Algy’s Easter Ditty

Algy was so thrilled with his very special Easter egg that he felt compelled to write an instant ditty to thank the Easter Bunny:

Oh chickie, you’re so pretty,
I must quickly write a ditty,
So that I can tell the other birds
A new friend’s come to stay.
Now you are here I know it’s spring,
It makes me want to dance and sing,
I love the way you hop about
And cheep throughout the day.

Oh thank you, Easter Bunny!
Though your antics may be funny,
For the egg you bring is special
With a magic gift inside;
Its shell is painted brightly,
But within a chick pecks lightly,
Till it jumps out with a happy chirp
To say “It’s Eastertide!”

Happy Easter everyone!

[ © 2013 This ditty is original copyright material, but you are welcome to share it on Tumblr providing you credit the original and link back to Algy’s Adventures.]

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny brought Algy a very special Easter egg, and told him that he could keep on opening it for as long as he wanted to, providing that he put it back together again each time 🙂

Algy wishes all his friends everywhere a very Happy Easter, and hopes that you will all have a lovely, sunny, happy day xoxo

The local landscape was on fire again, so Algy spent the day anxiously firewatching. Despite the high rainfall at most times of year, the West Highland moorland is often tinder dry in early spring, and the traditional crofting practice of “muir burn” quickly gets out of hand.

Some of his friends may remember the serious hill fire around Algy’s home last year, which caused Algy to keep watch all night while the sky burned and then thank the firefighters in April 2012.

Algy heard a distinctive sound overhead so he immediately looked up at the sky. Some of his friends were leaving, which always made him feel rather sad. He bid them a fond farewell, and hoped that they would have a safe journey and return to see him when the days grew shorter again.

Algy had spent a long afternoon composing ditties. The moon was beginning to climb in the sky as the last of the evening sun lit up the ridge, but Algy wasn’t watching. He balanced his rhyming dictionary rather precariously among the branches and sat lost in reverie, wondering whether he really could rhyme  ‘orange’ with ‘challenge’ as the book suggested.

Algy felt in need of a more appreciative audience for his ditties, so he gathered some of the local residents together, and found a soft perch in a more prominent position than before. To his surprise, the goose responded much more enthusiastically when there were additional spectators present.

Fired with enthusiasm for his new project, Algy decided to give an impromptu performance of one of his ditties for the benefit of a goose who had wandered by. Algy felt that perhaps the goose was not a poetry lover, but he was so excited that he continued undeterred …

Anxious to make a start on his first volume of verse on World Poetry Day, Algy began to scribble furiously in his notebook. This is what he wrote …

A Special Announcement on World Poetry Day

Today is World Poetry Day 2013, so Algy would like to take this opportunity to make a very special announcement:

Algy loves good poetry,
He often quotes a verse,
But frequently the poets mourn
For those who’ve gone, or love forlorn,
Or something even worse.

A dreary poem makes you glum,
A sad one will bring tears,
So very few will brighten life
Or help you with the stress and strife
Through all these weary years.

So Algy said: It seems to me
That what you really need
Is a poet with a happy rhyme
To help you have a better time
Whenever you may read.
 
I think that I’ll write ditties
To help the world along;
Some of them will be absurd,
They’re just the ramblings of a bird,
But each will be a song.

So please tell all the children –
Every little girl and boy –
I’ll make them rhymes to bring a smile
And occupy them for a while
With merriment and joy.

I may not write a weighty tome,
I’m just a fluffy lad,
But I’ll sing a silly song to you
And help you laugh the whole day through
Instead of feeling sad.

So smile now with happy thoughts
And have a merry day;
The flowers are waving in the breeze,
The birds are singing in the trees,
It’s meant to be that way 🙂

Algy is delighted to announce that – providing his assistant works as hard as he wants her to – his first book of original verse for children will be published in late spring or early summer 2013.

[ © 2013 This poem is original copyright material, but you are welcome to share it on Tumblr providing you credit the original and link back to Algy’s Adventures.]

The wind was bitterly cold and dark clouds were gathering overhead, but Algy felt in need of some rest and relaxation. He settled himself on a mass of old honeysuckle stems for an afternoon of peaceful reading, but discovered that the wind had other ideas …

Although Algy is not entirely happy about cats, he does enjoy reading about them safely in a book. This is what he read:

         Jellicle Cats are black and white,
         Jellicle Cats are rather small;
         Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,
         And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.
         Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,
         Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;
         They like to practise their airs and graces
         And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

[Algy is reading The Song of the Jellicles from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot.]