My Love is Theosophist -- Patrick Barrington

Guest poem submitted by William Grey:

(Poem #1551) My Love is Theosophist My love is a Theosophist And reads the Ramayana; Her luncheon is a pot of tea, Her breakfast a banana. She says that matter tends to clog The spirit-force behind it. My love is a Theosophist, And very tough I find it. My love is a Theosophist And wears no combinations; She says they get her thought-urge weak And lower her vibrations. She tells me flannel next the skin Impedes the astral motions. My love is a Theosophist, And has the strangest notions. My love is a Theosophist, And few things I deplore as Sincerely as the thoughtless way She crabs her neighbours' auras. She sensed Miss Hope's as bilious green, And got some quack to vet it. My love is a Theosophist, And many folk regret it. My love is a Theosophist, And though distinctly stouter She moves on a more mental plane Than do the folks about her. She moved into a potted plant Last week at Mrs Reece's. My love is a Theosophist, So I picked up the pieces. My love is a Theosophist, And has an intimation That she was Florence Nightingale In her last incarnation. She senses me as Titus Oates, More Ape-man than Apollo, My love is a Theosophist, And difficult to follow. My love is a Theosophist, And does not seem to worry If they forget to send the fish Or fail to cook the curry. As my potatoes grow more burnt Her temper grows the sweeter. My love is a Theosophist, And lives on Veeta Weeta. My love is a Theosophist-- Or, rather, is no longer; For, though her Ego-urge was strong, The Cosmic Will was stronger. While moving on the Higher Plane She moved into a lorry. My love was a Theosophist, And really I'm not sorry. -- Patrick Barrington

Patrick Barrington succeeded an uncle to become the 11th Viscount
Barrington. He died at the age of 81 on 6 April 1990.  There was an
enthusiastic audience of devotees for Barrington's whimsical verse, much of
it published in Punch in the early 1930s.

'My Love is a Theosophist' is characteristic of his style.  It is
instructive as well as entertaining. References to psychic beliefs
("vibrations", "cosmic will", and so on) show that little has changed in
psychic belief systems over the last 70 years. A chemist or physicist who
walked through a time warp in a laboratory of 70 years ago would be
immediately struck by the archaic apparatus in use.  If you walked into a
spiritualist's or psychic's den of 70 years ago -- apart from the absence of
a personal computer on the desk in the corner -- you would perceive little
change.

That is one way of illustrating how science develops by it superseding and
replacing inferior theories and methods in a continuing process of
innovation which fosters a progressive incremental process of improvement in
our understanding.  Paranormal beliefs, in contrast, are moribund. The
silver lining to this otherwise darkish cloud is that Barrington's whimsical
scepticism resonates as delightfully and with as much relevance today as
when they were penned more than seventy years ago.

William Grey.