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You find out your mistakes from an audience that pays admission.

quote by Edgar Bergen
Added by Lucian Velea
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Crime Pays

Music: hall
Lyrics: hall/oates/s. allen
I know you know all the pros and cons
They help you get to everything you want
Greasing policemen bending all the rules
Make them an offer that they cant refuse
One crime baby I cant forgive
The kind that hurts where I live
Im a nice guy I try to wait and see
If youll get caught or go free
You stole my heart and left me blue
It look like crime pays for you
You do it and you get away
It seem like crime pays
Crime pays
Beat the heat but you couldnt pay me off
Youre staying cool no matter what it costs
You get caught youll never do the time
I have to say youve got a way with one crime baby I cant forgive
The kind that hurts where I live
Its all too clear but I still dont see
Why all the guilty go free
You stole my heart and left me blue
It look like crime pays for you
You do it and you get away
It seems like crime pays
Crime pays
It seems like crime pays
Crime pays
Catch a thief and let her go
You wont get back the love she stole
Shake her down but she dont mind
cause she commit the perfect crime ok, ok
You know I know youre a pro and con artiste
Oh baby youre a false alarm
Why do I try to play it by the rules
I was the victim but Im not a fool
You stole my heart and left me blue
It looks like crime pays for you
You do it and you get away
It seems like crime pays

song performed by Hall & Oates
Added by Lucian Velea
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So Judge Me Not For Mistakes I've Made

Judge me not,
For...
Mistakes I've made,
Because...
I had to grow up too.
One day you will discover...
Growing up is not a thing,
Easy to do.

No one living can ever escape,
From mistakes everyday made.
And no one living can ever replace,
A time long gone.

Judge me not,
For...
Mistakes I've made,
Because...
I had to grow up too.
One day you will discover...
Growing up is not a thing,
Easy to do.

No one living can ever escape,
From mistakes everyday made.
And no one living can ever replace,
A time long gone.

No one living can ever escape,
From mistakes everyday made.
And no one living can ever replace,
A time long gone.

Judge me not for mistakes I've made.
A yesterday lived can not be erased.
Judge me not for mistakes I've made.
Look at me for who I am and today!

Judge me not for mistakes I've made.
A yesterday lived can not be erased.
So judge me not for mistakes I've made.
Look at me for who I am and today!

No one living can ever escape,
From mistakes everyday made.
And no one living can ever replace,
A time long gone.

So judge me not for mistakes I've made.
A yesterday lived can not be erased.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
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Big Money

More info about this song in the song database
My older brother tommy was a lineman rest his soul
His job was hanging hot wires on them high-line power poles
Every morning bright and early hed climb way up in the sky
And I never understood it so one day I asked him why
Chorus:
He said it pays big money and man Im into that
It pays big money if youre willing to take a chance
Let me tell you something sonny, you ought to see my bank account
It pays big money but he sure cant spend it now
Well, my late uncle charlie was this demolition hound
Hed travel across the country blowing buildings to the ground
He carried a case of dynamite seemed everywhere he went
He smoked them big long cigars and hed wink at you and grin
Repeat first chorus
Well now the moral of this story boys, is dont go getting yourself killed
Be kind to your rich relatives they just might put you in their will
Chorus:
That pays big money and were all into that
It pays big money and big moneys where its at
Let me tell you something sonny, you ought to see my bank account
It pays big money and were rolling in it now
Chorus:
It pays big money having foolish kin
It pays big money guess I owe it all to them
Let me show you something sonny, take a look at this bank account
It pays big money; lets all spend some of it now

song performed by Garth Brooks
Added by Lucian Velea
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Yele

*tropical music playing in background*
Wyclef (echo):
Yo, yo, I wanna give a shout-out
To the world.
This is wyclef, cold-chillin
Out here with my pina-colada.
Yeah, baby.
Im in the islands, cold relaxin.
Right about now the carnivals
Gonna change phases.
If you got your ticket, man,
Youre allowed to come with me.
Yo, for right now Im gonna
Chill in the beach,
Check out the pretty girls
Layin back.
You know how we do, playa yo.
Im out here in the sun, baby,
Its all good!
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas ? a, pays en li va coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Si nou pas chch bon djie, encore !
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas ? a, pays nou libral coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Izrael chch bon djie, tand !
Dix milles cercueils, gad toutes cest ti-mounes.
P ap cri, mais yo pap rsucit.
Manman rl, mais cadav, pas ka tand !
Zinglin dou pass, mwen tand ? blo ! blo ! blo! blo ! ?
Lord...
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas ? a, pays nou li val coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Ha? tiens ! chch bon djie, encore!
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas ? a, pays nou libral coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Izrael chch bon djie.
Mwen con yon ha? tien.
Qui tap vend marijuana.
Police t quinbl,
Li dit cest poutet manman t gin canc ( li pas gin lagent!)
Counya li nan prison, (pou combien temps? )
Lap palm de rvolution (sans solutions!)

[...] Read more

song performed by Wyclef Jean
Added by Lucian Velea
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Yel

*Tropical music playing in background*
Wyclef (echo):
Yo, yo, I wanna give a shout-out
to the world.
This is Wyclef, cold-chillin'
out here with my pina-colada.
Yeah, baby.
I'm in the islands, cold relaxin'.
Right about now the carnival's
gonna change phases.
If you got your ticket, man,
you're allowed to come with me.
Yo, for right now I'm gonna
chill in the beach,
check out the pretty girls
layin' back.
You know how we do, playa yo.
I'm out here in the sun, baby,
it's all good!
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas a, pays en li va coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Si nou pas chch bon djie, encore !
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas a, pays nou libral coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Izrael chch bon djie, tand !
Dix milles cercueils, gad toutes cest ti-mounes.
P ap cri, mais yo pap rsucit.
Manman rl, mais cadav, pas ka tand !
Zinglin dou pass, mwen tand Blo ! Blo ! Blo! Blo !
Lord
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas a, pays nou li val coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Hatiens ! chch bon djie, encore!
Si ou gin zorey, tand,
Si ou gin bouche, pal.
Si pas a, pays nou libral coul.
Quand quou yon bateau qui plein rfijis,
Izrael chch bon djie.
Mwen con yon Hatien.
Qui tap vend Marijuana.
Police t quinbl,
Li dit cest poutet manman t gin canc ( li pas gin lagent!)
Counya li nan prison, (pou combien temps?)
Lap palm de rvolution (sans solutions!)

[...] Read more

song performed by Wyclef Jean
Added by Lucian Velea
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La plaine (I)

Je veux mener tes yeux en lent pèlerinage
Vers ces loins de souffrance, hélas ! où depuis quand,
Depuis quels jours d'antan, mon coeur fait hivernage !

C'est mon pays d'immensément,
Où ne croît rien que du néant,
Battu de pluie et de grand vent.

C'est mon pays de long linceul.
Mes rivières y font de lents serpents
D'eau jaune à travers de grands pans
De terrains planes et rampants.

C'est mon pays sans un seul pli, un seul,
C'est mon pays de grand linceul.

Quelques rares hérons, au bord de marais faux,
Quelques pauvres hérons, dans leur bec en ciseaux,
Tordent, au soir tombant, des vers et des crapauds.

Et quelques vols parfois de corneilles lointaines
Avec de grands haillons d'ailes, grincent des haines
Aux quatre coins des longues plaines.

C'est mon pays d'immensément,
Où mon vieux cœur morne et dément,
Battu de pluie et de grand vent,
Comme un limon, moisit dormant.

Mes villages au clair - depuis quel temps ? -
Et mes cloches vers les vaisseaux partants
Et mes vergues et mes mâts exaltants
Ils sont au fond - depuis quel temps ? -
D'estuaires de plomb et de bas-fonds d'étangs ?

Mes villages d'enfance et de fierté,
Mes villages de joie et de tours de fierté,
Ils ont sombré - depuis quels soirs ? -
D'équinoxes de cuivre en des cieux noirs ?

C'est non pays d'immensément
Où ne croît rien que du néant
Battu de pluie et de grand vent.

La toujours uniformité des jours
Rabaisse en moi le moindre effort
Levé, soit vers la vie ou vers la mort.

Ne plus même crier - mais croupir là toujours
Comme un cadavre en or de proue

[...] Read more

poem by Emile Verhaeren
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Les tours au bord de la mer

Veuves debout au long des mers,
Les tours de Lisweghe et de Furnes
Pleurent, aux vents des vieux hivers
Et des automnes taciturnes.

Elles règnent sur le pays,
Depuis quels jours, depuis quels âges,
Depuis quels temps évanouis
Avec les brumes de leurs plages ?

Jadis, on allumait des feux
Sur leur sommet, dans le soir sombre ;
Et le marin fixait ses yeux
Vers ce flambeau tendu par l'ombre.

Quand la guerre battait l'Escaut
De son tumulte militaire,
Les tours semblaient darder là-haut,
La rage en flamme de la terre.

Quand on tuait de ferme en bouge,
Pêle-mêle vieux et petits,
Les tours jetaient leurs gestes rouges
En suppliques, vers l'infini.

Depuis,
La guerre,
Au bruit roulant de ses tonnerres,
Crispe, sous d'autres cieux, son poing ensanglanté ;
Et d'autres blocs et d'autres phares,
Armés de grands yeux d'or et de cristaux bizarres,
Jettent, vers d'autres flots, de plus nettes clartés.

Mais vous êtes, quand même
Debout encor, au long des mers,
Debout, dans l'ombre et dans l'hiver,
Sans couronne, sans diadème,
Sans feux épars sur vos fronts lourds;
Et vous demeurez là, seules au vent nocturne,
Oh ! vous, les tours, les tours gigantesques, les tours
De Nieuport, de Lisweghe et de Furnes.

Sur les villes et les hameaux flamands,
Au-dessus des maisons vieilles et basses,
Vous carrez votre masse,
Tragiquement ;
Et ceux qui vont, au soir tombant, le long des grèves,
A voir votre grandeur et votre deuil,
Sentent toujours, comme un afflux d'orgueil,
Battre leur rêve :

[...] Read more

poem by Emile Verhaeren
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V. Count Guido Franceschini

Thanks, Sir, but, should it please the reverend Court,
I feel I can stand somehow, half sit down
Without help, make shift to even speak, you see,
Fortified by the sip of … why, 't is wine,
Velletri,—and not vinegar and gall,
So changed and good the times grow! Thanks, kind Sir!
Oh, but one sip's enough! I want my head
To save my neck, there's work awaits me still.
How cautious and considerate … aie, aie, aie,
Nor your fault, sweet Sir! Come, you take to heart
An ordinary matter. Law is law.
Noblemen were exempt, the vulgar thought,
From racking; but, since law thinks otherwise,
I have been put to the rack: all's over now,
And neither wrist—what men style, out of joint:
If any harm be, 't is the shoulder-blade,
The left one, that seems wrong i' the socket,—Sirs,
Much could not happen, I was quick to faint,
Being past my prime of life, and out of health.
In short, I thank you,—yes, and mean the word.
Needs must the Court be slow to understand
How this quite novel form of taking pain,
This getting tortured merely in the flesh,
Amounts to almost an agreeable change
In my case, me fastidious, plied too much
With opposite treatment, used (forgive the joke)
To the rasp-tooth toying with this brain of mine,
And, in and out my heart, the play o' the probe.
Four years have I been operated on
I' the soul, do you see—its tense or tremulous part—
My self-respect, my care for a good name,
Pride in an old one, love of kindred—just
A mother, brothers, sisters, and the like,
That looked up to my face when days were dim,
And fancied they found light there—no one spot,
Foppishly sensitive, but has paid its pang.
That, and not this you now oblige me with,
That was the Vigil-torment, if you please!
The poor old noble House that drew the rags
O' the Franceschini's once superb array
Close round her, hoped to slink unchallenged by,—
Pluck off these! Turn the drapery inside out
And teach the tittering town how scarlet wears!
Show men the lucklessness, the improvidence
Of the easy-natured Count before this Count,
The father I have some slight feeling for,
Who let the world slide, nor foresaw that friends
Then proud to cap and kiss their patron's shoe,
Would, when the purse he left held spider-webs,
Properly push his child to wall one day!

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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I Am The Audience

I am the audience
Theres no doubt, no consequence
I could make the morning papers
If I use my capers
Lets be the audience
I might lose my patience
Polite applause excepted
To the ones selected, as the audience...
Oh I ... am the audience
No doubt, no consequence
Cause Im the audience
Lets be the audience
I might lose my patience
Polite applause excepted
To the ones selected
I am the audience
Breakdown the pretence
No longer be silent
Lets turn to violence
I am the audience

song performed by Xtc
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Am The Audience

I am the audience
Theres no doubt, no consequence
I could make the morning papers
If I use my capers
Lets be the audience
I might lose my patience
Polite applause excepted
To the ones selected, as the audience...
Oh I ... am the audience
No doubt, no consequence
Cause Im the audience
Lets be the audience
I might lose my patience
Polite applause excepted
To the ones selected
I am the audience
Breakdown the pretence
No longer be silent
Lets turn to violence
I am the audience

song performed by Xtc
Added by Lucian Velea
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The ten commandments of communication

The ten commandments of communication

Verify your ideas before clarification, as to whether the contents of your
communication will really serve the purpose of your communication. Consult others, where appropriate, the communication plan. This will help you decide the audience-based right content, flow, duration and location.

Make clear to the audience the true purpose of communication. Make it known to the audience as to what you want them to do after receiving the inputs from you. It can be just an act, can be an attitudinal change, can be drawing a strategy or plan of action.

Ensure you are in the right set of environment for the communication.
Communication is not effected just by words and gestures, but also by the quality of place where you communicate.

Take into confidence your audience. Encourage them to come out with their experience in the subject of communication. Accordingly polish your ways.

Be sure where to emphasize and where to dilute. Check yourself the
overtones and emphasis on messages conveyed, as audience may not notice.

Avoid being theoretical all through. Give practical examples. Enthuse
audience to come out with problems, connected with the subject and offer, if possible, practical solutions.

Follow up with what you communicate. Ensure audience is with you through the entire communication. Give no impression that you are evaluating their ability to absorb.

Demonstrate that you practice what you preach. Your past experiences may come handy.

Communicate for tomorrow, based on previous learning, enabling the audience visualize new horizons on the subject of communication.

Last, but not the least, seek not to be understood, but to understand. Be a good listener too.

poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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Big Mistake

Sad songs,
Surround me.
Sad thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Sad feelings,
Take control.
Sad mistakes,
Haunt me.

Bad songs,
Surround me.
Bad thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Bad feelings,
Take control.
Bad mistakes,
Haunt me.

Angry songs,
Surround me.
Angry thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Angry feelings,
Take control.
Angry mistakes,
Haunt me.

Scared songs,
Surround me.
Scared thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Scared feelings,
Take control.
Scared mistakes,
Haunt me.

Numb songs,
Surround me.
Numb thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Numb feelings,
Take control.
Numb mistakes,
Haunt me.

Happy songs,
Surround me.
Happy thoughts,
Cloud my mind.
Happy feelings,

[...] Read more

poem by Dragon Crenshaw
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Where The River Flows

Music : rudolf schenker
Lyrics: klaus meine
Under suburban skies
Where life is bleeding
Where concrete skies are grey
Theres plenty of room for dreaming
I still keep coming here
Follow those traces
I travel back in time
Remember all those places
Feels like I never left
The houses still standing
Down by the river where
The dreams are never ending
You find me
You find me
You find me by the river
You find me
You find me
You find me where the river flows
Under the silent moon
This industrial city
Is heartland even though
Lifes been not that pretty
I still keep coming here
To that old river
To find my roots just where
The future lives forever
You find me
You find me
You find me by the river
You find me
You find me
You find me, you can find me
By the river where dreams will never die
By the river under suburban skies
You find me
You find me
You find me by the river
You find me
You find me
You find me where the river flows
By the river where dreams have never died
By the river I look through childrens eyes
You find me
You find me
You find me by the river
You find me
You find me
You find me where the river flows

[...] Read more

song performed by Scorpions
Added by Lucian Velea
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Les plages

Plages vides, avec toujours les mêmes flots
Poussant les mêmes cris et les mêmes sanglots
De l'un à l'autre bout des rivages de Flandre ;
Dunes d'oyats aigus, monts de sable et de cendre,
Pays hostile et dur et féroce souvent,
Pays de lutte et de ferveur, pays de vent,
Pays d'épreuve et d'angoisse, pays de rage,
Quand s'acharnent sur vous les tournoyants orages
Et leurs vagues d'hiver dressant toujours plus haut
Sous les brouillards leurs funèbres monuments d'eau,
Soyez remerciés d'être tels que vous êtes,
Tels que la mort, tels que la vie et ses tempêtes !
C'est grâce à vous qu'ils sont fermes et durs, les gars,
Qu'ils sont têtus dans le travail et dans la peine,
Qu'ils font, sans le savoir, belle, la race humaine
Qui marche à larges pas vers le péril hagard
Avec le seul désir de vaincre un destin morne.
C'est vous qui faites l'homme ardent, calme, hautain,
Entre le danger d'hier et celui de demain,
Quand le sombre équinoxe et ses ouragans cornent
C'est grâce à vous que les filles aiment dûment,
Malgré la crainte au coeur d'être trop tôt des veuves,
Ceux qui s'en vont, sans se plaindre, dans l'âpre épreuve,
Gagner le pain des jours, avec acharnement ;
Et que toutes, à l'heure où les rudes tendresses
Mêlent les chairs, au fond des chaumières, là-bas,
Servent le franc repas d'amour aux hommes las
De la brume sournoise et des houles traîtresses.
Pays des vents de l'Ouest et des bises du Nord,
Souffles chargés de sel et pénétrés d'iode,
Vous imprégnez les corps rugueux de santé chaude
Et vous armez de père en fils les peuples forts,
Pour qu'ils marquent de leur vouloir autoritaire
Le coin triste mais doux que leur offrit la terre.
Et qu'importe, qu'au long des flots, la ville, un jour,
Ait bâti ses maisons, ses dômes et ses tours
Et ses palais pareils à des rêves de pierre.
Filles et gars de Flandre, oh ! seuls, vous resterez
D'accord avec l'embrun et les grands vents
Et la rauque marée et ses vagues guerrières
Vous êtes ceux du sol qu'on ne refoule pas,
La mer a mis en vous sa force et sa folie,
Vos yeux sont beaux et sa clarté froide et pâlie
Et son rythme puissant et lourd pèse en vos pas.

Même certains de vous, les plus hardiment braves,
Charrient encor le sang des aïeux scandinaves
Dans leurs gestes épars au loin, sur l'océan.
Ils conservent en eux l'ardeur de ces géants
Qui partaient vers la mort sur leurs vaisseaux en flammes,

[...] Read more

poem by Emile Verhaeren
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With Admission Acquisitioned

You let a fishing for your mission...
Get out of hand,
And...
You let too many you would listen,
Take more a stand...
And,
'Something' inside you felt missing...
And then you ran,
Away!

You don't need permission,
To be,
Magic!

Turn on that ignition,
With admission acquisitioned.

You don't need permission,
To be,
Magic!

Turn on that ignition,
With admission acquisitioned.

You let a fishing for your mission...
Get out of hand,
And...
You let too many you would listen,
Take more a stand...
And,
'Something' inside you felt missing...
And then you ran,
Away!

When you entered on this Earth,
You were a miracle at birth...
And,
You don't need permission,
To be,
Magic!

Turn on that ignition,
With admission acquisitioned.
And,
You don't need permission,
To be,
Magic!
When you entered on this Earth,
You were a miracle at birth!

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 7

AND thou, O matron of immortal fame,
Here dying, to the shore hast left thy name;
Cajeta still the place is call’d from thee,
The nurse of great Æneas’ infancy.
Here rest thy bones in rich Hesperia’s plains; 5
Thy name (’t is all a ghost can have) remains.
Now, when the prince her fun’ral rites had paid,
He plow’d the Tyrrhene seas with sails display’d.
From land a gentle breeze arose by night,
Serenely shone the stars, the moon was bright, 10
And the sea trembled with her silver light.
Now near the shelves of Circe’s shores they run,
(Circe the rich, the daughter of the Sun,)
A dang’rous coast: the goddess wastes her days
In joyous songs; the rocks resound her lays: 15
In spinning, or the loom, she spends the night,
And cedar brands supply her father’s light.
From hence were heard, rebellowing to the main,
The roars of lions that refuse the chain,
The grunts of bristled boars, and groans of bears, 20
And herds of howling wolves that stun the sailors’ ears.
These from their caverns, at the close of night,
Fill the sad isle with horror and affright.
Darkling they mourn their fate, whom Circe’s pow’r,
(That watch’d the moon and planetary hour,) 25
With words and wicked herbs from humankind
Had alter’d, and in brutal shapes confin’d.
Which monsters lest the Trojans’ pious host
Should bear, or touch upon th’ inchanted coast,
Propitious Neptune steer’d their course by night 30
With rising gales that sped their happy flight.
Supplied with these, they skim the sounding shore,
And hear the swelling surges vainly roar.
Now, when the rosy morn began to rise,
And wav’d her saffron streamer thro’ the skies; 35
When Thetis blush’d in purple not her own,
And from her face the breathing winds were blown,
A sudden silence sate upon the sea,
And sweeping oars, with struggling, urge their way.
The Trojan, from the main, beheld a wood, 40
Which thick with shades and a brown horror stood:
Betwixt the trees the Tiber took his course,
With whirlpools dimpled; and with downward force,
That drove the sand along, he took his way,
And roll’d his yellow billows to the sea. 45
About him, and above, and round the wood,
The birds that haunt the borders of his flood,
That bath’d within, or basked upon his side,
To tuneful songs their narrow throats applied.
The captain gives command; the joyful train 50

[...] Read more

poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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Much Too Old and Too Lazy

You wanna go to bed early,
And get up late.
You wanna make demands,
And not appreciate.
You want to say what you wanna,
And think you are great.
But today is that day,
No more mistakes you make.

You are much too old and too lazy for me.
And today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're going to do something around here if you want to eat.
Because today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're going to clean your room and sweep the floor.
Because today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're gonna do as I say or get your own place.

You wanna go to bed early,
And get up late.
You wanna make demands,
And not appreciate.
Tired of you,
I am.

You are much too old and too lazy for me.
And today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're going to do something around here if you want to eat.
Because today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're going to clean your room and sweep the floor.
Because today is that day no more mistakes you make.
You're gonna do as I say or get your own place.

You wanna go to bed early,
And get up late.
You wanna make demands,
And not appreciate.
You want to say what you wanna,
And think you are great.
But today is that day,
No more mistakes you make.

Tired of you,
I am.
You are much too old and too lazy for me.
Tired of you,
I am.
You are much too old and too lazy for me.
Tired of you,
I am.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
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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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III. The Other Half-Rome

Another day that finds her living yet,
Little Pompilia, with the patient brow
And lamentable smile on those poor lips,
And, under the white hospital-array,
A flower-like body, to frighten at a bruise
You'd think, yet now, stabbed through and through again,
Alive i' the ruins. 'T is a miracle.
It seems that, when her husband struck her first,
She prayed Madonna just that she might live
So long as to confess and be absolved;
And whether it was that, all her sad life long
Never before successful in a prayer,
This prayer rose with authority too dread,—
Or whether, because earth was hell to her,
By compensation, when the blackness broke
She got one glimpse of quiet and the cool blue,
To show her for a moment such things were,—
Or else,—as the Augustinian Brother thinks,
The friar who took confession from her lip,—
When a probationary soul that moved
From nobleness to nobleness, as she,
Over the rough way of the world, succumbs,
Bloodies its last thorn with unflinching foot,
The angels love to do their work betimes,
Staunch some wounds here nor leave so much for God.
Who knows? However it be, confessed, absolved,
She lies, with overplus of life beside
To speak and right herself from first to last,
Right the friend also, lamb-pure, lion-brave,
Care for the boy's concerns, to save the son
From the sire, her two-weeks' infant orphaned thus,
And—with best smile of all reserved for him—
Pardon that sire and husband from the heart.
A miracle, so tell your Molinists!

There she lies in the long white lazar-house.
Rome has besieged, these two days, never doubt,
Saint Anna's where she waits her death, to hear
Though but the chink o' the bell, turn o' the hinge
When the reluctant wicket opes at last,
Lets in, on now this and now that pretence,
Too many by half,—complain the men of art,—
For a patient in such plight. The lawyers first
Paid the due visit—justice must be done;
They took her witness, why the murder was.
Then the priests followed properly,—a soul
To shrive; 't was Brother Celestine's own right,
The same who noises thus her gifts abroad.
But many more, who found they were old friends,
Pushed in to have their stare and take their talk

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Golden Age

Long ere the Muse the strenuous chords had swept,
And the first lay as yet in silence slept,
A Time there was which since has stirred the lyre
To notes of wail and accents warm with fire;
Moved the soft Mantuan to his silvery strain,
And him who sobbed in pentametric pain;
To which the World, waxed desolate and old,
Fondly reverts, and calls the Age of Gold.

Then, without toil, by vale and mountain side,
Men found their few and simple wants supplied;
Plenty, like dew, dropped subtle from the air,
And Earth's fair gifts rose prodigal as prayer.
Love, with no charms except its own to lure,
Was swiftly answered by a love as pure.
No need for wealth; each glittering fruit and flower,
Each star, each streamlet, made the maiden's dower.
Far in the future lurked maternal throes,
And children blossomed painless as the rose.
No harrowing question `why,' no torturing `how,'
Bent the lithe frame or knit the youthful brow.
The growing mind had naught to seek or shun;
Like the plump fig it ripened in the sun.
From dawn to dark Man's life was steeped in joy,
And the gray sire was happy as the boy.
Nature with Man yet waged no troublous strife,
And Death was almost easier than Life.
Safe on its native mountains throve the oak,
Nor ever groaned 'neath greed's relentless stroke.
No fear of loss, no restlessness for more,
Drove the poor mariner from shore to shore.
No distant mines, by penury divined,
Made him the sport of fickle wave or wind.
Rich for secure, he checked each wish to roam,
And hugged the safe felicity of home.

Those days are long gone by; but who shall say
Why, like a dream, passed Saturn's Reign away?
Over its rise, its ruin, hangs a veil,
And naught remains except a Golden Tale.
Whether 'twas sin or hazard that dissolved
That happy scheme by kindly Gods evolved;
Whether Man fell by lucklessness or pride,-
Let jarring sects, and not the Muse, decide.
But when that cruel Fiat smote the earth,
Primeval Joy was poisoned at its birth.
In sorrow stole the infant from the womb,
The agëd crept in sorrow to the tomb.
The ground, so bounteous once, refused to bear
More than was wrung by sower, seed, and share.

[...] Read more

poem by Alfred Austin
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