There was an Old Man of the Cape,
Who possessed a large Barbary ape,
Till the ape one dark night
Set the house all alight,
Which burned that Old Man of the Cape.
limerick by Edward Lear
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
How A Naked Mole
breed pit bull puppy pictures breed pitbull pics breed pitbull pure breed pitbull snooty breed pitbulls breed platies breed platties breed plecos breed plecostomus breed point tabulating breed points breed points dog breed points havanese breed points veterans breed pomeranians breed poo puppy shih breed poodle chihuahua breed poodle toy breed portuguese water dog breed poultry rare breed predisposition to cruciate injurie breed primarily seal points breed problems with labadoodles breed problems with labradoodles breed professional pug training breed profile american pit bull terrier breed profile bierwer breed profile bierwer yorkshire terrier breed profile british blue breed profile exmoor pony breed profile german bierwer breed profile hungarian hound breed profile hungarian viszla breed profile labrador retriever breed profile maine coon cats breed profile munchkin cats breed profile of the weimaraner breed profile persian cats temperament breed profile schipperke breed profile selle francais breed profile siamese cat breed profile sphynx breed profile sphynx cat breed profiles dog breeds boxer breed puddle of mudd breed puppies breed puppy pure breed puppy teacup breed puppymill rescue toy wolfspirit breed pure rescue breed pygmy goats breed quail breed questionaire breed quiz selector breed rabbit tan breed rabbits for sale kansas city breed rabbits timeline breed racing greyhound breed ragdoll breed ragdoll cats breed rankings breed rap game mp3 breed rare survival trust breed rare turkey breed rarr monster tee breed rat terrier breed receiver breed red cows breed registry usa breed registry wikipedia the free encycl breed reptans breed rescue and virginia breed rescue black labradors breed rescue club minnesota breed rescue corgi breed rescue corgie breed rescue dallas breed rescue feline breed rescue french bulldogs breed rescue georgia breed rescue groups houston texas breed rescue groups in texas breed rescue groups indianapolis indiana breed rescue groups minnesota breed rescue husky breed rescue in colorado breed rescue in illinois breed rescue in michigan breed rescue in new jersey breed rescue jack russell breed rescue list cat breed rescue list co ok breed rescue list utah breed rescue maine coon breed rescue mississippi breed rescue northern virginia breed rescue of south louisiana breed rescue of terriers nz breed rescue organizations lake charles breed rescue organizations list texas breed rescue policies and procedures breed rescue policy and procedures breed rescue springer spaniel breed rescue wa breed rescue wa huesemann breed rescue weimerainer breed rescue zealots breed rescues list national cat breed rescues of mississippi breed rescuing st louis breed rescuw breed responsibly breed restrctions huskies breed restriction laws breed restriction list insurance breed restriction on german shepard dogs breed restrictions akita breed restrictions huskies breed restrictive legislation breed retrievr breed reviews breed rhodesian ridgeback dogs breed roan to dun breed roan to dun genetics breed roan to roan breed roll mp3 breed rooster breed rottie arizona breed rottweiler name ranger location mi breed rottweler breed rough mix breed s tobacco activism guide breed san juan rabbits breed savannah cat breed scarab beetle breed schipperke breed selecter dog quiz breed selection quiz breed selective legislation breed selector breed selector akc breed selector and dog breed selector au breed selector dog breed selector dog iams breed selector dog purina breed selector dog quiz breed selector dominance breed selector interactive breed selector quiz breed selectors breed seminar content breed seminar presentations breed series breed service golden retriever mi breed severum breed severum in a ten gallon breed sheba breed sheep hebridean rare year graze breed sheep in spring breed sheltie breed shi shus breed shiny pokemon breed shitzu breed shiz shus breed short ears black muzzle stocky breed showing papillons ears breed shrimp labrador retriever dog breed labrador retriever dog breed handbook labrador retriever english breed labrador retriever pit bull mixed breed labrador retriever puppies breed nsw aus labrador retriever puppies the dogs bree labrador retriever types breeds labrador retrievers breed distinctive labrador retrievers breeds labrador types of breeds labradore cross breed labradore spaniel cross breed labraodor retreivers labrador breeders l labrodoodle breed labrodor and rottweiler mixed breed lactating small breed dogs lactating small breed dogs calcium lady and the tramp dog breed lady and the tramp dog breeds laege cow breeds lagotta dog breed lagotto romognolo dog breed lahore pigeon breed laika breed club laika breed club uk laika breeds beregovoy laika dog breed laika the dog breed lake pepin half breed lake pepin half breed rolls lakeland terrier breed info lakeside large dog breed rescue lakewood wa dog breed restrictions lama breeds lamancha breed weaknesses lamb breeds and pictures lamb breeds chart lancier dog breed landrace breed landseer breed standard landseer dog breed landseer dog breed information lanois dog breed lap boxer breed lap cat breed lap cat breeds lap dog breeds lap dog mix breeds lapaso dog breed lapdog breeds laperm breed lapponian herder breed standard laps apso breed standard laps psa dog breed lapsa breeds lapsa dog breed lapsa opsa dog breed lapso opso mixed breed with pomeranian lard hog breed larg breed dog boxes for sale large aggressive breeds of dogs large breed 2 leather dog collar large breed animal boarding large breed animal boarding minnesota large breed bat large breed beagles large breed bluetick pitbull puppies large breed boarding kennels az large breed brazilian fella dog large breed brazilian fella dog pictures large breed canine nutrition calcium req large breed canine nutrition research large breed cedar dog house large breed chihuahua large breed chows large breed christmas clothing large breed crate large breed designer dog collars large breed discrimination in parks large breed doag easy to train large breed doberman large breed dog accerseries large breed dog apparel large breed dog bath large breed dog bathtub large breed dog bed large breed dog beds free shipping large breed dog calcium and phosphorus large breed dog clothes patterns large breed dog collar large breed dog collars fish large breed dog collors large breed dog crate large breed dog crate cover large breed dog cysts large breed dog exercise large breed dog exercise guidelines large breed dog exercise warnings large breed dog facts large breed dog feeders large breed dog food protein large breed dog gestation large breed dog gestation period large breed dog harness large breed dog igloo large breed dog items large breed dog kennel large breed dog muzzles large breed dog names large breed dog nutrition large breed dog photo gallery large breed dog ramp large breed dog shock collars large breed dog surgery saint louis large breed dog sweaters large breed dog trivia large breed dog tub large breed dog veteranarians wisconsin large breed doggy door large breed doghouse large breed doghouses large breed dogs and bone problems large breed dogs bloat large breed dogs bloat prevention large breed dogs good with ren large breed dogs great white large breed dogs guard castles large breed dogs hurcules large breed dogs in airline cabins large breed dogs in airplane cabins large breed dogs tan large breed dogs thailand large breed dogs that dont shed large breed duplex dog houses large breed family and protection dogs large breed german shepards large breed german shepherd large breed glucosamine benefits large breed glucosamine chondroitin bene large breed guard dog large breed harnesses large breed horse large breed house cats large breed housecats large breed hypo alergenic large breed hypoallergenic large breed kitten food large breed labradors large breed lamb and rice large breed leather collars large breed leather dog collar large breed leather dog collars large breed litterbox large breed meetup large breed non shedding dogs large breed of catahoulas large breed of dog mountain rescue large breed of doghouses large breed of dogs large breed of domestic house cats large breed of housecat large breed of pet cat large breed pet friendly rental properti large breed pitbull large breed pitbull kennels large breed pitbull terriers large breed pitbulls large breed plastic kennel large breed professional dog clippers large breed puppies in austin tx large breed puppy care briard large breed puppy care kit large breed puppy diet large breed puppy dog food large breed puppy dogfood large breed puppy food large breed puppy food protein large breed puppy food review large breed puppy food sample large breed puppy food trials large breed puppy foods large breed puppy foods lonewolf brand large breed puppy foods wolf large breed puppy foods wolf brand large breed puppy for sale large breed puppy nutrition large breed puppy rescue large breed red heelers large breed reflective vest large breed rescue norco ca large breed rescue ontario large breed rescue quebec large breed resuce evansville in large breed short hair dogs large breed shorthair dog coat sweater large breed size cats large breed soft dog crate large breed south beach dog collars large breed spayed dogs large breed temple dog large breed toys large breed vet in levittown pa large breed veterinarian tucson large breed veterinarians large breed waist belt large breed water dogs large breed whelping box large breeds of cats large breeds of ponies large bully breed large bully breeds large cat breed large cats breed large cats breed exotic large chested medium sized dog breeds large docked tails mixed breed pup large dof breeds large dog breed large dog breed elevated bowl large dog breed english bull hound large dog breed from south africa large dog breed info large dog breed no drool large dog breed pictures large dog breed recipes watch dogs breeds watch horses breed watch monkeys breed watch the breed watch wife breed watchdog breed watchdog breed dog watchdog breed pitbull watchdog breeds watchdogs breeds watching animals breed watching animals breed humans watching wild animals breed watching wives breed water conditions to breed mosquitos water dog breed water dragon breed standards water rescue breed dog water resistant wool breed water spaniel dog breed water test pointing breeds waterdog breed watusi breed of cattle wax worm breed we are a dying breed we breed speed we worship you isarel new breed we worship you israel new breed web foot breeds web-footed dog breeds web-footed hound breeds webbed feet dog breeds webfoot breeds webkinz codes for rare breeds webquest dog breeds website for all dog breeds websites on horse breeds wee-chon mixed breed weenie dogs breeds weight chart dog breeds weight limit on rabbit breeds weimaraner breed weimaraner breed clubs weimaraner breed diseases weimaraner breed info weimaraner breed information weimaraner breed photos weimaraner breed profile weimaraner breed standards weimaraner dog breed weimaraner dog breeds weimaraner mixed breed weimaraner rottweiler cross breed weimaraners dog breed weimer raner breed of dog weimerainer breed standard weimeraner breed weimeraner breed information weimeraner breeds weimeraner dog breed weimeraner dog breed akc weimeraner dog breeds weimeraner rottweiler cross breed weimeraner viszla mix breed weimerarner breed clubs weimereimer breed info weimereimer breed photos weimereiner breed photos weimeriener darker breeds weiner dog breed weinhaimer breed weinheimer breed weinheimer dog breed weinmaraner breed disposition weinmariner breed weinmeraner breed info weinmeraner dog breed weinmeraner dog breed standards weinreimer dog breed weird cross breeds weird crss breeds weird dog breed mixes weird mixed breed animals weirdest dog breed welch dog breed well behaved dog breeds well breed pets well mannered dog breed well-mannered poniy breeds well-mannered pony breeds wellness kibble for small toy breed wells and breed wellsummer chicken breed characteristics welsch terrior breed information welsh breed welsh breed of dog welsh cardigan corgies breed clubs welsh cardin corgi breed info welsh cat breed welsh corgi and collie mix breed welsh corgi breed infomation welsh corgi breed pembroke dog welsh corgi dog breed welsh corgi dog rescue breed purebreds welsh dog breed welsh dog breeds welsh gorgi breed welsh pembrook corgi breed welsh pony breed welsh terrier breed information welsh terrier breed standard welsh terriers and dog breeds welsumer chicken breed wendy rose half breed chronicles were a albatross breeds were did the pitbull breed originate were is the dying breed now werriwa all breeds dog training club wes craven the breed wes cravens the breed west bend insurance dog breed restrictio west half breed scrip 1885 west highland terrier beagle cross breed west highland terrier breed west highland terrier breed info west highland white dog breed west highland white terrier breed standa west highland white terrier dog breed west higland terrier dog breed west indies dog breeds westerhoven dog breed western breed tack michigan western nc all breed dog rescue western painted turtle breed western pond turtle captive breed westhighland terrier breed of dogs westie bichon mix breed dogs westie breed westie breed info westie breed of dog westie breed of dogs westie cairn breed westie dog breed westie dog breeds westie mixed breed dogs westie shih tzu mixed breed dog westies breed westies breeds westies cairn breed westies dog breed westin breed of dog westminster breed 2008 westminster breed club westminster breed judging video westminster dog breeds westminster dog show breed entries westminster dog show breed judging westminster dog show breed winners westminster dog show breeds westminster dog show new breeds westminster new breeds westminster results 2008 breed westminsters dog breeds weston breed of dog westphalian breed registry brand westphalian horse breed westphalian horse breed brands westy dog breed wether goat breed information whales breeds southern ocean what 2 breeds make a clydesdale what age can you breed chihuahuas what age do cats breed what age do i breed labradors what age do you breed maltese what age to breed a cat what age to breed flemish giants what age to breed pigs what age to breed yorkies what age to breed your dog what are animal breeds what are breed rescue groups what are breeds of smart dogs what are breeds unique characteristics p what are bull breeds of cattle what are european breeds of cattle what are gated horse breeds what are pug breeds like what are some cat breeds what are some squirrel dog breeds what are the breeds of llamas what are the oldest horse breeds what breed are cop dogs what breed are ginger cats what breed dog is gentlest what breed dog should i choose what breed dog was lassie what breed dogs fit my personality what breed horse originated in czechoslo what breed horse you what breed horses gladiators ride what breed hosre originated in czechosla what breed is a crusader rabbit what breed is a dolly dog what breed is a jug dog what breed is a morkie dog what breed is a samoyed dog what breed is a silly dog what breed is a tabby what breed is a tobiano what breed is a tuxedo cat what breed is benji what breed is czechoslovakia what breed is devon rex what breed is flicka pug puppies breed pug sheltie mix breed pugalier hybrid breed puggat breed information puggle breed puggle breed info puggle breed information puggle breed traits puggle dog breed puggle dog breeds puggle mixed breed puggles breeds puggles dog breed puggles new breed pugle dog breed pugs and larger breeds pugs breed pugs breed with beagels pugs dog breed pugs getting along with larger breeds pugs to breed puli breed puli breed as a pet puli breeds puli dog breed pulik dog breed pulldoggies working dog breeds pulldoggies working dog breeds text java pulli dog breed pultry breeds punish the breed not the deed punish the deed not the breed punish tjhe deed not the breed puppia dog harness for large breeds puppie breed puppie breed hybrid poodle puppie breed hybrid poodle bichon puppie breeds puppie mix breed puppies all breeds puppies arkansas breed puppies arkansas breed kennel puppies arkansas breed mill puppies breed puppies breed information dog breeds puppies breeds puppies by breed puppies cute breeds puppies diffrent breeds puppies for sale by breed puppies in different breeds puppies mixed breed puppies mixed breed poodles puppies mixed breeds puppies new breeds puppies of mixed breeds puppies small breeds for sale puppies toy breeds puppies what breed puppy and dog breeds puppy birth weight by breed puppy breed puppy breed choice puppy breed finder puppy breed finder quiz puppy breed illinois puppy breed illinois poodle puppy breed info puppy breed information puppy breed photo gallery puppy breed photos puppy breed picks puppy breed pics puppy breed picture puppy breed pictures puppy breed search puppy breed selector puppy breed selector quiz puppy breed shih poo puppy breed test puppy breeds puppy breeds and info puppy breeds and pictures puppy breeds collage puppy breeds identification puppy breeds identify photos puppy breeds list puppy breeds photos puppy breeds pictures puppy breeds that do not chew puppy breeds with pictures puppy care by breed puppy care for small breed dogs puppy care for specific breeds puppy cross breeds for sale puppy cut for maltese dog breed puppy designer breeds michigan puppy development by breed puppy dog breeds puppy dog breeds chihuahua shar pei puppy finder mixed breed puppy food large breed dogs puppy food vs large breed puppy puppy large breed puppy lhaso poo dog breed puppy love a new breed puppy love all breed puppy luv a new breed puppy luv new breed puppy markings breed puppy mills dogs breed pet stores puppy mills i breed dogs puppy mix breed puppy mixed breed puppy mixed breed finder puppy mixed breed wisconsin puppy names by breed puppy names for small breeds puppy nutrition for small breeds puppy page corgi breed pembroke welsh puppy photos by breed puppy pictures all breeds puppy pictures breeds puppy pictures by breed puppy pictures of every breed puppy pictures with breed name puppy pug breed info puppy purse carrier toy breeds puppy shar pei breed info puppy supplies for small breeds puppycat breed info puppys breeds puppys cross breed pur breed dog rescues pur breed spaniel purchase greyhoud pure breed puppy purdue glee club brian breed dismisal purdue glee club brian breed dismissal purdue glee club brian breed resigned pure bred dog breeds pure bred poodle breed pure breed pure breed 100 pound german shepard pure breed adoption pure breed akitas in philadelphia pa pure breed american eskimos pure breed american pitbull puppies pure breed animal shelters in virginia pure breed animal shelters sites pure breed animals cats health informati pure breed australian sheperd california pure breed beagle pure breed beagle puppies pure breed beagles pure breed beagles for sale pure breed beagles in texas pure breed beagles pups for sale pure breed black poddle pure breed blood test pure breed bloodtest pure breed boer goats pure breed boerboel pups pure breed boerboels pups pure breed boxer pure breed boxer pictures pure breed boxer puppies for sale pure breed boxer puppy pure breed boxer pups pure breed boxers pure breed breeding requirements pure breed brindle boxer pure breed brittney spaniel pure breed buldogs pure breed bulldogs pure breed california rabbits pure breed cat pure breed cat rescue pure breed cat rescues pure breed cats pure breed cats for sale pure breed cats kittens pure breed cattle pure breed charolias cattle pure breed chicken pure breed chickens pure breed chickens catologs pure breed chihuahua pure breed chihuahuas pure breed chiken pure breed chinese shitsu pure breed chinese shitsu in maryland pure breed chiuaua pure breed chocolate lab puppy pure breed chow chow puppies pure breed chow dogs for sale pure breed chow puppies pure breed cocker spanial pure breed cocker spanial puppies pure breed cocker spanial puupies pure breed collie breeder pure breed collie in joplin mo pure breed collies pure breed dalmations pure breed deog adoption orange county pure breed dog pure breed dog adoption horse breed societies horse breed societies uk horse breed society horse breed speeds horse breed standards horse breed sub-species horse breed symbols horse breed tatoos horse breed that originated from czechos horse breed that originated in czechoslo horse breed that oriniginated in czechos horse breed the conquistadores rode horse breed thoroughbred horse breed video horse breed with naturally bad temperame horse breed with pictures horse breed zorse horse breeded in czechoslovakia horse breeds horse breeds 101 horse breeds a through z horse breeds a to z horse breeds a z horse breeds and characteristics horse breeds and color horse breeds and colors horse breeds and head shape horse breeds and information horse breeds and pictures horse breeds and pictures of horses horse breeds and prices horse breeds and senior riders horse breeds and their characteristics horse breeds and there pictures horse breeds and training horse breeds and types horse breeds and what they do horse breeds anglo arabs horse breeds az horse breeds biggest horse breeds blue roan horse breeds brands horse breeds by country horse breeds capella horse breeds charger horse breeds clydale horse breeds clydesdale horse breeds definitions horse breeds description horse breeds different training horse breeds draft horse breeds drafts horse breeds education horse breeds f horse breeds fjords horse breeds for cattle drives horse breeds for ren horse breeds for s horse breeds for riding horse breeds from a to z horse breeds from a-z horse breeds from czechoslovakia horse breeds from czeck horse breeds from czeckoslovakia horse breeds german horse breeds gray horse breeds hanoverian horse breeds havasu horse breeds healthy horse breeds horses pictures horse breeds how many horse breeds in ancient greece horse breeds in canada horse breeds in czechoslovakia horse breeds in mauritius horse breeds in sd horse breeds in the 1500-1600 horse breeds in the civil war horse breeds in the world horse breeds info horse breeds irish draught horse breeds largest horse breeds list horse breeds listing horse breeds mauw horse breeds morgan horse breeds morgon horse breeds most bought horse breeds of horse breeds of czechoslavakia horse breeds of czechoslovakia horse breeds of the old west horse breeds of the world horse breeds of the world museum horse breeds of west texas horse breeds oklahoma state horse breeds originated czechoslovakia horse breeds pdf horse breeds pdf horse breeds horse breeds percherons about horse breeds personality horse breeds photo horse breeds pics horse breeds pictures horse breeds pony horse breeds quarterhorse horse breeds ratings horse breeds regency england horse breeds rocky mountian horse breeds selected girls and animals horse breeds sizes draft horse breeds south africa horse breeds south africa endurance horse breeds spanish barbs horse breeds spanish barbs new york horse breeds spped horse breeds starting with n horse breeds summary for s horse breeds tarpan horse breeds that start with a horse breeds that start with y horse breeds trak horse breeds used in show jumping horse breeds warm cold hot bloods horse breeds wikipedia horse breeds with definitions or descrip horse breeds with definitions or discrip horse breeds with dun color horse breeds with feathers horse breeds with picture horse breeds with pictures horse breeds x horse breeds zorse horse by breed horse cock breed horse colors and breeds chart horse colour breed black to chestnut horse colour breeds australia horse cross breeds horse crossbreeds create new breeds char horse farms in michigan breeds horse jokes breed stereotypes horse ky breed incentive aqha horse lover foal stallion world breed horse numbers by breed horse nutrition b breed horse pedigree all breeds horse personalities pictures breeds horse pictures and breeds horse pictures breeds horse pony breed horse pony breeds horse pony breeds of the world horse racing breed horse racing breeds horse rescue breed horse rescues by breed horse roach back breed horse stud breed horse training tack half breed sidepull horse types breeds horse types breeds feathered feet horse zebra cross breed horsee breeds horseland no breed horses all breeds horses and breeds horses breed horses breed by joy mccarty horses breeds horses in breed horses large breed horses rare breed spaniard horses standard breed horses that are breed in czechoslovakia horses thin skin breeds horses to breed hose breeds hose breeds and types hosre breeds hostile breed hot blood horse breeds hot blooded horse breeds hot climate dog breed hot lake water breeds illness hot pepper breeds hot to breed parakeetes hot to breed whites tree frogs hot wheels street breed hothouse tomato breeds hotsheet odp recreation pets dogs breeds hottest dog breeds houdan poultry breed information houdn dog breed hound breed hound breed caps hound breed characteristics hound breed photos hound breeds hound breeds and disposition hound breeds european hound cross breeds hound dog breed hound dog breeds american hound dog breeds pictures hound of the baskervilles breed hound sight breed hound temperament dog breed hound temperment dog breed hound type dog breeds hounds breeds hounds breeds info hounds hunting breeds hourse breeds house breed dog house breeds house cat breed house cat breeds house cats breeds house insurance agressive breed dogs house pet breeds house rabbit breeds house signs with dog breeds housebreaking a puppy toy breed housebreaking dog breeds housebreaking small breed dogs housebreaking small breed puppies housebreaking toy breeds housing different breeds of ducks togeth hovawart breed how a naked mole rat breeds how a red kangaroo breeds how and when do budgies breed how are ligers breeded how are rottweilers breeded how are toy breeds produced how are wholphins breed how big does a pelican breed how birds breed
poem by Rwetewrt Erwtwer
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Apeman
I think Im sophisticated
cos Im living my life like a good homosapien
But all around me everybodys multiplying
Till theyre walking round like flies man
So Im no better than the animals sitting in their cages
In the zoo man
cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees
I am an ape man
I think Im so educated and Im so civilized
cos Im a strict vegetarian
But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
And the crazy politicians
I dont feel safe in this world no more
I dont want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man
Im an ape man, Im an ape ape man
Im an ape man Im a king kong man Im ape ape man
Im an ape man
cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
I am an ape man
In mans evolution he has created the cities and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And Id be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle
cos the only time that I feel at ease
Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man
Im an ape, Im an ape ape man, Im an ape man
Im a king kong man, Im a voo-doo man
Im an ape man
I look out my window, but I cant see the sky
cos the air pollution is fogging up my eyes
I want to get out of this city alive
And make like an ape man
Come and love me, be my ape man girl
And we will be so happy in my ape man world
Im an ape man, Im an ape ape man, Im an ape man
Im a king kong man, Im a voo-doo man
Im an ape man
Ill be your tarzan, youll be my jane
Ill keep you warm and youll keep me sane
And well sit in the trees and eat bananas all day
Just like an ape man
Im an ape man, Im an ape ape man, Im an ape man
Im a king kong man, Im a voo-doo man
Im an ape man.
I dont feel safe in this world no more
I dont want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore
[...] Read more
song performed by Kinks
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The City of Dreadful Night
Per me si va nella citta dolente.
--Dante
Poi di tanto adoprar, di tanti moti
D'ogni celeste, ogni terrena cosa,
Girando senza posa,
Per tornar sempre la donde son mosse;
Uso alcuno, alcun frutto
Indovinar non so.
Sola nel mondo eterna, a cui si volve
Ogni creata cosa,
In te, morte, si posa
Nostra ignuda natura;
Lieta no, ma sicura
Dell' antico dolor . . .
Pero ch' esser beato
Nega ai mortali e nega a' morti il fato.
--Leopardi
PROEM
Lo, thus, as prostrate, "In the dust I write
My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears."
Yet why evoke the spectres of black night
To blot the sunshine of exultant years?
Why disinter dead faith from mouldering hidden?
Why break the seals of mute despair unbidden,
And wail life's discords into careless ears?
Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles
To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth
Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles,
False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth;
Because it gives some sense of power and passion
In helpless innocence to try to fashion
Our woe in living words howe'er uncouth.
Surely I write not for the hopeful young,
Or those who deem their happiness of worth,
Or such as pasture and grow fat among
The shows of life and feel nor doubt nor dearth,
Or pious spirits with a God above them
To sanctify and glorify and love them,
Or sages who foresee a heaven on earth.
For none of these I write, and none of these
Could read the writing if they deigned to try;
[...] Read more
poem by James Thomson
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Love Island
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House house, house house
House, house, house, house
House, house, house, house
House, house, house, house
House, house, house, house
House house house house, house house house house
House house house house, house house house house
House
House
House
song performed by Fatboy Slim
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
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
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Tamar
I
A night the half-moon was like a dancing-girl,
No, like a drunkard's last half-dollar
Shoved on the polished bar of the eastern hill-range,
Young Cauldwell rode his pony along the sea-cliff;
When she stopped, spurred; when she trembled, drove
The teeth of the little jagged wheels so deep
They tasted blood; the mare with four slim hooves
On a foot of ground pivoted like a top,
Jumped from the crumble of sod, went down, caught, slipped;
Then, the quick frenzy finished, stiffening herself
Slid with her drunken rider down the ledges,
Shot from sheer rock and broke
Her life out on the rounded tidal boulders.
The night you know accepted with no show of emotion the little
accident; grave Orion
Moved northwest from the naked shore, the moon moved to
meridian, the slow pulse of the ocean
Beat, the slow tide came in across the slippery stones; it drowned
the dead mare's muzzle and sluggishly
Felt for the rider; Cauldwell’s sleepy soul came back from the
blind course curious to know
What sea-cold fingers tapped the walls of its deserted ruin.
Pain, pain and faintness, crushing
Weights, and a vain desire to vomit, and soon again
die icy fingers, they had crept over the loose hand and lay in the
hair now. He rolled sidewise
Against mountains of weight and for another half-hour lay still.
With a gush of liquid noises
The wave covered him head and all, his body
Crawled without consciousness and like a creature with no bones,
a seaworm, lifted its face
Above the sea-wrack of a stone; then a white twilight grew about
the moon, and above
The ancient water, the everlasting repetition of the dawn. You
shipwrecked horseman
So many and still so many and now for you the last. But when it
grew daylight
He grew quite conscious; broken ends of bone ground on each
other among the working fibers
While by half-inches he was drawing himself out of the seawrack
up to sandy granite,
Out of the tide's path. Where the thin ledge tailed into flat cliff
he fell asleep. . . .
Far seaward
The daylight moon hung like a slip of cloud against the horizon.
The tide was ebbing
From the dead horse and the black belt of sea-growth. Cauldwell
seemed to have felt her crying beside him,
[...] Read more
poem by Robinson Jeffers
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
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
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Second Book
TIMES followed one another. Came a morn
I stood upon the brink of twenty years,
And looked before and after, as I stood
Woman and artist,–either incomplete,
Both credulous of completion. There I held
The whole creation in my little cup,
And smiled with thirsty lips before I drank,
'Good health to you and me, sweet neighbour mine
And all these peoples.'
I was glad, that day;
The June was in me, with its multitudes
Of nightingales all singing in the dark,
And rosebuds reddening where the calyx split.
I felt so young, so strong, so sure of God!
So glad, I could not choose be very wise!
And, old at twenty, was inclined to pull
My childhood backward in a childish jest
To see the face of't once more, and farewell!
In which fantastic mood I bounded forth
At early morning,–would not wait so long
As even to snatch my bonnet by the strings,
But, brushing a green trail across the lawn
With my gown in the dew, took will and way
Among the acacias of the shrubberies,
To fly my fancies in the open air
And keep my birthday, till my aunt awoke
To stop good dreams. Meanwhile I murmured on,
As honeyed bees keep humming to themselves;
'The worthiest poets have remained uncrowned
Till death has bleached their foreheads to the bone,
And so with me it must be, unless I prove
Unworthy of the grand adversity,–
And certainly I would not fail so much.
What, therefore, if I crown myself to-day
In sport, not pride, to learn the feel of it,
Before my brows be numb as Dante's own
To all the tender pricking of such leaves?
Such leaves? what leaves?'
I pulled the branches down,
To choose from.
'Not the bay! I choose no bay;
The fates deny us if we are overbold:
Nor myrtle–which means chiefly love; and love
Is something awful which one dare not touch
So early o' mornings. This verbena strains
The point of passionate fragrance; and hard by,
This guelder rose, at far too slight a beck
Of the wind, will toss about her flower-apples.
Ah–there's my choice,–that ivy on the wall,
That headlong ivy! not a leaf will grow
[...] Read more
poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning from Aurora Leigh (1856)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
She Really, Truly and Immortally Loved you
When you possessed the most wealth in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because of the lure of forever and ever and ever; leading a majestically luxurious and opulent life,
When you possessed the most impregnably conspicuous muscles in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they knew that there was none other than you; who could protect them from even the most diabolical of catastrophe,
When you possessed the most inimitably gifted sense of humor in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they perennially wanted to be unabashedly tickled in their funny bone; even when uncontrollable mayhem reigned supreme upon the planet divine,
When you possessed most rare gift of magical clairvoyance in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they thought they’d lead a sparkling life forever; wholesomely averting every ghastly disaster that came their way; pre-warned by your miraculous aura,
When you possessed the most hypnotically mellifluous voice in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they thought that they’d eternally float in the aisles of paradise; as you sang the most sensuously romantic of songs,
When you possessed the biggest birthmark in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they felt that timelessly being with you; would also ensure that their otherwise jinxed and jilted destinies; would suddenly metamorphose into the most burgeoning flower of good luck,
When you possessed the most pricelessly embellished poems in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because of wanting their beauty to be transcended to the ultimate epitomes of superiority; as you indefatigably immortalized them in your verse,
When you possessed the most number of Nobel prizes for peace in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they thought that they’d never get a man more tranquil and tame than you; to infallibly exist for a countless more lifetimes,
When you possessed the most slavish nature in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they could make you lick the grime from their boots all day and night; victoriously keep the chains of every aspect of your life in their tiny fist,
When you possessed the most unassailably scented body in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they could forever drift away from the ghoulish stink of sanctimonious worldliness; compassionately mollify their nostrils till their very last breath,
When you possessed the most insuperably masculine form in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely because they could then give vent to the most uninhibitedly uncurbed of their desires; ravenously cuddling up the electrified hair on your brilliantly sculpted chest,
When you possessed the most terrorist organizations in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely to trade their tantalizingly seductive flesh; for every moment of their vividly undefeated life,
When you possessed the most number of Kingdoms in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely to unconquerably control the lives of boundless countrymen; as the invincibly unbridled queen of all times,
When you possessed the most intriguingly innovative brain in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely to be discovered of a limitless intricate emotions of theirs; which were otherwise deplorably spat upon by the sleazily commercial planet,
When you possessed the most poignantly sensuous lips in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely to be endlessly kissed and thereby culminate into a untamed fireball of unfettered passion; for as long as this earth exists,
When you possessed the most artistically blessed fingers in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely so that even the most infinitesimal part of their body could be admired and sketched; at the tiniest of their commands; and in every conceivable shade of light,
When you possessed the most unshakable fame in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely so that even the most untrimmed cranny of their bohemian fingernails; became the perpetually 24 X 7 X 365 talk of every single organisms mouth; on this unceasing globe,
When you possessed the most sharp vision in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely so that that they could put their foot into every possible profitable venture existing; and then exit whenever the odds were astutely foreseen by you,
When you possessed the most loudly throbbing heart in the world; perhaps an infinite women came to you; solely assuming that here was where they could get the ultimate fructification and friendship of their otherwise; wantonly infidel lives,
But when you didn’t possess any of the above; and if yet there was just a single woman who came to you on the trajectory of this fathomlessly bewitching Universe; then it was solely and solely because she really; truly and immortally loved you; for what you were in your most natural form; just as the Almighty Lord had bountifully sent you….
poem by Nikhil Parekh
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Through the eyes of a Field Coronet (Epic)
Introduction
In the kaki coloured tent in Umbilo he writes
his life’s story while women, children and babies are dying,
slowly but surely are obliterated, he see how his nation is suffering
while the events are notched into his mind.
Lying even heavier on him is the treason
of some other Afrikaners who for own gain
have delivered him, to imprisonment in this place of hatred
and thoughts go through him to write a book.
Prologue
The Afrikaner nation sprouted
from Dutchmen,
who fought decades without defeat
against the super power Spain
mixed with French Huguenots
who left their homes and belongings,
with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Associate this then with the fact
that these people fought formidable
for seven generations
against every onslaught that they got
from savages en wild animals
becoming marksmen, riding
and taming wild horses
with one bullet per day
to hunt a wild antelope,
who migrated right across the country
over hills in mass protest
and then you have
the most formidable adversary
and then let them fight
in a natural wilderness
where the hunter,
the sniper and horseman excels
and any enemy is at a lost.
Let them then also be patriotic
into their souls,
believe in and read
out of the word of God
[...] Read more
poem by Gert Strydom
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Whistling In The Dark
A woman came up to me and said
Id like to poison your mind
With wrong ideas that appeal to you
Though I am not unkind
She looked at me, I looked at something
Written across her scalp
And these are the words that it faintly said
As I tried to call for help:
Theres only one thing that I know how to do well
And Ive often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And thats be you,
Be what youre like,
Be like yourself,
And so Im having a wonderful time
But Id rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Theres only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark
A man came up to me and said
Id like to change your mind
By hitting it with a rock, he said,
Though I am not unkind.
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today.
Theres only one thing that I know how to do well
And Ive often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And thats be you,
Be what youre like,
Be like yourself,
And so Im having a wonderful time
But Id rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Theres only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark
Theres only one thing that I know how to do well
And Ive often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And thats be you,
[...] Read more
song performed by They Might Be Giants
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Satan Absolved
(In the antechamber of Heaven. Satan walks alone. Angels in groups conversing.)
Satan. To--day is the Lord's ``day.'' Once more on His good pleasure
I, the Heresiarch, wait and pace these halls at leisure
Among the Orthodox, the unfallen Sons of God.
How sweet in truth Heaven is, its floors of sandal wood,
Its old--world furniture, its linen long in press,
Its incense, mummeries, flowers, its scent of holiness!
Each house has its own smell. The smell of Heaven to me
Intoxicates and haunts,--and hurts. Who would not be
God's liveried servant here, the slave of His behest,
Rather than reign outside? I like good things the best,
Fair things, things innocent; and gladly, if He willed,
Would enter His Saints' kingdom--even as a little child.
[Laughs. I have come to make my peace, to crave a full amaun,
Peace, pardon, reconcilement, truce to our daggers--drawn,
Which have so long distraught the fair wise Universe,
An end to my rebellion and the mortal curse
Of always evil--doing. He will mayhap agree
I was less wholly wrong about Humanity
The day I dared to warn His wisdom of that flaw.
It was at least the truth, the whole truth, I foresaw
When He must needs create that simian ``in His own
Image and likeness.'' Faugh! the unseemly carrion!
I claim a new revision and with proofs in hand,
No Job now in my path to foil me and withstand.
Oh, I will serve Him well!
[Certain Angels approach. But who are these that come
With their grieved faces pale and eyes of martyrdom?
Not our good Sons of God? They stop, gesticulate,
Argue apart, some weep,--weep, here within Heaven's gate!
Sob almost in God's sight! ay, real salt human tears,
Such as no Spirit wept these thrice three thousand years.
The last shed were my own, that night of reprobation
When I unsheathed my sword and headed the lost nation.
Since then not one of them has spoken above his breath
Or whispered in these courts one word of life or death
Displeasing to the Lord. No Seraph of them all,
Save I this day each year, has dared to cross Heaven's hall
And give voice to ill news, an unwelcome truth to Him.
Not Michael's self hath dared, prince of the Seraphim.
Yet all now wail aloud.--What ails ye, brethren? Speak!
Are ye too in rebellion? Angels. Satan, no. But weak
With our long earthly toil, the unthankful care of Man.
Satan. Ye have in truth good cause.
Angels. And we would know God's plan,
His true thought for the world, the wherefore and the why
Of His long patience mocked, His name in jeopardy.
[...] Read more
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
II. Half-Rome
What, you, Sir, come too? (Just the man I'd meet.)
Be ruled by me and have a care o' the crowd:
This way, while fresh folk go and get their gaze:
I'll tell you like a book and save your shins.
Fie, what a roaring day we've had! Whose fault?
Lorenzo in Lucina,—here's a church
To hold a crowd at need, accommodate
All comers from the Corso! If this crush
Make not its priests ashamed of what they show
For temple-room, don't prick them to draw purse
And down with bricks and mortar, eke us out
The beggarly transept with its bit of apse
Into a decent space for Christian ease,
Why, to-day's lucky pearl is cast to swine.
Listen and estimate the luck they've had!
(The right man, and I hold him.)
Sir, do you see,
They laid both bodies in the church, this morn
The first thing, on the chancel two steps up,
Behind the little marble balustrade;
Disposed them, Pietro the old murdered fool
To the right of the altar, and his wretched wife
On the other side. In trying to count stabs,
People supposed Violante showed the most,
Till somebody explained us that mistake;
His wounds had been dealt out indifferent where,
But she took all her stabbings in the face,
Since punished thus solely for honour's sake,
Honoris causâ, that's the proper term.
A delicacy there is, our gallants hold,
When you avenge your honour and only then,
That you disfigure the subject, fray the face,
Not just take life and end, in clownish guise.
It was Violante gave the first offence,
Got therefore the conspicuous punishment:
While Pietro, who helped merely, his mere death
Answered the purpose, so his face went free.
We fancied even, free as you please, that face
Showed itself still intolerably wronged;
Was wrinkled over with resentment yet,
Nor calm at all, as murdered faces use,
Once the worst ended: an indignant air
O' the head there was—'t is said the body turned
Round and away, rolled from Violante's side
Where they had laid it loving-husband-like.
If so, if corpses can be sensitive,
Why did not he roll right down altar-step,
Roll on through nave, roll fairly out of church,
Deprive Lorenzo of the spectacle,
[...] Read more
poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Song of Wink Star
The Song of Wink Star
a happy story for children of all ages
story and text © Raj Arumugam, June 2008
☼ ☼
☼ Preamble
Come…children all, children of all ages…sit close and listen…
Come and listen to this happy story of the stars and of life…
Come children of the universe, children of all nations and of all races, and of all climates and of all kinds of space and dimensions and universes…
Come, dearest children of all beings of the living universe, come and listen to The Song of Wink Star…
Come and listen to this story, this happy story…listen, as the story itself sings to you…
Sit close then, and listen to the story that was not made by any, or written by a poet, or fashioned by grandfathers and grandmothers warming themselves at the fire of burning stars…
O dearest children all, come and listen to the story that lives
of itself, and that glows bright and happy….
Come…children all, children of all ages, come and listen to this happy story, the story so natural and smooth as life, as it sings itself to you….
☼ The Song of Wink Star
a happy story for children of all ages
☼ 1
Night Child, always so light and gentle, slept on a flower.
And every night, before he went to sleep, he would look up at the sky.
He would look at the eastern corner, five o’clock.
And there he would see all the stars in near and distant galaxies that were only visible to the People of Star Eyes.
Night Child was one of the People of Star Eyes. And so he could see the stars. And of all the stars he could see, he loved to watch Wink Star.
Wink Star twinkled and winked and laughed.
Every night Wink Star did that. Winked and laughed.
[...] Read more
poem by Raj Arumugam
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
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
[...] Read more
poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
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
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII (Entire)
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.
Thou seemest human and divine,
The highest, holiest manhood, thou:
Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.
Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.
We have but faith: we cannot know;
For knowledge is of things we see;
And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.
Let knowledge grow from more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,
But vaster. We are fools and slight;
We mock thee when we do not fear:
But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.
Forgive what seem’d my sin in me;
What seem’d my worth since I began;
For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.
Forgive my grief for one removed,
Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.
Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
[...] Read more
poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Odyssey: Book 10
Thence we went on to the Aeoli island where lives Aeolus son of
Hippotas, dear to the immortal gods. It is an island that floats (as
it were) upon the sea, iron bound with a wall that girds it. Now,
Aeolus has six daughters and six lusty sons, so he made the sons marry
the daughters, and they all live with their dear father and mother,
feasting and enjoying every conceivable kind of luxury. All day long
the atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savour of roasting
meats till it groans again, yard and all; but by night they sleep on
their well-made bedsteads, each with his own wife between the
blankets. These were the people among whom we had now come.
"Aeolus entertained me for a whole month asking me questions all the
time about Troy, the Argive fleet, and the return of the Achaeans. I
told him exactly how everything had happened, and when I said I must
go, and asked him to further me on my way, he made no sort of
difficulty, but set about doing so at once. Moreover, he flayed me a
prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds, which he shut
up in the hide as in a sack- for Jove had made him captain over the
winds, and he could stir or still each one of them according to his
own pleasure. He put the sack in the ship and bound the mouth so
tightly with a silver thread that not even a breath of a side-wind
could blow from any quarter. The West wind which was fair for us did
he alone let blow as it chose; but it all came to nothing, for we were
lost through our own folly.
"Nine days and nine nights did we sail, and on the tenth day our
native land showed on the horizon. We got so close in that we could
see the stubble fires burning, and I, being then dead beat, fell
into a light sleep, for I had never let the rudder out of my own
hands, that we might get home the faster. On this the men fell to
talking among themselves, and said I was bringing back gold and silver
in the sack that Aeolus had given me. 'Bless my heart,' would one turn
to his neighbour, saying, 'how this man gets honoured and makes
friends to whatever city or country he may go. See what fine prizes he
is taking home from Troy, while we, who have travelled just as far
as he has, come back with hands as empty as we set out with- and now
Aeolus has given him ever so much more. Quick- let us see what it
all is, and how much gold and silver there is in the sack he gave
him.'
"Thus they talked and evil counsels prevailed. They loosed the sack,
whereupon the wind flew howling forth and raised a storm that
carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country. Then I
awoke, and knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on
and make the best of it; but I bore it, covered myself up, and lay
down in the ship, while the men lamented bitterly as the fierce
winds bore our fleet back to the Aeolian island.
"When we reached it we went ashore to take in water, and dined
hard by the ships. Immediately after dinner I took a herald and one of
my men and went straight to the house of Aeolus, where I found him
feasting with his wife and family; so we sat down as suppliants on the
threshold. They were astounded when they saw us and said, 'Ulysses,
what brings you here? What god has been ill-treating you? We took
[...] Read more
poem by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Give Your Heart To The Hawks
1 he apples hung until a wind at the equinox,
That heaped the beach with black weed, filled the dry grass
Under the old trees with rosy fruit.
In the morning Fayne Fraser gathered the sound ones into a
basket,
The bruised ones into a pan. One place they lay so thickly
She knelt to reach them.
Her husband's brother passing
Along the broken fence of the stubble-field,
His quick brown eyes took in one moving glance
A little gopher-snake at his feet flowing through the stubble
To gain the fence, and Fayne crouched after apples
With her mop of red hair like a glowing coal
Against the shadow in the garden. The small shapely reptile
Flowed into a thicket of dead thistle-stalks
Around a fence-post, but its tail was not hidden.
The young man drew it all out, and as the coil
Whipped over his wrist, smiled at it; he stepped carefully
Across the sag of the wire. When Fayne looked up
His hand was hidden; she looked over her shoulder
And twitched her sunburnt lips from small white teeth
To answer the spark of malice in his eyes, but turned
To the apples, intent again. Michael looked down
At her white neck, rarely touched by the sun,
But now the cinnabar-colored hair fell off from it;
And her shoulders in the light-blue shirt, and long legs like a boy's
Bare-ankled in blue-jean trousers, the country wear;
He stooped quietly and slipped the small cool snake
Up the blue-denim leg. Fayne screamed and writhed,
Clutching her thigh. 'Michael, you beast.' She stood up
And stroked her leg, with little sharp cries, the slender invader
Fell down her ankle.
Fayne snatched for it and missed;
Michael stood by rejoicing, his rather small
Finely cut features in a dance of delight;
Fayne with one sweep flung at his face
All the bruised and half-spoiled apples in the pan,
[...] Read more
poem by Robinson Jeffers
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The Odyssey: Book 15
But Minerva went to the fair city of Lacedaemon to tell Ulysses' son
that he was to return at once. She found him and Pisistratus
sleeping in the forecourt of Menelaus's house; Pisistratus was fast
asleep, but Telemachus could get no rest all night for thinking of his
unhappy father, so Minerva went close up to him and said:
"Telemachus, you should not remain so far away from home any longer,
nor leave your property with such dangerous people in your house; they
will eat up everything you have among them, and you will have been
on a fool's errand. Ask Menelaus to send you home at once if you
wish to find your excellent mother still there when you get back.
Her father and brothers are already urging her to marry Eurymachus,
who has given her more than any of the others, and has been greatly
increasing his wedding presents. I hope nothing valuable may have been
taken from the house in spite of you, but you know what women are-
they always want to do the best they can for the man who marries them,
and never give another thought to the children of their first husband,
nor to their father either when he is dead and done with. Go home,
therefore, and put everything in charge of the most respectable
woman servant that you have, until it shall please heaven to send
you a wife of your own. Let me tell you also of another matter which
you had better attend to. The chief men among the suitors are lying in
wait for you in the Strait between Ithaca and Samos, and they mean
to kill you before you can reach home. I do not much think they will
succeed; it is more likely that some of those who are now eating up
your property will find a grave themselves. Sail night and day, and
keep your ship well away from the islands; the god who watches over
you and protects you will send you a fair wind. As soon as you get
to Ithaca send your ship and men on to the town, but yourself go
straight to the swineherd who has charge your pigs; he is well
disposed towards you, stay with him, therefore, for the night, and
then send him to Penelope to tell her that you have got back safe from
Pylos."
Then she went back to Olympus; but Telemachus stirred Pisistratus
with his heel to rouse him, and said, "Wake up Pisistratus, and yoke
the horses to the chariot, for we must set off home."
But Pisistratus said, "No matter what hurry we are in we cannot
drive in the dark. It will be morning soon; wait till Menelaus has
brought his presents and put them in the chariot for us; and let him
say good-bye to us in the usual way. So long as he lives a guest
should never forget a host who has shown him kindness."
As he spoke day began to break, and Menelaus, who had already risen,
leaving Helen in bed, came towards them. When Telemachus saw him he
put on his shirt as fast as he could, threw a great cloak over his
shoulders, and went out to meet him. "Menelaus," said he, "let me go
back now to my own country, for I want to get home."
And Menelaus answered, "Telemachus, if you insist on going I will
not detain you. not like to see a host either too fond of his guest or
too rude to him. Moderation is best in all things, and not letting a
man go when he wants to do so is as bad as telling him to go if he
would like to stay. One should treat a guest well as long as he is
[...] Read more
poem by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!