fires
maims, kills, destroys
irreversibly
senryu by John Celes
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Vanity Kills
Have you heard the latest? (you love you)
Have you seen who just walked in (vain vain vain vain)
(uh huh, you love you) right over there
Shes so vain vain vain vain
Vain vain vain vain
Im glad youve found someone who loves you
But sad to say that someone is you
And now perhaps youll both be happy
Guess that makes two just you and you
Someone who cares so much about you
But does that someone have to be you
Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom yeah
Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom yeah
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, it kills
So glad I found you glancing in the mirror
Gazing deeply at loves patron saint
Admire the frame, survey the scenery
Or are you just inspecting the paint
Temptations strong modestys so weak
High on yourself humble you aint
Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom yeah
Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom yeah
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills (no way)
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, it kills
So vain, vain vain vain
You love you (yeah)
Give it, give it us, give it us
So vain, so vain, so vain
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, it dont pay bills
Vanity kills, you love you
Vanity kills, if the blast dont get you
Then the fallout will
You love you
song performed by Abc
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Love Kills
Love don't give no compensation
love don't pay no bills.
Love don't give no indication
love just won't stand still.
Love kills
drills you through your heart
Love kills
scars you from the start.
It's just a living pastime
ruling your heart line
stay for a lifetime.
Won't let you go 'cause love
love
love won't leave you alone.
Love don't take no resenration
love is no square deal.
Hey
love don't @ve no justification
strikes rike cold steel.
Love kills
drills you through your heart
Love kills
scars you from the start.
It's just a living pastime burning your lifeline
Gives you a hard time
Won't let you go 'cause love
love
love wonY leave you alone.
Hey
love can play with your emotions
open invitations to your heart.
Hey
love kills. Play with your emotions
open invitations to your heart
To your heart
to your heart
love kills.
Love kills
hey
hey
love kills
love kills
love kills
love kills.
Love can play with your emotions
open invitations.
Love kills
hey
drills you through your heart.
Love kills
[...] Read more
song performed by Queen
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 9
WHILE these affairs in distant places pass’d,
The various Iris Juno sends with haste,
To find bold Turnus, who, with anxious thought,
The secret shade of his great grandsire sought.
Retir’d alone she found the daring man, 5
And op’d her rosy lips, and thus began:
“What none of all the gods could grant thy vows,
That, Turnus, this auspicious day bestows.
Æneas, gone to seek th’ Arcadian prince,
Has left the Trojan camp without defense; 10
And, short of succors there, employs his pains
In parts remote to raise the Tuscan swains.
Now snatch an hour that favors thy designs;
Unite thy forces, and attack their lines.”
This said, on equal wings she pois’d her weight, 15
And form’d a radiant rainbow in her flight.
The Daunian hero lifts his hands and eyes,
And thus invokes the goddess as she flies:
“Iris, the grace of heav’n, what pow’r divine
Has sent thee down, thro’ dusky clouds to shine? 20
See, they divide; immortal day appears,
And glitt’ring planets dancing in their spheres!
With joy, these happy omens I obey,
And follow to the war the god that leads the way.”
Thus having said, as by the brook he stood, 25
He scoop’d the water from the crystal flood;
Then with his hands the drops to heav’n he throws,
And loads the pow’rs above with offer’d vows.
Now march the bold confed’rates thro’ the plain,
Well hors’d, well clad; a rich and shining train. 30
Messapus leads the van; and, in the rear,
The sons of Tyrrheus in bright arms appear.
In the main battle, with his flaming crest,
The mighty Turnus tow’rs above the rest.
Silent they move, majestically slow, 35
Like ebbing Nile, or Ganges in his flow.
The Trojans view the dusty cloud from far,
And the dark menace of the distant war.
Caicus from the rampire saw it rise,
Black’ning the fields, and thick’ning thro’ the skies. 40
Then to his fellows thus aloud he calls:
“What rolling clouds, my friends, approach the walls?
Arm! arm! and man the works! prepare your spears
And pointed darts! the Latian host appears.”
Thus warn’d, they shut their gates; with shouts ascend 45
The bulwarks, and, secure, their foes attend:
For their wise gen’ral, with foreseeing care,
Had charg’d them not to tempt the doubtful war,
Nor, tho’ provok’d, in open fields advance,
But close within their lines attend their chance. 50
[...] Read more
poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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Sex Kills
I pulled up behind a cadillac;
We were waiting for the light;
And I took a look at his license plate-
It said, just ice.
Is justice just ice?
Governed by greed and lust?
Just the strong doing what they can
And the weak suffering what they must?
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Doctors pills give you brand new ills
And the bills bury you like an avalanche
And lawyers havent been this popular
Since robespierre slaughtered half of france!
And indian chiefs with their old beliefs know
The balance is undone-crazy ions-
You can feel it out in traffic;
Everyone hates everyone!
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
All these jackoffs at the office
The rapist in the pool
Oh and the tragedies in the nurseries-
Little kids packin guns to school
The ulcerated ozone
These tumors of the skin-
This hostile sun beating down on
This massive mess were in!
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
Sex kills ...
song performed by Joni Mitchell
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Zero Mechanism
it takes more, it takes more
it takes more
and now that i'm willing to beg
now it stands right in front of me
dig this dirt out from under my nails
and I feel this, picture my face
sad to say not today
it just, it takes more
it takes more, it takes more,
it takes more, takes more
it destroys me, i'm sitting here
it destroys me, i'm just sitting here
destorys me, i'm sitting here
it destroys me, i'm sitting here
it destroys me, i'm sitting here
it destroys me, i'm just sitting here
destroys me, i'm sitting here
it destroys me, i'm just sitting here
and it stands right in front of me
dig this dirt out from under my nails
and I feel this, picture my face
its sad to say not today
it just, it takes more
i'm just sitting here more
and picture my face, it takes more
its sad to say, i feel this way
it takes...
song performed by Used
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The Book of Urizen
PRELUDIUM TO THE [FIRST] BOOK OF URIZEN
Of the primeval Priests assum'd power,
When Eternals spurn'd back his religion;
And gave him a place in the north,
Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary.
Eternals I hear your call gladly,
Dictate swift winged words, & fear not
To unfold your dark visions of torment.
Chap: I
1. Lo, a shadow of horror is risen
In Eternity! Unknown, unprolific!
Self-closd, all-repelling: what Demon
Hath form'd this abominable void
This soul-shudd'ring vacuum? — Some said
"It is Urizen", But unknown, abstracted
Brooding secret, the dark power hid.
2. Times on times he divided, & measur'd
Space by space in his ninefold darkness
Unseen, unknown! changes appeard
In his desolate mountains rifted furious
By the black winds of perturbation
3. For he strove in battles dire
In unseen conflictions with shapes
Bred from his forsaken wilderness,
Of beast, bird, fish, serpent & element
Combustion, blast, vapour and cloud.
4. Dark revolving in silent activity:
Unseen in tormenting passions;
An activity unknown and horrible;
A self-contemplating shadow,
In enormous labours occupied
5. But Eternals beheld his vast forests
Age on ages he lay, clos'd, unknown
Brooding shut in the deep; all avoid
The petrific abominable chaos
6. His cold horrors silent, dark Urizen
Prepar'd: his ten thousands of thunders
Rang'd in gloom'd array stretch out across
The dread world, & the rolling of wheels
As of swelling seas, sound in his clouds
In his hills of stor'd snows, in his mountains
[...] Read more
poem by William Blake (1794)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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When Love Kills Love
When love kills love
Suddenly I think I always knew
I had my share of mistakes made quite a few
Finally I know when that's for sure
I don't look back in anger anymore
Suddenly the sun comes up again
There's a new beginning when we pass the end
Finally I know when that's for sure
I don't look back in anger anymore
When love kills love
Will someone rescue me
When love kills love
It's cutting through so deep
Suddenly I wake up from a dream
Someone tells me I've been talking in my sleep
Finally I know when that's for sure
I don't believe in daydreams anymore
When love kills love
Will someone set me free
When love kills love
It's cutting through so deep
How can we choose when all we loose is all we have
We run away from all the pain
When love kills love
Will someone rescue me
When love kills love
It's cutting through so deep
When love kills love
song performed by Scorpions
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Love That Kills
Will you take me slowly
Will you lead me all the way
Will you sing me your songs
Until I am ready for
The love that kills
Yeah!
I have known you in the
Sheets and folds of many lifetimes
You were there when I was made
And I will speak to you in the language of dream until
Love comes my way
Love that kills
Yeah!
Hey I will ride on a dolphin, rain in my face,
Wind in all of my sails
Theres a shadow hard on my heels now,
But Im still trying to, Im still trying to...
Get to the place, were [rolling like strippers over spill]
I have come a long way and I need my cup refilled
So when you come for me slowly
When you come knocking on my door
When the soul sings
And the man is still
I will be ready
I will be ready
Yes I will be ready for the love that kills
Yeah!
The love that kills
The love that kills, kills, kills
The love that kills
song performed by Waterboys
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Racism Kills
Racist people,
Are the saddest these days.
Racist people,
And their ways...
Are fading away.
Hatred kills!
Chills.
And often excused,
As heroism.
Hatred kills!
And for thrills,
Often is defended...
As a pride.
No matter if it hangs...
Or drags alongside,
Insecurites denied.
Hiding the fact...
Their is jealousy behind,
Evil and often...
Masquerading eyes.
Black, white...
Brown or yellow folks,
Provoking attacks.
On others.
Or themselves!
To stab with a vengeance,
Behind a back.
To distort facts!
Racism kills.
And there is no sense in it.
Racism kills.
And the sense that's meant.
Racism kills.
Leaving minds incensed.
Exposing ills...
And evil wills.
Racism kills.
And there is no sense in it.
Racism kills.
And the sense that's meant.
Racism kills.
Leaving minds incensed.
Exposing ills...
And evil wills.
And evil wills to kill will end.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A Prophecy
The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent,
Sullen fires across the Atlantic glow to America's shore:
Piercing the souls of warlike men, who rise in silent night,
Washington, Franklin, Paine & Warren, Gates, Hancock & Green;
Meet on the coast glowing with blood from Albions fiery Prince.
Washington spoke; Friends of America look over the Atlantic sea;
A bended bow is lifted in heaven, & a heavy iron chain t158
Descends link by link from Albions cliffs across the sea to bind
Brothers & sons of America, till our faces pale and yellow;
Heads deprest, voices weak, eyes downcast, hands work-bruis'd,
Feet bleeding on the sultry sands, and the furrows of the whip
Descend to generations that in future times forget.––
The strong voice ceas'd; for a terrible blast swept over the heaving sea;
The eastern cloud rent; on his cliffs stood Albions wrathful Prince
A dragon form clashing his scales at midnight he arose,
And flam'd red meteors round the land of Albion beneath[.]
His voice, his locks, his awful shoulders, and his glowing eyes,
Appear to the Americans upon the cloudy night.
Solemn heave the Atlantic waves between the gloomy nations,
Swelling, belching from its deeps red clouds & raging Fires!
Albion is sick. America faints! enrag'd the Zenith grew.
As human blood shooting its veins all round the orbed heaven
Red rose the clouds from the Atlantic in vast wheels of blood
And in the red clouds rose a Wonder o'er the Atlantic sea;
Intense! naked! a Human fire fierce glowing, as the wedge
Of iron heated in the furnace; his terrible limbs were fire
With myriads of cloudy terrors banners dark & towers
Surrounded; heat but not light went thro' the murky atmosphere
The King of England looking westward trembles at the vision
Albions Angel stood beside the Stone of night, and saw
The terror like a comet, or more like the planet red
That once inclos'd the terrible wandering comets in its sphere.
Then Mars thou wast our center, & the planets three flew round
Thy crimson disk; so e'er the Sun was rent from thy red sphere;
The Spectre glowd his horrid length staining the temple long
With beams of blood; & thus a voice came forth, and shook the temple
The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up;
The bones of death, the cov'ring clay, the sinews shrunk & dry'd.
Reviving shake, inspiring move, breathing! awakening!
Spring like redeemed captives when their bonds & bars are burst;
Let the slave grinding at the mill, run out into the field:
[...] Read more
poem by William Blake from America a Prophecy (1793)
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Fire Of Love
Fire of Love that burns and destroys,
Fire, fire that causes sufferings,
Infernal fire that curses,
Kills and causes death.
Broken-hearted, isolated and sad;
Mad, nerve-racking and humiliated.
Infernal fire that curses,
Fire of love that burns and destroys.
The torrential winds and waves
Have invaded and inundated the heaven.
Fire, fire that causes sufferings,
Kills and causes death.
Broken-hearted, isolated and sad.
Let me drown in the absinth.
Incarcerate me in the labyrinth
Mad, nerve-racking and humiliated.
Fire, fire that coagulates and bakes.
Fire of love that burns and destroys.
Stop right there! I no longer wish to suffer;
It is too early to die.
Sing thousand roosters! Ring thousand bells!
Fire of love, fire, fireworks
For the singing and humming youngsters
And the drugged and intoxicated militiamen.
Fire of love that burns and destroys.
Often, it is sad to love too much.
Often, it is nice to dream.
Fire of love that sparkles and shines.
Fire of love that keeps hope alive.
Fire that lights up the road to Liberty.
Fire, fire that sparkles and brightens
The whole universe: the earth and the ocean.
poem by Hebert Logerie
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Aspirin Damage
I get these killer headaches
I get one everyday
I wake up with a migraine
Since you ran away
Got a load of tension
Burnin' up my neck
Something is wrong with my suspension
So pass those tablets to this wreck
Aspirin damage, Aspirin damage
Kills the pain, destroys the brain
No one told me 'bout Aspirin damage
Sometimes I find myself shakin'
From the medication taken
Oh yeah.
I balance my Excedrin
And Anacins in stacks
I'm a pain reliever junkie
I got a Bayer on my back.
I went to see the doctor
He walked me down the hall
Said "Strip down 'til you're naked
Your suit, your tie and all."
Aspirin damage, Aspirin damage
Kills the pain, destroys the brain
Aspirin damage, my disadvantage
Sometimes I find myself shakin'
From the medication taken
Oh yeah.
Aspirin damage, Aspirin damage
Kills the pain, destroys the brain
No one told me 'bout Aspirin damage
Sometimes I find myself shakin'
From the medication taken
Oh yeah
song performed by Alice Cooper
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Annus Mirabilis, The Year Of Wonders, 1666
1
In thriving arts long time had Holland grown,
Crouching at home and cruel when abroad:
Scarce leaving us the means to claim our own;
Our King they courted, and our merchants awed.
2
Trade, which, like blood, should circularly flow,
Stopp'd in their channels, found its freedom lost:
Thither the wealth of all the world did go,
And seem'd but shipwreck'd on so base a coast.
3
For them alone the heavens had kindly heat;
In eastern quarries ripening precious dew:
For them the Idumaean balm did sweat,
And in hot Ceylon spicy forests grew.
4
The sun but seem'd the labourer of the year;
Each waxing moon supplied her watery store,
To swell those tides, which from the line did bear
Their brimful vessels to the Belgian shore.
5
Thus mighty in her ships, stood Carthage long,
And swept the riches of the world from far;
Yet stoop'd to Rome, less wealthy, but more strong:
And this may prove our second Punic war.
6
What peace can be, where both to one pretend?
(But they more diligent, and we more strong)
Or if a peace, it soon must have an end;
For they would grow too powerful, were it long.
7
Behold two nations, then, engaged so far
That each seven years the fit must shake each land:
Where France will side to weaken us by war,
Who only can his vast designs withstand.
8
See how he feeds the Iberian with delays,
To render us his timely friendship vain:
And while his secret soul on Flanders preys,
He rocks the cradle of the babe of Spain.
9
Such deep designs of empire does he lay
[...] Read more
poem by John Dryden
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Nature Destroys Nature
Nature destroys Nature in storms and earthquakes
Man destroys man on the battlefield
And man destroys Nature because of the blood that they shed
Sinks, to the center of the Earth
Man destroys Nature far more worse
Than Nature destroys it’s self
Therefore we must do
What we can
To save Nature
Before it’s completely destroyed
And therefore,
Leaving us with nothing to cherish.
I am Qalme Tari Mistress of Death Nat. Norville.
Cretics Welcome
poem by Athena Goddess of Wisdom Lumis Light to all
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 10
THE GATES of heav’n unfold: Jove summons all
The gods to council in the common hall.
Sublimely seated, he surveys from far
The fields, the camp, the fortune of the war,
And all th’ inferior world. From first to last, 5
The sov’reign senate in degrees are plac’d.
Then thus th’ almighty sire began: “Ye gods,
Natives or denizens of blest abodes,
From whence these murmurs, and this change of mind,
This backward fate from what was first design’d? 10
Why this protracted war, when my commands
Pronounc’d a peace, and gave the Latian lands?
What fear or hope on either part divides
Our heav’ns, and arms our powers on diff’rent sides?
A lawful time of war at length will come, 15
(Nor need your haste anticipate the doom),
When Carthage shall contend the world with Rome,
Shall force the rigid rocks and Alpine chains,
And, like a flood, come pouring on the plains.
Then is your time for faction and debate, 20
For partial favor, and permitted hate.
Let now your immature dissension cease;
Sit quiet, and compose your souls to peace.”
Thus Jupiter in few unfolds the charge;
But lovely Venus thus replies at large: 25
“O pow’r immense, eternal energy,
(For to what else protection can we fly?)
Seest thou the proud Rutulians, how they dare
In fields, unpunish’d, and insult my care?
How lofty Turnus vaunts amidst his train, 30
In shining arms, triumphant on the plain?
Ev’n in their lines and trenches they contend,
And scarce their walls the Trojan troops defend:
The town is fill’d with slaughter, and o’erfloats,
With a red deluge, their increasing moats. 35
Æneas, ignorant, and far from thence,
Has left a camp expos’d, without defense.
This endless outrage shall they still sustain?
Shall Troy renew’d be forc’d and fir’d again?
A second siege my banish’d issue fears, 40
And a new Diomede in arms appears.
One more audacious mortal will be found;
And I, thy daughter, wait another wound.
Yet, if with fates averse, without thy leave,
The Latian lands my progeny receive, 45
Bear they the pains of violated law,
And thy protection from their aid withdraw.
But, if the gods their sure success foretell;
If those of heav’n consent with those of hell,
To promise Italy; who dare debate 50
[...] Read more
poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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Love Kills
Sid was a punk rock king
Nancy was a broken queen
Their lives were so glamorous
Sid and Nancy were a mess
When you're hooked on heroin
Don't you know you'll never win
Drugs don't ever pay
You really did it your way
Love kills
Love kills
Love kills
We still believe in anarchy
It makes me so damn angry
Sid and Nancy meant a lot to me
You may be dead but your souls are free
Like Romeo and Juliet
You two made a pact of death
Like the needle that ya used
Sid and Nancy were born to lose
Love kills
Love kills
Love kills
Sid never meant any harm
He shot some dope into his arm
All he wanted was some fun
Now she's lying in a pool of blood
Always loaded
song performed by Ramones from Animal Boy
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Life Kills
When you fall into your seat, you know you feel you might be dying
As the breath rasps in and out, of your burning throat
You cant control your lungs because youre so tired
Youre half awake with one arm in your coat
Well thank God that there is someone there to drive you
You know you couldnt make it on your own
He helps you through the door
You sit down on the floor
And youre asleep before you are alone
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
For a while it seems exhaustion has subsided
The day is over and the moon is high
But your period of work is predecided
Funny how the hours of freedom seem to fly
Well thank God that there is someone there to drive you
You know you couldnt make it on your own
He helps you in the door
You sit down as before
Another shift to pay another loan
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
Your life is like a schedule
You run to meet the bills
No ones awake to tell you
Life kills
song performed by Human League
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To Be With You In Heaven
Music :rudolf schenker
Lyrics:klaus meine
You can shoot me down
You can drag me round
Girl Ill get you
It wont be long
You can smash my heart
You can trash our love
But my desire for you is much too strong
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
You can waste my time
But you cant change my mind
I wont stop you
So just go on
You can play your games
But its all in vain
Cause my desire for you is much too strong
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
Girl Im on fire
Heaven seems so close tonight
Girl I would die for your love
You can shoot me down
You can drag me round
Girl Ill get you
It wont be long
You can smash my heart
You can trash our love
But my desire for you is much too strong
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
To be with in heaven
I would go through the darkest hell
In heaven
Theres no cure for love that kills
[...] Read more
song performed by Scorpions
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The Columbiad: Book III
The Argument
Actions of the Inca Capac. A general invasion of his dominions threatened by the mountain savages. Rocha, the Inca's son, sent with a few companions to offer terms of peace. His embassy. His adventure with the worshippers of the volcano. With those of the storm, on the Andes. Falls in with the savage armies. Character and speech of Zamor, their chief. Capture of Rocha and his companions. Sacrifice of the latter. Death song of Azonto. War dance. March of the savage armies down the mountains to Peru. Incan army meets them. Battle joins. Peruvians terrified by an eclipse of the sun, and routed. They fly to Cusco. Grief of Oella, supposing the darkness to be occasioned by the death of Rocha. Sun appears. Peruvians from the city wall discover Roch an altar in the savage camp. They march in haste out of the city and engage the savages. Exploits of Capac. Death of Zamor. Recovery of Rocha, and submission of the enemy.
Now twenty years these children of the skies
Beheld their gradual growing empire rise.
They ruled with rigid but with generous care,
Diffused their arts and sooth'd the rage of war,
Bade yon tall temple grace their favorite isle,
The mines unfold, the cultured valleys smile,
Those broad foundations bend their arches high,
And rear imperial Cusco to the sky;
Wealth, wisdom, force consolidate the reign
From the rude Andes to the western main.
But frequent inroads from the savage bands
Lead fire and slaughter o'er the labor'd lands;
They sack the temples, the gay fields deface,
And vow destruction to the Incan race.
The king, undaunted in defensive war,
Repels their hordes, and speeds their flight afar;
Stung with defeat, they range a wider wood,
And rouse fresh tribes for future fields of blood.
Where yon blue ridges hang their cliffs on high,
And suns infulminate the stormful sky,
The nations, temper'd to the turbid air,
Breathe deadly strife, and sigh for battle's blare;
Tis here they meditate, with one vast blow,
To crush the race that rules the plains below.
Capac with caution views the dark design,
Learns from all points what hostile myriads join.
And seeks in time by proffer'd leagues to gain
A bloodless victory, and enlarge his reign.
His eldest hope, young Rocha, at his call,
Resigns his charge within the temple wall;
In whom began, with reverend forms of awe,
The functions grave of priesthood and of law,
In early youth, ere yet the ripening sun
Had three short lustres o'er his childhood run,
The prince had learnt, beneath his father's hand,
The well-framed code that sway'd the sacred land;
With rites mysterious served the Power divine,
Prepared the altar and adorn'd the shrine,
Responsive hail'd, with still returning praise,
Each circling season that the God displays,
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poem by Joel Barlow
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Orlando Furioso Canto 16
ARGUMENT
Gryphon finds traitorous Origilla nigh
Damascus city, with Martano vile.
Slaughtered the Saracens and Christians lie
By thousands and by thousands heaped this while;
And if the Moor outside of Paris die,
Within the Sarzan so destroys each pile,
Such slaughter deals, that greater ill than this
Never before has been exprest, I wiss.
I
Love's penalties are manifold and dread:
Of which I have endured the greater part,
And, to my cost, in these so well am read,
That I can speak of them as 'twere my art.
Hence if I say, or if I ever said,
(Did speech or living page my thoughts impart)
'One ill is grievous and another light.'
Yield me belief, and deem my judgment right.
II
I say, I said, and, while I live, will say,
'He, who is fettered by a worthy chain,
Though his desire his lady should gainsay,
And, every way averse, his suit disdain;
Though Love deprive him of all praised pay,
After long time and trouble spent in vain,
He, if his heart be placed well worthily,
Needs not lament though he should waste and die.'
III
Let him lament, who plays a slavish part,
Whom two bright eyes and lovely tresses please:
Beneath which beauties lurks a wanton heart
With little that is pure, and much of lees.
The wretch would fly; but bears in him a dart,
Like wounded stag, whichever way he flees;
Dares not confess, yet cannot quench, his flame,
And of himself and worthless love has shame.
IV
The youthful Gryphon finds him in this case,
Who sees the error which he cannot right;
He sees how vilely he his heart does place
On faithless Origille, his vain delight:
Yet evil use doth sovereign reason chase,
And free will is subdued by appetite.
Though a foul mind the lady's actions speak,
Her, wheresoe'er she is, must Gryphon seek.
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poem by Ludovico Ariosto
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