January 2010
75 posts
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by Edward Lear
There was an Old Man of Calcutta, Who perpetually ate bread and butter; Till a great bit of muffin, On which he was stuffing, Choked that horrid old man of Calcutta.
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by Edward Lear
There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, “It is just as I feared!— Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!”
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“I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after
and...”
– Emily Brontë
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Sonnet 150 by William Shakespeare
O, from what power hast thou this powerful might With insufficiency my heart to sway? To make me give the lie to my true sight, And swear that brightness doth not grace the day? Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill, That in the very refuse of thy deeds There is such strength and warrantize of skill That, in my mind, thy worst all best exceeds? Who taught thee how to make me love thee more...
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Sonnet 149 by William Shakespeare
Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not, When I against myself with thee partake? Do I not think on thee, when I forgot Am of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake? Who hateth thee that I do call my friend? On whom frown’st thou that I do fawn upon? Nay, if thou lour’st on me, do I not spend Revenge upon myself with present moan? What merit do I in myself respect, That is so proud thy...
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“The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely....”
– Oscar Wilde
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She walks in beauty by Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet...
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Love bade me welcome by George Herbert
LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d anything.
‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’ Love said, ‘You shall be he.’ ‘I, the unkind, ungrateful?...
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“Pillowed upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft...”
– from Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast by John Keats
“Glory weighs like a precious burden,
Reputation like a fever,
Love wearies,...”
– Fernando Pessoa
(via billyjane and ontheborderland)
(via sealmaiden)
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I measure every grief I meet by Emily Dickinson
I measure every grief I meet With analytic eyes; I wonder if it weighs like mine, Or has an easier size. I wonder if they bore it long, Or did it just begin? I could not tell the date of mine, It feels so old a pain. I wonder if it hurts to live, And if they have to try, And whether, could they choose between, They would not rather die. I wonder if when years have piled— Some...
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“Alas that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should without eyes see pathways...”
– Romeo from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
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“Alas, that love so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in...”
– Benvolio from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
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Sorrow by Edna St Vincent Millay
Sorrow like a ceaseless rain Beats upon my heart. People twist and scream in pain, — Dawn will find them still again; This has neither wax nor wane, Neither stop nor start.
People dress and go to town; I sit in my chair. All my thoughts are slow and brown: Standing up or sitting down Little matters, or what gown Or what shoes I wear.
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Ashes of Life by Edna St Vincent Millay
Love has gone and left me and the days are all alike; Eat I must, and sleep I will, — and would that night were here! But ah! — to lie awake and hear the slow hours strike! Would that it were day again! — with twilight near!
Love has gone and left me and I don’t know what to do; This or that or what you will is all the same to me; But all the things that I begin I...
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I turn and find you by Witter Bynner
Miles from you I turn and find you, My beloved. And your gaze And the ripple of your garment And your unexpected ways Of approaching and of speaking And the breath of your hair Are as real to me as rain is Through hot summer air.
In far companies I meet you Moving natural and clear, Coming toward me in your beauty … O, be careful, they will hear, They will look at us, these others, They...
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Are you the new person drawn towards me by Walt...
Are you the new person drawn toward me? To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose; Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal? Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover? Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction? Do you think I am trusty and faithful? Do you see no further than this facade, this smooth and tolerant...
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by Emily Dickinson
I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea; Yet know I how the heather looks, And what a wave must be. I never spoke with God, Nor visited in heaven; Yet certain am I of the spot As if the chart were given.
on believing
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Disenchantment by Emily Dickinson
It dropped so low in my regard I heard it hit the ground, And go to pieces on the stones At bottom of my mind;
Yet blamed the fate that fractured, less Than I reviled myself For entertaining plated wares Upon my silver shelf.
on being so completely over it
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A love song, Vernon Scannell
I’ve always been in love with you I swear ‘Impossible,’ they say; yet it is true: I speak with certainty, for I was there.
When I reeled groggy as the punchbowl air Was spiced with melody I longed for you; I’ve always been in love with you I swear.
My infant whispers to the beat-up bear Were meant for you, the tears and kisses too; I speak with certainty, for I was there.
Let experts, calendars...