Wow...I was just daydreaming...as I most often do...and I was thinking about Bruce Hornsby's new album, 'Halcyon Days", and not only appreciated his sly innuendo, but also his choice of words. I was also compelled to look up the word "halcyon" because of a D.J.'s description of the word. It seemed lacking somehow ( I mean, Hornsby is singing about a "Circus on the Moon", for gosh sakes !!!) so I looked it up in (what is left of ) my Random House dictonary...here's what I got..."..a mythical bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, said to have the power of calming the winds and waves at sea...peaceful, tranquil, at peace." What a beautiful word...I also discovered that "Halcyon Days" is also a poem by Ogden Nash...

Halcyon DaysOgden Nash

How pleasant to sit on the beach, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun, With ocean galore within reach, And nothing at all to be done! No letters to answer, No bills to be burned, No work to be shirked, No cash to be earned, It is pleasant to sit on the beach With nothing at all to be done! How pleasant to look at the ocean, Democratic and damp; indiscriminate; It fills me with noble emotion To think I am able to swim in it. To lave in the wave, Majestic and chilly, Tomorrow I crave; But today it is silly. It is pleasant to look at the ocean; Tomorrow, perhaps, I shall swim in it.
How pleasant to gaze at the sailors. As their sailboats they manfully sail With the vigor of Vikings and whalers In the days of the Vikings and whale. They sport on the brink Of the shad and the shark; If its windy they sink; If it isn't, they park. It is pleasant to gaze at the sailors, To gaze without having to sail.
How pleasant the salt anesthetic Of the air and the sand and the sun; Leave the earth to the strong and athletic, And the sea to adventure upon. But the sun and the sand No contractor can copy; We lie in the land Of the lotus and poppy; We vegetate, calm and aesthetic, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun.
Interestingly enough, it is the word just before my last name appears in this dictonary...Hale...hmmm..but even more interesting in my mind was that the word just before halcyon...halberd and halberdier...

...now those words struck a eerie bell...halberd: a shafted weapon with an axlike cutting blade...halberdier...a soldier, guard or attendant with a halberd...let's see... add an "l",and maybe an"i"... change an"e" to a "u"...add an "on"...and we have a "cutting edge" money-making icon... Halliburton !!!!

All I can pray is that, after every halberier passes by, we will have halcyon days...