A Brief History of the Giant Albion

Tradition has it that the giant Albion

And his brother journeyed from Briton

Across Europe to meet the legendary Hercules in battle

In northern Italy after the hero had acquired the cows of Geryon.

Albion's brother Bergion was in fact

Killed in the spiritual battle during which

Hercules exercised the full power of his eloquence

While kneeling in prayer to his father Zeus.

Because of the power of his eloquence

The two sons of Poseidon were vanquished.

I contend that Albion was not killed in the battle

But was laid low; or rendered unconscious

For centuries moldering in his grave

A vessel of disturbed and troubled dreams.

Some giants have extremely strong dreams

Such that other people are compelled 

To live inside them. This is the type of dream 

That Albion had been dreaming.

Imagine his surprise at being rudely awakened

In the middle of the last century 

His first fresh breath of anger 

Stomping and pounding the face of Europe

In his wrath.

And also understand his distemper and trouble

Going back to sleep. Perhaps some hot milk

Or narcotic herb could help put the giant down gently.

A Brief History of Romance

Because history is a circle
It's incumbent upon the storyteller
To select a point of origin
Which would otherwise be arbitrary.

The ghosts of the French nobility released by the guillotine
Blew first across the English Channel to cheery old England.

In those days George 3 had mad itching syphilis
He heard directly the whispers of the ghosts who reported
All of England in a dreary mood
Revolution on everyone's lips
Red berets apparent upon the heads of the populace
Blake tried for sedition.

The ghosts eventually lost their individual voices
Congealing into a more generalized romantic spirit
Inspiring for a time, an aesthetic revolution in English poetry.
The philosophical keys of romance remain forever hidden
In a library of books clapped shut, or they have fallen down
Between the cushions of Wordsworth's eternal couch.

By 1830 the romantic spirit had grown tired of England
Blowing back then to Germany
To witness the hysteria of German nationalism
And to listen to wonderful music
Perhaps voyaging south to Italy
An operatic echo heard along the Alpine range
A green tune by Verdi you can't get out of your head.

This is where it gets complicated. My theory is
That in 1845 the spirit of romance was in a cafe in Paris
Drinking absinthe when he overheard some fellows discussing
Traveling to America and because he had always found
Himself to have a metropolitan appetite being never satisfied
With his present place or time he decided to travel. Yes to America
But also to Russia where in 1865 he witnessed not only
The end of the American Civil war but he also
Caught the premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
A book he had always loved.

The work moved him so much that he decided
To retire to Saint Petersburg and spent his remaining years
Listening to Russian music and becoming embroiled in
In its vibrant and decadent culture until he finally
Was trampled to death
At the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

Cult of Mammon

There used to be Christians in England who made a sincere effort to follow the example of Christ in word and deed. These Dissenters could not be buried in the same graveyards as the good Anglicans. They were poor as Christ himself.  Pilgrims, Puritans, Ranters, Muggletonians: dissenting against the Anglican church because they thought the King of England was trying to buy his salvation, and they hated the idea that a person's goodness could be reduced to his wealth. For centuries they had taken Christ's ideal of poverty seriously. They didn't believe in amassing worldly wealth, did not lend money at interest. They stored their treasures in heaven.

And today we have come to the place where we so misunderstand the central message of Christianity that we believe God wants us to be wealthy in the worldly sense, and the way to affect God's wish of worldly wealth for us is to give money to mega churches or to commercial evangelism. (Do you think God wants to listen to Christian rock? God has been listening to cathedral choir and pipe organ music for a thousand years, and although he does not like Christian rock generally, he does have kind of a soft spot for Petra).

God wanted us to be poor and happy. Instead we've become opaque to his vision, and enslaved ourselves to Mammon. Those who don't worship Mammon directly are still made to serve in his factories--to drive his cars across his bridges, buy his gasoline, drink in his bars, gamble in his establishments, and borrow from his banks. 

In the Cult of Mammon, if you are in want of wealth, then what you should do is discern which aspect of your personality is not wholly dedicated to the pursuit of money and KILL it. Perhaps its your love of music, or poetry that is standing in the way of financial success. Once you have proven that you are completely dedicated to the stewardship of wealth, wealth will be stowed upon you..