Poetry rally: respond to the previous poster by quoting a related piece of poetry

::: MODERATOR INTERRUPTS GAME FLOW :::::

Look, folks, we have rules about not quoting too much material; we are very respectful of copyright here at the Straight Dope. We don’t want anyone quoting us improperly, and we don’t let posters quote others. The best approach is to quote a couple of lines, and then provide a link to some website that (presumably) has legal rights to the material.

Some of the material I’ve deleted may be public domain. I frankly don’t know, and moderators don’t have time to check that sort of thing. If you think I’ve unfairly deleted lines that are in public domain, email me and tell me what you’d like me to restore, and I can do that, with apologies.

From the Indies to the Andes, what a mission
Stopping only now and then to do some fishin’
And he went without a copyright permission
'Twas a very, very daring thing to do.

  • E. Burnett and W. Faber

The quoted lyrics to Istanbul, not Constantinople were incomplete and I thought them kosher, but if you thought it too much I won’t argue. Dulce et Decorum Est by Owen is public domain, though.

And Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires.
-William Blake, “In the Garden of Love”
( :wink: )

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling–public domain

A Bird came down the Walk
He did not know I saw—
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

–Emily Dickinson

O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

–Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

I saw with open eyes
Singing birds sweet
Sold in the shops
For the people to eat,
Sold in the shops of
Stupidity Street.

~Ralph Hodgson


*“Prophet!” said I, "thing of evil–prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us–by that God we both adore–
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?
Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting–
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
Quoth the raven, “Nevermore.”

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!*
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe (public domain)

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

WB Yeats, “The Second Coming”.

ADAM-12
comes now
the urgent man
whom duty calls
to answer
impugning fingers
swarming,
quick, grasping
lithe, snatching
crawl with
quiet, scuttling
politics
over the husk
of a real life
no justice for the abandoned
a sea of dead promises
and credulous notions
the fashion of the time
the way of all things
see the man
ADAM-12

“ADAM-12”

On the Antiquity of Fleas

Adam
Had 'em

When Adam delved
And Eve span,
Who was then
A Gentleman?

  • revolutionary poem, 1381
        The ladies men admire, I've heard,
           Would shudder at a wicked word.
          .....
          They do not keep awake till three,
          Nor read erotic poetry.
          .....
          They shrink from powders and from paints ...
        So far, I've had no complaints.

Interview by Dorothy Parker

A Satyr on Charles II

In th’ isle of Britain, long since famous grown
For breeding the best cunts in Christendom,
There reigns, and oh! long may he reign and thrive,
The easiest King and best-bred man alive.
Him no ambition moves to get renown
Like the French fool, that wanders up and down
Starving his people, hazarding his crown.
Peace is his aim, his gentleness is such,
And love he loves, for he loves fucking much.

Nor are his high desires above his strength:

His scepter and his prick are of a length;
And she may sway the one who plays with th’ other,
And make him little wiser than his brother.
Poor Prince! thy prick, like thy buffoons at Court,
Will govern thee because it makes thee sport.
'Tis sure the sauciest prick that e’er did swive,
The proudest, peremptoriest prick alive.
Though safety, law, religion, life lay on’t,
'Twould break through all to make its way to cunt.
Restless he rolls about from whore to whore,
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.

To Carwell, the most dear of all his dears,

The best relief of his declining years,
Oft he bewails his fortune, and her fate:
To love so well, and be beloved so late.
For though in her he settles well his tarse,
Yet his dull, graceless bollocks hang an arse.
This you’d believe, had I but time to tell ye
The pains it costs to poor, laborious Nelly,
Whilst she employs hands, fingers, mouth, and thighs,
Ere she can raise the member she enjoys.
All monarchs I hate, and the thrones they sit on,
From the hector of France to the cully of Britain.

– John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Love is and was my Lord and King,
And in his presence I attend
To hear the tidings of my friend,
Which every hour his couriers bring.

Love is and was my King and Lord,
And will be, tho’ as yet I keep
Within his court on earth, and sleep
Encompass’d by his faithful guard,

And hear at times a sentinel
Who moves about from place to place,
And whispers to the worlds of space,
In the deep night, that all is well.

From Tennyson’s In Memoriam

Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well

–Four Quartets, TSEliot

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.

William Blake, Eternity

Let us live in joy, not hating those who hate us.
Among those who hate us, we live free of hate.
Let us live in joy,
free from disease among those who are diseased.
Among those who are diseased, let us live free of disease.
Let us live in joy, free from greed among the greedy.
Among those who are greedy, we live free of greed.
Let us live in joy, though we possess nothing.
Let us live feeding on joy, like the bright gods.

Victory breeds hate, for the conquered is unhappy.
Whoever has given up victory and defeat
is content and lives joyfully.

There is no fire like lust, no misfortune like hate;
there is no pain like this body;
there is no joy higher than peace.

Craving is the worst disease;
disharmony is the greatest sorrow.
The one who knows this truly
knows that nirvana is the highest bliss.

Health is the greatest gift;
contentment is the greatest wealth;
trusting is the best relationship;
nirvana is the highest joy.

Whoever has tasted the sweetness
of solitude and tranquillity
becomes free from fear and sin
while drinking the sweetness of the truth.
The sight of the noble is good;
to live with them is always joyful.

Whoever does not see fools will always be happy.
Whoever associates with fools suffers a long time.
Being with fools, as with an enemy, is always painful.

Being with the wise, like meeting with family, is joyful.
Therefore, one should follow the wise, the intelligent,
the learned, the patient, the dutiful, the noble;
one should follow the good and wise,
as the moon follows the path of the stars.

–Siddhārtha Gautama (Lord Buddha)

I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun

William Martin Joel