Organized Religion??

...O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each....."

..But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore......

.....It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.....

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter

Well we survived the night and it was wild. Mercifully there were no high tides and the wind direction was from the west so damage seems to have been minimal. We've lost the tops off a couple of trees and lots of small branches. Today has been breezy with hail and sunshine but more dire things are forecast for the middle of the week.
Anyway, we went out for walk - the beach was covered in even more shells and I was amazed to find three scallop shells -open with their occupants still inside. Plus some big fat oysters, firmly shut. It's rather mystifying to me how anyone could fancy eating these! I've told this story before, so skip this bit if you've heard it already, but it makes me laugh every time I think of it. We had been having some digger work done, done by the very charming J. It was Christmas and we had just dropped the boys off at the airport, returned home exhausted at about 10pm. There was a knock on the door and it was J and his wife, clutching a plastic carrier bag - a belated christmas present. Yes - scallops, tons of them. We were too polite to confess to being vegetarian so thanked them and put the bag in the sink. After they had gone, we heard the bag rustling and realised the scallops were still alive! We looked inside and they seemed to be popping and gasping. It was blowing a hooley outside and the rain was horizontal but there was only one thing to do. We took the bag down to the sea and released the scallops! Next morning we went down again expecting to see them floating around limply but there was no sign. When J later asked us how they had gone down, we were able to reply truthfully: Very well!

A very different take on the poem! matt Damon looks so young!