Some years ago, probably after a Columbo episode, the child's song "This Old Man" started up in my head and turned into verses about Churchill. But I didn't write them down then and so pretty much forgot about it. But recently a dear friend was giving the faculty speaker commencement address at the UC Davis Vet School graduation and he quoted Churchill : "We make a living by what we get , but we make a life by what we give"

a song for Winston Churchill

to tune of "This Old Man"

by Pam Green , © 2017

This old man, he played one,
"I'll not preside o'er set of sun"
Aged 66, his work had just begun
To lead his nation 'gainst the Hun

This old man , he played two,
Told his country what to do :
"On beaches, subways, we shall surely fight.
Never yield to hostile might"

This old man, he played three,
"Live or die, we shall stay free.
With bulldog courage, though the bombs may shower,
Let this be our finest hour"

This old man, he played four,
Led in peace and led in war,
Earned his living, but often told his wife
"it's what we give that makes a life"

This old man, he played five,
Noble Prize will keep his fame alive
Books and speeches, best of his discourses,
"There's no Heaven without horses"

This old man, he was game,
Winston Churchill was his name
Wincheser holds his epitaph in stones
Bladon churchyard holds his bones.

footnotes :

Sir Winston Churchill, born 30 November 1874 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, died 24 January 1965. He is not buried inÝWestminster Abbey but just inside the west entrance, near the grave of the Unknown Warrior, is a green marble memorial stone. It was unveiled by The Queen on 19 September 1965 and a wreath was laid by his widow. The inscription was cut by the sculptor Reynolds Stone.
Before the State Funeral at St Paul's Cathedral in London his body lay in state at Westminster Hall and was taken by river to the Cathedral. He is buried with his parents in Bladon churchyard, near to Blenheim Palace.
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953
Many quotations show his love of horses and riding, my favorite being "I should hate to go to any Heaven in which there were no horses"
He also said "No one ever came to grief-except honorable grief-through riding horses. No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle. Young men have often been ruined through owning horses, or through backing horses, but never through riding them; unless of course they break their necks, which, taken at a gallop, is a very good death to die. "

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