Poetic Licence: NOSTRADAMUS: THE LOST QUATRAINS
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Your support makes all the difference.The world will end on Sunday, according to Nostradamus. The 16th-century astrologer may have also foreseen the French Revolution, Second World War and the deaths of the Kennedys. His verses, however, written in old French, are open to interpretation.
The King of the West will come undone
Caught out in an oval-shaped room
A garment brought out for inspection
And his queen remain greatly displeased
In the spring of nineteen ninety-nine
A great terror will come from the sky
The Bear and The Dragon will grumble
The Lion as usual, be well up for it
With his career still in the doldrums
The third brother will jump the broomstick
But his wedding shall be more discreet
Disrupting the scrying only on Beeb 2
In the centre court of Wombledon
A terrible rain will fall all day
A child shall slaughter the young queen
And the strawberries be over-priced
Vague shall claim victory on Europe
But no one will be very convinced
Then Bland will back-pedal frantically
Still no one will be very convinced
Then a great smiting of unwed mums
And of idle youngsters shall occur
Teachers will be rigidly assessed
And everything shall be tinkered with
Many will drown in memoranda,
Leaflets and contracts of good conduct.
No job shall ever last for life
And men will talk to themselves on trains
A disaster on the cricket field
A prince of rugby will be disgraced
The King of Sky shall take a young wife
And the chattering classes snicker
The four-wheel will hold sway over all.
The big shops will eat many small shops
Men will argue on roads where none move
Yet buses and trains will still be crap.
'Black Shuck' by Martin Newell, available from Jardine Press, The Roundhouse,
Lower Raydon Hadleigh, Suffolk IP7 5QN, pounds 6.95
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