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And God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light, but the Electricity Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.

quote by Spike Milligan
Added by Lucian Velea
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Satan Absolved

(In the antechamber of Heaven. Satan walks alone. Angels in groups conversing.)
Satan. To--day is the Lord's ``day.'' Once more on His good pleasure
I, the Heresiarch, wait and pace these halls at leisure
Among the Orthodox, the unfallen Sons of God.
How sweet in truth Heaven is, its floors of sandal wood,
Its old--world furniture, its linen long in press,
Its incense, mummeries, flowers, its scent of holiness!
Each house has its own smell. The smell of Heaven to me
Intoxicates and haunts,--and hurts. Who would not be
God's liveried servant here, the slave of His behest,
Rather than reign outside? I like good things the best,
Fair things, things innocent; and gladly, if He willed,
Would enter His Saints' kingdom--even as a little child.

[Laughs. I have come to make my peace, to crave a full amaun,
Peace, pardon, reconcilement, truce to our daggers--drawn,
Which have so long distraught the fair wise Universe,
An end to my rebellion and the mortal curse
Of always evil--doing. He will mayhap agree
I was less wholly wrong about Humanity
The day I dared to warn His wisdom of that flaw.
It was at least the truth, the whole truth, I foresaw
When He must needs create that simian ``in His own
Image and likeness.'' Faugh! the unseemly carrion!
I claim a new revision and with proofs in hand,
No Job now in my path to foil me and withstand.
Oh, I will serve Him well!
[Certain Angels approach. But who are these that come
With their grieved faces pale and eyes of martyrdom?
Not our good Sons of God? They stop, gesticulate,
Argue apart, some weep,--weep, here within Heaven's gate!
Sob almost in God's sight! ay, real salt human tears,
Such as no Spirit wept these thrice three thousand years.
The last shed were my own, that night of reprobation
When I unsheathed my sword and headed the lost nation.
Since then not one of them has spoken above his breath
Or whispered in these courts one word of life or death
Displeasing to the Lord. No Seraph of them all,
Save I this day each year, has dared to cross Heaven's hall
And give voice to ill news, an unwelcome truth to Him.
Not Michael's self hath dared, prince of the Seraphim.
Yet all now wail aloud.--What ails ye, brethren? Speak!
Are ye too in rebellion? Angels. Satan, no. But weak
With our long earthly toil, the unthankful care of Man.

Satan. Ye have in truth good cause.

Angels. And we would know God's plan,
His true thought for the world, the wherefore and the why
Of His long patience mocked, His name in jeopardy.

[...] Read more

poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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Collected In My Kingdom

No harm is going to come,
To anyone...
If they are connected.
If they are connected.
If they are connected.

No harm will be done,
To anyone...
If they are connected.
No harm,
If connected!
To anyone.

And,
If they are connected.
My Father,
Said to me...
If they are connected,
I will love them...
Collected,
In My Heart.
Collected,
In My Soul.
Collected...
In My Kingdom!
If they are connected.
I will love them...
Collected,
In My Heart.
Collected,
In My Soul.
Collected...
In My Kingdom!

If they are connected.
If they are connected.
If they are connected.
If they are connected.
If they are connected.
No harm will be done,
To anyone...
If they are connected.

And,
If they are connected.
My Father,
Said to me...
If they are connected,
I will love them...
Collected,

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Poem: Will You Travel With Me To Heaven?

When you wake up in the morning
From a dream you think is okay
You see your spouse and family
Get ready for another day

The dream you saw, the things you see
The bed on which you soundly sleep
Your kids all grown up, your husband
And old memories that you keep

Who do you think created them?
Were they created from nothing?
If there is no god who made these
All, then what's the point of living?

D'you think we were made from nothing
Then from nothing we live for fun
To eat and drink, to love and hate
Then when we die, what comes is none?

The eyes with which your body sees
Those sockets that keep your eyeballs
The mouth you use for food and speech
The way you answer random calls

The languages you use to speak
And another –your mother tongue-
The way you carry yourself, and
How you breathe through your heart and lungs

The muscles that stretch when you smile
Your friends who often make you laugh
The words you try to understand
And how you sign your name so fast

Your kids who once stayed in your womb
The months you carried them in you
Your feelings when you saw their first
Walk and when they smile back at you

The food you eat and cook each day
The rainfalls that fall from above
The earth you walk on each night and

[...] Read more

poem by Miriam Mababaya
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Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 2

LET PETER rejoice with the MOON FISH who keeps up the life in the waters by night.

Let Andrew rejoice with the Whale, who is array'd in beauteous blue and is a combination of bulk and activity.

Let James rejoice with the Skuttle-Fish, who foils his foe by the effusion of his ink.

Let John rejoice with Nautilus who spreads his sail and plies his oar, and the Lord is his pilot.

Let Philip rejoice with Boca, which is a fish that can speak.

Let Bartholomew rejoice with the Eel, who is pure in proportion to where he is found and how he is used.

Let Thomas rejoice with the Sword-Fish, whose aim is perpetual and strength insuperable.

Let Matthew rejoice with Uranoscopus, whose eyes are lifted up to God.

Let James the less, rejoice with the Haddock, who brought the piece of money for the Lord and Peter.

Let Jude bless with the Bream, who is of melancholy from his depth and serenity.

Let Simon rejoice with the Sprat, who is pure and innumerable.

Let Matthias rejoice with the Flying-Fish, who has a part with the birds, and is sublimity in his conceit.

Let Stephen rejoice with Remora -- The Lord remove all obstacles to his glory.

Let Paul rejoice with the Scale, who is pleasant and faithful!, like God's good ENGLISHMAN.

Let Agrippa, which is Agricola, rejoice with Elops, who is a choice fish.

Let Joseph rejoice with the Turbut, whose capture makes the poor fisher-man sing.

Let Mary rejoice with the Maid -- blessed be the name of the immaculate CONCEPTION.

Let John, the Baptist, rejoice with the Salmon -- blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus for infant Baptism.

Let Mark rejoice with the Mullet, who is John Dore, God be gracious to him and his family.

Let Barnabus rejoice with the Herring -- God be gracious to the Lord's fishery.

Let Cleopas rejoice with the Mackerel, who cometh in a shoal after a leader.

Let Abiud of the Lord's line rejoice with Murex, who is good and of a precious tincture.

Let Eliakim rejoice with the Shad, who is contemned in his abundance.

Let Azor rejoice with the Flounder, who is both of the sea and of the river,

Let Sadoc rejoice with the Bleak, who playeth upon the surface in the Sun.

[...] Read more

poem by Christopher Smart
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VII. Pompilia

I am just seventeen years and five months old,
And, if I lived one day more, three full weeks;
'T is writ so in the church's register,
Lorenzo in Lucina, all my names
At length, so many names for one poor child,
—Francesca Camilla Vittoria Angela
Pompilia Comparini,—laughable!
Also 't is writ that I was married there
Four years ago: and they will add, I hope,
When they insert my death, a word or two,—
Omitting all about the mode of death,—
This, in its place, this which one cares to know,
That I had been a mother of a son
Exactly two weeks. It will be through grace
O' the Curate, not through any claim I have;
Because the boy was born at, so baptized
Close to, the Villa, in the proper church:
A pretty church, I say no word against,
Yet stranger-like,—while this Lorenzo seems
My own particular place, I always say.
I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high
As the bed here, what the marble lion meant,
With half his body rushing from the wall,
Eating the figure of a prostrate man—
(To the right, it is, of entry by the door)
An ominous sign to one baptized like me,
Married, and to be buried there, I hope.
And they should add, to have my life complete,
He is a boy and Gaetan by name—
Gaetano, for a reason,—if the friar
Don Celestine will ask this grace for me
Of Curate Ottoboni: he it was
Baptized me: he remembers my whole life
As I do his grey hair.

All these few things
I know are true,—will you remember them?
Because time flies. The surgeon cared for me,
To count my wounds,—twenty-two dagger-wounds,
Five deadly, but I do not suffer much—
Or too much pain,—and am to die to-night.

Oh how good God is that my babe was born,
—Better than born, baptized and hid away
Before this happened, safe from being hurt!
That had been sin God could not well forgive:
He was too young to smile and save himself.
When they took two days after he was born,
My babe away from me to be baptized
And hidden awhile, for fear his foe should find,—

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Our God is a God of mercy and of grace. (Gerald Albright's Kicking it up #6)

God, I just do not understand why
You treat me so good everyday.
In spite of all of my sins and all of my mistakes,
You are still good to me.
Yes, you are; my God really is.

My God is so wonderful.
He has provided for all of my needs.
He created the sun to shine brightly everyday.
God has supplied the very air that I breathe.
Yes, He does.

My God is so good to me each day.
He has provided for all of my needs.
God sends out the cooling invisible breeze.
He produced all of the food that I eat.
Yes he does; now help me say it.

Our God is a God of mercy.
He truly deserves all of our praise.
Our God is a God of mercy and of grace.
O’ Yes, I know that our God is.

Our God is a God of mercy.
He wakes us up every single day.
Our God is a God of mercy and of grace.
O’ Yes, I know that our God is.

My God is so wonderful.
He provides me with His grace each day.
All I need to do is confess my sins to Him,
He has promised to forgive every one.
Yes, He does.
All that God has ask me to do
Is give to Him all of my praise every day.
By the life that I have chosen to live
I must show the world that my God is.
Now open your mouth and help me praise Him.

Our God is a God of mercy.
He truly deserves all of our praise.
Our God is a God of mercy and of grace.
O’ Yes, I know that our God is.

Our God is a God of mercy.
He wakes us up every single day.
Our God is a God of mercy and of grace.
O’ Yes, I know that our God is.

Our God is a God of mercy and of grace.

[...] Read more

poem by Reginald Walker
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Electricity

Our one source of energy
The ultimate discovery
Electric blue for me
Never more to be free
Electricity
Nuclear and hep
Carbon fuels from the sea
Wasted electricity
Our one source of energy
Electricity
All we need to live today
A gift for man to throw away
The chance to change has nearly gone
The alternative is only one
The final source of energy
Solar electricity
Electricity
Electricity
Electricity
Electricity
Electricity
E . . .

song performed by Omd
Added by Lucian Velea
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Can't Wait To Be With You

(Will Smith)
(I can't wait to be with you, uh)
I can't wait to be with you (yeah)
I can't wait to see you (uh)
I can't wait to be with you (haha)
Loving you is all I want to do
10 o'clock my flight lands
Can't wait to hold the palm of your hand
Been 7 long days, since the last that I saw you
And every free moment I get, I got to call you
Takin' every chance, to glance at your cute face
And lookin' at your 8 by 10 in my suitcase
Ain't been with my honey in a long while
And when I get a hold of you, mmm child (oh, yeah)
No tellin' what I might do
Cause I would be like a kid that got a toy and it's brand new
Can't wait to hold you, can't wait to see you
Can't wait to treat you, can't wait to be with you (oh, yeah)
I can't wait to be with you
I can't wait to see you
I can't wait to be with you
Loving you is all I want to do
Bein' in love is like an amusement ride, G (woo)
I feel like it's a party inside me
Smile on my face, and there's a twinkle in my eye
Time to go to work, but it's so hard to say goodbye (oh, oh)
And as I think of you, it's like I had a drink or two
I feel dizzy, damn where is she?
Pick up the phone and call you about three (Female voice: hello)
Yeah baby it's me, just to hear your voice, just the thought of you
Got me trippin', it's why I just bought a new
Cellular phone, so I don't have to postpone
When my beeper goes off, no more runnin' to a pay phone
Your astoundin', it's why I'm expondin'
So vivacious, and baby your face is
That of a goddess, it's makin' me feel numb
A fe fi fo fum, yo baby come and get some
Of the man, the myth, so debonair
What said while fair, is a pair
We extraordinary, me and you as a team, it's kinda swell ain't it
Love is hole and I tripped, then I feel in it (oh, that's why)
From the mountain, to the valley, to the deep blue sea
All I can do is hope and pray, you want to be with me
I'm sayin' this from my heart, that's how you know that it's true
Yo, I can't wait to be with you
Girl I know it's true
I can't wait to be with you
I can't wait to see you
I can't wait to see you baby
I can't wait to be with you

[...] Read more

song performed by Will Smith
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Saw It Myself (Short Verse Drama)

Dramatis Personae: Adrian, his wife Ester, his sisters Rebecca and Johanna, his mother Elizabeth, the high priest Chiapas, the disciple Simon Peter, the disciple John, Mary Magdalene, worshipers, priests, two angels and Jesus Christ.

Act I

Scene I.- Adrian’s house in Jerusalem. Adrian has just returned home after a business journey in Galilee, in time to attend the Passover feast. He sits at the table with his wife Ester and his sisters, Rebecca and Johanna. It’s just before sunset on the Friday afternoon.

Adrian. (Somewhat puzzled) Strange things are happening,
some say demons dwell upon the earth,
others angelic beings, miracles take place
and all of this when they had put a man to death,
had crucified a criminal. Everybody knows
the cross is used for degenerates only!

Rebecca. (With a pleasant voice) Such harsh words used,
for a good, a great man brother?
They say that without charge
he healed the sick, brought back sight,
cured leprosy, even made some more food,
from a few fishes and loafs of bread…

Adrian. (Somewhat harsh) They say many things!
That he rode into Jerusalem
to be crowned as the new king,
was a rebel against the state,
even claimed to be
the very Son of God,
now that is blasphemy
if there is no truth to it!

Johanna. I met him once.
He’s not the man
that you make him, brother.
There was a strange tranquilly to Him.
Some would say a divine presence,
while He spoke of love that is selfless,
visited the sick, the poor
and even the destitute, even harlots.

Adrian. (Looks up) There you have it!
Harlots! Tax collecting thieves!
A man is know by his friends,
or so they say and probably
there is some truth to it.

Ester. Husband, do not be so quick to judge.
I have seen Him myself, have seen
Roman soldiers marching Him to the hill
to take His life, with a angry crowd
following and mocking Him.

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
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Hey, Where Are You

And the raincoat shone into the sun
As we walked down the street as one
Into the [all pleasant ? ] bloom
Of a saturday afternoon.
And we strolled the walls and kicked our heels
Upon the grass on which we fell and sang a song
We loved to sing so well,
And the raindrops came on down on sallys head
As she cuddled up inside a coat of red and said,
Hey, where are you?
Where you goin to? yeah, yeah
Oh, why cant I come too?
stead of leavin me here
Oh so lonely, lonely, lonely, wait on me.
Wait on me.
Wait on me.
[vm mumbles instruction to payne? @1:44]
And into the trees and forest we did roam,
The way we danced into the sparkling foam shining our light into the days of blooming wonder,
And the gray man at the bus station raised his head into the sky and said, have you got your ticket? I said, I got it, how?
But I got it. pass on through the swingin barrier now.
And the raindrops came on down on sallys head
And she cuddled up inside a coat of red and said,
Hey, where are you?
Where you goin to?
Why cant I come too?
Instead of leavin me here
Oh so lonely,
Oh so lonely, lonely,
Lonely, just wait on me.
Wait on me, babe.
I cant keep up, I cant keep up, I cant keep up.
Hey fellas,
A-wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute,
I cant keep up.
Wait a minute, wait a minute,
You gotta stop,
Wait on me.
Wait on me.
I cant keep up, I cant keep up, I cant keep up, you gotta
Wait on me, wait on me, wait on me, wait on me, wait on me, yeah, yeah.
Wait a minute, wait a minute,
Hey, hey, hey, yeah,
Hold on,
You gotta stop.
I cant keep up, cant keep up, I cant keep up, you gotta,
Hey, yeah,
Hold on, hold on,
Wait on me.
Wait on me.

[...] Read more

song performed by Van Morrison
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Wait Until Tomorrow

Well, Im standing here, freezing, inside your golden garden
Uh got my ladder, leaned up against your wall
Tonights the night we planned to run away together
Come on dolly mae, theres no time to stall
But now youre telling me...
I think we better wait till tomorrow
Hey, yeah, hey
(I think we better wait till tomorrow)
Girl, what chu talkin bout ?
(I think we better wait till tomorrow)
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Got to make sure its right, so until tomorrow, goodnight.
Oh, what a drag.
Oh, dolly mae, how can you hang me up this way ?
Oh, on the phone you said you wanted to run off with me today
Now Im standing here like some turned down serenading fool
Hearing strange words stutter from the mixed mind of you
And you keep tellin me that ah...
I think we better wait till tomorrow
What are you talkin bout ?
(I think we better wait till tomorrow)
No, cant wait that long
(I think we better wait till tomorrow)
Oh, no
Got to make sure its right, until tomorrow, goodnight, oh.
Lets see if I can talk to this girl a little bit here...
Ow ! dolly mae, girl, you must be insane
So unsure of yourself leaning from your unsure window pane
Do I see a silhouette of somebody pointing something from a tree ?
Click bang, what a hang, your daddy just shot poor me
And I hear you say, as I fade away...
We dont have to wait till tomorrow
Hey !
We dont have to wait till tomorrow
What you say ?
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
It must have been right, so forever, goodnight, listen at cha.
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
Ah ! do I have to wait ? dont have to wait
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
Its a drag on my part
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow) dont have to wait, uh, hmm ! ah, no !
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
Dont have to wait, dont have to wait, yeah !
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
Dont have to wait, dont have to wait
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)
Oh, oh
I wont be around tomorrow, yeah !
(we dont have to wait till tomorrow)

[...] Read more

song performed by Jimi Hendrix
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Territorial Pissings

{intro thing}
When I was a little lad
Coal trains were not built yet
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Never met a wise man
If so its a woman
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Just because youre paranoid
Dont mean theyre not after you
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait

song performed by Nirvana
Added by Lucian Velea
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Territorial Pissings

{intro thing}
When I was a little lad
Coal trains were not built yet
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Never met a wise man
If so its a woman
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Just because youre paranoid
Dont mean theyre not after you
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait
Gotta find a way
I better wait
I better wait

song performed by Nirvana
Added by Lucian Velea
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Disconnected

I watch you stumble through the morning
I watch you stumble home at night
Silhouetted by a sun without sunlight
I've watched you walk straight through an evening
When you're laden with the day
And the light of the moon, it only gets in your way
From a bedroom window I was anyone
And the street I look upon is my runaway
But I'm connected to the places I don't feel connected from
I'm connected to the place that I don't feel like I'm from
This is the kind of town where everyone knows each other
And everyone hates that they know each other
And no one is getting any younger
From my bedroom window I was anyone
Every street I look upon could be a runaway
But I'm connected to the places I don't feel connected from
I'm connected to the place that I don't feel like I'm from
I'm connected to the places I don't feel connected from
I don't feel connected from
So move on here now
You don't belong here now
You don't belong
You'll never belong
You don't belong here now
You don't belong here now
You don't belong here now
You don't belong
You'll never belong
You don't belong here now

song performed by Idlewild
Added by Lucian Velea
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So Connected To You

There are times when I'm happy
and times when I'm sad
and all of these times that I have had
are all connected to you,
so connected to you.
so connected to you.

There are times when it's sunny
and times when it's not
and all of these times I never forgot
were all connected to you,
so connected to you.

'Cause you have my heart on a string
and I can't control one little thing.
Where's my composure? Where did it go?
'Can't even answer for I don't know.

There are times when I'm jumpy
and times when I'm still
and times when I'm playful
like Jack and Jill.
And they're all connected to you,
so connected to you.

So what do I do to get over you?
You've got me crazy in love with you.
I take a step forward and fall back two
and everywhere that I go
there'll be times when I want you
and times when I don't.
There'll be times that I'll have you
and times that I won't
but there's absolutely nothing I can do
'Cause I'm connected to you,
so connected to you
So I know we can never be through.

poem by Edwina Reizer
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VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi

Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright?
Have patience! In this sudden smoke from hell,—
So things disguise themselves,—I cannot see
My own hand held thus broad before my face
And know it again. Answer you? Then that means
Tell over twice what I, the first time, told
Six months ago: 't was here, I do believe,
Fronting you same three in this very room,
I stood and told you: yet now no one laughs,
Who then … nay, dear my lords, but laugh you did,
As good as laugh, what in a judge we style
Laughter—no levity, nothing indecorous, lords!
Only,—I think I apprehend the mood:
There was the blameless shrug, permissible smirk,
The pen's pretence at play with the pursed mouth,
The titter stifled in the hollow palm
Which rubbed the eyebrow and caressed the nose,
When I first told my tale: they meant, you know,
"The sly one, all this we are bound believe!
"Well, he can say no other than what he says.
"We have been young, too,—come, there's greater guilt!
"Let him but decently disembroil himself,
"Scramble from out the scrape nor move the mud,—
"We solid ones may risk a finger-stretch!
And now you sit as grave, stare as aghast
As if I were a phantom: now 't is—"Friend,
"Collect yourself!"—no laughing matter more—
"Counsel the Court in this extremity,
"Tell us again!"—tell that, for telling which,
I got the jocular piece of punishment,
Was sent to lounge a little in the place
Whence now of a sudden here you summon me
To take the intelligence from just—your lips!
You, Judge Tommati, who then tittered most,—
That she I helped eight months since to escape
Her husband, was retaken by the same,
Three days ago, if I have seized your sense,—
(I being disallowed to interfere,
Meddle or make in a matter none of mine,
For you and law were guardians quite enough
O' the innocent, without a pert priest's help)—
And that he has butchered her accordingly,
As she foretold and as myself believed,—
And, so foretelling and believing so,
We were punished, both of us, the merry way:
Therefore, tell once again the tale! For what?
Pompilia is only dying while I speak!
Why does the mirth hang fire and miss the smile?
My masters, there's an old book, you should con
For strange adventures, applicable yet,

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Jubilate Agno: Fragment B, Part 1

Let Elizur rejoice with the Partridge, who is a prisoner of state and is proud of his keepers.

Let Shedeur rejoice with Pyrausta, who dwelleth in a medium of fire, which God hath adapted for him.

Let Shelumiel rejoice with Olor, who is of a goodly savour, and the very look of him harmonizes the mind.

Let Jael rejoice with the Plover, who whistles for his live, and foils the marksmen and their guns.

Let Raguel rejoice with the Cock of Portugal -- God send good Angels to the allies of England!

Let Hobab rejoice with Necydalus, who is the Greek of a Grub.

Let Zurishaddai with the Polish Cock rejoice -- The Lord restore peace to Europe.

Let Zuar rejoice with the Guinea Hen -- The Lord add to his mercies in the WEST!

Let Chesed rejoice with Strepsiceros, whose weapons are the ornaments of his peace.

Let Hagar rejoice with Gnesion, who is the right sort of eagle, and towers the highest.

Let Libni rejoice with the Redshank, who migrates not but is translated to the upper regions.

Let Nahshon rejoice with the Seabreese, the Lord give the sailors of his Spirit.

Let Helon rejoice with the Woodpecker -- the Lord encourage the propagation of trees!

Let Amos rejoice with the Coote -- prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

Let Ephah rejoice with Buprestis, the Lord endue us with temperance and humanity, till every cow have her mate!

Let Sarah rejoice with the Redwing, whose harvest is in the frost and snow.

Let Rebekah rejoice with Iynx, who holds his head on one side to deceive the adversary.

Let Shuah rejoice with Boa, which is the vocal serpent.

Let Ehud rejoice with Onocrotalus, whose braying is for the glory of God, because he makes the best musick in his power.

Let Shamgar rejoice with Otis, who looks about him for the glory of God, and sees the horizon compleat at once.

Let Bohan rejoice with the Scythian Stag -- he is beef and breeches against want and nakedness.

Let Achsah rejoice with the Pigeon who is an antidote to malignity and will carry a letter.

Let Tohu rejoice with the Grouse -- the Lord further the cultivating of heaths and the peopling of deserts.

Let Hillel rejoice with Ammodytes, whose colour is deceitful and he plots against the pilgrim's feet.

Let Eli rejoice with Leucon -- he is an honest fellow, which is a rarity.

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poem by Christopher Smart
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Christmas-Eve

I.
OUT of the little chapel I burst
Into the fresh night air again.
I had waited a good five minutes first
In the doorway, to escape the rain
That drove in gusts down the common’s centre,
At the edge of which the chapel stands,
Before I plucked up heart to enter:
Heaven knows how many sorts of hands
Reached past me, groping for the latch
Of the inner door that hung on catch,
More obstinate the more they fumbled,
Till, giving way at last with a scold
Of the crazy hinge, in squeezed or tumbled
One sheep more to the rest in fold,
And left me irresolute, standing sentry
In the sheepfold’s lath-and-plaster entry,
Four feet long by two feet wide,
Partitioned off from the vast inside—
I blocked up half of it at least.
No remedy; the rain kept driving:
They eyed me much as some wild beast,
The congregation, still arriving,
Some of them by the mainroad, white
A long way past me into the night,
Skirting the common, then diverging;
Not a few suddenly emerging
From the common’s self thro’ the paling-gaps,—
—They house in the gravel-pits perhaps,
Where the road stops short with its safeguard border
Of lamps, as tired of such disorder;—
But the most turned in yet more abruptly
From a certain squalid knot of alleys,
Where the town’s bad blood once slept corruptly,
Which now the little chapel rallies
And leads into day again,—its priestliness
Lending itself to hide their beastliness
So cleverly (thanks in part to the mason),
And putting so cheery a whitewashed face on
Those neophytes too much in lack of it,
That, where you cross the common as I did,
And meet the party thus presided,
“Mount Zion,” with Love-lane at the back of it,
They front you as little disconcerted,
As, bound for the hills, her fate averted
And her wicked people made to mind him,
Lot might have marched with Gomorrah behind him.

II.
Well, from the road, the lanes or the common,

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poem by Robert Browning
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The Manuscript of Saint Alexius

There came a child into the solemn hall
where great Pope Innocent sat throned and heard
angry disputings on Free-Will in man,
Grace, Purity, and the Pelagian creed--
an ignorantly bold poor child, who stood
shewing his rags before the Pope's own eyes,
and bade him come to shrive a beggar man
he found alone and dying in a shed,
who sent him for the Pope, "not any else
but the Pope's self." And Innocent arose
and hushed the mockers "Surely I will go:
servant of servants, I." So he went forth
to where the man lay sleeping into death,
and blessed him. Then, with a last spurt of life,
the dying man rose sitting, "Take," he said,
and placed a written scroll in the Pope's hand,
and so fell back and died. Thus said the scroll:

Alexius, meanest servant of the Lord,
son of Euphemianus, senator,
and of Aglaia, writes his history,
God willing it, which, if God so shall will,
shall be revealed when he is fallen asleep.
Spirit of Truth, Christ, and all saints of Heaven,
and Mary, perfect dove of guilelessness,
make his mind clear, that he write utter truth.

That which I was all know: that which I am
God knows, not I, if I stand near to Him
because I have not yielded, or, by curse
of recreant longings, am to Him a wretch
it needs Such grace to pardon: but I know
that one day soon I, dead, shall see His face
with that great pity on it which is ours
who love Him and have striven and then rest,
that I shall look on Him and be content.

For what I am, in my last days, to men,
'tis nothing; scarce a name, and even that
known to be not my own; a wayside wretch
battening upon a rich lord's charity
and praying, (some say like the hypocrites),
a wayside wretch who, harboured for a night,
is harboured still, and, idle on the alms,
prays day and night and night and day, and fears
lest, even praying, he should suddenly
undo his prayer and perish and be great
and rich and happy. Jesu, keep me Thine.

Father and mother, when ye hear of me,

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poem by Augusta Davies Webster
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The Regiment of Princes

Musynge upon the restlees bysynesse
Which that this troubly world hath ay on honde,
That othir thyng than fruyt of bittirnesse
Ne yildith naght, as I can undirstonde,
At Chestres In, right faste by the Stronde,
As I lay in my bed upon a nyght,
Thoght me byrefte of sleep the force and might. 1

And many a day and nyght that wikkid hyne
Hadde beforn vexed my poore goost
So grevously that of angwissh and pyne
No rycher man was nowhere in no coost.
This dar I seyn, may no wight make his boost
That he with thoght was bet than I aqweynted,
For to the deeth he wel ny hath me feynted.

Bysyly in my mynde I gan revolve
The welthe unseur of every creature,
How lightly that Fortune it can dissolve
Whan that hir list that it no lenger dure;
And of the brotilnesse of hir nature
My tremblynge herte so greet gastnesse hadde
That my spirites were of my lyf sadde.

Me fil to mynde how that nat longe agoo
Fortunes strook doun thraste estat rial
Into mescheef, and I took heede also
Of many anothir lord that hadde a fal.
In mene estat eek sikirnesse at al
Ne saw I noon, but I sy atte laste
Wher seuretee for to abyde hir caste.

In poore estat shee pighte hir pavyloun
To kevere hir fro the storm of descendynge 2
For shee kneew no lower descencion
Sauf oonly deeth, fro which no wight lyvynge
Deffende him may; and thus in my musynge
I destitut was of joie and good hope,
And to myn ese nothyng cowde I grope.

For right as blyve ran it in my thoght,
Thogh poore I be, yit sumwhat leese I may.
Than deemed I that seurtee wolde noght
With me abyde; it is nat to hir pay
Ther to sojourne as shee descende may.
And thus unsikir of my smal lyflode,
Thoght leide on me ful many an hevy lode.

I thoghte eek, if I into povert creepe,
Than am I entred into sikirnesse;

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poem by Thomas Hoccleve
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