Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine

Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: C S Portman on April 12, 2016, 03:26:32 PM

Title: If we must die
Post by: C S Portman on April 12, 2016, 03:26:32 PM
My dear fellow Villans. When confirmation is finally here at the weekend and we are relegated let us try to look forward. Sure, there's lots to do in terms of clearing out dead wood, z-list players and various nefarious authority figures - and there's a club to sell - but in our hearts we must retain the Villa spirit. You know, OUR spirit. We were there before this bunch of wasters and we'll be there long after. A battle has been lost, but NOT the war.  Just to help you on your way I thought I would offer the following poem by Claude McKay. It is called 'If we must die' and I hope it burns brightly at some point this summer as we begin again. Oh, and congratulations; you are a Villa supporter and therefore you HAVE won the lottery of life. Gens uma Sumus.


If We Must Die

By  Claude McKay   


If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle on April 12, 2016, 05:27:54 PM
Football teams are like sea vessels
Yachts and tugs and tankers
The trouble with our fucking ship
Is that it's full
Of lazy wankers.

Archbishop Herbert Cockbiscuit (no relation)
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Witton Warrior on April 12, 2016, 05:53:50 PM
Football teams are like sea vessels
Yachts and tugs and tankers
The trouble with our fucking ship
Is that it's full
Of lazy wankers.


I would just have used the last word - over and over and over again...
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: brian green on April 12, 2016, 06:17:51 PM
A young football player from Witton
Of whom it was frequently written
Had long had a dream
To star in a team,
But his local one was a shit 'un.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: eamonn on April 12, 2016, 06:38:21 PM
Football teams are like sea vessels
Yachts and tugs and tankers
The trouble with our fucking ship
Is that it's full
Of lazy wankers.


I would just have used the last word - over and over and over again...

You're a Witton Warrior, you're no Witton Wag.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: john e on April 12, 2016, 06:52:52 PM
Down with the Villa, we're going down with the Villa, down with the Villa were...............
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: cheltenhamlion on April 12, 2016, 07:14:40 PM
If I die on a Gloucester street, whoa, whoa.....
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: nigel on April 12, 2016, 07:48:58 PM
Last game of the seson it would be fun if we could sing when we beat the gordies to bring them down:

Sunderland, are staying up
Oh Sunderland are staying up
You're coming down with the Villa
Sunderland are staying up
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Chinchilla Bathhouse on April 12, 2016, 08:44:19 PM
This poem's a great deal like Gabby
It starts off not looking too shabby
Then it all gets too much
And it loses its touch
And the finish is absolutely fucking abysmal.

C. Bysshe Bathhouse
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: SamTheMouse on April 12, 2016, 08:49:13 PM
Roses are red
Violets are blue
FUCK OFF MICAH
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: brian green on April 12, 2016, 08:59:38 PM
And take Lescott too.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: SamTheMouse on April 12, 2016, 09:05:47 PM
And take Lescott too.

Beautifully done. I'll set 'em up, Brian, you smash 'em home!
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Pat McMahon on April 13, 2016, 12:43:16 AM
And take Lescott too.

Beautifully done. I'll set 'em up, Brian, you smash 'em home!

This thread has its own Warboys and Bannister!
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Legion on April 13, 2016, 01:08:35 AM
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: alftitimus on April 13, 2016, 03:05:24 AM
If We Must Die

By  Claude McKay   


If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!


THANK YOU ~~ CSP


But as you will see, your contribution is wasted on here.

Just banter and crudities will be your response.

But I appreciate it. Thank You.

I seriously think that the MAJORITY of our posters know very little about football.
Other than what they read in The Sun.

It's just 'Oh Cr@p we're bottom --Lerner Out'


We don't have Noblesse oblige as Lerner has done..... we have craven abuse and
a startling lack of education or knowledge about our history.

Your quote will go above the heads of most.

BUT the sentiment is so apt and correct..THANK YOU

Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mr underhill on April 13, 2016, 07:01:44 AM
lighten up Alf, it's just poetry.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mr underhill on April 13, 2016, 07:02:29 AM
Oh, and like the man said, a poem is just a naked person.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: The Laughing Policeman on April 13, 2016, 07:58:44 AM
Is this the Radio 4 thread?
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Percy McCarthy on April 13, 2016, 08:15:25 AM
I seriously think that some posters on here know very little about punctuation other than what they read in The Sun.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: brian green on April 13, 2016, 08:18:35 AM
Shouldn't that be "...that which they read in The Sun"?
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: brian green on April 13, 2016, 08:31:41 AM
There was a young man named titimus
Whose posts on here annoyed most of us.
As was his want
His emotions and font
Were used as an internet arquebus.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mr underhill on April 13, 2016, 08:35:34 AM
deep.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle on April 13, 2016, 08:37:15 AM
There was a young man named titimus
Whose posts on here annoyed most of us.
As was his want
His emotions and font
Were used as an internet arquebus.

Boom!
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Malandro on April 13, 2016, 08:38:23 AM
There was a young man named titimus
Whose posts on here annoyed most of us.
As was his want
His emotions and font
Were used as an internet arquebus.

Top marks Brian
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: The Laughing Policeman on April 13, 2016, 08:46:44 AM
There was a young man named titimus
Whose posts on here annoyed most of us.
As was his want
His emotions and font
Were used as an internet arquebus.
Good shot Brian.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Dave on April 13, 2016, 08:56:02 AM

THANK YOU ~~ CSP


But as you will see, your contribution is wasted on here.

Just banter and crudities will be your response.

But I appreciate it. Thank You.

I seriously think that the MAJORITY of our posters know very little about football.
Other than what they read in The Sun.

It's just 'Oh Cr@p we're bottom --Lerner Out'

We don't have Noblesse oblige as Lerner has done..... we have craven abuse and
a startling lack of education or knowledge about our history.

Your quote will go above the heads of most.


Alf, if you're only here to complain about the people who use this site and to post badly-punctuated, unintelligible nonsense can I suggest that you think about going somewhere else to do it?
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: HolmesyVilla on April 13, 2016, 09:01:27 AM
....cos Aston Villa'll never die...



We'll never die,we'll never die keep the flag flying and all that

UTV
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Chris Jameson on April 13, 2016, 11:07:23 AM
Tremendous contribution >>>there~~~

alfititmus

~~~but~~~

if you don't mind me saying

A REALLY shit poem
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mr underhill on April 13, 2016, 11:21:36 AM
unlike Robert Frost's 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening', which is great.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Bad English on April 13, 2016, 12:09:46 PM
I wish I’d looked after me team,
And achieved the Champions League dream.
All the gaffers I used,
And the players now booed
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me team.

Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Smirker on April 13, 2016, 12:23:19 PM
This poem's a great deal like Gabby
It starts off not looking too shabby
Then it all gets too much
And it loses its touch
And the finish is absolutely fucking abysmal.

C. Bysshe Bathhouse

I love it.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Dr Butler on April 13, 2016, 12:26:56 PM
can't do poems
can't do happy
but...


UTV
The Doc
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: prmort on April 13, 2016, 12:42:57 PM
Our football it's said was atrocious
The other teams managed to roast us
We always get beat
Just like Gabbys meat
At least we’ve not all got a virus.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mikeb1982 on April 13, 2016, 01:10:11 PM
They fuck you up, these villa boys
While having such an easy life
Half the time they kick a ball
And half in someone else's wife

Sport is but a trivial thing
Entertainment for the lads
But players care more for their bling
And the result is really fucking bad

If Larkin was a Villa fan...
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: mr underhill on April 13, 2016, 01:21:36 PM
 there is a Larkin poem that references Villa Park but I can't remember the title
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: Chico Hamilton III on April 13, 2016, 01:23:03 PM
there is a Larkin poem that references Villa Park but I can't remember the title

MCMXIV
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: fbriai on April 13, 2016, 01:25:05 PM
I think the Rubaiyat is more appropriate at the moment:

Quote
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: cdward on April 13, 2016, 01:58:34 PM
Alfititimus did once decry,
That heroes and villains were all asinine,
However rapscallion, while i differ to beg,
What would you rather be, a sausage or an egg?


 
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: The Laughing Policeman on April 13, 2016, 04:34:46 PM
there is a Larkin poem that references Villa Park but I can't remember the title

MCMXIV
First verse.......
Quote
Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;
Title: Re: If we must die
Post by: West Derby Villan on April 13, 2016, 05:09:05 PM
Alfititimus, you must surely applaud that? Classy.
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