[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem

for no reason in a meeting i'm suddenly wondering
whether god has heard more often
pray let the combat prove me but spare us the blood or
please, please let me see some ruddy show
proof i'm not in the pudding club

i bet it's a toss up

slight change of subject

when next you feel overwhelmed by responsibility
consider briefly admiral jellicoe who in 1916
commanded the british grand fleet at jutland

calling the british fleet grand
wasn't just puffery
their navy had suffered but one major defeat in a hundred years
dished out by maximilian von spee near the falklands
which first lord fisher soon avenged

you'll recall jellicoe had superior numbers against all comers
but lesser gunnery and technology
the famous line being his subordinate admiral beatty's
"chatfield, there's something wrong with our bloody ships today"
a line which described how some cruisers blew up unexpectedly
due to a design flaw
and, shot full of burning air,
mutilated people atrociously

if you'll allow
jellicoe was in the position of a tennis player who at four love up
knows full well it is still possible to lose
particularly if your opponent realizes suddenly
he has better gunnery and technology

told the enemy fleet was out
jellicoe departed scapa flow knowing
that if the germans got the upper hand
britain might starve or at least
be cut off from its scattered arms
and have to sue for peace

when churchill said jellicoe could lose the war in an afternoon
he understated
with one wrong order
to dreadnoughts in line abreast
jellicoe could have lost the whole thing
in five minutes or less

jutland's result finally was a draw
and is now judged not at all important to the outcome of the war
so we who sit in meetings drift in peace
and are not the least in awe
of jellicoe
and we are lucky if we know
that his is one of the busts
long feet below nelson
frequently shat on by pigeons
in trafalgar square

David Ritchie
heading for bed in
Portland, Oregon



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