September 27, 2016

FIRE AND ICE BY ROBERT FROST








FIRE AND ICE BY ROBERT FROST


Some say the world will end in fire, 

Some say in ice. 

From what I've tasted of desire 

I hold with those who favor fire. 

But if it had to perish twice, 

I think I know enough of hate 

To say that for destruction ice 

Is also great 

And would suffice. 


INVICTUS BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY


INVICTUS BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY


Out of the night that covers me, 

Black as the Pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 

For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 

I have not winced nor cried aloud. 

Under the bludgeoning of chance 

My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 

Looms but the Horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 

How charged with punishments the scroll. 

I am the master of my fate: 

I am the captain of my soul.

I DO NOT LOVE YOU EXCEPT BECAUSE I LOVE YOU BY PABLO NERUDA



I DO NOT LOVE YOU EXCEPT BECAUSE I LOVE YOU BY PABLO NERUDA


I do not love you except because I love you; 

I go from loving to not loving you, 

From waiting to not waiting for you 

My heart moves from cold to fire. 

I love you only because it's you the one I love; 

I hate you deeply, and hating you 

Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you 

Is that I do not see you but love you blindly. 

Maybe January light will consume 

My heart with its cruel 

Ray, stealing my key to true calm. 

In this part of the story I am the one who 

Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you, 

Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.


“IF” BY RUDYARD KIPLING

“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! 

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING BY ROBERT FROST


STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING BY ROBERT FROST



Whose woods these are I think I know. 

His house is in the village, though; 

He will not see me stopping here 

To watch his woods fill up with snow. 


My little horse must think it queer 

To stop without a farmhouse near 

Between the woods and frozen lake 

The darkest evening of the year. 


He gives his harness bells a shake 

To ask if there is some mistake. 

The only other sound's the sweep 

Of easy wind and downy flake. 


The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep.



ANNABEL LEE BY EDGAR ALLAN POE


ANNABEL LEE BY EDGAR ALLAN POE


It was many and many a year ago, 

In a kingdom by the sea, 

That a maiden there lived whom you may know 

By the name of ANNABEL LEE; 

And this maiden she lived with no other thought 

Than to love and be loved by me. 


I was a child and she was a child, 

In this kingdom by the sea; 

But we loved with a love that was more than love- 

I and my Annabel Lee; 

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven 

Coveted her and me. 


And this was the reason that, long ago, 

In this kingdom by the sea, 

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 

My beautiful Annabel Lee; 

So that her highborn kinsman came 

And bore her away from me, 

To shut her up in a sepulcher 

In this kingdom by the sea. 


The angels, not half so happy in heaven, 

Went envying her and me- 

Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know, 

In this kingdom by the sea) 

That the wind came out of the cloud by night, 

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 


But our love it was stronger by far than the love 

Of those who were older than we- 

Of many far wiser than we- 

And neither the angels in heaven above, 

Nor the demons down under the sea, 

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. 


For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes 

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side 

Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, 

In the sepulcher there by the sea, 

In her tomb by the sounding sea. 





Dreams By Langston Hughes

Dreams By Langston Hughes


Hold fast to dreams 

For if dreams die 

Life is a broken-winged bird 

That cannot fly. 

Hold fast to dreams 

For when dreams go 

Life is a barren field 

Frozen with snow.

September 26, 2016

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN BY ROBERT FROST




THE ROAD NOT TAKEN BY ROBERT FROST 


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 kept 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. 

STILL I RISE BY MAYA ANGELOU



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. 

PHENOMENAL WOMAN BY MAYA ANGELOU


PHENOMENAL WOMAN By MAYA ANGELOU 


Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. 

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size 

But when I start to tell them, 

They think I'm telling lies. 

I say, 

It's in the reach of my arms 

The span of my hips, 

The stride of my step, 

The curl of my lips. 

I'm a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That's me. 

I walk into a room 

Just as cool as you please, 

And to a man, 

The fellows stand or 

Fall down on their knees. 

Then they swarm around me, 

A hive of honey bees. 

I say, 

It's the fire in my eyes, 

And the flash of my teeth, 

The swing in my waist, 

And the joy in my feet. 

I'm a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That's me. 

Men themselves have wondered 

What they see in me. 

They try so much 

But they can't touch 

My inner mystery. 

When I try to show them 

They say they still can't see. 

I say, 

It's in the arch of my back, 

The sun of my smile, 

The ride of my breasts, 

The grace of my style. 

I'm a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That's me. 

Now you understand 

Just why my head's not bowed. 

I don't shout or jump about 

Or have to talk real loud. 

When you see me passing 

It ought to make you proud. 

I say, 

It's in the click of my heels, 

The bend of my hair, 

the palm of my hand, 

The need of my care, 

'Cause I'm a woman 

Phenomenally. 

Phenomenal woman, 

That's me. 

If You Forget Me By Pablo Neruda


If You Forget Me 
By Pablo Neruda



I want you to know

one thing.


You know how this is:

if I look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if I touch

near the fire

the impalpable ash

or the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats

that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.


Well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you little by little.


If suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for I shall already have forgotten you.


If you think it long and mad,

the wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where I have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

I shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.


But

if each day,

each hour,

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou


I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou 


The free bird leaps 

on the back of the wind 

and floats downstream 

till the current ends 

and dips his wings 

in the orange sun rays 

and dares to claim the sky. 

But a bird that stalks 

down his narrow cage 

can seldom see through 

his bars of rage 

his wings are clipped and 

his feet are tied 

so he opens his throat to sing. 

The caged bird sings 

with fearful trill 

of the things unknown 

but longed for still 

and his tune is heard 

on the distant hill 

for the caged bird 

sings of freedom 

The free bird thinks of another breeze 

an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees 

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn 

and he names the sky his own. 

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams 

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream 

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied 

so he opens his throat to sing 

The caged bird sings 

with a fearful trill 

of things unknown 

but longed for still 

and his tune is heard 

on the distant hill 

for the caged bird 

sings of freedom. 

A Dream within A Dream By Edgar Allan Poe


A Dream within A Dream By Edgar Allan Poe 


Take this kiss upon the brow! 

And, in parting from you now, 

Thus much let me avow- 

You are not wrong, who deem 

That my days have been a dream; 

Yet if hope has flown away 

In a night, or in a day, 

In a vision, or in none, 

Is it therefore the less gone? 

All that we see or seem 

Is but a dream within a dream. 


I stand amid the roar 

Of a surf-tormented shore, 

And I hold within my hand 

Grains of the golden sand- 

How few! yet how they creep 

Through my fingers to the deep, 

While I weep- while I weep! 

O God! can I not grasp 

Them with a tighter clasp? 

O God! can I not save 

One from the pitiless wave? 

Is all that we see or seem 

But a dream within a dream? 

Alone By Edgar Allan Poe



Alone By Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been 

As others were; I have not seen 

As others saw; I could not bring 

My passions from a common spring. 

From the same source I have not taken 

My sorrow; I could not awaken 

My heart to joy at the same tone; 

And all I loved, I loved alone. 

Then- in my childhood, in the dawn 

Of a most stormy life- was drawn 

From every depth of good and ill 

The mystery which binds me still: 

From the torrent, or the fountain, 

From the red cliff of the mountain, 

From the sun that round me rolled 

In its autumn tint of gold, 

From the lightning in the sky 

As it passed me flying by, 

From the thunder and the storm, 

And the cloud that took the form 

(When the rest of Heaven was blue) 

Of a demon in my view.