Star over Bethlehem - Agatha Christie [36]
They know the fairies are about,
And they can hear their silky wings—
They are so kind, these darling things!
I Wore My New Canary Suit
I WORE my new canary suit
To go and meet my love,
We talked and talked of everything
In earth and heaven above.
I went again to meet my love,
The years had flitted by,
I wore my old canary suit
To bid my love goodbye.
I took it to a jumble sale
But brought it back once more
And hung it on an inner peg
Within my cupboard door.
I shall not meet my love again
For he is in his grave.
So—I’ve an old moth-eaten suit
And he is young and brave …
Racial Musings
PRESUMPTIVE is Man to claim the right
To arbitrate between God’s creatures so
And place a gulf between the Black and White
Deeper than sea or ocean waters flow.
So strange it seems, this unpigmented pride,
The paleness of a skin that knows not sun …
Men all are built of bone;
How hard then to decide
If they are Apes or Men
When life is done!
Some think, and more than one,
That coffee-coloured children meet the case,
It is our duty so to take one’s fun
That the resulting mixture has a face
That nicely illustrates Mendelian lore.
Oh, coffee-coloured world,
You’ll be a BORE.
Satiety but no variety.
A BORE. A BORE. A BORE.
Picnic 1960
AFTERNOON Tea by the side of the road
That is the meal that I love,
Hundreds of cars rushing past all the time,
Sunshine and clouds up above!
Get out the chairs and set up the tea,
Serviettes, too, are a must.
Never a moment that’s quiet or dull,
Sausage rolls flavoured with dust!
Time to go home? Strew the orange peel round,
Leave paper and portions of pie,
Pack up the crocks and get into the queue,
Perfect picnic place, love, and goodbye …
About the Author
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She is the author of eighty crime novels and short-story collections, nineteen plays, two memoirs, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott.
She first tried her hand at detective fiction while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I, creating the now legendary Hercule Poirot with her debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. With The Murder in the Vicarage, published in 1930, she introduced another beloved sleuth, Miss Jane Marple. Additional series characters include the husband-and-wife crime-fighting team of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, private investigator Parker Pyne, and Scotland Yard detectives Superintendent Battle and Inspector Japp.
Many of Christie’s novels and short stories were adapted into plays, films, and television series. The Mousetrap, her most famous play of all, opened in 1952 and is the longest-running play in history. Among her best-known film adaptations are Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978), with Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov playing Hercule Poirot, respectively. On the small screen Poirot has been most memorably portrayed by David Suchet, and Miss Marple by Joan Hickson and subsequently Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.
Christie was first married to Archibald Christie and then to archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, whom she accompanied on expeditions to countries that would also serve as the settings for many of her novels. In 1971 she achieved one of Britain’s highest honors when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. She died in 1976 at the age of eighty-five. Her one hundred and twentieth anniversary was celebrated around the world in 2010.
www.AgathaChristie.com
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Praise
“Agatha Christie has provided entertainment, suspense, and temporary relief from the anxieties and