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Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 09 Jun 2014, 16:50
by John Pickup
I had never heard of Edgar Guest or his poetry but I do like "Good Books". Thanks for sharing with us, Daisy.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 06 Jul 2014, 15:18
by Spitfire
‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou



You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

http://emilyspoetryblog.com/2013/11/16/ ... a-angelou/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 20 Jul 2014, 03:50
by Aurélien
:!: A powerful African-American poetess, Spitfire. Thanks for sharing her sassy, uppity poem with us.

'Aurélien Arkadiusz' :D

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 15:06
by walter raleigh
The recent sad deaths of Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall put me in mind of this simple old poem that I thought I'd share.
Buffalo Bill 's defunct
who used to ride a watersmooth-silver stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

e e cummings

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 16:21
by Anita Bensoussane
A powerful poem, Walter. It's hard to think of people being gone - taking with them their personality and energy and everything that made them who they were. What terrible emptiness a death can cause. I find this poem by William Wordsworth very moving:

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
– Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 16:33
by pete9012S
A beautiful poem Anita.It brought to mind a favourite of mine also about someone called Lucy..
Lucy: An Illusion

Now, now as the sun climbs the hills,
Softly she skips on the sand,
Daughter of the breeze
Free, like the swifts of the sky, I see her,
Dim, through the panes of my tears, I see her,
Then she is here, mine, always around me -
Mine till the morning mist comes.

Now, now that the evening must fall,
Weary, she sits by the river,
Kind winds toss her hair,
Free, like the swifts of the sky, I see her,
Dim, through the panes of the tears, I see her.

Then she is here, mine, always around me.
Her warm touch, glad to have found me.
Day-long - walking my kingdom,
Her soft smile speaking of freedom.

Now, now that the evening has gone,
Deep in a slumber she lies,
Golden hair to touch,
Free, like the swifts of the sky, I see her.
Dim, through the panes of my tears, I see her,
Then she's no more than just an illusion,
Mine till the morning mist comes.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 16:42
by Anita Bensoussane
Beautiful, but poignant.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 13 Aug 2014, 17:46
by Moonraker
Buffalo Bill 's defunct
who used to ride a watersmooth-silver stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus he was a handsome man
.....
I didn't know that Jesus was a handsome man.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 14 Aug 2014, 09:44
by Aurélien
ON THE VANITY OF EARTHLY GREATNESS
by Arthur Guiterman (1871 - 1943)
  • The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls
    Of mastodons, are billiard balls.

    The sword of Charlemagne the Just
    Is Ferric Oxide, known as rust.

    The grizzly bear, whose potent hug,
    Was feared by all, is now a rug.

    Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf,
    And I don't feel so well myself.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 16 Aug 2014, 01:35
by walter raleigh
Both of the words you posted were very beautiful and moving Pete and Anita. The song lyrics you posted Pete remind me of another very haunting song about a similar subject - Kathleen, by Townes Van Zandt. I'll put it up in the "Last Song" thread.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 28 Dec 2014, 23:25
by Aurélien
  • Within a Wood
    by Karla Kuskin
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Within a wood
I simply stood,
My thoughts as deep as wells.
I did not hear the sweet bird song.
I did not hear the bells
Spring ringing through
The valleyed hills
From tree to tree to tree.
I did not hear the
Windy, haunted rushing of the sea.
I did not hear the light leaves fall
And whisper to the ground.
I did not hear a thing
Because there wasn’t any sound.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 12 Aug 2015, 15:23
by Aurélien
FLYING DOWN THE DEPTHS OF TIME

Part of a poem by the historian, W. E. H. Lecky (1838 - 1903)

Little snatch of ancient song,
What has made thee live so long?
Flying on thy wings of rhyme
Lightly down the depths of time.


This is the opening four lines of:

Of an Old Song
by William E. H. Lecky (1838 - 1903)

Little snatch of ancient song,
What has made thee live so long?
Flying on thy wings of rhyme
Lightly down the depths of time,
Telling nothing strange or rare,
Scarce a thought or image there,
Nothing but the old, old tale
Of a hapless lover's wail;
Offspring of an idle hour,
Whence has come thy lasting power?
By what turn of rhythm or phrase,
By what subtle careless grace,
Can thy music charm our ears
After full three hundred years?
Landmarks of the human mind
One by one are left behind,
And a subtle change is wrought
In the mould and cast of thought;
Modes of reasoning pass away,
Types of beauty lose their sway;
Creeds and causes that have made
Many noble lives must fade,
And the words that thrilled of old
Now seem hueless, dead, and cold;
Fancy's rainbow tints are flying,
Thoughts, like men, are slowly dying;
All things perish, and the strongest
Often do not last the longest;
The stately ship is seen no more,
The fragile skiff attains the shore;
And while the great and wise decay,
And all their trophies pass away,
Some sudden thought, some careless rhyme,
Still floats above the wrecks of Time.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 07 Sep 2015, 09:14
by pete9012S
Moved from another topic.

Just came across this poem and found it quite moving:


The Unknown Bird By Edward Thomas

Three lovely notes he whistled, too soft to be heard
If others sang; but others never sang
In the great beech-wood all that May and June.
No one saw him: I alone could hear him
Though many listened. Was it but four years
Ago? or five? He never came again.

Oftenest when I heard him I was alone,
Nor could I ever make another hear.
La-la-la! he called, seeming far-off—
As if a cock crowed past the edge of the world,
As if the bird or I were in a dream.
Yet that he travelled through the trees and sometimes
Neared me, was plain, though somehow distant still
He sounded. All the proof is—I told men
What I had heard.

I never knew a voice,
Man, beast, or bird, better than this. I told
The naturalists; but neither had they heard
Anything like the notes that did so haunt me,
I had them clear by heart and have them still.
Four years, or five, have made no difference. Then
As now that La-la-la! was bodiless sweet:
Sad more than joyful it was, if I must say
That it was one or other, but if sad
'Twas sad only with joy too, too far off
For me to taste it. But I cannot tell
If truly never anything but fair
The days were when he sang, as now they seem.
This surely I know, that I who listened then,
Happy sometimes, sometimes suffering
A heavy body and a heavy heart,
Now straightway, if I think of it, become
Light as that bird wandering beyond my shore.
http://solitary-walker.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... -bird.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 22 Dec 2015, 18:58
by Wolfgang
I thought I post a German/English Christmas poem here. Those who understand it, have fun ;-)

LITTLE CHRISTMAS GEDICHT

When the last Kalendersheets
flattern through the winterstreets
and Dezemberwind is blowing
then ist everybody knowing
that it is not allzuweit
she does come the Weihnachtszeit

Then the snow falls wunderbar
and the children happy are;
when threre' s Glatteis on the street
and we all a Glühwein need,
then you know es ist soweit;
She ist here - the Weihnachtszeit.

All the Menschen, Leute, people
flippen out of ihr warm Stüble
and every Parkhaus ist besetzt,
weil die people fahren jetzt,
all to Karstadt, Mediamarkt,
kriegen nearly Herzinfarkt.

Shopping hirnverbrannte things,
and the Christmasglocke rings.
run to Kaufhof, Aldi, Mess
make Konsum and business,
kaufen this und jene things
and the churchturmglocke rings.

Manche holen sich a Tännchen
when this brennt they cry "Attention".
Rufen for the Feuerwehr
"Please come quick to löschen her!"
Goes the Tännchen off in Rauch
they are standing on the Schlauch.

In the kitchen of the house
mother makes the Christmasschmaus.
She is working, schufts and bakes
the hit is now her Joghurtkeks
and the Opa says als Tester
"We are killed bis to Silvester".
Then he fills the last Glas wine-
yes this is the christmastime!

Day by day does so vergang
and the holy night does come
you can think, you can remember
this is immer in Dezember.

Daddy in the Nebenraum,
schmückts a Riesen - Weihnachtsbaum
he is hanging auf the balls
then he from the Leiter falls.
Finally the Kinderlein
to the Zimmer kommer rein,
and es sings the family
schauerlich: "Oh Christmastree!"

Then the childrenlein are coming
candle-Wachs is abwärts running.
Bing of Crosby Christmas sings
while the Towerglocke rings
and the angels look so fine
well this is the Weihnachtstime.

Mama finds unter the Tanne
eine brandnew Teflon - Pfanne
Papa gets a Schlips und Socken,
everbody does frohlocken,
Präsident speaks in TV,
all around is Harmonie.

Baby-eyes are kugelrund
the family feels kerngesund
when unterm Weihnachtsbaum they're hocking
then nothing can them ever shocking.
They are happy, are so fine
this happens in the christmastime.

The animals all in the house
the Hund, the Katz, the bird, the Maus,
are turning round the Weihnachtsstress,
enjoy this as never nie
well they find Kitekat and Chappi
in the Geschenkkarton of Papi.

The family begins to sing
and wieder does a Glöckchen ring.
Zum Song vom grünen Tannenbaum
the Tränen rennen down and down.
bis our mother plötzlich flennt
"The christmas-Gans im Ofen brennt!"
Her nose indeed is very fine
ENDE OF THE WEIHNACHTSTIME

edit Found some verses and tried to fit them.

Re: Poetry, Jingles, Doggerel and Song Lyrics

Posted: 22 Dec 2015, 19:09
by Daisy
Thanks Wolfgang.. I enjoyed that... sehr gut.