has offered to take on Sue Vincent’s #writephoto weekly challenge now Sue has moved on to a higher plain.

This is part of KL Caley’s #writephoto

The Eddystone Light House.

Yesterday I posted a popular Sea Shanty The Wellerman come. This in turn spurred Noelle Grainger at Sailing Away to do a post on the Shanty The Eddystone Light House, it’s a great post read it here.

Here is a great version of the Eddystone Light House from the Sea Shanty Blogger.

Thank you Noelle 💜💜💜

One-Liner Wednesday. & Just Jot it January 6th: Icy Fingers.

She could feel her icy fingers begin to thaw on the warm sand…..the transformation might be very pleasant.

Part of LindaGHill’s One-Liner Wednesday and Just Jot it January

Happy Thanksgiving 2020.

I send this happy greeting out to all my American friends and readers all over the world who are celebrating Thanksgiving today. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Please say a prayer for those less fortunate out there. In these covid days I hope you are all safe and being sensible. Stay safe and well and protect eachother. I have written in an Acrostic Poem for you all.

Hopefully they travelled
Across the Atlantic Ocean
Praying for safe delivery
Pleased at first sight of land
Yearning for all they had left behind
Thankful to be safely delivered
Hopeful of a brave new world
Aching in soul and body
No one shirked their duties
Kindred spirits they worked together
Spring, Summer and Autumn brought their hardships
Giving thanks to their God
Indians watched them from afar
Vainly struggling in a hostile world
In fear they struggled but
Never giving up they reached harvest
God got them through and they gave thanks.

Photo by Valiphotos on Pexels.com

Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 331 FIRST & Heal

The Challenge Words!

FIRST & Heal

©Maureen Collins.

Before we can heal

We have first to learn the truth

Bright new beginnings.

This is part of Ronovanwrite’s Weekly Haiku Challenge.

We shall never forget.

They lie not in that empty grave
Beneath the foreign sod.
They do not lie forgotten
In that cold, and desolate Land of Nod.

Soldier Boy … Solider Boy,
The trumpets blast, and blare;
And wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph,
To show … that we still care.

But … there’s a greater love than Man’s
Who knows the price you paid.
He spared you the indignity,
And lifted you from that cold, cold grave.

He created a Great Celestial Shrine,
And the moment it was done …
With a gentle hand, placed the Valiant heart,
Of each dear Mother’s son.

Soldier Boy … Solider Boy,
Under Dutch blue skies,
The gentle Breeze of Holland …
Kiss your grave … as they pass by.

Written by  Earl Doucette

I could not find anything about Earl Doucette apart from the fact that he was Canadian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This  is a beautiful poem. It speaks of God, whatever name  you give him/her, lifting all the dead soldiers from their cold or hot and bloodied graves all over the world and  in all times past and future and even present. He takes  them to Heaven ..whatever name you have for heaven. It is a comfort to us all, for the violent deaths and hurried burials that soldiers on the battle theatres  of war received. It troubles us all and so we have these poems to salve our consciences and please our tender souls .

We all have Remembrance Days but this is a way of saying they got a greater remembrance. I shall say no more you have all heard my feelings on War .

Lest we forget. Rememberance Sunday 2020.

Today is the nearest Sunday to Remembrance Day  here in  the UK . Because of Covid 19 the Veterans will not be Marching. Also we will not forgetting all those men and women injured and killed in more recent conflicts.

I  thought I  would  remember  the  women  for  WW1  and  WW2 who  took over  all  the  jobs  that the  men  who  had  been  sent  off  to  war  left  empty here in what  was  known then as  Great  Britain.

Not  only  did  the  women  do  these  , sometimes  very  dangerous  jobs but  they  looked after  the families  and  homes. Now  I  do  not  wish in  any  way  to  detract  from  the huge  sacrifice  of  all the  men  who  fought  for  our countries during  the  two  wars .

Remember the women left back home.

They made the ammunition for Tommy

Dangerous work,they died too it was not funny.

Women became officers of the law

Something never heard of before.

Nurses, drivers  even pilots for planes

Remember  them  we  will never  know  their  names

Someone had to give  the  farmers a hand

Remember   the men  were  at war  in a  foreign  land.

The members  of  the ” fairer  sex ”

Drove  the  buses, trains  and  lorries

Kept  all essential job going , however  complex

They  also  fed  the family  and kept  the Home Fires  Burning

During  the  wars ww1 and  ww2  women filled  in the  gaps  that  the  men  who  had  been sent  off  to  war  left. It  is  not  always  remembered  that  they worked in  the factorys  drove  buses trains and flew  planes and  probably  sailed  ships.  They  became  members  of  the  forces, nurses at  home  and on the  war  front  too. They  were  also  seconded into  the police  these  jobs  were almost unheard of  for  women before  the  first  world war. They  also  had  to do hard  farm labour  on  the farms to help keep  the  food  supplies  going.

Women worked in  shipyards, built  planes  and  also  made  ammunition, hard  and  dangerous  work.

It  was not just  the   fact  that the  bombs , shells or  landmines  could  explode  if  mishandled  but  the  TNT  was  dangerous  to  the  women’s  health.

” Munitions workers whose job was filling shells were prone to suffer from TNT poisoning. TNT stood for Trinitrotoluene – an explosive which turned the skin yellow of those who regularly came into contact with it. The munitions workers who were affected by this were commonly known as ‘canaries’ due to their bright yellow appearance. Although the visible effects usually wore off, some women died from working with TNT, if they were exposed to it for a prolonged period. As Ethel Dean, who worked at Woolwich Arsenal, recalled, ‘Everything that that powder touches goes yellow. All the girls’ faces were yellow, all round their mouths. They had their own canteen, in which everything was yellow that they touched… Everything they touched went yellow – chairs, tables, everything.’ (IWM SR 9439) More  imformation  here

Women did  so many  jobs that  before  the  first  world  war, those of  the middle  and  higher class would  never  even  contemplated. Many  died of  injury  and  of  disease  due  to  chemicals,  asbestos  used in  badly  ventilated  buildings.

Also  they played  their  part in  SOE   read here   and also  here  .

All images  from  Google Images  women  at  war  ww1 and  ww2

And the Men

We sent them off to war,

These bright young men

We had no knowledge of what they saw,

They came home, bright young men no more .

Yes though brave they were no longer whole

Those that survived had no soul.

Many died,the lucky ones, death to them was kind.

Those who returned were faded in body and in mind.

Their loved ones at first relieved

Soon found they had much cause to grieve.

Though there, in body broken,

Their fears left unspoken

Their minds were left behind.

They went out whole, these bright young things.

They returned lost, holding on by gossimar strings

They went full of pride for God and King

They ran head long into hell

On return they could not relinquish it’s spell.

So we had a nation of half men, half ghosts

Fearful, their heads still had them at their posts.

The trenches and the blasts of bombs, the smell of death

Clung to them and bled them dry, the whole in body, the blind of eye

The amputee, it was as if they had never left.

We sent them off to war,

These bright young men

We had no knowledge of what they saw,

They returned, bright young men no more.

Paintings by William Rothenstein.

The Red, White and Purple Poppy.

I do not want to upset anyone but as we draw near to Rememberance Day I just wanted to share my feelings on the poppies we wear. I wrote this back in 2018.

There are more than one, these days, the red to remember the dead, the white for peace. The white to remember the conscientious objector. During WW1 and WW2 many thought these men were cowards. I do feel they were brave, enough to stand up for their beliefs. Many were tried and shot for not taking up arms. Many spent the war as medics and stretcher bearers unarmed or in the mines though of course not all wartime miners were objctors.

What ever you think, the wars killed them irrespective of their principles. I respect the Red and the White.

The Red and the White.

Why

Argue

Both were brave

Each had their own

Principles to up

Hold. Neither less than bold.

One would carry a weapon

The other a stretcher, no gun

Both men died for their own held beliefs

They were both lost and that loss brought much grief.

———

Then there is the Purple Poppy in remembrance of all the animals who died in service during conflicts and serve with us still in modern conflicts.

They pulled the gun carriages until they dropped

They carried messages and they got shot.

They search out the unexploded mines

They save lives a thousand times.

Spare a thought for the horse, pigeon, donkey dog and many more

Remember them, they all help us in times of war

Interlude: Looking Back…

A beautiful clip from Sue Vincent’s silent Eye Blog.

“The circle opened its heart to welcome me back… and ‘welcoming’ was exactly the feeling Stuart reported later, with a good deal of surprise. It was not what he had expected from the place at all. It is hard to find words that describe it… as if each of the different types of stone… the sarsens, bluestones, gneiss and many others… all sing a different note, but no matter how beautifully they harmonise, their song needs to pass through the human heart in order to be heard, felt and lived. So it was with tears of gratitude streaming… and probably a very silly grin… that we finally entered the circle of stones.”

Read Sue’s beautiful, coming home post at source