My relationship to reality has been so utterly skewed for so long that I don't even notice it any more. It's just my reality.
quote by Ethan Hawke
Added by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Dog Log
Walkin cross a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Just like you Marley!)
Walkin cross a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
I've been walkin cross a log
I've been walkin with a dog dog dog
(This ones for you Marley!)
Walkin cross a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Marley this ones for you, were checking this one for you Marley!)I've been walkin cross the log
I've been wonderin where my dog done gone
(Hey Marley, this ones for you man, This ones for you Marley, were singingthis one for you!)
Stepped upon a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Marley if you like this one roll over on your back!)
Stepped upon a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
Stepped upon a log, walkin through the fog fog fog
(Singing about you Marley, were singing for you!)
Stepped upon a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Were through with discussion, were singing this one for you Marley)Dog log is hereI knew if she was near, she was still sneezin
(No were talking about here dog Marley)
Its Holdsworth!
Holdsworth!
Holdsworth!
Holdsworth!
Walkin cross a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Time for discussion, right here before the next lyric, discussion!)
I've been walkin with a dog, dog, dog.
(I saw Holdsworth sittin at the table)
Walkin cross a long, long, long, long, long, long, log
(Speakin to the Lord!)
I've been walkin cross the log
(I ran into Holdsworth!)
Walkin cross the log
I've been wonderin where Holdsworth done gone
Where's my dog gone?
Where's my dog gone?
Where's my dog gone?
Gone Gone
Gone Gone
Gone Gone
Gone Gone
Gone Gone
Gone Gone
song performed by Phish
Added by Lucian Velea
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Cat People
See these eyes so green
I can stare for a thousand years
Colder than the moon
Feel my blood enraged
It's just the fear of losing you
Don't you know my name
Well, you been so long
And i've been putting out fire
With gasoline
See these eyes so red
Red like jungle burning bright
Those who feel me near
Pull the blinds and change their minds
It's been so long
Still this pulsing night
A plague i call a heartbeat
Just be still with me
But it wouldn't believe what i've been thru
You've been so long
Well it's been so long
And i've been putting out the fire with gasoline
Putting out the fire
With gasoline
See these tears so blue
An ageless heart that can never mend
Tears can never dry
A judgement made can never bend
See these eyes so green
I can stare for a thousand years
Just be still with me
You wouldn't believe what i've been thru
Well you've been so long
It's been so long
And i've been putting out fire with gasoline
Putting out fire with gasoline
Putting out fire
We've been putting out fire
Well it's been so long so long so long
Yes it's been so long so long so long
I've been putting out fire
Been so long so long so long
And putting out fire
Been so long so long so long
Yeah yeah putting out fire
Been so long so long so long
Been putting out fire
Been so long so long so long
Yeah putting out fire
Been so long so long so long
Putting out fire
[...] Read more
song performed by David Bowie
Added by Lucian Velea
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I'm sorry, I didn't notice
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
When this started to happen
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
I just let it begin
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
The change in anythin'
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
When we stopped talkin'
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
We weren't letting each other in
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
That sad, sad trend
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
The beginning of the end
I'm sorry, I didn't notice
You were no longer my friend
But believe me, now I notice
And it hurts deep within
Now that I notice
I hope you'll be again
poem by Dylan Burkhart
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Come A Long Way
Swing low, could be the last call for two of us
I said swing high, reach out and touch the sky
But dont cry yet, its not time yet
See this race is wrong
Come see, this race is right
See millions of years pass with no end in sight
Sleep tight, you couldnt count the cost through the night
cause its not right, it never was right
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Up on may day, and there is a carnival on my street tonight
I hear them dancing, I hear them dancing
But on a clear day
If this thing dont move here
Then this thing just dont have no heartbeat
Get on the street, I say
Sweet hours to live, I got no time to kill
I said hold back those arms raised hold back the bill
Sleep tight, you couldnt count the cost through the night
cause its not right, it never was right
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Swing low, could be the last call for two of us
I said swing high, reach out and touch the sky
But dont cry yet, its not time yet
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way
Come a long, long
Words and music : simple minds (c) emi music (publ) ltd reproduced without permission
song performed by Simple Minds
Added by Lucian Velea
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The White Cliffs
I
I have loved England, dearly and deeply,
Since that first morning, shining and pure,
The white cliffs of Dover I saw rising steeply
Out of the sea that once made her secure.
I had no thought then of husband or lover,
I was a traveller, the guest of a week;
Yet when they pointed 'the white cliffs of Dover',
Startled I found there were tears on my cheek.
I have loved England, and still as a stranger,
Here is my home and I still am alone.
Now in her hour of trial and danger,
Only the English are really her own.
II
It happened the first evening I was there.
Some one was giving a ball in Belgrave Square.
At Belgrave Square, that most Victorian spot.—
Lives there a novel-reader who has not
At some time wept for those delightful girls,
Daughters of dukes, prime ministers and earls,
In bonnets, berthas, bustles, buttoned basques,
Hiding behind their pure Victorian masks
Hearts just as hot - hotter perhaps than those
Whose owners now abandon hats and hose?
Who has not wept for Lady Joan or Jill
Loving against her noble parent's will
A handsome guardsman, who to her alarm
Feels her hand kissed behind a potted palm
At Lady Ivry's ball the dreadful night
Before his regiment goes off to fight;
And see him the next morning, in the park,
Complete in busbee, marching to embark.
I had read freely, even as a child,
Not only Meredith and Oscar Wilde
But many novels of an earlier day—
Ravenshoe, Can You Forgive Her?, Vivien Grey,
Ouida, The Duchess, Broughton's Red As a Rose,
Guy Livingstone, Whyte-Melville— Heaven knows
What others. Now, I thought, I was to see
Their habitat, though like the Miller of Dee,
I cared for none and no one cared for me.
III
A light blue carpet on the stair
And tall young footmen everywhere,
Tall young men with English faces
Standing rigidly in their places,
Rows and rows of them stiff and staid
[...] Read more
poem by Alice Duer Miller
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Strange Relationship
I guess u know me well, I dont like winter
But I seem 2 get a kick out of doing u cold
Oh, what the hell, u always surrender
Whats this strange relationship that we hold on 2?
Baby I just cant stand 2 see u happy
More than that I hate 2 see u sad
Honey if u left me I just might do something rash
Whats this strange relationship? (ship, ship, ship)
I came and took your love, I took your body
I took all the self respect u ever had
I took u 4 a ride and baby Im sorry
The more u love me sugar, the more it makes me mad
Baby I just cant stand 2 see u happy
More than that I hate 2 see u sad
Honey if u left me I just might do something rash
Whats this strange relationship? (ship, ship, ship)
Isnt it a shame this aint a movie
Then u could rewrite my every line
Ill take all the blame, yo baby Im sorry
But I didnt like the way u where, so I had 2 make u mine
Baby I just cant stand 2 see u happy
More than that I hate 2 see u sad
Honey if u left me I just might do something rash
Whats this strange relationship? (ship, ship, ship)
Mmmmm, my strange relationship
Cant live with u, cant live without u
Thats all about..
Do u know? (strange relationship)
I think u and I got a (strange relationship)
Whats this strange relationship?
Yeah, yeah [repeated to fade]
song performed by Prince
Added by Lucian Velea
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Seasonable Retour-Knell
SEASONABLE RETOUR KNELL
Variations on a theme...
SEASONABLE ROUND ROBIN ROLE REVERSALS
Author notes
A mirrored Retourne may not only be read either from first line to last or from last to first as seen in the mirrors, but also by inverting the first and second phrase of each line, either rhyming AAAA or ABAB for each verse. thus the number of variations could be multiplied several times.- two variations on the theme have been included here but could have been extended as in SEASONABLE ROUND ROBIN ROLE REVERSALS robi03_0069_robi03_0000
In respect of SEASONABLE ROUND ROBIN ROLE REVERSALS
This composition has sought to explore linguistic potential. Notes and the initial version are placed before rather than after the poem.
Six variations on a theme have been selected out of a significant number of mathematical possibilities using THE SAME TEXT and a reverse mirror for each version. Mirrors repeat the seasons with the lines in reverse order.
For the second roll the first four syllables of each line are reversed, and sense is retained both in the normal order of seasons and the reversed order as well... The 3rd and 4th variations offer ABAB rhyme schemes retaining the original text. The 5th and 6th variations modify the text into rhyming couplets.
Given the linguistical structure of this symphonic composition the score could be read in inversing each and every line and each and every hemistitch. There are minor punctuation differences between versions.
One could probably attain sonnet status for each of the four seasons and through partioning in 3 groups of 4 syllables extend the possibilites ad vitam.
Seasonable Round Robin Roll Reversals
robi03_0069_robi03_0000 QXX_DNZ
Seasonable Retour-Knell
robi03_0070_robi03_0069 QXX_NXX
26 March 1975 rewritten 20070123
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllll
For previous version see below
_______________________________________
SPRING SUMMER
Life is at ease Young lovers long
Land under plough; To hold their dear;
Whispering trees, Dewdrops among,
Answering cow. Bold, know no fear.
Blossom, the bees, Life full of song,
Burgeoning bough; Cloudless and clear;
Soft-scented breeze, Days fair and long,
Spring warms life now. Summer sends cheer.
AUTUMN WINTER
Each leaf decays, Harvested sheaves
Each life must bow; And honeyed hives;
Our salad days Trees stripped of leaves,
Are ending now. Jack Frost has knives.
Fruit heavy lays Time, Prince of thieves,
Bending the bough, - Onward he drives,
[...] Read more
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Lost John
Ha!
This heres a story about lost john
Lost john done flew the coop!
Hee!
How many long gone?
Lost john standin by the railroad track
Waitin for the freight train to come back
Freight train came back and never made no stop
Lost john thought hed have to ride on top
Well hes long, long, long gone (woo-yeah)
And hes long, long, long gone
Yeah, lost john came into the country womans house
Sat down it was quiet, just as quiet as a mouse
She said, now mister lost john, be my friend,
Be my friend up until the end.
cause hes long, long, long gone (what Im talkin bout)
Now that hes long, long, long gone
(yeah came into the country womans house)
Lost john came into a country womans house
Sat there as quiet, quiet as a mouse
Said, mister lost john be my friend,
Be my friend until the end.
Well, Im long, long, long gone
Well, Im long, long, long gone
Yeah, she said, lost john dont you have no fear,
Im sending for the porter, gonna buy some beer.
He said, now woman dont you buy no beer,
The companys on my trail and-a soon be here
cause Im long, long, long gone
(yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Well hes long, long, long gone
(make it a pair of shoes instead)
Well they caught lost john
Put em in the pen
Cell break went down
And now hes out again
If anybody asks you
Who sung this song
Tell em lonnie donegan
Been ere and gone
Well hes long, long, long gone (ooone)
Well hes long, long, long gone (one more time)
Well hes long, long, long gone
(he goin, he goin)
Well hes long, long, long gone.
(ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba).
[talking part ending leads into goin home]:
Thankyou! thankyou! (oh yeah mike - yea). thankyou very much. now we like to have a surprise for you tonight, and bring on a friend of mine from way back, dr john. (wooooo) yeah. were gonna do
A, were gonna do this song that was written by a, way back aways a british trumpet player/guitarist (ha ha ha ha ha) ken colyer (yeah thats the man). goes like this... one, okay, one...
[leads into goin home]
song performed by Van Morrison
Added by Lucian Velea
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Takin Me Back
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
Its so easy to tell
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
A long, long, long time ago
A long, long, long, time ago
You, you let me down-you didnt think of me
I-i wont forget what you did to me-no
You were nice not to say it
Now my heart its breakin
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
A long, long, long time ago
A long, long, long, time ago
You, you thought that you- could make a fool of me
Dont dont be so sure that the fool was me- no
I held up I could take it
Now my heart its breakin
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
A long, long, long time ago
A long, long, long, time ago
A long time ago-a long time ago
A long time ago- you were breakin
My heart- I never found all the parts
A long time ago-a long time ago
A long time ago-oh-oh-oh
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
Its so easy to tell
Youre takin me back
Its written on my face
Youre takin me back
Its so easy to tell- cause youre
(modulate)
Takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
Its written on my face
Youre takin me back
I remember it well
Youre takin me back
A long,long,long time ago
A long,long,long time ago
[...] Read more
song performed by Cheap Trick
Added by Lucian Velea
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Old Fashion Way
One woman, one man relationship, thats
the old fashion way, one woman, one man
relationship, thats the old fashion way,
and together they stay,
until their dying day-
One woman, one man relationship, thats
good and strong, one woman, one man
relationship thats good and strong,
thats the kind of relationship
that will last very long-
One woman, one man relationship,
thats what romance is all about,
One woman, one man relationship,
thats what romance is all about, the
old fashion way never goes
out of style,
like a candle that never burns out!
poem by Dorsey Baker
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Throw Yourself Away
Baby's born on the bathroom floor
her mother prays that it'll never cry
but nothing's wrong you got your prom dress on
When they ask you'llsay it isn't mine
Oooh, you know they're gonna know you lied
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God ain't even helping you out
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
So keep the way you feel anonymous
And hide it all until the day you die
your secret's safe at least you thought it was
But you can only keep it for a little while
Oooh, and now you're terrified
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God ain't even helping you out
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
Baby's born on the bathroom floor
Her Mother prays that it'll never cry
but nothing's wrong you got your prom dress on
And when they ask you say it isn't mine
And damn you for thinkin' we would never know
And damn you for thinkin' we would never mind
theOnly reason that you'd made it this far
You never asked him but you never try
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you out
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you out
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you out
Wash my, hands of this
You notice that God aint even helping you
Why the hell don't you throw yourself away
You know they're gonna burn it down
song performed by Nickelback
Added by Lucian Velea
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I've Come to Notice More Now
I've come to notice more now,
The falling snow.
I've come to notice more now,
A certain purpose...
I had disavowed.
I've come to notice more now,
The core of my being with more meaning.
A joy I can express...
With less emphasis on things collected.
And a happiness I always had,
But somehow did not allow.
I've come to notice more now,
I can.
I've come to notice more now,
I will!
I've come to notice more now,
My needs are basically fulfilled.
Without desire to seek approval,
Sought to identify my peace of mind!
I've come to notice more now,
Thoughts like that I have left behind.
And notice, I do...
My blessings!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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You've Got to Notice...
You've got to notice...
Something's wrong about these times.
You've got to notice...
People clearly out of their minds.
You've got to watch.Your back.
And every little step you take.
You can not stop.To drop...
A point of view someone will take,
And hate...you!
You've got to notice...
Something's wrong about these times.
You've got to notice...
People clearly out of their minds.
You can not smile. Or nod. Or say hello,
'Have a good day! '
You may regret.Someone you've met.
Then get upset.
When they just turn, and walk away!
That's how it is today.
You've got to notice...
Something's wrong about these times.
You've got to notice...
People clearly out of their minds.
You've got to watch.Your back.
And every little step you take.
You can not stop.To drop...
A point of view someone will take,
And hate with such rage....displayed.
People are in a rage.
Today...
People are in a rage.
Today...
People are quick to rage.
And getting crazier...
Every day.
Today...
People are quick to rage.
And getting crazier...
Every day.
Don't stop. Don't stop!
Pat your feet to the beat...
Repeat!
[...] Read more
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Edge Of Reality
(words & music by giant - baum - kaye)
I walk along a thin line darling
Dark shadows follow me
Heres where lifes dream lies disillusioned
The edge of reality
Oh I can hear strange voices echo
Laughing with mockery
The border line of doom Im facing
The edge of reality
On the edge of reality she sits there tormenting me
The girl with the nameless face
On the edge of reality where she overpowers me
With fears that I cant explain
She drove me to the point of madness
The brink of misery
If shes not real then Im condemned to
The edge of reality
On the edge of reality she sits there tormenting me
The girl with the nameless face
On the edge of reality where she overpowers me
With fears that I cant explain
She drove me to the point of madness
The brink of misery
If shes not real then Im condemned to
The edge of reality
Reality, reality, reality, reality,
Reality, reality, reality, reality
song performed by Elvis Presley
Added by Lucian Velea
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Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society
Epigraph
Υδραν φονεύσας, μυρίων τ᾽ ἄλλων πόνων
διῆλθον ἀγέλας . . .
τὸ λοίσθιον δὲ τόνδ᾽ ἔτλην τάλας πόνον,
. . . δῶμα θριγκῶσαι κακοῖς.
I slew the Hydra, and from labour pass'd
To labour — tribes of labours! Till, at last,
Attempting one more labour, in a trice,
Alack, with ills I crowned the edifice.
You have seen better days, dear? So have I —
And worse too, for they brought no such bud-mouth
As yours to lisp "You wish you knew me!" Well,
Wise men, 't is said, have sometimes wished the same,
And wished and had their trouble for their pains.
Suppose my Œdipus should lurk at last
Under a pork-pie hat and crinoline,
And, latish, pounce on Sphynx in Leicester Square?
Or likelier, what if Sphynx in wise old age,
Grown sick of snapping foolish people's heads,
And jealous for her riddle's proper rede, —
Jealous that the good trick which served the turn
Have justice rendered it, nor class one day
With friend Home's stilts and tongs and medium-ware,—
What if the once redoubted Sphynx, I say,
(Because night draws on, and the sands increase,
And desert-whispers grow a prophecy)
Tell all to Corinth of her own accord.
Bright Corinth, not dull Thebes, for Lais' sake,
Who finds me hardly grey, and likes my nose,
And thinks a man of sixty at the prime?
Good! It shall be! Revealment of myself!
But listen, for we must co-operate;
I don't drink tea: permit me the cigar!
First, how to make the matter plain, of course —
What was the law by which I lived. Let 's see:
Ay, we must take one instant of my life
Spent sitting by your side in this neat room:
Watch well the way I use it, and don't laugh!
Here's paper on the table, pen and ink:
Give me the soiled bit — not the pretty rose!
See! having sat an hour, I'm rested now,
Therefore want work: and spy no better work
For eye and hand and mind that guides them both,
During this instant, than to draw my pen
From blot One — thus — up, up to blot Two — thus —
Which I at last reach, thus, and here's my line
Five inches long and tolerably straight:
[...] Read more
poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Seems Like A Long Time
(t. anderson)
Nighttime is only the other side of daytime
But if youve ever waited for the sun
You know what its like to wish daytime would come
And dont it seem like a long time
Seem like a long time, seem like a long, long time
Hard times are only the other side of good times
But if you ever wished hard times were gone
You know what its like to wish good times would come
And dont it seem like a long time
Seem like a long time, seem like a long, long time
Help me, seems like a long time
Seems like a long time, seems like a long, long time
And dont it seem like a long time
Seem like a long time, seem like a long, long time
And dont it seem like a long time
Seem like a long time, seem like a long, long time
And dont it seems like a long time
Seems like a long time, seems like a long, long time
You know it makes me sad
Seems like a long time, seems like a long time
Seems like a long, long time
War time is only the other side of peace time
But if youve ever seen how wars are won
You know what its like to wish peace time would come
And dont it seem like a long time
Seem like a long time, seems like a long, long time
song performed by Rod Stewart
Added by Lucian Velea
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Between The Lines
Verse 1:
Ive been searching
Ive been thinking
Ive been searching so long
What I am looking for
Ive been hearing love will hit you
But everybodys wrong
Cause I just happen to notice
That certain look in your eye
Chorus:
Im reading between the lines
I didnt need no neon signs
To notice baby
I never before had you on my mind
But now I really do
Verse 2:
Nothing major ever happened
But its the greatest feeling Ive ever had
Strong emotions all have left me
Just a tenderness inside my heart
Just happened to notice a knowing smile
Chorus
(now I really do)
Just happened, I noticed
That certain look in your eyes
Im reading between the lines
I didnt need no neon signs
To notice baby
I never before had you on my mind
Im reading between the lines
I didnt need, didnt need no neon
To notice baby
I never before, never before
I knew it, I knew it
Bridge:
Started dreamin about you baby
Now I know just what Im feeling
Can it be you are my baby?
Never gonna let you go
Oh it took so long to feel it
(so very long to feel it)
But it was worth the waiting baby
Never gonna-never gonna let you go
(read between, read between the lines)
Didnt need no neon signs
Oh it took so long to feel it
(so very long to feel it)
But it was worth the waiting baby
(read between, read between the lines)
Didnt need, didnt need, didnt need no neon
[...] Read more
song performed by Debbie Gibson
Added by Lucian Velea
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No Rhyme Forsaken - Verse Rose versus Prose Curse - after Robert Frost
Two ways diverge on a virgin page
and happy not to travel both
as rhyme unraveller, briefly gauge,
look down on prose rants' spirit cage
pedestrian prose earns uncouth oath.
Discarding 'free verse' - rarely fair -
that freedom claim, formless but lame,
over prose I chose verse dainty where
few find fine lines simple, care
for 'worn out rhyme-schemes', won't play game.
Fate winks, linked fingers, beckoning, weigh
book leaves as yet un-inked in black,
one asks those self-styled bards today
if they'll be heard tomorrow. May
be - we doubt - they're on right track.
I won't be telling this with a sigh
as Time turns wheel, some ages hence
two roads could crisscross, would defy
current cacophony. One less travelled by
would make linguistic difference!
The road not taken Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Self-Parody written 1916 Mountain Interval
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poem by Jonathan Robin
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The Tower Beyond Tragedy
I
You'd never have thought the Queen was Helen's sister- Troy's
burning-flower from Sparta, the beautiful sea-flower
Cut in clear stone, crowned with the fragrant golden mane, she
the ageless, the uncontaminable-
This Clytemnestra was her sister, low-statured, fierce-lipped, not
dark nor blonde, greenish-gray-eyed,
Sinewed with strength, you saw, under the purple folds of the
queen-cloak, but craftier than queenly,
Standing between the gilded wooden porch-pillars, great steps of
stone above the steep street,
Awaiting the King.
Most of his men were quartered on the town;
he, clanking bronze, with fifty
And certain captives, came to the stair. The Queen's men were
a hundred in the street and a hundred
Lining the ramp, eighty on the great flags of the porch; she
raising her white arms the spear-butts
Thundered on the stone, and the shields clashed; eight shining
clarions
Let fly from the wide window over the entrance the wildbirds of
their metal throats, air-cleaving
Over the King come home. He raised his thick burnt-colored
beard and smiled; then Clytemnestra,
Gathering the robe, setting the golden-sandaled feet carefully,
stone by stone, descended
One half the stair. But one of the captives marred the comeliness
of that embrace with a cry
Gull-shrill, blade-sharp, cutting between the purple cloak and
the bronze plates, then Clytemnestra:
Who was it? The King answered: A piece of our goods out of
the snatch of Asia, a daughter of the king,
So treat her kindly and she may come into her wits again. Eh,
you keep state here my queen.
You've not been the poorer for me.- In heart, in the widowed
chamber, dear, she pale replied, though the slaves
Toiled, the spearmen were faithful. What's her name, the slavegirl's?
AGAMEMNON Come up the stair. They tell me my kinsman's
Lodged himself on you.
CLYTEMNESTRA Your cousin Aegisthus? He was out of refuge,
flits between here and Tiryns.
Dear: the girl's name?
AGAMEMNON Cassandra. We've a hundred or so other
captives; besides two hundred
Rotted in the hulls, they tell odd stories about you and your
guest: eh? no matter: the ships
Ooze pitch and the August road smokes dirt, I smell like an
old shepherd's goatskin, you'll have bath-water?
CLYTEMNESTRA
They're making it hot. Come, my lord. My hands will pour it.
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poem by Robinson Jeffers
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Song Of The Exposition
AFTER all, not to create only, or found only,
But to bring, perhaps from afar, what is already founded,
To give it our own identity, average, limitless, free;
To fill the gross, the torpid bulk with vital religious fire;
Not to repel or destroy, so much as accept, fuse, rehabilitate;
To obey, as well as command--to follow, more than to lead;
These also are the lessons of our New World;
--While how little the New, after all--how much the Old, Old World!
Long, long, long, has the grass been growing,
Long and long has the rain been falling, 10
Long has the globe been rolling round.
Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia;
Cross out, please, those immensely overpaid accounts,
That matter of Troy, and Achilles' wrath, and Eneas', Odysseus'
wanderings;
Placard "Removed" and "To Let" on the rocks of your snowy Parnassus;
Repeat at Jerusalem--place the notice high on Jaffa's gate, and on
Mount Moriah;
The same on the walls of your Gothic European Cathedrals, and German,
French and Spanish Castles;
For know a better, fresher, busier sphere--a wide, untried domain
awaits, demands you.
Responsive to our summons,
Or rather to her long-nurs'd inclination, 20
Join'd with an irresistible, natural gravitation,
She comes! this famous Female--as was indeed to be expected;
(For who, so-ever youthful, 'cute and handsome, would wish to stay in
mansions such as those,
When offer'd quarters with all the modern improvements,
With all the fun that 's going--and all the best society?)
She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown;
I scent the odor of her breath's delicious fragrance;
I mark her step divine--her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,
Upon this very scene.
The Dame of Dames! can I believe, then, 30
Those ancient temples classic, and castles strong and feudalistic,
could none of them restrain her?
Nor shades of Virgil and Dante--nor myriad memories, poems, old
associations, magnetize and hold on to her?
But that she 's left them all--and here?
Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
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poem by Walt Whitman
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