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Showing posts from December, 2008

The Road Not Taken

___________________________ TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. ------------------- Robert Frost. 1875–

New Year's Recipe

_New Year's Recipe__________________________ If you want to have a beautiful New Year The color of the rainbow or the color of your peace, A New Year beyond comparing to all the time you've already lived,(lived badly perhaps or senselessly) If you want to have a year Not freshly painted with everything back on the right track, But new in the feelings of coming to be;New Down to the heart of the things you are least aware of (to begin with what's inside you) New, spontaneous, you don't find it to be so perfect, But with it you eat, you walk, You love, you understand, you work. You don't need to drink champagne or any other drink ,You don't need to go on visits or receive cards (You plan to receive cards?Send telegrams?) You don't need To make a list of good resolutions To file in your bureau drawer. You don't need to cry with regret Over foolish things you've already done Or to half believe That by the decree of hope From January onward things will ch

To Mary: I sleep with Thee

  To Mary: I Sleep with Thee I sleep with thee, and wake with thee,  And yet thou art not there;  I fill my arms with thoughts of thee,  And press the common air.  Thy eyes are gazing upon mine  When thou art out of sight;  My lips are always touching thine  At morning, noon, and night.  I think and speak of other things  To keep my mind at rest,  But still to thee my memory clings  Like love in woman's breast.  I hide it from the world's wide eye  And think and speak contrary,  But soft the wind comes from the sky  And whispers tales of Mary.  The night-wind whispers in my ear,  The moon shines on my face;  The burden still of chilling fear  I find in every place.  The breeze is whispering in the bush,  And the leaves fall from the tree,  All sighing on, and will not hush,  Some pleasant tales of thee.  Song [Secret Love] I hid my love when young while I Couldn't bear the buzzing of a fly I hid my love to my despite Till I could not bear to look at light I dare not gaze up

We Have Been Friends Together

We Have Been Friends Together We have been friends together, In sunshine and in shade; Since first beneath the chestnut-trees In infancy we played. But coldness dwells within thy heart, A cloud is on thy brow; We have been friends together— Shall a light word part us now? We have been gay together; We have laugh’d at little jests; For the fount of hope was gushing Warm and joyous in our breasts. But laughter now hath fled thy lip, And sullen glooms thy brow; We have been gay together— Shall a light word part us now? We have been sad together, We have wept, with bitter tears, O’er the grass-grown graves, where slumber’d The hopes of early years. The voices which are silent there Would bid thee clear thy brow; We have been sad together— Oh! what shall part us now? Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton (1808-1877)

The Ecstasy

The Ecstasy Where, like a pillow on a bed,      A pregnant bank swell'd up, to rest  The violet's reclining head,      Sat we two, one another's best.  Our hands were firmly cemented      By a fast balm, which thence did spring;  Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread      Our eyes upon one double string.  So to engraft our hands, as yet      Was all the means to make us one;  And pictures in our eyes to get      Was all our propagation.  As, 'twixt two equal armies, Fate      Suspends uncertain victory,  Our souls—which to advance their state,      Were gone out—hung 'twixt her and me.  And whilst our souls negotiate there,      We like sepulchral statues lay;  All day, the same our postures were,      And we said nothing, all the day.  If any, so by love refined,      That he soul's language understood,  And by good love were grown all mind,      Within convenient distance stood,  He—though he knew not which soul spake,      Because both meant, both spake the s

One day I wrote her name upon the strand

[One day I wrote her name upon the strand] One day I wrote her name upon the strand,  But came the waves and washed it away:  Again I wrote it with a second hand,  But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.  Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay  A mortal thing so to immortalize!  For I myself shall like to this decay,  And eek my name be wiped out likewise.  Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise  To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:  My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,  And in the heavens write your glorious name;  Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue,  Our love shall live, and later life renew. Edmund Spenser 

Mary's Lamb

Mary’s Lamb Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow; And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go. He followed her to school one day— That was against the rule; It made the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school. So the teacher turned him out, But still he lingered near, And waited patiently about, Till Mary did appear. Then he ran to her, and laid His head upon her arm, As if he said, "I'm not afraid— You'll keep me from all harm." "What makes the lamb love Mary so?" The eager children cry. "Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know," The teacher did reply. Sarah Josepha Hale 

Nest Eggs

Nest Eggs Birds all the sunny day Flutter and quarrel Here in the arbour-like Tent of the laurel. Here in the fork The brown nest is seated; Four little blue eggs The mother keeps heated. While we stand watching her, Staring like gabies, Safe in each egg are the Bird’s little babies. Soon the frail eggs they shall Chip, and upspringing Make all the April woods Merry with singing. Younger than we are, O children, and frailer, Soon in blue air they’ll be, Singer and sailor. We, so much older, Taller and stronger, We shall look down on the Birdies no longer. They shall go flying With musical speeches High overhead in the Tops of the beeches. In spite of our wisdom And sensible talking, We on our feet must go Plodding and walking. Robert Louis Stevenson 

Eldorado

Eldorado Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old— This knight so bold— And o’er his heart a shadow Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow— “Shadow,” said he, “Where can it be— This land of Eldorado?” “Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride,” The shade replied,— “If you seek Eldorado!” Edgar Allen Poe

Old Christmas Morning

Old Christmas Morning "Where you coming from, Lomey Carter, So airly over the snow? And what's them pretties you got in your hand, And where you aiming to go? "Step in, Honey: Old Christmas morning I ain't got nothing much; Maybe a bite of sweetness and corn bread, A little ham meat and such, "But come in, Honey! Sally Anne Barton's Hungering after your face. Wait till I light my candle up: Set down! There's your old place. Now where you been so airly this morning? "Graveyard, Sally Anne. Up by the trace in the salt lick meadows Where Taulbe kilt my man." Taulbe ain't to home this morning . . . I can't scratch up a light: Dampness gets on the heads of the matches; But I'll blow up the embers bright." "Needn't trouble. I won't be stopping: Going a long ways still." "You didn't see nothing, Lomey Carter, Up on the graveyard hill? What should I see there, Sally Anne Barton? Well, spe

The Game of Hide & Seek

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____________________________ The cowherd boys and girls are playing the game of hide-and-seek, on the outskirts of the village. Radha has hidden herself in a clump of bushes. Krishna discovers her, and makes use of the opportunity for love-making. dou chora milichani khelu na kheli aghata durata hiyain laptai kai chhuvata hiyain laptata "Playing the game of hide-and-seek, the two are not satisfied with its pleasures. When one seeks the other, they cling to each other in a warm embrace." ___________________________ Bihari Sat Sai

An Indian Love Song

He __ Lift up the veils that darken the delicate moon of thy glory and grace, Withhold not, O love, from the night of my longing the joy of thy luminous face, Give me a spear of the scented keora guarding thy pinioned curls, Or a silken thread from the fringes that trouble the dream of thy glimmering pearls; Faint grows my soul with thy tresses' perfume and the song of thy anklets' caprice, Revive me, I pray, with the magical nectar that dwells in the flower of thy kiss. She ___ How shall I yield to the voice of thy pleading, how shall I grant thy prayer, Or give thee a rose-red silken tassel, a scented leaf from my hair? Or fling in the flame of thy heart's desire the veils that cover my face, Profane the law of my father's creed for a foe of my father's race? Thy kinsmen have broken our sacred altars and slaughtered our sacred kine, The feud of old faiths and the blood of old battles sever thy people and mine. He __ What are the sins of my race, Beloved, what are

But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light

____________________________ The world's light shines, shine as it will, The world will love its darkness still. I doubt though when the world's in hell, It will not love its darkness half so well. ___________________________ Richard Crashaw (1613 – 1649)

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

THE RIME OF THE ANCYENT MARINERE, IN SEVEN PARTS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARGUMENT. How a ship having passed the Line was driven by Storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his own Country. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. It is an ancyent Marinere, And he stoppeth one of three: "By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye "Now wherefore stoppest me? The bridegroom's doors are open'd wide "And I am next of kin; "The Guests are met, the Feast is set,-- "May'st hear the merry din. But still he holds the wedding-guest-- There was a Ship, quoth he-- "Nay, if thou'st got a laughsome tale, "Marinere! come with me." He holds him with his

"The Deaf Once Called the Deaf…"

"The Deaf Once Called the Deaf…" The deaf once called the deaf to the deaf judge – right now; The first deaf cried: “He’s spoiled my own cow!” – “For goodness’ sake,” to that another blared, “This plot belonged still to my late granddad!” “To stop a sin,” decided the judge witty, “The pal’s to marry her, though the wench is guilty.” Alesandr Pushkin

The Life of the Bee ---Maurice Maeterlinck

The Life of the Bee [La Vie des Abeilles] By Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) Translated from French into Englishby Alfred Sutro Copyright, 1901, Dodd, Mead and CompanyCopyright, 1928, by Alfred Sutro Contents 1. On the Threshold of the Hive 2. The Swarm The Foundation of the City 3. The Life of the Bee 4. The Young Queens 5. The Nuptial Flight 6. The Massacre of the Males 7. The Progress of the Race *Appendix I On the Threshold of the Hive 1 IT IS NOT MY INTENTION to write a treatise on apiculture, or on practical bee-keeping. Excellent works of the kind abound in all civilized countries, and it were useless to attempt another. France has those of Dadant, Georges de Layens and Bonnier, Bertrand, Hamet, Weber, Clement, the Abbé Collin, etc. English-speaking countries have Langstroth, Bevan, Cook, Cheshire, Cowan, Root, etc. Germany has Dzierzon, Van Berlespoch, Pollmann, Vogel, and many others. Nor is this book to be a scientific monograph on Apis Mellifica, Ligustica, Fasciata, Dorsata