I think it appropriate to now include the full version
of the poem "Solitude," by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

"Laugh and the world laughs with you
Weep and you weep alone
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth
But has trouble enough of its own
Sing and the hills will answer
Sigh it is lost on the air
The echoes bound to a joyful sound
But shrink from voicing care

Rejoice and men will seek you
Grieve and they turn and go
They want full measure of all your pleasure
But they do not need your woe
Be glad and your friends are many
But sad and you lose them all
There are none to decline your nectared wine
But alone you must drink life's gall

Feast and your halls are crowded
Fast and the world goes by
Succeed and give and it helps you live
But no man can help you die
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain."

Rest in Peace Margaret Thatcher.

The vainglory at the sinking of the Belgrano reminded me of:

The War-song of Dinas Vawr
By Thomas Love Peacock 1785–1866

The mountain sheep are sweeter,
But the valley sheep are fatter;
We therefore deemed it meeter
To carry off the latter.
We made an expedition;
We met a host, and quelled it;
We forced a strong position,
And killed the men who held it.

On Dyfed's richest valley,
Where herds of kine were browsing,
We made a mighty sally,
To furnish our carousing.
Fierce warriors rushed to meet us;
We met them, and o'erthrew them:
They struggled hard to beat us;
But we conquered them, and slew them.

As we drove our prize at leisure,
The king marched forth to catch us:
His rage surpassed all measure,
But his people could not match us.
He fled to his hall-pillars;
And, ere our force we led off,
Some sacked his house and cellars,
While others cut his head off.

We there, in strife bewild'ring,
Spilt blood enough to swim in:
We orphaned many children,
And widowed many women.
The eagles and the ravens
We glutted with our foemen;
The heroes and the cravens,
The spearmen and the bowmen.

We brought away from battle,
And much their land bemoaned them,
Two thousand head of cattle,
And the head of him who owned them:
Ednyfed, king of Dyfed,
His head was borne before us;
His wine and beasts supplied our feasts,
And his overthrow, our chorus.

Lexi,

It would be the rare person, woman or man, who could re-tread her footsteps to survive politically, gain popular support and bring in changes that are continued even by her political opponents. Her policies were copied by Australia, first by Labor and then by the LNP.

The present Oz Labor government itself has taken Thatcherism to its heart when it suits it. Although Thatcher would never have supported the class war waged by Gillard. Thatcher sought to empower through individual freedom from interfering government and encouragement of those who prefer dependence on government -which was mainly industry and mining for her- to stand on their own feet.

Dear David F.,

Thank You for your poem in memory of the sinking
of the Belgrano.

John Dryden said it equally well when in,
"Alexander's Feast," he wrote:

"War, he sung, is toil and trouble;
Honour but an empty bubble.
Never ending, still beginning,
Fighting still, and still destroying,
If all the world be worth the winning,
Think, oh think, it worth enjoying."

And this:

From Stephen Vincent Benet's prophecy:

"Oh where are you coming from soldier, gaunt soldier
With weapons beyond any reach of my mind
With weapons so deadly the world must grow older
And die in its tracks if it does not turn kind."

And this:

From Christopher Marlowe's -
"Tamburlaine the Great." Act 2, Sc.iv.

"Accursed be he that first invented war,
They knew not, ah, they knew not simple men,
How those were hit by pelting cannon shot,
Stand staggering like a quivering aspen leaf."

There's lessons to be learned from history.
We need new ways of thinking to cope with
the nuclear age. Our world has become so
obsessed with the problems of hatred and
aggression that it will allow peace and love to
be regarded as soft and weak. Yet our survival
depends on their dominance.

Dear onthebeach,

Thank You for your contribution to this
discussion.

You may be interested to know (or you
possibly already know) that Margaret
Thatcher's funeral will be screened
Tomorrow evening (Wednesday - 17th April 2013),
on ABC24. Not sure of the time though.

Hi Lexi,

It is good to separate the woman, mother, leader and statesman from the other political dross.