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Geoffrey Chaucer



He is called  “Language Daddy“, for he is,

The undisputed father of our tongue,,

But he is more, oh so much more than this,

He is the “Maker” of the English song,



Lo! “Maker” is the medieval word,

For Poet, - Greeks and dark-age men agree,

A “Maker"-Poet that can bridge the fjord,

The hodgepodge mishmash tongue diversity.



A nascent nation needs an idiom.

So divers ethnic groups may share in it,

Geoff’s tongue did bear the mark of Christendom.

And prove for it most eminently fit.



Geoff gave the language to the populace.

Formed from so many a medley element,

A language of distinction, strength and class,

And made French-Anglo-Saxon fuse and blend,



It is the poets task to teach the small

And piddling man how truly great he is,

And to discount his weakness and recall

With  awe his soul’s essential mysteries.



To never grow accustomed to the stars-

It is the poet’s business to prevent

Man’s getting used to stars and nenuphars,

But to foment and spur  "ASTONISHMENT".



Hypothesis and theories grow stale,

But things continue always to be fresh,

The lisping brook, the trees, the nightingale.

The rainbow, forest, lakes and mountain ash.



Geoff’s characters, alive and up-to-date,

As issued from this Maker-Poet’s quill,

Contemporaries of us, they parade

Before our eyes, vivaciously and thrill!



Small farm yard life turned into cosmic play,

With cock and hen and jealous côterie,

That kept with awe the wily fox at bay

Before so great a cosmic tragedy.



Geoff’s farmyard chicks cluck intellectually,

discussing Dante, Virgil and Homer,

Cluck gravely about fate and destiny,

Of Deity and angels bright and fair



Oh “Maker” poet, Geoffrey Chaucer Hail!

So great, so great is our debt to thee,

Who coined the term “I’ll fight you tooth and nail”

And  other catchword cues of poetry.



And Geoffrey left as precious legacy,

For Marlow, Spencer, Milton and Shakespeare,-

A tongue in which to write their poetry,

Our English - English pleasing to the ear.



Be blessed Cheoffrey,-, may  the seraphs guard

Your quotes and sayings,- each and every  word,

And fill with joys celestial your big heart

While singing your sweet tunes before the Lord!,









© Elizabeth Dandy





One of Geoffrey Chaucer‘s sayings:



“Lyfe is so shorte - the craft so long to learne“

has been universally acknowledged.