We had cried in our despair That men desert, For some trivial affair Or noisy, insolent sport, Beauty that we have won From bitterest hours; Yet we, had we walked within Those topless towers Where Helen walked with her boy, Had given but as the rest Of the men and women of Troy, A word and jest. ___________________________________________________ The short 14-line-poem above, "When Helen Lived", was written by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923. Some literary critics call "When Helen Lived" a minor poem. Well, if you like it, then it's a major poem. Forget about the lit-crit-wallahs who call it minor. Maybe they are minor literary critics. And I'm writing fol-de-roll that may be longer than the poem itself! Yikes! Do I like it? Well, I'm "sending it around". Is it good fol-de-roll? Please, Quatro, tell me the truth. "Topless Towers" has a nice "tone" but Yeats uses it too often. Good grief, now I've written nine lines of fol-de-roll. That may be a record. Has anyone written ten lines? Surely that is a record! I'm fond of the word "yikes." I got it from my kids ----Email from Stephen to his kids, 7/6/15---