Post No. 057: For The Day After Christmas 2021 — "Good King All-Of-Us"

(Image by Paul Whiting)

"Good King All-Of-Us"
[A "Good King Wenceslas" song lyrical adaptation]

Good King All-Of-Us traveled around,
whilst running winter's errands,
when the snow lay on the ground
cold and crisp as the air—and
dimly shone the sun all day—plus
the temperature wasn't changing,
when a poor man along our way
was outside 'cause he was "spanging."

Thither we went, his request to heed,
for we knoweth it and are telling,
yonder stranger is in need,
since the sidewalk is his dwelling!
Needeth he an offering of funds,
because the snow is like a mountain,
as the chill he tries to shun—which
is cold as a winter's fountain!

Giving him a smile with words so kind,
and for his needs he'll be tending,
thou and I shall know he's fine
as we offer him funds for spending.
Then, Good Kings, forth we'll go,
forth we'll go together,
through the rude winds wild lament
and the bitter weather...

...Sires, the night is darker now—and
the wind blows stronger—we shan't
fail their hearts, for we shall
help them out much longer!
Mark our footsteps good, We Kings,
while we assist them boldly;
we shall help the winter's rage
freeze their blood less coldly.

Then, as Masters we'll step and trod,
where the snow lays fraught out,
helping out those homeless folks
whom we Saints have sought out!
Therefore, Christian Faithful be sure,
money and compassion possessing,
we who now will bless the poor
shall ourselves be blessings!

-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., A Creative Writer)
"I maybe say too much about how life really is!"

I budget for "carrying cash" each month in my monthly budgets for any expenses that I may wish to pay for in cash. And I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "alms to the poor." –Paul Whiting (written December 26th, 2015, revised September 24th, 2019, revised December 23rd, 2021, revised December 24th, 2021, revised December 25th, 2021, revised December 26th, 2021 and revised July 6th, 2022)

My Writing Notes:

The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: This poem is a lyrical adaptation of the Christmas song, "Good King Wenceslas," which was written by John Mason Neale and Thomas Helmore. And I wrote this adaptation in order to extol the virtues of helping the less fortunate, who are living on the streets—and who are in desperate need of "Alms for the Poor"—since they are homeless!

You see, I was homeless for ten days in October of 2009! And, for me, the toughest part about being homeless wasn't living outdoors, since I was basically "camping": it was the way that some people treated me, because I didn't have a place to live. [However, I should clarify that it never stormed while I was homeless, nor did it ever reach freezing temperatures; plus, I had money available to buy whatever I needed (the reader should know that I am HIV-positive and that I have full-blown AIDS) due to the fact that I am on "SSDI," or Social Security Disability Insurance.]

And so, I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "Alms to the Poor."

Thus, I wrote this lyrical-adaptation poem from the original Christmas song (along with another lyrical-adaptation poem titled, "Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Of Blue," which is published on this blog), as a way to encourage everyone—who has the ability and desire—to please consider helping homeless folks in a way that feels right to you, just like I do throughout the year by offering those folks help-out money when I see them on the street!

And this poem was only published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog.

This poem was lyrically adapted in Portland, Oregon.

-Paulee

"Good King Wenceslas" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia—which is funded primarily through donations from millions of individuals around the world, including this blogger (I make a totally affordable monthly donation):

"'Good King Wenceslas' is a Christmas carol that tells a story of a Bohemian king going on a journey and braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (December 26, the Second Day of Christmas). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935). The name Wenceslas is a Latinised version of Old Czech 'Venceslav'.

In 1853, English hymnwriter John Mason Neale wrote the 'Wenceslas' lyric, in collaboration with his music editor Thomas Helmore, and the carol first appeared in Carols for Christmas-Tide, published by Novello & Co the same year. Neale's lyric was set to the melody of 13th-century spring carol 'Tempus adest floridum' ('Eastertime has come') first published in the 1582 Finnish song collection Piae Cantiones."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas

This poem was written as a lyrical adaptation of the original Christmas song, "Good King Wenceslas," on December 23rd, 2021, December 25th, 2021 and December 26th, 2021.

This "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" Post No. 057 was edited on June 26th, 2024.

"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]