Favorite poets and their works

Henry David Thoreau,

Every day I strolled to the village to hear some of the gossip which is incessantly going on there, circulating either from mouth to mouth, or from newspaper to newspaper, and which,
when taken in homeopathic doses, was really as refreshing in its own way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping of frogs.

 

I like this poem, too. But it gives me the chills--especially the last stanza.

 

"Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" Oof.

And this line is quite timely:

"The best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity."

 

I never knew that last quote was from this poem. Do you have to know the author?

Parts certainly sound familiar but I'm not placing any of it.

 

W.B. Yeats

 

The Hymn Of Man (Khalil Gibran)

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

I have cleft the vast spaces of the infinite, and
Taken flight in the world of fantasy, and drawn nigh
To the circle of light on high.
Yet behold me a captive of matter.
I have hearkened to the teachings of Confucius,
And listened to the wisdom of Brahma, and sat
Beside the Buddha beneath the tree of knowledge.
Behold me now contending with ignorance and
Unbelieving.

I was upon Sinai when the Lord showed Himself
To Moses. By the Jordan I beheld the Nazarene's
Miracles. In Medina I heard the words of the
Apostle of Arabia.

Behold me now a prisoner of doubt.
I have seen Babylon's strength and Egypt's glory
And the greatness of Greece. My eyes cease not
Upon the smallness and poverty of their works.
I have sat with the witch of Endor and the priests
Of Assyria and the prophets of Palestine, and I cease
Not to chant the truth.

I have learned the wisdom that descended on
India, and gained mastery over poetry that welled
From the Arabian's heart, and hearkened to the
Music of people from the West.
Yet am I blind and see not; my ears are stopped
And I do not hear.

I have borne the harshness of insatiable
Conquerors, and felt the oppression of tyrants and the
bondage of the powerful.
Yet am I strong to do battle with the days.
All this have I heard and seen, and I am yet a
Child. In truth shall I hear and see the deeds of
Youth, and grow old and attain perfection and
Return to God.

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

 

What a beautiful man he was ^^

 

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

Dylan Thomas

 

this one is so succinctly beautiful it hurts

Clown in the Moon by Dylan Thomas


My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.

 

Beans beans the magical fruit
The more you you eat
The more you toot

 

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

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 make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! '

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!

 

“Tremulously.” That’s a good word.

 

We Never Left Egypt
(To my sons and my daughters)

We never left Egypt
We were slaves
And we’ve stayed slaves
With no bread
Not because we had to hurry
But because there is no cash
To spend in the corner shop

Pharaoh
Is still alive and rules us
Him, his eunuch and his trusted three
In the counting house

The slavery is modern
The hunger the same hunger

You said there won’t be another
Flood
(Frankly, I don’t get why
If it’s all the same to you, consider that
Again) so at least
You’d shake the earth
You’d split the sea

An old woman on a bench
Under your heaven, the work of your fingers: a moon
A guy looking for a meal
Like a cat on the rubbish heap

Dust and dung
And no revival

We never left Egypt
And I don’t intend to lie
To my sons and my daughters

 

I looooove this.

 

Yo this is ominous af.

 

Who wrote that @Deidre ?

 

Mina Loy