Now playing: Danny Elfman - I. Pianos
via FoxyTunes
Since I need to get some sleep, some poetry. First off, the Hooker translation of the famous Dueling Poem in Cyrano de Bergerac (recommended by TC and implemented in the 1950 film version with Jose Ferrer)...
Lightly I toss my hat away
Languidly over my arm let fall
The cloak that covers my bright array
Then, out swords! And to work withal.
A Lancelot, in his ladies hall
A Spartacus at the hippodrome
I dally awhile with you, dear jackal
Then as I end the refrain, thrust home!
Where shall I skewer my peacock? Nay!
Better for you to have shunned this brawl
Here in the heart, through your ribbons gay?
In the belly, ‘neath your silken shawl?
Mark how my point floats, light as the foam
Ready to drive you back to the wall
Then as I end the refrain, thrust home!
Ho, for a rhyme…Mark, you’re as white as whey!
You break! You cower! You cringe! You crawl!
Tac! And I parry your last assay
So the turn of my hand forestall
Life with its honey, death with its gall
So may the turn of my fancy roam
Free for a time ‘till the rhyme’s recall
Then as I end the refrain, thrust home!
Refrain:
Prince! Pray God that is Lord of all
Pardon your soul, for your time has come!
Beat – Pass – Fling you aslant, asprawl –
Then as I end the refrain, Thrust home!
Also, because I'm a sucker for love poetry, I love me some Alfred Noyes, and to tie this post together, the following...
Song
(After the French of Rostand)
Alfred Noyes
O, many a lover sighs
Beneath the summer skies
For black or hazel eyes
All day.
No light or hope can mar
My whiter brighter star;
I love a princess far
Away.
Now you that haste to meet
Your love's returning feet
Must plead for every sweet
Caress;
But, day and night and day,
Without a prayer to pray,
I love my far away
Princess.
Enough, More Later.
- James
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Monday, August 04, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Not actually feeling down, but....
Now playing: John Ottman - Xavier Escapes (Deleted Scene)
via FoxyTunes
...it's late and late hours tend to bring the melancholy. Thought I'd make some use of the collected poems of Alfred Noyes, and this one fit (in an almost frighteningly perfect manner) with a particularly lonely summer in Davis, years ago...
The Return
by Alfred Noyes
O, hedges white with laughing may,
O, meadows where we met,
This heart of mine will break to-day
Unless ye, too, forget.
Breathe not so sweet, breathe not so sweet,
But swiftly let me pass
Across the field that felt her feet
In the old time that was.
A year ago, but one brief year,
O, happy flowering land,
We wandered here and whispered there,
And hand was warm in hand.
O, crisp white clouds beyond the hill,
O, lavrock in the skies,
Why do ye all remember still
Her bright uplifted eyes.
Red heather on the windy moor,
Wild thyme beside the way,
White jasmine by the cottage door,
Harden your hearts today.
Smile not so kind, smile not so kind,
Thou happy haunted place,
Or thou wilt strike these poor eyes blind
With her remembered face.
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
...it's late and late hours tend to bring the melancholy. Thought I'd make some use of the collected poems of Alfred Noyes, and this one fit (in an almost frighteningly perfect manner) with a particularly lonely summer in Davis, years ago...
The Return
by Alfred Noyes
O, hedges white with laughing may,
O, meadows where we met,
This heart of mine will break to-day
Unless ye, too, forget.
Breathe not so sweet, breathe not so sweet,
But swiftly let me pass
Across the field that felt her feet
In the old time that was.
A year ago, but one brief year,
O, happy flowering land,
We wandered here and whispered there,
And hand was warm in hand.
O, crisp white clouds beyond the hill,
O, lavrock in the skies,
Why do ye all remember still
Her bright uplifted eyes.
Red heather on the windy moor,
Wild thyme beside the way,
White jasmine by the cottage door,
Harden your hearts today.
Smile not so kind, smile not so kind,
Thou happy haunted place,
Or thou wilt strike these poor eyes blind
With her remembered face.
Enough, More Later.
- James
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Two-fer
Now playing: Shooglenifty - August
via FoxyTunes
Courtesy of the lady-friend's blog, an iTunes meme. Some facts about my library...
How many songs total: 4166
How many hours or days of music: 10.7 Days
Most recently played: (check out my Foxy Tunes tag at the beginning of the post)
Most played: "Main Title / Morgan's Ride" from Cutthroat Island by John Debney
Most recently added: Shooglenifty - August
Sort by song title:
First Song: A. A. Cameron's Strathspey / Mrs. Martha Knowles / The Pitnacree Ferryman / The New Shillin' -- Silly Wizard
Last Song: "7/29/04 The Day Of" from Oceans 12 by David Holmes
Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "The Shadow Knows...1994" - Alec Baldwin (:08)
Longest Song: "Alabama" from Crimson Tide by Hans Zimmer (23:50)
Sort by album:
First album: Abby Road --Immediate Music
Last album: 300 OST (ha!) - Tyler Bates
First song that comes up on Shuffle: "Cells (Instrumental)" - The Servant
Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death: 26
Life: 23
Love: 68
Hate: 4
You: 74
Sex: 3 (The Rednex "Sex and Violins," and some suite to "The Secret Life of Elizabeth and Essex")
Also, I may make it a habit to post some poetry if I have nothing better to say. As such, here:
The Listeners
Walter De La Mare
"Is there anybody there?" asked the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head;
And he smote upon the door again a second time
"Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in the air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
As he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:
"Tell them I came, and no one answered
That I kept my word," he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hooves were gone.
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
Courtesy of the lady-friend's blog, an iTunes meme. Some facts about my library...
How many songs total: 4166
How many hours or days of music: 10.7 Days
Most recently played: (check out my Foxy Tunes tag at the beginning of the post)
Most played: "Main Title / Morgan's Ride" from Cutthroat Island by John Debney
Most recently added: Shooglenifty - August
Sort by song title:
First Song: A. A. Cameron's Strathspey / Mrs. Martha Knowles / The Pitnacree Ferryman / The New Shillin' -- Silly Wizard
Last Song: "7/29/04 The Day Of" from Oceans 12 by David Holmes
Sort by time:
Shortest Song: "The Shadow Knows...1994" - Alec Baldwin (:08)
Longest Song: "Alabama" from Crimson Tide by Hans Zimmer (23:50)
Sort by album:
First album: Abby Road --Immediate Music
Last album: 300 OST (ha!) - Tyler Bates
First song that comes up on Shuffle: "Cells (Instrumental)" - The Servant
Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death: 26
Life: 23
Love: 68
Hate: 4
You: 74
Sex: 3 (The Rednex "Sex and Violins," and some suite to "The Secret Life of Elizabeth and Essex")
Also, I may make it a habit to post some poetry if I have nothing better to say. As such, here:
The Listeners
Walter De La Mare
"Is there anybody there?" asked the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head;
And he smote upon the door again a second time
"Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in the air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
As he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:
"Tell them I came, and no one answered
That I kept my word," he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hooves were gone.
Enough, More Later.
- James
Friday, April 25, 2008
Something a little different...
Now playing: Andy M. Stewart and Manus Lunny - Freedom Is Like Gold
via FoxyTunes
I was at the bookstore a few days ago and came across "Immortal Poems of the English Language." Intrigued, I picked up a copy and found many a good gem, though it seemed to be missing a few that I really enjoyed. In light of it only being 600 odd pages from about 150 authors, I can see why some of the more prolific poets aren't quoted in full. The "Anonymous" section has proved fertile ground for poems about love, and this one particularly caught my eye.
Love Not Me
Anonymous
Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part:
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill:
So thou and I shall sever.
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still
To doat upon me ever.
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
I was at the bookstore a few days ago and came across "Immortal Poems of the English Language." Intrigued, I picked up a copy and found many a good gem, though it seemed to be missing a few that I really enjoyed. In light of it only being 600 odd pages from about 150 authors, I can see why some of the more prolific poets aren't quoted in full. The "Anonymous" section has proved fertile ground for poems about love, and this one particularly caught my eye.
Love Not Me
Anonymous
Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part:
No, nor for a constant heart!
For these may fail or turn to ill:
So thou and I shall sever.
Keep therefore a true woman's eye,
And love me still, but know not why!
So hast thou the same reason still
To doat upon me ever.
Enough, More Later.
- James
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