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Seventh Sign

Ive been sailin cross the ocean
With the devil by my side
Ive been flyin cross the great blue sky
But theres nowhere to hide
Ive been standin by the crossroads
Ive been lookin for a clue
Ive been prayin for the human race
There s not a lot I can do
Ive been waitin for the warnin
As we look to the sky now
We all seem lost if you ask me why
Its the seventh sign
See the blood-red sky tonight
Its the seventh sign
See the blood red sky
Theres a voice out on the wasteland
It says were runnin out of time
I used to think the world could change
Lord I must have been blind
Ive been cryin out for mankind
Ive been hangin on to faith
But the comin of a messenger
Says its much too late
We could all come together
And gather all around
What good is war when we all go down
Its the seventh sign
See the blood-red sky tonight
Its the seventh sign see the blood red sky

song performed by Europe
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Prayin 4 A Miracle

Ive been flat out of luck
Spent my very last buck
Cant sink no lower than this
Im so broken inside
Had to spit out my pride
This aint no way to exist
Every place that I go
Everyone that I meet
Sees me like Im some dog in the street
And its bringin me down to my knees
Now Im prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle
Im prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle
Prayin for a miracle
Since I left you that night
Less than nothings gone right
Living this hell that I made
So Im back at your feet
Im admitting defeat
Girl, I never felt so afraid
Just give back my life
I admit my mistakes
Now Im willing to do whatever it takes
Im begging you now, cant you see
That Im prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle
Prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle
Prayin for a miracle
Dont walk away
cause I know Im still worth savin
Can you forgive the way
I turned my back on you
And Im prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle
Prayin, prayin
Prayin for a miracle ...

song performed by Asia
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Just Waitin

Recorded by hank williams, sr.
Words and music by hank williams, sr. and bob gazzaway
The [g] old maids waitin for leap year to come
The crooners just waitin to [c] sing
The [d7] old cows standin by the bull durham sign
Just a-waitin for the grass to turn [g] green.
The [g] bar-flys waitin for an easy mark
n the hitch-hikers waitin for a [c] ride
The [d7] life-termers waitin for a prison break
The beachcombers waitin for the [g] ride.
Farmers daughters waitin for the salesman
To take her into town
The city slickers waitin for the country boy
To lay all his money down.
You know evrything comes to a standstill
Nothin seems to make a turn
Worm must be waitin for the early bird
I guess the early birds waitin for the worm.
Nobody wants to do nothin
Just waitin to get a finger in the pie
Waitin for a call from a big quiz show
Or hopin and a-waitin and for some rich uncle to die.
Katy, shes waitin at the garden gate
The moonshiners waitin at the still
n the gamblers still waitin for that ace in the hole
I guess jacks still waitin for jill.
Evrybodys waitin for somthin
Nothing seems to turn out right
cause the night shifts waitin for mornin
And the burglar just waitin for night.
The congregations waitin for the preacher
Preacher just waitin for the groom
The grooms just waitin for the june bride
And the brides just waitin for june.
Sunflowrs waitin for the sunshine
Violets just waitin for dew
Bees just waitin for honey
And, honey, -- Im -- just -- waitin -- for -- you.

song performed by Hank Williams
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Loop De Loop

(laughter)
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Have you ever been in airplane
When the flyin circus comes to town
Count your change
You can come and walk the wing with me
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop take away an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Peepin and a-hidin in and out of the cloud
The leader lost a hanky wavin down at the crowd
The barnstorm down but the rooster on the weather vane
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop take away an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Huffin and a-puffin flyin high as she can
A patchwork quilt stretches over the land
Well toss and tumble and sail her right in to the sun
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop gotcha in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
Loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane
Loop de loop flip flop fly away
(loop de loop flip flop flyin in an aeroplane)

[...] Read more

song performed by Beach Boys
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Prayin For Daylight

(steve bogard/rick giles)
Ive got the lights turned up
The door is locked, the bedroom tvs on
Doing the only thing that gets me through the night
Since youve been gone
Prayin for daylight, waiting for that morning sun
So I can act like my whole life aint going wrong
Baby come back to me, I swear Ill make it right
Dont make me spend another lonely night
Prayin for daylight
(prayin for daylight)
I made a bad miscalculation
Betting you would never leave
cause if youre getting on with your new life.
Then where does that leave me
Prayin for daylight, waiting for that morning sun
So I can act like my whole life aint going wrong
Baby come back to me, I swear Ill make it right
Dont make me spend another lonely night
Prayin for daylight
(prayin for daylight)
Prayin for daylight
(prayin for daylight)
Prayin for daylight
Hoping that I didnt wait too long
(I didnt wait too long)
That this is just the dark before the dawn
Deep in my heart I know
That you love me as much as I love you
And that you must be lying somewhere
Looking up to heaven too
Prayin for daylight, waiting for that morning sun
So I can act like my whole life aint going wrong
Baby come back to me, I swear Ill make it right
Dont make me spend another lonely night
Prayin for daylight
(prayin for daylight)
Prayin for daylight, waiting for that morning sun
So I can act like my whole life aint going wrong
Baby come back to me, I swear Ill make it right
Dont make me spend another lonely night
Prayin for daylight
(prayin for daylight)
Prayin for daylight
I dont want to spend another lonely night
I dont want to spend another lonely night
(prayin for daylight)
Prayin for daylight
I dont want to spend another lonely night
Oooo, oooo, oooo, oooo, oooo

[...] Read more

song performed by Rascal Flatts
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German Afternoons

Sailin around, sailin around, sailin around,
Ive been out sailin around again
Ive been sailin around
But I cant get back to you.
Hangin around, hangin around, hangin around
Ive been out hangin around again
Ive been hangin around
But I cant get back to you.
Chorus:
So tell where you been so long (sailin around)
What have I done so wrong? (sailin around)
Well, Im so glad I finally found you
I cant wait to put my arms around you
Sailin around, but I cant get back to you
Shoppin around, shoppin around, shoppin around,
Ive been shoppin around again
Ive been shoppin around
But I cant get back to you.
Repeat chorus:
Sailin around, sailin around, sailin around,
Ive been sailin around again
Ive been sailin around but I cant get back to you.
Ive been sailin around but I cant get back to you.
Ive been sailin around but I cant get back to you.

song performed by John Prine
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Crouchin’ On The Outside

One two three four five six seven eight hey baby you're a little too late
I'm standin' on the outside lookin' in at you on the inside
Lookin' out at me on the outside lookin' in
Through the window of my madness at a place I never been
And you say you understand just what my trouble's all about
But you're sitting on the inside playing on the win side
While I'm freezing on the outside in the what's-it-all-about side
Lookin' in at you on the inside looking out

One two three four five six seven eight hey Jim let's talk about hate
I'm walkin' on the white side lookin' 'round at you on the brown side
Lookin' back at him on the black side lookin' down
And we're mouthin' words of freedom but we don't make any sound
And we clasp our hands in brotherhood and then go wash our hands
While you're stayin' on the brown side on the go-ahead-and-put-me-down side
While I'm standin' on the white side on the got-me-way-up-tight side
Lookin' back at him on the black side lookin' back

One two three four five six seven eight hey Claude don't bother to wait
You're cruisin' on the gay side lookin' straight at me on the straight side
Lookin' way at you on the gay side lookin' straight
And you're screamin' from the rooftops bout the pleasures that won't wait
And your closet's full of queenly gowns for extra special dates
And you're campin' on the gay side on the c'mon-out-and-play side
While I'm over on the trick side on the got-to-find-a-chick side
Lookin' way at you on the gay side lookin' straight
One two four seven nine eight twelve fifteen nineteen eighteen ninety-nine twenty-four else
[ sax ]
One two three four five six seven eight hey Miss hallucinate
You're boppin' on the hip side laughin' at me on the flip side
Chasin' after you on the hip side losin' my grip
And you're walkin' on a tightrope and you're tryin' not to slip
And you say you found out where it's at and give it all a try
So you're groovin' on the hip side in the come-and-take-a-trip side
I'm movin' on the square side in the show-me-when-and-where side
Chasin' after you on the hip side lookin' high
Lookin' at you on the hip side lookin' out yeah
Lookin' at you on the flip side lookin' back

poem by Sheldon Allan Silverstein
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Junkanoo Holiday (Fallin' - Flyin')

Junkano Holiday (Fallin' Flyin')
Kenny Loggins
(This Is It)
Lyrics and Music by Kenny Loggins
You
Jumpin' into the street
Singin' and stompin' feet.
Hunkanoo holiday.
We're
Caught in a hurricane
Dancin' in the jungle rain
A junkanoo holiday
Feel it more and more
Spread your wings and start to soar
Over mountain tops,
we're floating free and fallin'-flyin'
Now the winds have changed,
I'm about to blow away
CHORUS
Fallin'-Flyin'
I'm gonna keep me fallin'-flyin'
Fallin'-flyin'
Over and over, fallin'-flyin'
Fallin'-flyin'
I'm gonna keep me Fallin'-flyin'
On
Tumblin' from the ground
Spinnin' me round and around
Junkanoo holiday.
Children
Dancin' in a circle ring
And everybody's happy in
A junkanoo holiday.
When you're letting go
You're an island volcano
You're a summer night
And high above we're Fallin'-flyin'
Now the winds have changed
'N I'm about to blow away
CHORUS
Fallin'-flyin'
I'm gonna keep me fallin'-flyin'
Fallin'-flyin'
Over and over, fallin'-flyin'
Fallin'-flyin'
Everybody here is Fallin'-flyin'
Fallin'-flyin'
On and on I'm Fallin'-flyin'
Down, down, down, down, down, down
Feather-free and floatin' round

[...] Read more

song performed by Kenny Loggins
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Canto the Second

I
Oh ye! who teach the ingenuous youth of nations,
Holland, France, England, Germany, or Spain,
I pray ye flog them upon all occasions,
It mends their morals, never mind the pain:
The best of mothers and of educations
In Juan's case were but employ'd in vain,
Since, in a way that's rather of the oddest, he
Became divested of his native modesty.

II
Had he but been placed at a public school,
In the third form, or even in the fourth,
His daily task had kept his fancy cool,
At least, had he been nurtured in the north;
Spain may prove an exception to the rule,
But then exceptions always prove its worth -—
A lad of sixteen causing a divorce
Puzzled his tutors very much, of course.

III
I can't say that it puzzles me at all,
If all things be consider'd: first, there was
His lady-mother, mathematical,
A—never mind; his tutor, an old ass;
A pretty woman (that's quite natural,
Or else the thing had hardly come to pass);
A husband rather old, not much in unity
With his young wife—a time, and opportunity.

IV
Well—well, the world must turn upon its axis,
And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails,
And live and die, make love and pay our taxes,
And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails;
The king commands us, and the doctor quacks us,
The priest instructs, and so our life exhales,
A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame,
Fighting, devotion, dust,—perhaps a name.

V
I said that Juan had been sent to Cadiz -—
A pretty town, I recollect it well -—
'T is there the mart of the colonial trade is
(Or was, before Peru learn'd to rebel),
And such sweet girls—I mean, such graceful ladies,
Their very walk would make your bosom swell;
I can't describe it, though so much it strike,
Nor liken it—I never saw the like:

[...] Read more

poem by Byron from Don Juan (1824)
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Canto the Fourth

I.

I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs;
A palace and a prison on each hand:
I saw from out the wave her structures rise
As from the stroke of the enchanter’s wand:
A thousand years their cloudy wings expand
Around me, and a dying glory smiles
O’er the far times when many a subject land
Looked to the wingèd Lion’s marble piles,
Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles!

II.

She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean,
Rising with her tiara of proud towers
At airy distance, with majestic motion,
A ruler of the waters and their powers:
And such she was; her daughters had their dowers
From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East
Poured in her lap all gems in sparkling showers.
In purple was she robed, and of her feast
Monarchs partook, and deemed their dignity increased.

III.

In Venice, Tasso’s echoes are no more,
And silent rows the songless gondolier;
Her palaces are crumbling to the shore,
And music meets not always now the ear:
Those days are gone - but beauty still is here.
States fall, arts fade - but Nature doth not die,
Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear,
The pleasant place of all festivity,
The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy!

IV.

But unto us she hath a spell beyond
Her name in story, and her long array
Of mighty shadows, whose dim forms despond
Above the dogeless city’s vanished sway;
Ours is a trophy which will not decay
With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor,
And Pierre, cannot be swept or worn away -
The keystones of the arch! though all were o’er,
For us repeopled were the solitary shore.

V.

[...] Read more

poem by Byron from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818)
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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

[...] Read more

poem by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
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Ocean Blue

Well you took me home
And you took me back
But deep down inside
The feeling just died and i
Couldnt see why
From indigo to royal blue
I travel far but no one will do
Anytime, anyplace
Every shape every face
Brings memories of you
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue - ocean blue
Fair weather friends might drift away
When summer ends and skies burn grey
So I walk to the ocean
Pilot these shores
Just thinking of you
Its time we kissed the clouds goodbye
From now on its strictly blue sky
Come rain and shine
The outlook is still fine
Im thinking of you
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue - ocean blue
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue, ocean blue
Ocean blue, ocean blue
Ocean blue, ocean blue
Ocean blue, ocean ocean
Ocean, ocean
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue
Blue to be blue
To be blue
Ocean blue - ocean blue
I stand at the head of the queue
Theres mutinys every crew
Wishin and wonderin bout you
Ocean blue

song performed by Abc
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Peter Bell The Third

BY MICHING MALLECHO, Esq.

Is it a party in a parlour,
Crammed just as they on earth were crammed,
Some sipping punch-some sipping tea;
But, as you by their faces see,
All silent, and all-damned!

Peter Bell, by W. Wordsworth.

Ophelia.-What means this, my lord?
Hamlet.-Marry, this is Miching Mallecho; it means mischief.
~Shakespeare.

PROLOGUE
Pet er Bells, one, two and three,
O'er the wide world wandering be.-
First, the antenatal Peter,
Wrapped in weeds of the same metre,
The so-long-predestined raiment
Clothed in which to walk his way meant
The second Peter; whose ambition
Is to link the proposition,
As the mean of two extremes-
(This was learned from Aldric's themes)
Shielding from the guilt of schism
The orthodoxal syllogism;
The First Peter-he who was
Like the shadow in the glass
Of the second, yet unripe,
His substantial antitype.-
Then came Peter Bell the Second,
Who henceforward must be reckoned
The body of a double soul,
And that portion of the whole
Without which the rest would seem
Ends of a disjointed dream.-
And the Third is he who has
O'er the grave been forced to pass
To the other side, which is,-
Go and try else,-just like this.
Peter Bell the First was Peter
Smugger, milder, softer, neater,
Like the soul before it is
Born from that world into this.
The next Peter Bell was he,
Predevote, like you and me,
To good or evil as may come;
His was the severer doom,-

[...] Read more

poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Sinnerman

Thomas crown affair version:
Sinnerman where you gunna run to
Sinnerman where you gunna run to
Where you gunna run to
All on that day
Well I run to the rock
Please hide me I run to the rock
Please hide me I run to the rock
Please hide me lord
All on that day
Well the rock cried out
I cant hide you the rock cried out
I cant hide you the rock cried out
I aint gunna hide you god
All on that day
I said rock whats a matter with you rock
Dont you see I need you rock
Dont let down
All on that day
So I run to the river
It was bleedin I run to the sea
It was bleedin I run to the sea
It was bleedin all on that day
So I run to the river it was boilin
I run to the sea it was boilin
I run to the sea it was boilin
All on that day
So I run to the lord
Please help me lord
Dont you see me prayin
Dont you see me down here prayin
But the lord said
Go to the devil
The lord said
Go to the devil
He said go to the devil
All on that day
So I ran to the devil
He was waiting
I ran to the devil he was waiting
I ran to the devil he was waiting
All on that day
Oh yeah
Oh I run to the river
It was boilin I run to the sea
It was boilin I run to the sea
It was boilin all on that day
So I ran to the lord
I said lord hide me
Please hide me

[...] Read more

song performed by Nina Simone
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Tsunami Aftermath-Lividly living corpse

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of unprecedented misery; with the wrath of the inexplicably crippling disaster transforming every trace of robust innocence into a mortuary of stinking death,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of hapless uncertainty; as boundless number of impeccable heads stared in distraught disbelief; for relentless hours towards empty sky,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of morbid blood; from which emanated the stench of pricelessly inimitable honesty hopelessly blended with the diabolical devil,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of unceasing sadness; in which perpetually floated innumerable lifeless bones of their enchanting siblings; children and immortal beloved,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of sadistic ridicule; where even the most eternally fructifying form of living kind was rendered to worthlessly lugubrious foam; salt and soap,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of parasitically ribald lechery; where man brutally asphyxiated his counterpart man; in an eventual bid to frenetically survive,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of cannibalistic hatred; from which spawned only the corridors of devilish hell; diffusing pain; pain and only intolerably inconsolable pain,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of bizarrely tawdry helplessness; where they were reduced to just infinitesimal frigid eunuchs; not able to do anything as the wave gobbled every trace of their celestial happiness,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of frenzied deliriousness; which apocalyptically shrieked the cry of ultimate extinction; the wholesome disappearance of this symbiotic planet from the map of this bountifully redolent Universe,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of unceasing remorsefulness; with the coffins of satanic oblivion ghoulishly transcending every conceivable happening in the atmosphere,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of limitless disbelief; with every stroke of destiny seeming to treacherously unfurl from the mouth of the venomously slandering devil,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of ominously pulverizing lies; where as if sacrilegiously wanton abuse had forever overridden the brilliantly majestic scepter of emollient truth,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of wastrel nothingness; with every wave that arose; hedonistically darting towards the infinite infinity of unfathomable despair,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of endless unemployment; where even the most divinely innocent source of life; was indiscriminately weighed on the scales of carnivorous crime,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of intransigently besmirching trauma; which licentiously gave birth to the graveyards of blackness; blackness and only savagely decrepit blackness,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of emotionlessly penalizing neglect; unforgivably ripping them apart from every tangible and intangible aspect and fabric of the civilized society,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of devastating disorientation; with even the most synergistically resplendent of smiles metamorphosing into gorily inane waywardness,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of unendingly excruciating torture; with human skin and emotions being ruthlessly excoriated apart like the inadvertent shedding of the lizard’s skin,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of amorphously sinful vindication; as fathomless deplorably orphaned took a solemn pledge; never to respect Mother Nature in their lifetimes again,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of ungainly fretfulness; with the horrendously wrinkled eye dispersing nothing else but blood; blood and punitively aggrieved blood,

Their countless tears did definitely fill an ocean all right; but it was an ocean of unparalleled divestation; with every beat of the heart; breath and blood; being transformed forever and ever and ever; as an aftermath of the murderous Tsunami; into a lividly living corpse….

poem by Nikhil Parekh
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The Columbiad: Book I

The Argument

Natives of America appear in vision. Their manners and characters. Columbus demands the cause of the dissimilarity of men in different countries, Hesper replies, That the human body is composed of a due proportion of the elements suited to the place of its first formation; that these elements, differently proportioned, produce all the changes of health, sickness, growth and decay; and may likewise produce any other changes which occasion the diversity of men; that these elemental proportions are varied, not more by climate than temperature and other local circumstances; that the mind is likewise in a state of change, and will take its physical character from the body and from external objects: examples. Inquiry concerning the first peopling of America. View of Mexico. Its destruction by Cortez. View of Cusco and Quito, cities of Peru. Tradition of Capac and Oella, founders of the Peruvian empire. Columbus inquires into their real history. Hesper gives an account of their origin, and relates the stratagems they used in establishing that empire.

I sing the Mariner who first unfurl'd
An eastern banner o'er the western world,
And taught mankind where future empires lay
In these fair confines of descending day;
Who sway'd a moment, with vicarious power,
Iberia's sceptre on the new found shore,
Then saw the paths his virtuous steps had trod
Pursued by avarice and defiled with blood,
The tribes he foster'd with paternal toil
Snatch'd from his hand, and slaughter'd for their spoil.

Slaves, kings, adventurers, envious of his name,
Enjoy'd his labours and purloin'd his fame,
And gave the Viceroy, from his high seat hurl'd.
Chains for a crown, a prison for a world
Long overwhelm'd in woes, and sickening there,
He met the slow still march of black despair,
Sought the last refuge from his hopeless doom,
And wish'd from thankless men a peaceful tomb:
Till vision'd ages, opening on his eyes,
Cheer'd his sad soul, and bade new nations rise;
He saw the Atlantic heaven with light o'ercast,
And Freedom crown his glorious work at last.

Almighty Freedom! give my venturous song
The force, the charm that to thy voice belong;
Tis thine to shape my course, to light my way,
To nerve my country with the patriot lay,
To teach all men where all their interest lies,
How rulers may be just and nations wise:
Strong in thy strength I bend no suppliant knee,
Invoke no miracle, no Muse but thee.

Night held on old Castile her silent reign,
Her half orb'd moon declining to the main;
O'er Valladolid's regal turrets hazed
The drizzly fogs from dull Pisuerga raised;
Whose hovering sheets, along the welkin driven,
Thinn'd the pale stars, and shut the eye from heaven.
Cold-hearted Ferdinand his pillow prest,
Nor dream'd of those his mandates robb'd of rest,
Of him who gemm'd his crown, who stretch'd his reign
To realms that weigh'd the tenfold poise of Spain;
Who now beneath his tower indungeon'd lies,
Sweats the chill sod and breathes inclement skies.

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poem by Joel Barlow
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The Dream

'TWAS summer eve; the changeful beams still play'd
On the fir-bark and through the beechen shade;
Still with soft crimson glow'd each floating cloud;
Still the stream glitter'd where the willow bow'd;
Still the pale moon sate silent and alone,
Nor yet the stars had rallied round her throne;
Those diamond courtiers, who, while yet the West
Wears the red shield above his dying breast,
Dare not assume the loss they all desire,
Nor pay their homage to the fainter fire,
But wait in trembling till the Sun's fair light
Fading, shall leave them free to welcome Night!

So when some Chief, whose name through realms afar
Was still the watchword of succesful war,
Met by the fatal hour which waits for all,
Is, on the field he rallied, forced to fall,
The conquerors pause to watch his parting breath,
Awed by the terrors of that mighty death;
Nor dare the meed of victory to claim,
Nor lift the standard to a meaner name,
Till every spark of soul hath ebb'd away,
And leaves what was a hero, common clay.

Oh! Twilight! Spirit that dost render birth
To dim enchantments; melting Heaven with Earth,
Leaving on craggy hills and rumning streams
A softness like the atmosphere of dreams;
Thy hour to all is welcome! Faint and sweet
Thy light falls round the peasant's homeward feet,
Who, slow returning from his task of toil,
Sees the low sunset gild the cultured soil,
And, tho' such radliance round him brightly glows,
Marks the small spark his cottage window throws.
Still as his heart forestals his weary pace,
Fondly he dreams of each familiar face,
Recalls the treasures of his narrow life,
His rosy children, and his sunburnt wife,

To whom his coming is the chief event
Of simple days in cheerful labour spent.
The rich man's chariot hath gone whirling past,
And those poor cottagers have only cast
One careless glance on all that show of pride,
Then to their tasks turn'd quietly aside;
But him they wait for, him they welcome home,
Fond sentinels look forth to see him come;
The fagot sent for when the fire grew dim,
The frugal meal prepared, are all for him;
For him the watching of that sturdy boy,

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poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
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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:

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poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Canto the First

I
I want a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one;
Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,
I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan—
We all have seen him, in the pantomime,
Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time.

II
Vernon, the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,
Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe,
Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,
And fill'd their sign posts then, like Wellesley now;
Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk,
Followers of fame, "nine farrow" of that sow:
France, too, had Buonaparté and Dumourier
Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier.

III
Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, Mirabeau,
Petion, Clootz, Danton, Marat, La Fayette,
Were French, and famous people, as we know:
And there were others, scarce forgotten yet,
Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,
With many of the military set,
Exceedingly remarkable at times,
But not at all adapted to my rhymes.

IV
Nelson was once Britannia's god of war,
And still should be so, but the tide is turn'd;
There's no more to be said of Trafalgar,
'T is with our hero quietly inurn'd;
Because the army's grown more popular,
At which the naval people are concern'd;
Besides, the prince is all for the land-service,
Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis.

V
Brave men were living before Agamemnon
And since, exceeding valorous and sage,
A good deal like him too, though quite the same none;
But then they shone not on the poet's page,
And so have been forgotten:—I condemn none,
But can't find any in the present age
Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one);
So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan.

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poem by Byron from Don Juan (1824)
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The Columbiad: Book III

The Argument

Actions of the Inca Capac. A general invasion of his dominions threatened by the mountain savages. Rocha, the Inca's son, sent with a few companions to offer terms of peace. His embassy. His adventure with the worshippers of the volcano. With those of the storm, on the Andes. Falls in with the savage armies. Character and speech of Zamor, their chief. Capture of Rocha and his companions. Sacrifice of the latter. Death song of Azonto. War dance. March of the savage armies down the mountains to Peru. Incan army meets them. Battle joins. Peruvians terrified by an eclipse of the sun, and routed. They fly to Cusco. Grief of Oella, supposing the darkness to be occasioned by the death of Rocha. Sun appears. Peruvians from the city wall discover Roch an altar in the savage camp. They march in haste out of the city and engage the savages. Exploits of Capac. Death of Zamor. Recovery of Rocha, and submission of the enemy.

Now twenty years these children of the skies
Beheld their gradual growing empire rise.
They ruled with rigid but with generous care,
Diffused their arts and sooth'd the rage of war,
Bade yon tall temple grace their favorite isle,
The mines unfold, the cultured valleys smile,
Those broad foundations bend their arches high,
And rear imperial Cusco to the sky;
Wealth, wisdom, force consolidate the reign
From the rude Andes to the western main.

But frequent inroads from the savage bands
Lead fire and slaughter o'er the labor'd lands;
They sack the temples, the gay fields deface,
And vow destruction to the Incan race.
The king, undaunted in defensive war,
Repels their hordes, and speeds their flight afar;
Stung with defeat, they range a wider wood,
And rouse fresh tribes for future fields of blood.

Where yon blue ridges hang their cliffs on high,
And suns infulminate the stormful sky,
The nations, temper'd to the turbid air,
Breathe deadly strife, and sigh for battle's blare;
Tis here they meditate, with one vast blow,
To crush the race that rules the plains below.
Capac with caution views the dark design,
Learns from all points what hostile myriads join.
And seeks in time by proffer'd leagues to gain
A bloodless victory, and enlarge his reign.

His eldest hope, young Rocha, at his call,
Resigns his charge within the temple wall;
In whom began, with reverend forms of awe,
The functions grave of priesthood and of law,

In early youth, ere yet the ripening sun
Had three short lustres o'er his childhood run,
The prince had learnt, beneath his father's hand,
The well-framed code that sway'd the sacred land;
With rites mysterious served the Power divine,
Prepared the altar and adorn'd the shrine,
Responsive hail'd, with still returning praise,
Each circling season that the God displays,

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poem by Joel Barlow
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Somebody Must Be Prayin For Me

(track 4 - time 3:52)
(frank vinci/kris bergsnes/bob moulds)
She left oklahoma for california
Sunglasses on the brim of her hat
Smoke was pourin from that old cadillac
But she wasnt turnin back
Just outside of flagstaff
Motor blew on her coup de ville
Just in time she saw a sign
Theres was a texaco waitin at the bottom of the hill
And she said
Somebody must be prayin for me
Somebody out there must be prayin for me
Must be angels I cant see
Somebody must be prayin for me, yeah
A boy about 20 climbed out of a truck
All covered in grease and dirt
She said, hey charles, but he just laughed
He said, Im wearin my daddys shirt
He stood there lost in her eyes
Then she got lost in his
As the years roll by
She would sigh everytime they kissed
And shed say
Somebody must be prayin for me
Somebody out there must be prayin for me
Must be angels I cant see
Somebody must be prayin for me
Sometimes she stares out the window
And wonders about her hollywood dreams
But when she tucks her kids in bed
She softly whispers as they fall asleep
Somebody must be prayin for me
Somebody out there must be prayin for me
Aint it funny how you find just what you need
Somebody must be prayin for me
Somebody must be prayin for me
Prayin for me, yeah

song performed by Tim McGraw
Added by Lucian Velea
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