Deer's Cry
I arise today
Through the powers of Heaven,
In these forces seven:
Light of the blazing sun
Radiance of the moon,
Splendor of the new flame's run
Sweetness of the wind's tune,
Deepness of the boundless sea,
The hard earth's stability,
Stone fixed eternally;
I arise today,
Through God's strength to pilot me
Through the power most mighty,
Invoking the Trinity,
Confession in one, belief in three,
The Creator of Creation!
How Are The Mighty Fallen!
(II Samuel 1:17-27)
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathon his son.
The beauty of Isreal is slain upon thy high places:
How are the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gath,
Publish it not in the streets of Askelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Ye mountains of Gilboa,
Let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings:
For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away,
The shield of Saul, as though he not not been anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathon turned not back,
And the sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathon were lovely and pleasant in their lives;
And in their death they were not divided:
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
Ye daughters of Isreal, weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights,
Who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle!
O Jonathon, thou wast slain in thine high places.
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathon:
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me:
Thy love to me was wonderful.
Passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!
A Tempest
A tempest is on the ocean's plain:
Boldly the winds awaken it,
Winter sweeps the fierce sea again,
By wind and winter are we slain:
Winter's spear has overtaken it.
When from the east the wind sets
The spirit of the waves is free,
They desire to sweep over all the west
To reach the land where the sun sets,
To the wild, broad green sea.
The deeds of the plain, the ocean's rush
Have driven alarm upon me,
But what, of all, is as tremendous,
Wonderful and as momentous
As it's comparable story?
Tears (A Song for Music)
Weep you no more, sad fountains;
What need you flow so fast?
Look how the snowy mountains
Heaven's sun doth gently waste!
But my Sun's heavenly eyes
View not your weeping,
That now lies sleeping,
Softly, now softly lies
Sleeping.
Sleep is a reconciling,
A rest that peace begets;
Doth not the sun rise smiling
When fair at even he sets?
Rest you, then rest, sad eyes!
Melt not in weeping,
While she lies sleeping
Softly, now softly lies
Sleeping.
from Pippa Passes
Day.
Faster and more fast,
O'er night's brim, day boils at last:
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud cup's brim
Where spurting and suppressed it lay,
For not a froth-flake touched the rim
Of yonder gap in the solid gray
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away;
But forth one wavelet, then another, curled,
Till the whole sunrise, not to be suppressed,
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world.
Drink To Me Only
Drink to me only with thine eyes -
That's one way to economize.
The Jungle
When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today.
Icarus
Love wing'd my Hopes and taught me how to fly
Far from base earth, but not to mount too high:
For true pleasure
Lives in measure,
Which if men forsake,
Blinded they into folly run and grief for pleasure take.
But my vain Hopes, proud of their new-taught flight,
Enamour'd sought to woo the sun's fair light,
Whose rich brightness
Moved their lightness
To aspire so high
That all scorch'd and consumed with fire now drown'd in woe they lie.
And none but Love their woeful hap did rue,
For Love did know that their desires were true;
Though fate frowned,
And now drowned
They in sorrow dwell,
It was the purest light of heav'n for whose fair love they fell.
The Silver Swan
The silver swan, who living had no note,
When death approached, unlocked her silent throat;
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
Thus sung her first and last, and sung no more:
"Farewell, all joys; Oh death, come close mine eyes;
More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."
Optimist and Pessimist
'Twixt optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll:
The optimist sees the doughnut;
The pessimist sees the hole.
Mendelian Theory
There once was a young lady called Starkie,
Who had an affair with a darkie.
The result of her sins
Was quadruplets, not twins -
One black, one white, and two khaki.
Miss Twye
Miss Twye was soaping her breasts in the bath
When she heard behind her a meaningful laugh
And to her amazement she discovered
A wicked man in the bathroom cupboard.
The Turtle
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
You Are As Gold
You are as gold
As the half-ripe grain
That merges to gold again
As white as the white rain
That beats through
The half-opened flowers
Of the great flower tufts
Thick on the black limbs
Of an Illyrian apple bough.
Can honey distill such fragrance
As your bright hair -
For your face is as fair as rain,
Yet as rain that lies clear
On white honey-comb,
Lends radiance to the white wax,
So your hair on your brow
Casts light for a shadow.
Young Lochinvar
or The True Story In Blank Verse
Oh! young Lochinvar is come out of the West,
Thro' all the wide border his horse has no equal,
Having cost him forty-five dollars at the market,
Where good nags, fresh from the country,
With burrs still in their tails are selling
For a song; and save his good broadsword
He weapon had none, except a seven-shooter
Or two, a pair of brass knuckles, and an Arkansaw
Toothpick in his boot, so, comparitively speaking,
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone,
Because there was no one going his way.
He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for
Toll gates; he swam the Eske river where ford
There was none, and saved fifteen cents
In ferriage, but lost his pocketbook, containing
Seventeen dollars and a half, by the operation.
Ere he alighted at the Netherby mansion
He stopped to borrow a dry suit of clothes,
And this delayed him considerably, so when
He arrived the bride had consented - the gallant
Came late - for a laggard in love and a dastard in war
Was to wed the fair Ellen, and the guests had assembled.
So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall
Among bridesmen and kinsmen and brothers and
Brothers in law and forty or fifty cousins;
Then spake the bride's father, his hand on his sword
(For the poor craven bridegroom ne'er opened his head)
"Oh, come ye in peace here, or come ye in anger,
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?
"I long wooed your daughter, and she will tell you
I have the inside track in the free-for-all
For her affections! my suit you denied; but let
That pass, while I tell you, old fellow, that love
Swells like the Solway, but ebbs like it's tide,
And now I am come with this lost love of mine
To lead but one measure, drink one glass of beer;
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far
That would gladly be bride to yours very truly."
The bride kissed the goblet, the knight took it up,
He quaffed off the nectar and threw down the mug,
Smashing it into a million pieces, while
He remarked that he was the son of a gun
From Seven-Up and run the Number Nine.
She looked down to blush, but she looked up again
For she well understood the wink in his eye;
He took her soft hand ere her mother could
Interfere, "Now tread we a measure; first four
Half right and left; swing!" cried young Lochinvar.
One touch to her hand and one word in her ear,
When they reached the hall door and the charger
Stood near on three legs eating post hay;
So light to the croup the fair lady he swung,
Then leaped to the saddle before her.
"She is won! We are gone! over bank, bush and spar,
They'll have fleet steeds that follow! - but in the
Excitement of the moment he had forgotten
To untie the horse, and the poor brute could
Only gallop in a little circus around the
Hitching-post; so the old gent collared
The youth and gave him the awfullest lambasting
That was ever heard of on Canobie Lee;
So dauntless in war and so daring in love,
Have ye e'er heard of a gallant like young Lochinvar?