William Rumley "Three Blind Mice"

While tying Dave Whitlock’s Deer Hair Mouse Rat pattern, the song Three Blind Mice began to play in my head in a never-ending loop, haunting me.

This haunting inspired research on the song’s meaning and its origins. I discovered it was about three 16th century Protestant loyalists accused of plotting against Queen Mary. The story ended badly with the loyalists being burned at the stake. 

The blindness in the lyrics references the blind impetuousness associated with their protestant beliefs. 

In thinking about how our beliefs can create blindness, and paradoxically, how we are often blind to our beliefs, the disfunction in our three branches of government came to mind. Personal righteousness has blinded leaders to the needs of the nation. This blindness has also resulted in extrema tribalism and divisiveness of our present-day representatives.

But we, not them, are the ones being burnt at the stake. 

The last lyric summarizes my feelings quite nicely, “Did you ever see such a sight in your life as three blind mice?”

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Three blind mice, three blind mice
See how they run, see how they run
They all ran after the farmer's wife
She cut off their tails with a carving knife
Did you ever see such a sight in your life as three blind mice?