He was born in Avonlea, Saskatchewan at 8:09 PM on January 20, 1939. He was a poet who speaks in the medieval tradition and was in the process of finishing an epic poem using the Astrological Archetypes as characters. Rudy passed onto spirit July 9, 2002 at 18:20 at Lake Louise in a fatal car accident.

First on the land
Breaker of trail
Always looking for the New
Though living too much in the Present
To be aware of the Future.

In his past is Pisces
That sea of complexity
Which gave birth to the purpose
That put Aries on the land.
Aries, who is always going somewhere
And doing something
Cannot understand Pisces
Who only seems to do it in his head.

In his future is Taurus
Who claims ownership of that land
And cultivates the trail
Which Aries blazed.
Aries cannot comprehend the sign of Taurus
Who would rather stay home
And work, work, work
Than go on to the next adventures.

That ideal partner Libra
Opposes him with the notion
Of another point of view
Than his own, and to win her
He must learn compromise
And flowers, and boxes of chocolate.

Crossing Aries
Are Cancer and Capricorn
The one waters down his fire
With motherly solicitude
When what he seeks is adventure
And withdraws silent and hurt
Wounded beyond reason by a mere word.

And Capricorn
So depressing to be around
Not interested in doing anything
Unless it is so thoroughly planned
That all trace of spontaneity
And fun have disappeared.
As well to visit a museum

Aries shares with Sagittarius
That love of travel and adventure
Their fiery mentalities
In Harmony on the trail.
The tactlessness and lack of diplomacy
Of Sagittarius suits Aries
Who has the original thick skin.
Unless it is praise, it is considered
A clumsy attempt at humour.

And Leo, who holds fiery kingship
That ideal of himself
Which he would be if he had time to stop,
Is a good fellow
Whom everybody likes to be around
And acts in ways Aries can understand
Like wanting to be first
Or the center of attention
But has such a liking for his brother in Fire
That he reserves a special place in his circle
For Aries.

Scorpio and Virgo irritate him.
The one he cannot understand,
For his own drive for power is forthright,
And the other seems obsessed
With things of little consequence
Aries would rather look at the world
From horseback
Than crawl on hands and knees
Peering through a magnifying glass,
Or like Scorpio, see everything through shadows
With the eyes of a spy.

© Rudy Mervin 2001

Taurus

by Rudy Mervin

Possessive and persevering
The invincible force
And the immovable object
Sign of the Earth
Physical and fertile
Fashions the land of milk and honey.

In his past is Aries
Who took the land by force
Which Taurus now cultivates
In security and stability.
His future is in Gemini
Where, in conversation,trade and barter
His intellect is quickened
By the requirements of possession.

Scorpio allures in opposition,
Manipulating the immovable object
Through it's own desire,
Flaunting a gift not given freely
But in secret trade,
For in a kind of lust
Scorpionic purpose is met.

With Leo, that fiery king,
Taurus is at odds.
Blazing commands
Startle him into aquiescence,
Before he can set his stance.
Too slow of thought,
He can only think later
Of what he should have done,
And that kingly assumption of superiority
Puts him on the defensive.

And as for Cancer,
Taurus knows well the value
Of a mother.
Nurturing children
Is like nurturing crops.
Care makes a difference in quality,
And Cancer does have
Such a comfortable home!

And Pisces, that footloose vagabond
Is an amusing fellow,
And he plays a good tune
On his violin
Making it a pleasure
For me to sing in accompaniment.
But one must be careful
For he'll steal the coin
Right out of your hand
-Though he had tears in his hands
And was truly comforting
When I told him the tale of my woe.

Now, take Sagittarius, and Libra.
Those are irritating fellows.
The one is always off somewhere
Searching for God knows what
-He doesn't know the value of stability.
Sagittarius has ability, and courage
But he'll never amount to anything
Unless he settles down,
And that's the bottom line.
And he's rude, and tactless,
Though sometimes he does have
A good story to tell
Of far-off places
-Though none as good as here.

As for Libra,
It irritates me to see a man
So dependent on another
That he can only work in harness.
And he'll hide behind skirts
Letting his wife take an equal part.
Scorpio may get what she wants,
But I am the boss of my household,
And if I were Libra
I wouldn't moon around
But give her a bit of
You-know-what!

But, to give that Libra credit,
He does have nice possessions
And can paint a pretty picture
Like that painting of his wife -
-And he can sing, and write poetry,
Though one gets tired of eternal love songs.
He is too much with his woman
And has grown effeminate through association.
He speaks of balance,
But a man must have manly conversation
To keep his balance as a man.

Aquarius is hardly better.
His words whistle on through ears.
Those concepts, like equality
-Obvious nonsense - complete impracticality.
Give to those above,
And it trickles down to those below.
The movement must be from the top.
Money is like water - it obeys the law of gravity.
Anyway, possessions are the mark of a man,
And you can tell a man
By what he has on his back,
And that doesn't say much for Aquarius!
He should forget his theories
And just get to work on something practical
Wife, home, and family,
And security and stability
-These are the ideality,
As well as comfort, and this reality
Is the reality of the world
Where what you grow
Is what you eat.

Now, Capricorn and Virgo
-Those two can be understood.
Capricorn is a good fellow to know.
He knows the importance of position,
And his suggestions are good sense,
Given not with smug superiority
Like that Leonine parasite,
But as plain, practical good sense.

And as for Virgo
-Now there's a fair fellow
Who knows how to fashion things practical
And has stored away in his memory
Where to find this or that.
And you only have to show him once
And he can do it;
And there are good, practical conversations
With Virgo, about land and crops
And money, and things that matter.

© 2001 Rudy Mervin