Billy Olsenn 12/23/2012
Christmas Birth
With steamy breath and his head held low
The donkey trod all day,
He moved like time, slow but sure
For that was just his way,
The heavy load he bore with care
Like many a day before
Stopping now and resting then
As they went from door to door.
The precious girl was restless now
With pains she could not bear,
Her husband eased her body down
At a vacant stable there,
And she fretted long her body tense
Alone with the donkey standing o’er
He husband gone to gather straw
Which he bedded on the floor.
A manger low with his hands he made
Of forgotten sticks and hay
For his coming Child to sleep and lie
That very night and day,
The boy Child’s cries filled the air
To His mother’s pains relief
The few that saw and countless more
Sustained by that belief
A Star shone bright, the shepherds came
With stock they filled the pen
And they helped the donkey with their warming breaths
For the place was Bethlehem.
24 Dec 2006©
About bill
Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer.
The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013.
Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI.
Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug
2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website.
But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien.
The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50.
Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea.
Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
