In search of the Holy Grail?

Sir,
I wonder if the US Government thinks intelligent people will believe they sent a congressman, all expenses paid, to North Korea to retrieve “The Missionary”. That’s God’s work. I think they all would be better off or more believable if they would have said, “Mr. Carl Hunziker was in search of the Holy Grail in North Korea”. Anyone knows that the Yaly River separates the two countries! Did he swim across?
Accidentally there myself.
Signed,
An old veteran from the Korean “Police Action”
1950 - 1953.

A tragic story

There lived a sage in days of yore
And he a handsome pigtail wore;
But wondered much and sorrowed more
Because it hung behind him.

He mused upon his curious case
And swore he’d change the pigtail’s place,
And having it hanging in his face,
Not dangling there behind him.

Say’s he, “The mystery I’ve found;
I’ll turn me round” - he turned him round,
But still it hung behind him.

Then round and round, and out and in,
All day the puzzled sage did spin;
in vain - it mattered not a pin -
The pigtail hung behind him.

And right and left, and round about,
And up and down, and in and out,
He turned; but still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.

And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist and twirl and tack,
Alas! Still faithful to his back,
The pigtail hangs behind him.
William Makepeace Thackeray.

Updated ode to modern “love”

This is an adaptation of a poem originally written by myself to be included in the book For the Love of Poetry published in 1974, and then made into a record by Ray Summers & Country Cream in 1979:
I was like an eagle, and she was like a dove,
Two birds of different feather, I thought we fell in love.
I was with her daily, I’d love to hold her hand,
As together we would wander along Pattaya’s golden sand.
I was always with her, but it was clear to see,
She’d rather love my wallet, than give her love to me.
But suddenly it was over, a richer man found her love,
Now she was like the eagle, and I was like the dove.
Martin J. Knapp

Quotes for the day

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
When the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks, not that you won or lost, but how you played the game.
Don’t carry a grudge. While you’re carrying the grudge, the other guy’s out dancing.
Marriage is an empty box. It remains empty unless you put in more than you take out.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Sent in by Naini Grover
Alibaba Restaurant

Food for thought

It’s amazing to think that human beings have developed weapons with the capability to destroy the earth; and they might.
It’s equally amazing to think that human beings have developed agriculture to the point that they, at this moment, have enough food to feed all humanity; but they don’t.

In search of the Holy Grail?

A tragic story

Updated ode to modern “love”

Quotes for the day

Food for thought