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Saturday 20 August 2011

The Peddler of Spells

Dedicated to David Cameron.

An old man selling charms in a cranny of the town wall.
He writes out spells to bless the silkworms and spells to protect the corn.
With the money he gets each day he only buys wine.
But he does not worry when his legs get wobbly,
For he has a boy to lean on.

By Lu Yu (A.D. 1125 - 1209)
Translated from the Chinese by Arthur Waley.

3 comments:

Demetrius said...

But is Cameron becoming more like Tommy Cooper?

A K Haart said...

D - apart from the humour, yes.

James Higham said...

:)