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Parchman Farm

(by mose allison)
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm,
Aint never done no man no harm.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack,
A twelve-gauge shotgun at my back.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm,
Aint never done no man no harm.

song performed by Eric Clapton
Added by Lucian Velea
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Shotgun Wedding

(roy hammond)
People were standing, all around
At a shot gun wedding, here in this town
And Im a victim oh yea
Of a shotgun wedding
Cause your fathers got a gun
And there aint no place to run
Shotgun wedding and oh listen to me
Well I got to find a job
You, me, baby makes three
Shotgun, shotgun, shotgun, wedding oh yea
Cause your fathers got a gun
And there aint no place to run
Shotgun wedding
And all I could hear that day was
Do you take this woman
To be your lawful wedded wife
My my my my shotgun, shotgun, shotgun, shotgun wedding
I looked around
I looked around
And all I could see was a shotgun wedding....listen
But I tried to run from town
But her mother tracked me down
She said before I meet my maker,
Some mans gonna make an honest woman of my daughter
So it might as well be you
Oh daddy may be poor
But he owns a forty forty
Shotgun wedding
And oh Im walking up the aisle right now
Here comes the bride singing
Shotgun, shotgun, shotgun, shotgun, shotgun.....yea yeaaaa
I could of run away oh no I could be living high
Nobody could stop me now oh shotgun, shotgun
Just give me one more chance
Let me hear that bass boys that bass boys
Breaking my heart
Breaking my heart
Breaking my heart........

song performed by Rod Stewart
Added by Lucian Velea
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XI. Guido

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

[...] Read more

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

Biznite... Biznite...
Nothing but it

I'm dippin' in a black milleny benny sittin on twentys
Top off when the city's windy me and pretty Cindy
She dressed up in pretty Fendi and she sippin remy
I'm Iceburg nuttin but whenny all the way to my tinny
I'm hotter than a semi' cause this girl she
and plus my head is spinnin from drinkin this fifth of Henney.
I stop at any deli cause this freakin with her penny
and aint no tellin how many she umm already been in.
We get inside the room and she gigglin plain grinnin
Slowly the lights dimmin and I'm slippin on my jimmy
I'm feelin with her titties this is only the beginnin
I stick it in her kitty now she screamin come on gimme
I'm flippin this chick over and I caught her slowly bendin
I'm hittin got her twistin this is my ninny you hear me
And when its time to quit I got her soakin wet and drippin
She asked me for a kiss ah... .

[CHORUS]
Biznite is you trippin
Biznite is you trippin
What
Biznite is you trippin
What
Biznite is you trippin
He he he Wha..
You nothin but a sack chasin cock chasin biznite
Your never gonna amount to anythin but a biznite
cuz all I wanna do is hit it from... I don't even wanna talk
if your baby come born with braids I aint the pa
nope I aint the pa
hell no I aint the pa
no I aint the pa
hell no I aint the pa
nope I aint the pa
hell no I aint the pa
if your baby come out saying wha.. I aint the pa

I ride up in a Porshe Boxter see this fox her name was Tasha
I got her when I stopped her at McDonalds with her partner
I jocked the way she rocked her lil Versasce and her Prada
I'm Iceberg (?? ??? ??)
I jot her my phone number later on gave me a holla
I popped up by her mamas so her nigga wont know nada
She took thirty minutes play me like a some kinda coward
Now hopped up in my car and started talkin bout her doctor
She said she started ridin it in her babys fathers Honda
She wish that he would trade it in and cop a brand new Mazda

[...] Read more

song performed by Lil' Wayne from Lights Out
Added by Lucian Velea
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Leave It Open

With my ego in my gut,
My babbling mouth would wash it up.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep it shut.
My door was never locked,
Until one day a trigger come cocking.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep it shut.
Wide eyes would clean and dust
Things that decay, things that rust.
(but now Ive started learning how,)
I keep em shut.
I keep em shut.
Harm is in us.
Harm is in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm is in us, but power to arm.
Narrow mind would persecute it,
Die a little to get to it.
(but now Ive started learning how.)
I leave it open.
I kept it in a cage,
Watched it weeping, but I made it stay.
(but now Ive started learning how.)
I leave it open.
I leave it open.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
(leave it open!)
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Har in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!
Harm is in us!

[...] Read more

song performed by Kate Bush
Added by Lucian Velea
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Give The Po Man A Break

Give po man a break
Give po man a break
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a
Give po man a

[...] Read more

song performed by Fatboy Slim
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Aint Gonna Work On Maggies Farm No More

(bob dylan)
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I wake up every morning
Hold my hands and pray for rain
Ive got a head full of ideas
Driving me insane
Its a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well, I aint gonna work for maggies brother no more
I aint gonna work for maggies brother no more
He hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you and your friends
If youre having a good time
He blames you every time you slam the door
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well, I aint gonna work for maggies pa no more
I aint gonna work for maggies pa no more
He stubs his cigarette out in your face just for kicks
His bedroom window is made out of bricks
And the national guard are standing at his door
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well, I aint gonna work for maggies mother no more
I aint gonna work for maggies mother no more
She talks to all the servants about man and God and law
And everybody swears shes the brains behind pa
Shes sixty-eight, but claims shes twenty-four
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I try so hard to be just who I am
But everybody wants you to be just like them
They say see, while youre playing I get bored ? ?
Well, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more

song performed by Waterboys
Added by Lucian Velea
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Little Johnny Hooker

Oh, Im gonna tell you a story bout a little boy.
Oh, a sad little boy.
Im talkin bout little johnny hooker.
Little johnny hooker was a sissy on the street all his life --
All his natural born life.
Until his daddy took him aside and said,
Son, now heres your switchblade knife boy.
He said get out in the street boy,
Cut yourself some meat boy.
Get out on your own side of the road,
And lighten my load.
Johnny made a mistake and took his knife down to school one day.
Hey, yeah, yeah.
And, when the bell rang for lunch.
Freddie miller went and got in johnnys way boy.
He took his knife from his pocket, pushed a button on the side.
When he seen the queen steel,
You ought to seen the light in freddys eyes.
Oh, yeah ...
Little johnny hooker learned his lesson from the knife now you see,
(yes he did.)
Because for what he done to fred he spent some time in a penitentiary.
It was a day in the courtroom, exhibit letter a.
When the jury seen the knife they put little johnnys ass away.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Talkin bout jooohhhnnny.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Oh, little johnny boy.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Talkin bout jooohhhnnny.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Oh, little johnny boy.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
He was a young boy,
Hes thinkin the rest of his life,
For what he done with the knife.
Talkin bout jooohhhnnny.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Jooohhhnnny.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Little johnny hooker, he aint a bad looker, he aint a bad man, he aint.
Jooohhhnnny.
(repeat to fade)

song performed by Grand Funk Railroad
Added by Lucian Velea
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Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society

Epigraph

Υδραν φονεύσας, μυρίων τ᾽ ἄλλων πόνων
διῆλθον ἀγέλας . . .
τὸ λοίσθιον δὲ τόνδ᾽ ἔτλην τάλας πόνον,
. . . δῶμα θριγκῶσαι κακοῖς.

I slew the Hydra, and from labour pass'd
To labour — tribes of labours! Till, at last,
Attempting one more labour, in a trice,
Alack, with ills I crowned the edifice.

You have seen better days, dear? So have I —
And worse too, for they brought no such bud-mouth
As yours to lisp "You wish you knew me!" Well,
Wise men, 't is said, have sometimes wished the same,
And wished and had their trouble for their pains.
Suppose my Œdipus should lurk at last
Under a pork-pie hat and crinoline,
And, latish, pounce on Sphynx in Leicester Square?
Or likelier, what if Sphynx in wise old age,
Grown sick of snapping foolish people's heads,
And jealous for her riddle's proper rede, —
Jealous that the good trick which served the turn
Have justice rendered it, nor class one day
With friend Home's stilts and tongs and medium-ware,—
What if the once redoubted Sphynx, I say,
(Because night draws on, and the sands increase,
And desert-whispers grow a prophecy)
Tell all to Corinth of her own accord.
Bright Corinth, not dull Thebes, for Lais' sake,
Who finds me hardly grey, and likes my nose,
And thinks a man of sixty at the prime?
Good! It shall be! Revealment of myself!
But listen, for we must co-operate;
I don't drink tea: permit me the cigar!
First, how to make the matter plain, of course —
What was the law by which I lived. Let 's see:
Ay, we must take one instant of my life
Spent sitting by your side in this neat room:
Watch well the way I use it, and don't laugh!
Here's paper on the table, pen and ink:
Give me the soiled bit — not the pretty rose!
See! having sat an hour, I'm rested now,
Therefore want work: and spy no better work
For eye and hand and mind that guides them both,
During this instant, than to draw my pen
From blot One — thus — up, up to blot Two — thus —
Which I at last reach, thus, and here's my line
Five inches long and tolerably straight:

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Dont Shoot Shotgun

Run
(run for cover)
For for cover
Dont shoot!
Shoot!
Shes so dangerous
(shotgun!)
(gun!)
(dont shoot shotgun!)
Maybe Im wrong, maybe Im right
Fallin head over heals at the speed of light
Hey little miss heaven on earth
Whoa, wont you walk this way but I see a red alert
Oh, my senses say keep away
So dont shoot!
Dont shoot shotgun
Dream on nightmare
Touch n go
Dove turned destroyer, she cut you up, shes a slave of love
Run for cover, shes so dangerous
Undercover, shes so shameless
Dont shoot shotgun
You got me bitin my lip
Dont shoot shotgun!
Ya shootin straight from the hip
So dont shoot shotgun
Shoot me, baby!
Ow!
Hit n miss, flesh and blood
Shes sweet and indiscreet, she cant get enough
A little midnight madness
Oh baby, you cant hide
So wild n unpredictable
Step aside
cos youre, youre shooting wide
Oh
Shake it, shake it!
Ah, take this, little hit n miss
Oh
Dont shoot shotgun
You got me bitin my lip
Dont shoot shotgun!
Ya shootin straight from the hip
Dont shoot it!
Dont shoot shotgun!
Shake it, shake it!
Aw, take this little hit n miss
Ow!
(dont shoot! shotgun!)
Oh shoot it!

[...] Read more

song performed by Def Leppard
Added by Lucian Velea
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Aint No Particular Way

(here it comes
Mmm, the thing about love)
Love has a way to find ya
Sneaks up right behind ya
There aint no particular way
You dont know when its gonna
Come runnin round the corner
There aint no particular way
So, dont give up (dont give up
On love till you get your share)--
Youre gonn get your share
The thing about love (the thing about
Love is its)--is that its everywhere
[chorus]
There aint nowhere it wont hide
(there aint nowhere it wont hide)
There aint no speed it wont drive
(there aint no speed in wont drive)
There aint no law it wont break
(there aint no law it wont break)
There aint no chance it wont take
There aint no, no particular way
Oh, it could come so fast it fools ya
Might take its time to move ya
There aint no particular way
It might just drift in while youre dreaming
It dont sleep, always schemin
There aint no particular way
So, dont give up (dont give up
On love til you get your share)--
Youre gonna get your share
The thing about love (the thing about
Love is its)--is that its everywhere
[repeat chorus]
You cant hide, oh
(there aint no time) it comes when you least expect it--
(there aint no day)
When you thought youd been rejected
(there aint no how)(there aint no way)
There aint no particular way
(there aint no why)
Love aint for just the lucky
(there aint no when)
Its there for everybody
(there ain no what)
There aint no particular way
(there aint no way)
So, dont give up (dont give up
On love til you get your share)--
Youre gonna get your share

[...] Read more

song performed by Shania Twain
Added by Lucian Velea
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Concrete Kingdom

I hear cries tonight
I hear cries tonight
Aint no love
Aint no life
I hear cries tonight
I hear cries tonight
I hear cries tonight
I hear, I hear
I hear cries tonight
I hear cries tonight
I hear cries tonight
I hear, I hear
Like all of the best, weve been taken
Like all of the lost, weve been had
Pray god, kingdom come, deliver us,
Amen
All life, is it lost, have they won
Aint no love in a concrete kingdom,
Aint much life
Aint no life in a concrete kingdom,
I hear cries tonight
Aint no love
Aint no life
Aint no right,
Whats for my son
When all of the good,
Have been taken
Where all of the lost,
Have gone
Ravaged, then raped, annihilation-amen
All life, is it lost, have they won
Aint no love in a concrete kingdom
Aint much light
Aint no life in a concrete kingdom
I hear the cries tonight
Aint no love
Aint no light
Aint no right
Aint much love in a concrete kingdom,
Aint much light
Whats for my son
I - I wanna know why
I wanna know why,
Were shrinking from the sun
I said now i, I wanna know why
I wanna know why, theres poison - everyone
There aint no love, in a concrete kingdom
Aint much light
Aint no life in a concrete kingdom
I hear the cries tonight - I hear, I hear

[...] Read more

song performed by Billy Idol
Added by Lucian Velea
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Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie

When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb
When you think youre too old, too young, too smart or too dumb
When yer laggin behind an losin yer pace
In a slow-motion crawl of lifes busy race
No matter what yer doing if you start givin up
If the wine dont come to the top of yer cup
If the winds got you sideways with with one hand holdin on
And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone
And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it
And the woods easy findin but yer lazy to fetch it
And yer sidewalk starts curlin and the street gets too long
And you start walkin backwards though you know its wrong
And lonesome comes up as down goes the day
And tomorrows mornin seems so far away
And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin
And yer rope is a-slidin cause yer hands are a-drippin
And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys
Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys
And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipes a-pourin
And the lightnins a-flashing and the thunders a-crashin
And the windows are rattlin and breakin and the roof tops a-shakin
And yer whole worlds a-slammin and bangin
And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm
And to yourself you sometimes say
I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didnt they tell me the day I was born
And you start gettin chills and yer jumping from sweat
And youre lookin for somethin you aint quite found yet
And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air
And the whole worlds a-watchin with a window peek stare
And yer good gal leaves and shes long gone a-flying
And yer heart feels sick like fish when theyre fryin
And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet
And you need it badly but it lays on the street
And yer bells bangin loudly but you cant hear its beat
And you think yer ears might a been hurt
Or yer eyesve turned filthy from the sight-blindin dirt
And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush
When you were faked out an fooled white facing a four flush
And all the time you were holdin three queens
And its makin you mad, its makin you mean
Like in the middle of life magazine
Bouncin around a pinball machine
And theres something on yer mind you wanna be saying
That somebody someplace oughta be hearin
But its trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head
And it bothers you badly when your layin in bed
And no matter how you try you just cant say it
And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it
And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head

[...] Read more

song performed by Bob Dylan
Added by Lucian Velea
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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
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Maggies Farm

I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more.
No, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well, I wake up in the morning
Fold my hands and pray for rain.
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin me insane
Its a shame
The way she makes me
Scrub the floor
I aint gonna work on, nah
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more.
I aint gonna work for maggies brother no more
Nah, I aint gonna work for maggies brother no more
Well, he hands you a nickel
And he hands you a dime
And he asks you with a grin
If youre havin a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I aint gonna work for, nah
I aint gonna work for maggies brother no more
I aint gonna work for maggies pa no more
No, I aint gonna work for maggies pa no more
Well, he puts his cigar
Out in your face just for kicks
His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks
The national guard stands around his door
I aint gonna work, nah
I aint gonna work for maggies pa no more
I aint gonna work for maggies ma no more
No, I aint gonna work for maggies ma no more
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law
And everybody says
Shes the brains behind pa
Shes sixty-eight, but she says shes twenty-four
I aint gonna work for, nah
I aint gonna work for maggies ma no more
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
No, I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more
Well I try my best
To be just like I am
But everybody wants you
To be just like them
They sing while they slave and just get bored
I aint gonna work on, nah
I aint gonna work on maggies farm no more

song performed by Rage Against The Machine
Added by Lucian Velea
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VII. Pompilia

I am just seventeen years and five months old,
And, if I lived one day more, three full weeks;
'T is writ so in the church's register,
Lorenzo in Lucina, all my names
At length, so many names for one poor child,
—Francesca Camilla Vittoria Angela
Pompilia Comparini,—laughable!
Also 't is writ that I was married there
Four years ago: and they will add, I hope,
When they insert my death, a word or two,—
Omitting all about the mode of death,—
This, in its place, this which one cares to know,
That I had been a mother of a son
Exactly two weeks. It will be through grace
O' the Curate, not through any claim I have;
Because the boy was born at, so baptized
Close to, the Villa, in the proper church:
A pretty church, I say no word against,
Yet stranger-like,—while this Lorenzo seems
My own particular place, I always say.
I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high
As the bed here, what the marble lion meant,
With half his body rushing from the wall,
Eating the figure of a prostrate man—
(To the right, it is, of entry by the door)
An ominous sign to one baptized like me,
Married, and to be buried there, I hope.
And they should add, to have my life complete,
He is a boy and Gaetan by name—
Gaetano, for a reason,—if the friar
Don Celestine will ask this grace for me
Of Curate Ottoboni: he it was
Baptized me: he remembers my whole life
As I do his grey hair.

All these few things
I know are true,—will you remember them?
Because time flies. The surgeon cared for me,
To count my wounds,—twenty-two dagger-wounds,
Five deadly, but I do not suffer much—
Or too much pain,—and am to die to-night.

Oh how good God is that my babe was born,
—Better than born, baptized and hid away
Before this happened, safe from being hurt!
That had been sin God could not well forgive:
He was too young to smile and save himself.
When they took two days after he was born,
My babe away from me to be baptized
And hidden awhile, for fear his foe should find,—

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
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The Ballad of the White Horse

DEDICATION

Of great limbs gone to chaos,
A great face turned to night--
Why bend above a shapeless shroud
Seeking in such archaic cloud
Sight of strong lords and light?

Where seven sunken Englands
Lie buried one by one,
Why should one idle spade, I wonder,
Shake up the dust of thanes like thunder
To smoke and choke the sun?

In cloud of clay so cast to heaven
What shape shall man discern?
These lords may light the mystery
Of mastery or victory,
And these ride high in history,
But these shall not return.

Gored on the Norman gonfalon
The Golden Dragon died:
We shall not wake with ballad strings
The good time of the smaller things,
We shall not see the holy kings
Ride down by Severn side.

Stiff, strange, and quaintly coloured
As the broidery of Bayeux
The England of that dawn remains,
And this of Alfred and the Danes
Seems like the tales a whole tribe feigns
Too English to be true.

Of a good king on an island
That ruled once on a time;
And as he walked by an apple tree
There came green devils out of the sea
With sea-plants trailing heavily
And tracks of opal slime.

Yet Alfred is no fairy tale;
His days as our days ran,
He also looked forth for an hour
On peopled plains and skies that lower,
From those few windows in the tower
That is the head of a man.

But who shall look from Alfred's hood

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poem by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi

Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright?
Have patience! In this sudden smoke from hell,—
So things disguise themselves,—I cannot see
My own hand held thus broad before my face
And know it again. Answer you? Then that means
Tell over twice what I, the first time, told
Six months ago: 't was here, I do believe,
Fronting you same three in this very room,
I stood and told you: yet now no one laughs,
Who then … nay, dear my lords, but laugh you did,
As good as laugh, what in a judge we style
Laughter—no levity, nothing indecorous, lords!
Only,—I think I apprehend the mood:
There was the blameless shrug, permissible smirk,
The pen's pretence at play with the pursed mouth,
The titter stifled in the hollow palm
Which rubbed the eyebrow and caressed the nose,
When I first told my tale: they meant, you know,
"The sly one, all this we are bound believe!
"Well, he can say no other than what he says.
"We have been young, too,—come, there's greater guilt!
"Let him but decently disembroil himself,
"Scramble from out the scrape nor move the mud,—
"We solid ones may risk a finger-stretch!
And now you sit as grave, stare as aghast
As if I were a phantom: now 't is—"Friend,
"Collect yourself!"—no laughing matter more—
"Counsel the Court in this extremity,
"Tell us again!"—tell that, for telling which,
I got the jocular piece of punishment,
Was sent to lounge a little in the place
Whence now of a sudden here you summon me
To take the intelligence from just—your lips!
You, Judge Tommati, who then tittered most,—
That she I helped eight months since to escape
Her husband, was retaken by the same,
Three days ago, if I have seized your sense,—
(I being disallowed to interfere,
Meddle or make in a matter none of mine,
For you and law were guardians quite enough
O' the innocent, without a pert priest's help)—
And that he has butchered her accordingly,
As she foretold and as myself believed,—
And, so foretelling and believing so,
We were punished, both of us, the merry way:
Therefore, tell once again the tale! For what?
Pompilia is only dying while I speak!
Why does the mirth hang fire and miss the smile?
My masters, there's an old book, you should con
For strange adventures, applicable yet,

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
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Aint No Love In The Heart Of The City

Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
Baby, since you been around.
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity, child
Aint no love cos you aint around.
Every place that I go,
Well, it seems so strange.
Without you love, baby, baby,
Things have changed.
Now that youre gone
Yknow the sun dont shine,
From the city hall
To the county line, thats why
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
(solo)
Every place that I go,
Well, it seems so strange.
Without you love, baby, baby,
Things have changed.
Now that youre gone
Yknow the sun dont shine,
From the city hall
Woman, to the county line, thats why
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
There aint no love in the heart of town.
There aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
(solo)
There aint no love in the heart of the city,
There aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around,
cos you aint around.

song performed by Whitesnake
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Iliad: Book 24

The assembly now broke up and the people went their ways each to his
own ship. There they made ready their supper, and then bethought
them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for
thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow,
could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he
yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all
they had done together, and all they had gone through both on the
field of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on
these things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his
back, and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one
distraught to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn
breaking over beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and
bound the body of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice
did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius, and then went
back into his tent, leaving the body on the ground full length and
with its face downwards. But Apollo would not suffer it to be
disfigured, for he pitied the man, dead though he now was; therefore
he shielded him with his golden aegis continually, that he might
take no hurt while Achilles was dragging him.
Thus shamefully did Achilles in his fury dishonour Hector; but the
blessed gods looked down in pity from heaven, and urged Mercury,
slayer of Argus, to steal the body. All were of this mind save only
Juno, Neptune, and Jove's grey-eyed daughter, who persisted in the
hate which they had ever borne towards Ilius with Priam and his
people; for they forgave not the wrong done them by Alexandrus in
disdaining the goddesses who came to him when he was in his
sheepyards, and preferring her who had offered him a wanton to his
ruin.
When, therefore, the morning of the twelfth day had now come,
Phoebus Apollo spoke among the immortals saying, "You gods ought to be
ashamed of yourselves; you are cruel and hard-hearted. Did not
Hector burn you thigh-bones of heifers and of unblemished goats? And
now dare you not rescue even his dead body, for his wife to look upon,
with his mother and child, his father Priam, and his people, who would
forthwith commit him to the flames, and give him his due funeral
rites? So, then, you would all be on the side of mad Achilles, who
knows neither right nor ruth? He is like some savage lion that in
the pride of his great strength and daring springs upon men's flocks
and gorges on them. Even so has Achilles flung aside all pity, and all
that conscience which at once so greatly banes yet greatly boons him
that will heed it. man may lose one far dearer than Achilles has lost-
a son, it may be, or a brother born from his own mother's womb; yet
when he has mourned him and wept over him he will let him bide, for it
takes much sorrow to kill a man; whereas Achilles, now that he has
slain noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb of his
comrade. It were better of him, and for him, that he should not do so,
for brave though he be we gods may take it ill that he should vent his
fury upon dead clay."
Juno spoke up in a rage. "This were well," she cried, "O lord of the
silver bow, if you would give like honour to Hector and to Achilles;

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poem by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler
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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

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poem by Gert Strydom
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