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Lizard

Lightening tongue
Insects trapped
Zapped
And
Readily
Digested

poem by Paul Brookes
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Trapped

You know they got me trapped in this prison of seclusion
Happiness, living on tha streets is a delusion
Even a smooth criminal one day must get caught
Shot up or shot down with tha bullet that he bought
Nine millimeter kickin thinking about what tha streets do to me
Cause they never talk peace in tha black community
All we know is violence, do tha job in silence
Walk tha city streets like a rat pack of tyrants
Too many brothers daily heading for tha big penn
Niggas commin out worse offthan when they went in
Over tha years I done alot of growin up
Getten drunk thrown up
Cuffed up
Then I said I had enough
There must be another route, way out
To money and fame, I changed my name
And played a different game
Tired of being trapped in this vicious cycle
If one more cop harrasses me I just might go psycho
And when I gettem
Ill hittem with tha bum rush
Only a lunatic would like to see his skull crushed
Yo, if your smart youll really let me go g
But keep me cooped up in this ghetto and catch tha uzi
They got me trapped....
Chorus
[uh uh, they cant keep tha black man down]
They got me trapped
[naw, they cant keep tha black man down]
Trapped
[uh uh, they cant keep tha black man down]
Trapped
[naw, they cant keep tha black man down]
They got me trapped
Can barely walk tha city streets
Without a cop harrassing me, searching me
Then asking my identity
Hands up, throw me up against tha wall
Didnt do a thing at all
Im tellen you one day these suckers gotta fall
Cuffed up throw me on tha concrete
Coppers try to kill me
But they didnt know this was tha wrong street
Bang bang, down another casualty
But its a cop whos shot theres brutality
Who do you blame?
Its a shame because tha mans slain
He got caught in tha chains of his own game
How can I feel guilty after all tha things they did to me
Sweated me, hunted me

[...] Read more

song performed by 2 Pac
Added by Lucian Velea
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Insects

Tiny insects in my hair
Tiny insects everywhere
Tiny insects in my pants
Watching insects make romance
Insects make me make me want to dance dance dance
They make want to dance . . .
Flying insects everywhere
Flying insects buzzing buzzing buzzing thru the air
Just like little diamonds in the sky
Insects buzzing in my eye
Buzzing insects make me want to dance dance dance
They make me want to dance . . .
Insects crawling all around
Insects squirming in the ground
Insects gooey squeaky chewy
Should I eat them--no
Id rather stomp them hurt them stomp
Stomp them while I dance dance dance
I hurt them while I dance dance dance
I stomp them while I dance dance dance . . .
Insects make me scream and shout
They dont know what lifes about
They dont have blood
Theyve got too many legs
They dont have brains in their heads
They know theyll rule the world some day
They bite and sting me anyway
They bite and sting and suck
They bite and sting and suck suck suck
They bite and sting and
Suck suck suck suck suck . . .
Dance dance dance

song performed by Oingo Boingo
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trapped Again

Here I am baby, right where you found me
Trying to break these chains that surround me
If I look a little different, its because Ive changed
Half-painted pictures are all that remains
I cant let my past mistakes
Let em bring me down
I aint waitin on no angel of mercy
Ive tried my best and I cant help myself
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
Monday morning came so fast
What a fool to think that dreams would last
Close my eyes and its still so clear
Remember the night girl, the world disappeared
Cant let the hand of fate
Let it drag me down
I cant get no angel of mercy
I cam to stay but I got swept away
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
Cant let the hand of fate
Let it drag me down
I cant get no angel of mercy
I cam to stay but I got swept away
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again
I need an answer girl, cant you see
Im trapped again
Come and rescue me
And Im trapped again
And I cant get out without losing you
And Im trapped again
Why cant you feel what Im going through
Im trapped again

song performed by Bruce Springsteen
Added by Lucian Velea
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Why Do Children Of The Poor

Why do children of the poor die so readily?
By the age of five
they're already disarmed for life.
Is money a gene they're missing?
Or is their suffering
just a diminished immunity to the rest of us?
The gluttons of knowledge
discuss James Joyce in a loud voice
in well-lit universities.
With great nuance and finesse
they enumerate the seven kinds of ambiguity
and the mean diameter of the vowel O
in the context of neo-Chicago Aristotelianism
in the latter plays of Shakespeare
where the commas fall like worms
out of every page of his art
as if he couldn't punctuate
the death-rage in his heart
with the subtler points
of the neo-critical literati.
I think Shakespeare would have seen
the sterling irony
of debating proto-Nostratic linguistics
while living children all around him
can't read their names in their own mother-tongue.
If the same word for oak
was the word we used for door
when we all learned to speak the same language
milennia ago
it's not hard to imagine
given modern advances in communication
that the word for child
that we used way back then
is the root of the word we use for atrocity today.
Why do the children of the poor die so readily?
Nature or nurture?
Is it because the children of the rich
are taught that wealth is longevity
and the children of the poor
who can't read the fine print
bleed to death like expired medical plans?
Why do the rich think that the poor
are the reason their children suffer
and the best thing to do is make orphans of them
by sending the poor of one nation
to war against another
to keep the economy growing
and cut back on the unemployed
like deer culled from a budget in hunting season?
If you're a child born from this womb

[...] Read more

poem by Patrick White
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The Hogarth Experiment Part 5

Peter levelled the shotgun
at the insect as big as a sheep
and pulled the trigger and again.
The blast knocked
the beast away from his father.
He quickly reloaded
as another giant insect
came close to his father.
The creature spun sideways
as the shot hit it.
Both creatures rose to their feet.
His father picked up the pitchfork
and jammed it deep
into the first insects head.
The insect wobbled on its legs
before collapsing dead.
The other moved giant insect
towards the fallen insect.
Peter had reloaded the shotgun
and fired both barrels at the head
of the advancing insect.
The head of it seemed to explode.
Peter reloaded the shotgun again.
His father ran towards him
pushing out of the way
of another giant insect.
They scrambled to their feet
and ran to the farmhouse.
They bolted the door
and moved to the window.
What they saw astonished them.
More and more giant insects landed
and seem to examine the fallen ones.
They then lifted them into the air and flew off.
John looked at his son.
Their battle was over.
All the giant insects disappeared
along with the two they had killed.
John went across to the phone
and telephoned the police.
He told them what had happened,
half expecting them to laugh.
They asked for his address
and said they would be sending
some people out to him.
They told him to remain inside with his family
and keep the windows and doors
locked until they arrived.
An hour passed and several armoured personnel carriers
stopped in the farmyard.

[...] Read more

poem by David Harris
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Trapped

Well it seems like Im caught up in your trap again
And it seems like Ill be wearin the same ol chains
Good will conquer evil and the truth will set you free
Then I know someday Ill find the key
Then I know somewhere Ill find the key
Well it seem like Ive been playin the game way too long
And it seems the game I played has made you strong
Well when the game is over, I wont walk out a loser
And I know that Ill walk out of here again
And I know that someday Ill walk out of here again
But now Im trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Now it seems like Ive been sleepin in your bed too long
And it seems like youve been meanin to do me harm
But Ill teach my eyes to see beyond these walls in front of me
And someday Ill walk out of here again
Yeah I know someday Ill walk out of here again
(chorus)
Well it seem like Ive been playin the game way too long
And it seems the game I played has made you strong
Because Im trapped...oh yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah!
Im trapped...oh yeah yeah!
Trapped...oh yeah yeah
Trapped...oh yeahhhhhh
Trapped....oh yeahhhh
Im trapped.

song performed by Bruce Springsteen
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trapped Today, Trapped Tomorrow

The days are gone when the girls
Used to kiss his nose
To wake him up in the morning
He looks at his wife once she was young
But now shes older
Than himself and all that happend without warning
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow
Trapped in love, and trapped in sorrow
Sorry my train, wont stop at your station
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow
Trapped in love, and trapped in sorrow
Sorry my train, wont stop at your station
And no explanations
The days are gone when the boys
Used to bring her flowers every night
Just to please her
There was this man, now shes his wife.
Theyve got two kids
He works from 9 to 5
He put her in a freezer
Trapped today, trapped tomorrow...

song performed by Fury In The Slaughterhouse
Added by Lucian Velea
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Trapped In A Box

Trapped in a box of tremendous size
It distorts my vision, it closes my eyes
Attracts filthy flies and pollutes in the skies
Sucks up our lives and proliferates lies
Trapped in a box
Trapped in a box, four walls as sky
Got a screen for a window about two feet wide
My mind rides and slides as my circuits are fried
No room for thought, use the box as my guide
Trapped in a box
Trapped in a box
Watch the world as it flocks
To lifes paradox
Were all trapped in a box
Trapped in a box Im not alone
I know of others with a box as their home
Light only enters from a crack or a hole
This is not enough for a human to grow
Trapped in a box
Chorus: always wanting a different view
Instant gratification for you
Reality gone in a single click
Just hope that that switch wont stick
Trapped in a box my life becomes void
All I thought for myself is now destroyed
Controlling my mind, what to eat, what to buy
Sublinal rules: how to live, how to die
Trapped in a box

song performed by Gwen Stefani
Added by Lucian Velea
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Disgruntled Grumblings Zinged

My heart and I no longer fight or wrestle,
Over which way to go.
No.

My head and mind decides what's right.
Finally united.
And about that my heart likes.

Disgruntled grumblings zinged!
And from me they've gone.
All zapped and zinged.
And from me they've gone.
Wrapped up and flinged.
And from me they've gone.

No more disgruntled grumblings haunting me,
When they don't belong.

All grumblings have been zinged.
And from me they've gone.
All zapped and zinged.
And from me they've gone.
Wrapped up and flinged.
And from me they've gone.

Disgruntled grumblings zinged with everything,
That did not belong.

My heart and I no longer fight or wrestle,
Over which way to go.
No.

My head and mind decides what's right.
Finally united.
And about that my heart likes.

Disgruntled grumblings zinged!
And from me they've gone.
All zapped and zinged.
And from me they've gone.
Wrapped up and flinged.
And from me they've gone.

Disgruntled grumblings zinged with everything,
That did not belong.
They've all been wrapped and flinged,
And from me now they're all gone.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Sugar Feat Ludacris & Cee-Lo)

[Cee-Lo] Uh huh
[T-Dubl] Yeah
[Cee-Lo] Aw man I got a sweet tooth, can you dig it
[T-Dubl] After this one you gon need a root canal then
[Cee-Lo] I love sugar all of it
[T-Dubl] This one for all the clean, decent women
[Cee-Lo] Lay it on me girl
[T-Dubl] Pay Close Attention
[Hook: Cee-Lo]
She put that sugar on my tongue
Shes gonna
Gimme gimme some
She put it right there on my tongue [Skeet Skeet]
Right there on my tongue [She turns me on, like no other]
[Trick Daddy]
And gimme some of your butter pecan
Put it right there on tip of my tongue, hold it
Right jeeeah
Cuz baby, if I bite you
I bet you like it
French Vanilla's a hell of a flavor for me
With strawberries, two cherries and whipped cream
The best things are the wet dreams
And uh, the rest is just a flick without a sex scene
Or lee, I speak the truth
Cuz the blacker the berry
The sweeter the juice
Cuz, Florida oranges and Georgia peaches
When they nice and ripe, they the best for eatin'
Southern boys we crave for old slice of pie after they main course
So if you game for it
I came for it
I got a thing for ya
That I can't ignore
[Hook: Cee-Lo]
She put that sugar on my tongue
Shes gonna
Gimme gimme some
She put it right there on my tongue [Skeet Skeet]
Right there on my tongue [She turns me on, like no other]
[Ludacris]
She put that sugar on my tongue, tongue
Yippie Yippie, Yum Yum
Goodie goodie gum drop
Put me in a tongue lock
Did it till my body went numb, numb
Laid her on her back, back
Turned her round, gave her bottom a smack, smack
She's a woman from the block with the best of weed
But I won't stop till I'm pullin out tracks, tracks

[...] Read more

song performed by Trick Daddy
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Hogarth Experiment Part 7

The first streaks for dawn
broke across the Wye Valley.
The Armoured Flamethrowers were poised
around the giant wasps nest.
Just as the sky began to lighten,
pushing away the darkness of the night
the first wasp climbed from the nest.
Long spouts of flame poured over it.
As its body was engulfed in flame
out of the nest, more wasps swarmed.
Suddenly the sky darkened again.
Several RAF bases were scrambled.
Spitfires and Hurricanes crowded the skies.
This time the enemy
was not the Luftwaffe, but insects.
The pilots where not sure what tactics
they were to use
or how the insects were going to react.
They swooped low down the valley
just skimming the treetops.
Then suddenly they were confronted with the enemy.
They peeled off in different directions choosing a target.
The manoeuvrability of the insects was unexpected.
They swerved, dived, hovered
and even seem to reverse.
Several tried to sting the aircrafts.
As more and more the wasps were shot down,
more replaced them.
Several of the aircraft crashed
as more than one wasp landed on them.
Spouts of fames stretched into the sky
from the flamethrowers below.
A second wave of aircraft
flew into the affray,
they seemed to be swarmed by wasps.
Several of the pilots few upwards
drawing a number of the wasps with them.
Aircraft and wasps darted around
the crowed sky in arial combat never before witnessed.
Hundreds of wasps fell from the sky
and were quickly replaced by hundreds more.
As the aircraft began running short of fuel,
they few away from the fight
and others were brought in.
On the ground, the Armoured Flamethrowers
were being attacked as well.
The wasps crawled over the machines
trying to find a way in.
Smoke began to rise from the nest
as more and more wasps lifted into the air.

[...] Read more

poem by David Harris
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Saddled Strapped To Meanings

Feeling lower holding onto woes...
While hoping to ride high on bling.
Dreaming woes will let them go...
While hoping to ride high on bling.

Those saddled strapped to meanings,
Can't seem to free from setbacks...
That keep them trapped on thoughts of bling.

Some see their cups near emptied up!
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.
Some see themselves with just bad luck.
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.
And some may dig in deeper ruts.
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.
And bottled up they cuss so much.
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.

Those saddled strapped to meanings,
Can't seem to free from setbacks...
That keep them trapped on thoughts of bling.

Some see their cups near emptied up!
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.
Some see themselves with just bad luck.
That keeps them trapped on thoughts of bling.

Feeling lower holding onto woes...
While hoping to ride high on bling.
Dreaming woes will let them go...
While hoping to ride high on bling.

Some may dig in deeper ruts,
While hoping to ride high on bling.
And bottled up they cuss so much.
While hoping to ride high on bling.

Those saddled strapped to meanings,
Can't seem to free from setbacks...
That keep them trapped on thoughts of bling.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Sugar On My Tongue

Oh, oh, Oh, oh,she's my neighbour
Fill my cup, I'll bet you baby
She'll fill it up
She'll drop the sugar on my tongue
Will she gimme gimme gimme some
She's gonna put sugar on my tongue
She's gonna gimme gimme gimme some
She'll put it right there on my tongue
Put it right there on my tongue
Sweet sweet, lover lover
Never never never find another
to put sugar on my tongue
Gimme gimme gimme some
Is she gonna put sugar on my tongue?
Is she gonna gimme gimme gimme some?
She'll put it right there on my tongue
Put it right there on my tongue
I've been waiting years and years
Finally I see that you appear
My friends are here, and they ask of me
'Is this the time that we're gonna see
her put the sugar on my tongue?'
Is she gonna put sugar on my tongue?
Is she gonna put sugar on my tongue?
Is she gonna gimme gimme some?
She'll put it right there on my tongue
put it right there on my tongue
Sugar on my tongue
Oh, oh, oh...

song performed by Talking Heads
Added by Lucian Velea
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Tongue Bath

Yeah, (ohhh), we got the hood rats in the house right
(Would you like a tongue bath babe)
They say they like tongue bath (from the back)
So, uh, we went and got Methron
But of course, it's the Ying-Yang Twins
Let me see you freak your body
I won't stop until you get enough
Anyway you want it, I'm with it
I just wanna get up in it
(You want a tongue bath, you need a tongue bath)
Let me see you freak your body
I won't stop until you get enough
A tongue bath, from the back
Oh yes, that's the way I like it
(You want a tongue bath, you need a tongue bath)
Forget about that Summer we stretched straight thuggin it up
In the tongue bath world we was loving it up
I've been told by the eye we were holding each other
To the room, sexual, of the Isley Brothers
Sippin' Alazez and Hennessee, straight thug passion
Licking nipples, got you gigglin', so you started to laugh
And now it's getting so erotic baby
All of a sudden so I'm kissing on your body baby
Admit it babb
See baby a tongue bath is what I like
Lick me up, lick me down, curve my appetite
Let me open up my legs, show me what you got
The way you licking on my body's got me really hot
And I'm loving the way you lick me though
Do it little daddy, let your tongue take control
You got me shaking like hell when you're licking my toes
From the top to the bottom, make your tongue roll
Let me see you freak your body
I won't stop until you get enough
Anyway you want it, I'm with it
I just wanna get up in it
(You want a tongue bath, you need a tongue bath)
Let me see you freak your body
I won't stop until you get enough
A tongue bath, from the back
Oh yes, that'

song performed by Ying Yang Twins
Added by Lucian Velea
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Where Do I Belong

Ohhh.. Ohhh..
Life doesn't promise a bed of roses
Or white knights
Fields of emotions I'm trapped in darkness
Why me
Save me
To win this twisted war inside me
Won't justify the pain
Life doesn't promise a bed of roses
Chorus:
Lightening strikes the pages keep on turning
Help me to be strong
I'm floating in a sea of strange believers
Where do I belong?
Ohhh.. Ohh..
They paint a picture of perfect nowhere blue skies
Within every lie there's a web of comfort
For them
Not me
To win this twisted war inside me
Won't justify the pain
They paint you a picture of perfect nowhere
Chorus:
I said now
Lightening strikes the pages keep on turning
Help me to be strong
I'm floating in a sea of strange believers
Where do I belong?
Where do we go from here?
I wish I would disappear
I'm a lonely soul
So far from home
Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Lightening strikes the pages keep on turning
Help me, help me
I'm floating in a sea of strange believers
Where do I.. I said
Lightening strikes, I said lightening strikes
Floating in a sea of strange believers
Where do I belong?

song performed by Anastacia
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Pleasures of Imagination: Book The Second

When shall the laurel and the vocal string
Resume their honours? When shall we behold
The tuneful tongue, the Promethéan hand
Aspire to ancient praise? Alas! how faint,
How slow the dawn of beauty and of truth
Breaks the reluctant shades of Gothic night
Which yet involve the nations! Long they groan'd
Beneath the furies of rapacious force;
Oft as the gloomy north, with iron-swarms
Tempestuous pouring from her frozen caves,
Blasted the Italian shore, and swept the works
Of liberty and wisdom down the gulph
Of all-devouring night. As long immur'd
In noon-tide darkness by the glimmering lamp,
Each muse and each fair science pin'd away
The sordid hours: while foul, barbarian hands
Their mysteries profan'd, unstrung the lyre,
And chain'd the soaring pinion down to earth.
At last the muses rose, and spurn'd their bonds,
And wildly warbling, scatter'd, as they flew,
Their blooming wreaths from fair Valclusa's bowers
Arno's myrtle border and the shore of soft Parthenope.

But still the rage of dire ambition and gigantic power,
From public aims and from the busy walk
Of civil commerce, drove the bolder train
Of penetrating science to the cells,
Where studious ease consumes the silent hour
In shadowy searches and unfruitful care.
Thus from their guardians torn, the tender arts
Of mimic fancy and harmonious joy,
To priestly domination and the lust
Of lawless courts, their amiable toil
For three inglorious ages have resign'd,
In vain reluctant: and Torquato's tongue
Was tun'd for slavish pæans at the throne
Of tinsel pomp: and Raphael's magic hand
Effus'd its fair creation to enchant
The fond adoring herd in Latian fanes
To blind belief; while on their prostrate necks
The sable tyrant plants his heel secure.

But now behold! the radiant æra dawns,
When freedom's ample fabric, fix'd at length
For endless years on Albion's happy shore
In full proportion, once more shall extend
To all the kindred powers of social bliss
A common mansion, a parental roof.
There shall the virtues, there shall wisdom's train,
Their long-lost friends rejoining, as of old,

[...] Read more

poem by Mark Akenside
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Gates Of Tomorrow

Weaving a thread round your heart and your soul
Deceiving your eyes and delaying your goal
Ships in the night when they pass out of sight
Deliver their cargo of earthly delights
To the women and the children the souls of the dead
I've opened their book and no mercy is shed
You want forgiveness and you want it cheap
I don't give redemption rewards for the meek
Suffering evil when you pay the price of fame
There isn't a god to save you if you don't save yourself
You can't blame a madman if you go insane
Give me the strength so I carry on
Trapped in the web but I cut the threads
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web no mercy is shed
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web slaves to the dead
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web but I cut the threads
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Suffering evil when you pay the price of fame
There isn't a god to save you if you don't save yourself
You can't blame a madman if you go insane
Give me the strength so I carry on
Trapped in the web but I cut the threads
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web no mercy is shed
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web slaves to the dead
Show you the gates of tomorrow
Trapped in the web but I cut the threads
Show you the gates of tomorrow

song performed by Iron Maiden
Added by Lucian Velea
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None of That Sounded Like Sex to Me

~Noticing begins to open the mind.
Much like what Sunrise does upon the horizon...
When its light etches the darkness away from night,
With definition seen to highlight one's assisted vision.

And the brighter that light becomes,
An object begins to develop identity and cast a shadow.
As if attached to aid its meaning.
However...
When those clouds come,
And sometimes they do.
Expect some confusion to be done.
Since it will be difficult to determine,
If it will rain.

And...
That just may happen with or without lightening.
And/or no doubt with thunder.~

'With or without...
And slash or no doubt?
Don't they mean almost the same thing? '

~Huh?
What are you talking about? ~

'The lightening and thunder...
If it should come with clouds? '

~WHAT?
What does lightening and thunder have to do with it?
You kids don't listen with your ears or pay attention.
I'm talking about the birth of comprehension.
None of that has to do with lightening.
Maybe a bit of 'thunder' but rarely with lightening.~

'The birth of what?
None of that sounded like sex to me.'

~Your Honor...
If I may have a few words in my defense.
I need to explain why I stand before you today.
You see...
One of us had to be locked up.
So I knew If I 'tried' to knock some sense in his head...
It would be me found guilty! ~

'And Daddy...
That's why it's hard to listen to you at times.
Because you jump from subject to subject!

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Interpretation of Nature and

I.

MAN, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature: beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.


II.

Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.

III.

Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.

IV.

Towards the effecting of works, all that man can do is to put together or put asunder natural bodies. The rest is done by nature working within.

V.

The study of nature with a view to works is engaged in by the mechanic, the mathematician, the physician, the alchemist, and the magician; but by all (as things now are) with slight endeavour and scanty success.

VI.

It would be an unsound fancy and self-contradictory to expect that things which have never yet been done can be done except by means which have never yet been tried.

VII.

The productions of the mind and hand seem very numerous in books and manufactures. But all this variety lies in an exquisite subtlety and derivations from a few things already known; not in the number of axioms.

VIII.

Moreover the works already known are due to chance and experiment rather than to sciences; for the sciences we now possess are merely systems for the nice ordering and setting forth of things already invented; not methods of invention or directions for new works.

IX.

The cause and root of nearly all evils in the sciences is this -- that while we falsely admire and extol the powers of the human mind we neglect to seek for its true helps.

X.

The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding; so that all those specious meditations, speculations, and glosses in which men indulge are quite from the purpose, only there is no one by to observe it.

XI.

As the sciences which we now have do not help us in finding out new works, so neither does the logic which we now have help us in finding out new sciences.

XII.

The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than to help the search after truth. So it does more harm than good.

XIII.

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poem by Sir Francis Bacon
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Gotham - Book I

Far off (no matter whether east or west,
A real country, or one made in jest,
Nor yet by modern Mandevilles disgraced,
Nor by map-jobbers wretchedly misplaced)
There lies an island, neither great nor small,
Which, for distinction sake, I Gotham call.
The man who finds an unknown country out,
By giving it a name, acquires, no doubt,
A Gospel title, though the people there
The pious Christian thinks not worth his care
Bar this pretence, and into air is hurl'd
The claim of Europe to the Western world.
Cast by a tempest on the savage coast,
Some roving buccaneer set up a post;
A beam, in proper form transversely laid,
Of his Redeemer's cross the figure made--
Of that Redeemer, with whose laws his life,
From first to last, had been one scene of strife;
His royal master's name thereon engraved,
Without more process the whole race enslaved,
Cut off that charter they from Nature drew,
And made them slaves to men they never knew.
Search ancient histories, consult records,
Under this title the most Christian lords
Hold (thanks to conscience) more than half the ball;
O'erthrow this title, they have none at all;
For never yet might any monarch dare,
Who lived to Truth, and breathed a Christian air,
Pretend that Christ, (who came, we all agree,
To bless his people, and to set them free)
To make a convert, ever one law gave
By which converters made him first a slave.
Spite of the glosses of a canting priest,
Who talks of charity, but means a feast;
Who recommends it (whilst he seems to feel
The holy glowings of a real zeal)
To all his hearers as a deed of worth,
To give them heaven whom they have robb'd of earth;
Never shall one, one truly honest man,
Who, bless'd with Liberty, reveres her plan,
Allow one moment that a savage sire
Could from his wretched race, for childish hire,
By a wild grant, their all, their freedom pass,
And sell his country for a bit of glass.
Or grant this barbarous right, let Spain and France,
In slavery bred, as purchasers advance;
Let them, whilst Conscience is at distance hurl'd,
With some gay bauble buy a golden world:
An Englishman, in charter'd freedom born,
Shall spurn the slavish merchandise, shall scorn

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poem by Charles Churchill
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