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My whole life was foretold to me. An old Romany gypsy read my fortune.

quote by Maureen O'Hara
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Gypsy Lou

by Bob Dylan
If you getcha one girl, better get two
Case you run into Gypsy Lou
She's a ramblin' woman with a ramblin' mind
Always leavin' somebody behind.
Hey, 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Gypsy Lou's gone again.
Well, I seen the whole country through
Just to find Gypsy Lou
Seen it up, seen it down
Followin' Gypsy Lou around.
Hey, 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Gypsy Lou's gone again.
Well, I gotta stop and take some rest
My poor feet are second best
My poor feet are wearin' thin
Gypsy Lou's gone again.
Hey, gone again
Gypsy Lou's 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's 'round the bend.
Well, seen her up in old Cheyenne
Turned my head and away she ran
From Denver Town to Wichita
Last I heard she's in Arkansas.
Hey, 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Well, I tell you what if you what if you want to do
Tell you what, you'll wear out your shoes
If you want to wear out your shoes
Try and follow Gypsy Lou.
Hey, gone again
Gypsy Lou's 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's 'round the bend.
Well, Gypsy Lou, I been told
Livin' down on Gallus Road
Gallus Road, Arlington
Moved away to Washington.
Hey, 'round the bend
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Well, I went down to Washington
Then she went to Oregon
I skipped the ground and hopped a train
She's back in Gallus Road again.
Hey, I can't win
Gypsy Lou's gone again
Gypsy Lou's gone again

[...] Read more

song performed by Bob Dylan
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The Gipsy Trail

The white moth to the closing bine,
The bee to the opened clover,
And the gipsy blood to the gipsy blood
Ever the wide world over.

Ever the wide world over, lass,
Ever the trail held true,
Over the world and under the world,
And back at the last to you.

Out of the dark of the gorgio camp,
Out of the grime and the gray
(Morning waits at the end of the world),
Gipsy, come away!

The wild boar to the sun-dried swamp
The red crane to her reed,
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad,
By the tie of a roving breed.

The pied snake to the rifted rock,
The buck to the stony plain,
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad,
And both to the road again.

Both to the road again, again!
Out on a clean sea-track -
Follow the cross of the gipsy trail
Over the world and back!

Follow the Romany patteran
North where the blue bergs sail,
And the bows are grey with the frozen spray,
And the masts are shod with mail.

Follow the Romany patteran
Sheer to the Austral Light,
Where the besom of God is the wild South wind,
Sweeping the sea-floors white.

Follow the Romany patteran
West to the sinking sun,
Till the junk-sails lift through the houseless drift.
And the east and west are one.

Follow the Romany patteran
East where the silence broods
By a purple wave on an opal beach
In the hush of the Mahim woods.

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poem by Rudyard Kipling
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The Gypsy-Trail

The white moth to the closing bine,
The bee to the opened clover,
And the gipsy blood to the gipsy blood
Ever the wide world over.

Ever the wide world over, lass,
Ever the trail held true,
Over the world and under the world,
And back at the last to you.

Out of the dark of the gorgio camp,
Out of the grime and the gray
(Morning waits at the end of the world),
Gipsy, come away!

The wild boar to the sun-dried swamp
The red crane to her reed,
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad,
By the tie of a roving breed.

The pied snake to the rifted rock,
The buck to the stony plain,
And the Romany lass to the Romany lad,
And both to the road again.

Both to the road again, again!
Out on a clean sea-track --
Follow the cross of the gipsy trail
Over the world and back!

Follow the Romany patteran
North where the blue bergs sail,
And the bows are grey with the frozen spray,
And the masts are shod with mail.

Follow the Romany patteran
Sheer to the Austral Light,
Where the besom of God is the wild South wind,
Sweeping the sea-floors white.

Follow the Romany patteran
West to the sinking sun,
Till the junk-sails lift through the houseless drift.
And the east and west are one.

Follow the Romany patteran
East where the silence broods
By a purple wave on an opal beach
In the hush of the Mahim woods.

[...] Read more

poem by Rudyard Kipling
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Gypsy Road

I used to be now Im not what you see, lord I try
And now it seems all those dreams have come true, but theyre passing me by
Some fast talkin mama for a dollar put a smile on my face
Im drivin all night
I end up in the same old place
My gypsy road cant take me home
I drive all night just to see the light
My gypsy road cant take me home
I keep on pushin cause it feels alright
And whos to care if I grow my hair to the sky
Ill take a wish and a prayer cross my fingers cause I always get by
Some fast talkin jerk for a dollar wiped the smile off my face
Im drivin all night
Just to keep the rat in the race
My gypsy road cant take me home
I drive all night just to see the light
My gypsy road cant take me home
I keep on pushin cause it feels alright
Sometimes I feel so old
Got my lights burnin bright
But Im lookin pretty sold
Sometimes I feel so cold
So cold
Lets go
Got to get on home
My gypsy road cant take me home
My gypsy road cant take me home, t-t-take me
My gypsy road cant take me home
I drive all night just to see the light
My gypsy road cant take me home
I keep on pushin cause it feels alright
My gypsy road cant take me home
I drive all night just to see the light
My gypsy road cant take me home
I keep on p-p-pushin
My gypsy road
My gypsy road
My gypsy road
My gypsy road
My gypsy road

song performed by Cinderella
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Gypsy Woman

From nowhere through the caravan
Round the campfire light
Lovely woman in motion
With hair as dark as night
Her eyes were like that of a cat in the dark
That hypnotized me with love
She was a gypsy woman
She was a gypsy woman
She was a gypsy woman
She was a gypsy woman
She was a gypsy woman
She danced around and round
Guitars melody
From the fire her face was aglow
How she enchanted me
Id like to hold her near
And kiss her hair and whisper in her ear
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
All through the caravan
She was dancing with all the men
Waiting for the rising sun
Everyone was having fun
Hated to see her go
Knowing that shell never know
That I love her
That I love her
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
I love you gypsy woman
Whoever compared it to part monkey part man hit the nail on the head. it has that same kind of dark, mysterious sound. the vocals are soft and understated, somewhat reminiscent to those on if I should fall behind or pony boy. the song is sung with that nasally twang bruce has grown so fond of lately.

song performed by Bruce Springsteen
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Pharsalia - Book VIII: Death Of Pompeius

Now through Alcides' pass and Tempe's groves
Pompeius, aiming for Haemonian glens
And forests lone, urged on his wearied steed
Scarce heeding now the spur; by devious tracks
Seeking to veil the footsteps of his flight:
The rustle of the foliage, and the noise
Of following comrades filled his anxious soul
With terrors, as he fancied at his side
Some ambushed enemy. Fallen from the height
Of former fortunes, still the chieftain knew
His life not worthless; mindful of the fates:
And 'gainst the price he set on Caesar's head,
He measures Caesar's value of his own.

Yet, as he rode, the features of the chief
Made known his ruin. Many as they sought
The camp Pharsalian, ere yet was spread
News of the battle, met the chief, amazed,
And wondered at the whirl of human things:
Nor held disaster sure, though Magnus' self
Told of his ruin. Every witness seen
Brought peril on his flight: 'twere better far
Safe in a name obscure, through all the world
To wander; but his ancient fame forbad.

Too long had great Pompeius from the height
Of human greatness, envied of mankind,
Looked on all others; nor for him henceforth
Could life be lowly. The honours of his youth
Too early thrust upon him, and the deeds
Which brought him triumph in the Sullan days,
His conquering navy and the Pontic war,
Made heavier now the burden of defeat,
And crushed his pondering soul. So length of days
Drags down the haughty spirit, and life prolonged
When power has perished. Fortune's latest hour,
Be the last hour of life! Nor let the wretch
Live on disgraced by memories of fame!
But for the boon of death, who'd dare the sea
Of prosperous chance?

Upon the ocean marge
By red Peneus blushing from the fray,
Borne in a sloop, to lightest wind and wave
Scarce equal, he, whose countless oars yet smote
Upon Coreyra's isle and Leucas point,
Lord of Cilicia and Liburnian lands,
Crept trembling to the sea. He bids them steer
For the sequestered shores of Lesbos isle;
For there wert thou, sharer of all his griefs,

[...] Read more

poem by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
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Like An Inca

Said the condor to the preying mantis
Were gonna lose this place just like we lost atlantis
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothin showed.
Who put the bomb on the sacred altar?
Why should we die if it comes our way?
Why should we care about a little button
Being pushed by someone we dont even know?
Well. I wish I was an aztec,
Or a runner in peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an inca from peru.
If you want to get high, build a strong foundation
Sink those pylons deep now and reach for the sky
If you want to get lost in the jungle rhythm
Get down on the ground and pretend youre swimmin.
If you want to put ice in the lava river
First you must climb, then you must stand and shiver
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The gypsy told my fortune, the gypsy told my fortune,
The gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothing showed
Well I wish I was an aztec,
Or a runner in peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an inca from peru.
Said the condor to the preying mantis
Were gonna lose this place just like we lost atlantis
Brother we got to go sooner than you know
The gypsy told my fortune, the gypsy told my fortune,
The gypsy told my fortune, she said that nothin showed.
Who put the bomb on the sacred altar?
Why should we die if it comes our way?
Why should we care about a little button
Being pushed by someone we dont even know?
Well. I wish I was an aztec,
Or a runner in peru
I would build such beautiful buildings
To house the chosen few
Like an inca from peru.
I feel sad, but I feel happy
As Im coming back to home
Theres a bridge across the river
That I have to cross alone
Like a skipping rolling stone
Like an inca.

song performed by Neil Young
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Pharsalia - Book V: The Oracle. The Mutiny. The Storm

Thus had the smiles of Fortune and her frowns
Brought either chief to Macedonian shores
Still equal to his foe. From cooler skies
Sank Atlas' daughters down, and Haemus' slopes
Were white with winter, and the day drew nigh
Devoted to the god who leads the months,
And marking with new names the book of Rome,
When came the Fathers from their distant posts
By both the Consuls to Epirus called
Ere yet the year was dead: a foreign land
Obscure received the magistrates of Rome,
And heard their high debate. No warlike camp
This; for the Consul's and the Praetor's axe
Proclaimed the Senate-house; and Magnus sat
One among many, and the state was all.

When all were silent, from his lofty seat
Thus Lentulus began, while stern and sad
The Fathers listened: 'If your hearts still beat
With Latian blood, and if within your breasts
Still lives your fathers' vigour, look not now
On this strange land that holds us, nor enquire
Your distance from the captured city: yours
This proud assembly, yours the high command
In all that comes. Be this your first decree,
Whose truth all peoples and all kings confess;
Be this the Senate. Let the frozen wain
Demand your presence, or the torrid zone
Wherein the day and night with equal tread
For ever march; still follows in your steps
The central power of Imperial Rome.
When flamed the Capitol with fires of Gaul
When Veii held Camillus, there with him
Was Rome, nor ever though it changed its clime
Your order lost its rights. In Caesar's hands
Are sorrowing houses and deserted homes,
Laws silent for a space, and forums closed
In public fast. His Senate-house beholds
Those Fathers only whom from Rome it drove,
While Rome was full. Of that high order all
Not here, are exiles. Ignorant of war,
Its crimes and bloodshed, through long years of peace,
Ye fled its outburst: now in session all
Are here assembled. See ye how the gods
Weigh down Italia's loss by all the world
Thrown in the other scale? Illyria's wave
Rolls deep upon our foes: in Libyan wastes
Is fallen their Curio, the weightier part
Of Caesar's senate! Lift your standards, then,
Spur on your fates and prove your hopes to heaven.

[...] Read more

poem by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
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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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Gypsy, Joe And Me

We might have slept in a rail yard or camped by the river bank
We fed ourselves from the fruit of the land
and quenched our thirst with rain
We never did allow no roots to grow beneath our feet
Life just had no pattern for Gypsy Joe and me
All we had was each other.and the rags upon our back
The closest thing to a home we new was some abandoned shack
But we had all we needed and the rest we didn't need
Life was free and simple for Gypsy Joe and me
Now Gypsy was my little dog ,I found by the road in a ditch
And so I named him Gypsy, cause that name just seemed to fit
Oh and Joe he was my man,the flower of my soul
Thou he never said he loved me,I just always seemed to know
While standing by the highway,thumbin' for a ride
The speeding wheels of a passing car,took Gypsy's life
I lost him where I found him and his loss was misery
Now there's no more Gypsy,there's just Joe and me
Well the winter came and the snow did fall
And the night was cold and still
And the rags we wore were not enough
and Joe he caught the chill
And he told me how he loved me
and in my arms he went to sleep
Now there's no more Gypsy,no more Joe,there's just me
While standin' here on the edge of this bridge
Lookin' down I see
The face of Joe and Gypsy,lookin' back at me
And somewhere in the distance I can hear them callin' me
Tonight we'll be together again
Gypsy,Joe and me
sallysally@usa.net

song performed by Dolly Parton
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The Cōforte of Louers

The prohemye.

The gentyll poetes/vnder cloudy fygures
Do touche a trouth/and clokeit subtylly
Harde is to cōstrue poetycall scryptures
They are so fayned/& made sētēcyously
For som do wryte of loue by fables pryuely
Some do endyte/vpon good moralyte
Of chyualrous actes/done in antyquyte
Whose fables and storyes ben pastymes pleasaunt
To lordes and ladyes/as is theyr lykynge
Dyuers to moralyte/ben oft attendaunt
And many delyte to rede of louynge
Youth loueth aduenture/pleasure and lykynge
Aege foloweth polycy/sadnesse and prudence
Thus they do dyffre/eche in experyence
I lytell or nought/experte in this scyence
Compyle suche bokes/to deuoyde ydlenes
Besechynge the reders/with all my delygence
Where as I offende/for to correct doubtles
Submyttynge me to theyr grete gentylnes
As none hystoryagraffe/nor poete laureate
But gladly wolde folowe/the makynge of Lydgate
Fyrst noble Gower/moralytees dyde endyte
And after hym Cauncers/grete bokes delectable
Lyke a good phylozophre/meruaylously dyde wryte
After them Lydgate/the monke commendable
Made many wonderfull bokes moche profytable
But syth the are deed/& theyr bodyes layde in chest
I pray to god to gyue theyr soules good rest

Finis prohemii.

Whan fayre was phebus/w&supere; his bemes bryght
Amyddes of gemyny/aloft the fyrmament
Without blacke cloudes/castynge his pured lyght
With sorowe opprest/and grete incombrement
Remembrynge well/my lady excellent
Saynge o fortune helpe me to preuayle
For thou knowest all my paynfull trauayle
I went than musynge/in a medowe grene
Myselfe alone/amonge the floures in dede
With god aboue/the futertens is sene
To god I sayd/thou mayst my mater spede
And me rewarde/accordynge to my mede
Thou knowest the trouthe/I am to the true
Whan that thou lyst/thou mayst them all subdue
Who dyde preserue the yonge edyppus
Whiche sholde haue be slayne by calculacyon
To deuoyde grete thynges/the story sheweth vs

[...] Read more

poem by Stephen Hawes
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Pharsalia - Book VII: The Battle

Ne'er to the summons of the Eternal laws
More slowly Titan rose, nor drave his steeds,
Forced by the sky revolving, up the heaven,
With gloomier presage; wishing to endure
The pangs of ravished light, and dark eclipse;
And drew the mists up, not to feed his flames,
But lest his light upon Thessalian earth
Might fall undimmed.

Pompeius on that morn,
To him the latest day of happy life,
In troubled sleep an empty dream conceived.
For in the watches of the night he heard
Innumerable Romans shout his name
Within his theatre; the benches vied
To raise his fame and place him with the gods;
As once in youth, when victory was won
O'er conquered tribes where swift Iberus flows,
And where Sertorius' armies fought and fled,
The west subdued, with no less majesty
Than if the purple toga graced the car,
He sat triumphant in his pure white gown
A Roman knight, and heard the Senate's cheer.
Perhaps, as ills drew near, his anxious soul,
Shunning the future wooed the happy past;
Or, as is wont, prophetic slumber showed
That which was not to be, by doubtful forms
Misleading; or as envious Fate forbade
Return to Italy, this glimpse of Rome
Kind Fortune gave. Break not his latest sleep,
Ye sentinels; let not the trumpet call
Strike on his ear: for on the morrow's night
Shapes of the battle lost, of death and war
Shall crowd his rest with terrors. Whence shalt thou
The poor man's happiness of sleep regain?
Happy if even in dreams thy Rome could see
Once more her captain! Would the gods had given
To thee and to thy country one day yet
To reap the latest fruit of such a love:
Though sure of fate to come! Thou marchest on
As though by heaven ordained in Rome to die;
She, conscious ever of her prayers for thee
Heard by the gods, deemed not the fates decreed
Such evil destiny, that she should lose
The last sad solace of her Magnus' tomb.
Then young and old had blent their tears for thee,
And child unbidden; women torn their hair
And struck their bosoms as for Brutus dead.
But now no public woe shall greet thy death
As erst thy praise was heard: but men shall grieve

[...] Read more

poem by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
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Gypsy Eyes

Well I realize that Ive been hypnotized,
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
Alright!
Hey!
Gypsy.
Way up in my tree Im sitting by my fire
Wondrin where in this world might you be
And knowin all the time youre still roamin in the country side
Do you still think about me?
Oh my gypsy.
Well I walked right on to your rebel roadside
The one that rambles on for a million miles
Yes I walk down this road searchin for your love and ah my soul too
But when I find ya I aint gonna let go.
I remember the first time I saw you
The tears in your eyes look like theyre tryin to say
Oh little boy you know I could love you
But first I must make my get away
Two strange men fightin to the death over me today
Ill try to meet cha by the old highway.
Hey!
Well I realize that Ive been hypnotized, I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
Alright!
Ive been searchin so long my feet have made me lose the battle
Down against the road my weary knees they got me
Off to the side I fall but I hear a sweet call
My gypsy eyes is comin and Ive been saved.
Oh Ive been saved
Thats why I love you uh
Said I love you
Hey!
Love you uh
Lord I love you
Hey!

song performed by Jimi Hendrix
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Gypsy Woman

(curtis mayfield)
From out of nowhere, through a caravan, around the campfire light
Came a lovely woman in motion with hair as dark as night
Her eyes were like those of a cat in the dark
And she hypnotized me with love
She was a gypsy woman
She danced around and round to guitar melody
From the fire her face was all aglow
How she enchanted me
How Id love to hold her near
And kiss and forever whisper in her ear
I love you gypsy woman
I want you gypsy woman
I need you gypsy woman
Just got to have a gypsy woman
All through the caravan, she was dancing with all the men
Waiting for the rising sun, everyone was having fun
I hate to see the lady go, knowing shell never know
That I love her, I love her
I love you gypsy woman
I want you gypsy woman
I need you gypsy woman
Just got to have a gypsy woman

song performed by Ry Cooder
Added by Lucian Velea
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Acid Queen

(p. townshend)
Producer: robert stigwood and ken russel
Albums: acid queen (76), tommy soundtrack (76), the collected recordings (94)
If your child aint all he should be now
This girl will put him right
Ill show him what he could be now
Just give me one night
Im the gypsy, the acid queen
Pay me before I start
Im the gypsy and Im guaranteed
To mend his aching heart
Give us a room, close the door
Leave us for a while
You wont be a boy no more
Young, but not a child
Im the gypsy, the acid queen
Pay me before I start
Im the gypsy, Im guaranteed
To tear your soul apart
Gather your wits and hold them fast
Your mind must learn to roam
Just as the gypsy queen must do
Youre gonna hit the road
My works been done, now look at him
Hes never been more alive
His head it shakes, his fingers clutch
Watch his body writhe
Im the gypsy, the acid queen
Pay me before I start
Im the gypsy, Im guaranteed
To break your little heart
If your child aint all he should be now
This girl will put him right
Ill show him what he could be now
Just give me one more night
Im the gypsy, the acid queen
Pay me before I start
Im the gypsy, Im guaranteed
To tear your soul apart

song performed by Tina Turner
Added by Lucian Velea
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Gypsy Queen

Dance on gypsy queen
And if its all night,
Its alright
Rave on, let your love
Come tumbling down
And if you let your love come tumbling down,
Its alright
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Rave on, there beneath the silvery moon
Dont stop your carburetor
Let your car run
And if it starts to rain
Keep on dancin in the rain
And if its all night
Its alright
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Ooh la la la la la la la la la la
Dance dance dance the night away
Ooh la la la la la la la la la la
Dance dance dance the night away
Come on come on come on let me hear you say
Youre gonna dance on gypsy queen
Stars shine down on you
And its alright
Ooowee I wanna throw my arms around you
Im so glad Ive found you
Gypsy queen
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Dance on, you know its all right
Gypsy queen
Etc.

song performed by Van Morrison
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 2

ALL were attentive to the godlike man,
When from his lofty couch he thus began:
“Great queen, what you command me to relate
Renews the sad remembrance of our fate:
An empire from its old foundations rent, 5
And ev’ry woe the Trojans underwent;
A peopled city made a desart place;
All that I saw, and part of which I was:
Not ev’n the hardest of our foes could hear,
Nor stern Ulysses tell without a tear. 10
And now the latter watch of wasting night,
And setting stars, to kindly rest invite;
But, since you take such int’rest in our woe,
And Troy’s disastrous end desire to know,
I will restrain my tears, and briefly tell 15
What in our last and fatal night befell.
“By destiny compell’d, and in despair,
The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war,
And by Minerva’s aid a fabric rear’d,
Which like a steed of monstrous height appear’d: 20
The sides were plank’d with pine; they feign’d it made
For their return, and this the vow they paid.
Thus they pretend, but in the hollow side
Selected numbers of their soldiers hide:
With inward arms the dire machine they load, 25
And iron bowels stuff the dark abode.
In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an isle
(While Fortune did on Priam’s empire smile)
Renown’d for wealth; but, since, a faithless bay,
Where ships expos’d to wind and weather lay. 30
There was their fleet conceal’d. We thought, for Greece
Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release.
The Trojans, coop’d within their walls so long,
Unbar their gates, and issue in a throng,
Like swarming bees, and with delight survey 35
The camp deserted, where the Grecians lay:
The quarters of the sev’ral chiefs they show’d;
Here Phœnix, here Achilles, made abode;
Here join’d the battles; there the navy rode.
Part on the pile their wond’ring eyes employ: 40
The pile by Pallas rais’d to ruin Troy.
Thymoetes first (’t is doubtful whether hir’d,
Or so the Trojan destiny requir’d)
Mov’d that the ramparts might be broken down,
To lodge the monster fabric in the town. 45
But Capys, and the rest of sounder mind,
The fatal present to the flames designed,
Or to the wat’ry deep; at least to bore
The hollow sides, and hidden frauds explore.
The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide, 50

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poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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XI. Guido

You are the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, and you,
Abate Panciatichi—two good Tuscan names:
Acciaiuoli—ah, your ancestor it was
Built the huge battlemented convent-block
Over the little forky flashing Greve
That takes the quick turn at the foot o' the hill
Just as one first sees Florence: oh those days!
'T is Ema, though, the other rivulet,
The one-arched brown brick bridge yawns over,—yes,
Gallop and go five minutes, and you gain
The Roman Gate from where the Ema's bridged:
Kingfishers fly there: how I see the bend
O'erturreted by Certosa which he built,
That Senescal (we styled him) of your House!
I do adjure you, help me, Sirs! My blood
Comes from as far a source: ought it to end
This way, by leakage through their scaffold-planks
Into Rome's sink where her red refuse runs?
Sirs, I beseech you by blood-sympathy,
If there be any vile experiment
In the air,—if this your visit simply prove,
When all's done, just a well-intentioned trick,
That tries for truth truer than truth itself,
By startling up a man, ere break of day,
To tell him he must die at sunset,—pshaw!
That man's a Franceschini; feel his pulse,
Laugh at your folly, and let's all go sleep!
You have my last word,—innocent am I
As Innocent my Pope and murderer,
Innocent as a babe, as Mary's own,
As Mary's self,—I said, say and repeat,—
And why, then, should I die twelve hours hence? I—
Whom, not twelve hours ago, the gaoler bade
Turn to my straw-truss, settle and sleep sound
That I might wake the sooner, promptlier pay
His due of meat-and-drink-indulgence, cross
His palm with fee of the good-hand, beside,
As gallants use who go at large again!
For why? All honest Rome approved my part;
Whoever owned wife, sister, daughter,—nay,
Mistress,—had any shadow of any right
That looks like right, and, all the more resolved,
Held it with tooth and nail,—these manly men
Approved! I being for Rome, Rome was for me.
Then, there's the point reserved, the subterfuge
My lawyers held by, kept for last resource,
Firm should all else,—the impossible fancy!—fail,
And sneaking burgess-spirit win the day.
The knaves! One plea at least would hold,—they laughed,—
One grappling-iron scratch the bottom-rock

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Pharsalia - Book II: The Flight Of Pompeius

This was made plain the anger of the gods;
The universe gave signs Nature reversed
In monstrous tumult fraught with prodigies
Her laws, and prescient spake the coming guilt.

How seemed it just to thee, Olympus' king,
That suffering mortals at thy doom should know
By omens dire the massacre to come?
Or did the primal parent of the world
When first the flames gave way and yielding left
Matter unformed to his subduing hand,
And realms unbalanced, fix by stern decree'
Unalterable laws to bind the whole
(Himself, too, bound by law), so that for aye
All Nature moves within its fated bounds?
Or, is Chance sovereign over all, and we
The sport of Fortune and her turning wheel?
Whate'er be truth, keep thou the future veiled
From mortal vision, and amid their fears
May men still hope.

Thus known how great the woes
The world should suffer, from the truth divine,
A solemn fast was called, the courts were closed,
All men in private garb; no purple hem
Adorned the togas of the chiefs of Rome;
No plaints were uttered, and a voiceless grief
Lay deep in every bosom: as when death
Knocks at some door but enters not as yet,
Before the mother calls the name aloud
Or bids her grieving maidens beat the breast,
While still she marks the glazing eye, and soothes
The stiffening limbs and gazes on the face,
In nameless dread, not sorrow, and in awe
Of death approaching: and with mind distraught
Clings to the dying in a last embrace.

The matrons laid aside their wonted garb:
Crowds filled the temples -- on the unpitying stones
Some dashed their bosoms; others bathed with tears
The statues of the gods; some tore their hair
Upon the holy threshold, and with shrieks
And vows unceasing called upon the names
Of those whom mortals supplicate. Nor all
Lay in the Thunderer's fane: at every shrine
Some prayers are offered which refused shall bring
Reproach on heaven. One whose livid arms
Were dark with blows, whose cheeks with tears bedewed
And riven, cried, 'Beat, mothers, beat the breast,
Tear now the lock; while doubtful in the scales

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poem by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
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Gypsy Joe & Me

We might have slept in a rail yard or camped by the river bank
We fed ourselves from the fruit of the land
And quenched our thirst with rain
We never did allow no roots to grow beneath our feet
Life just had no pattern for gypsy joe and me
All we had was each other and the rags upon our back
The closest thing to a home we new was some abandoned shack
But we had all we needed and the rest we didnt need
Life was free and simple for gypsy joe and me
Now gypsy was my little dog, I found by the road in a ditch
And so I named him gypsy, cause that name just seemed to fit
Oh and joe he was my man, the flower of my soul
Thou he never said he loved me, I just always seemed to know
While standing by the highway, thumbin for a ride
The speeding wheels of a passing car, took gypsys life
I lost him where I found him and his loss was misery
Now theres no more gypsy, theres just joe and me
Well the winter came and the snow did fall
And the night was cold and still
And the rags we wore were not enough
And joe he caught the chill
And he told me how he loved me
And in my arms he went to sleep
Now theres no more gypsy, no more joe, theres just me
While standin here on the edge of this bridge
Lookin down I see
The face of joe and gypsy, lookin back at me
And somewhere in the distance I can hear them callin me
Tonight well be together again
Gypsy, joe and me

song performed by Dolly Parton
Added by Lucian Velea
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