MaxH
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by MaxH on Sept 14, 2008 11:05:15 GMT
Two of my favourites:
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.
Tis all a chequer-board of Nights and Days Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the Closet lays.
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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Post by Paul Doherty on Sept 14, 2008 12:31:23 GMT
One of my favourites, too. Hard to choose which stanzas, though. I like all the pots and potter stuff.
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Post by Tone on Sept 14, 2008 20:01:35 GMT
And he finds he is standing in vain, Where the promise of life first began. Beating again on boyhood's doors With the futile fists of a man.
Tone
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Post by Roger on Oct 7, 2008 16:42:08 GMT
My favourite is: James Elroy Flecker Hassan : the story of Hassan of Bagdad, and how he came to make the golden journey to Samarkand We travel not for trafficking alone; By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned: For lust of knowing what should not be known, We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Oct 7, 2008 17:52:50 GMT
Oh yes, I like that.
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Time Evening Please
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Post by Time Evening Please on Oct 10, 2008 1:59:05 GMT
Do you need a license to write poetry? If so, where do you get a license from?
Thanks in advance, Time Evening Please.
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Post by Tone on Oct 10, 2008 20:23:24 GMT
>If so, where do you get a license from?<Well, not from a dictionary, one might presume. Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 10, 2008 21:56:52 GMT
Do you need a license to write poetry? If so, where do you get a license from? Thanks in advance, Time Evening Please. You probably need a poetic licence.
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Time Evening Please
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Post by Time Evening Please on Jan 17, 2009 20:31:15 GMT
Thanks so much. ;D
Tone, do you know Geoff Walker, the famous colour canary breeder? I hope you do well with your Northern bullfinches and mealy redpolls this year.
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Post by Tone on Jan 17, 2009 20:45:59 GMT
>Tone, do you know Geoff Walker, the famous colour canary breeder? I hope you do well with your Northern bullfinches and mealy redpolls this year.<Now that has really got to be an enigmatic posting! Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Jan 17, 2009 22:22:03 GMT
Have you been out-enigmad at last, Tone?
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Post by Tone on Jan 19, 2009 21:14:19 GMT
>Have you been out-enigmad at last, Tone? <
I couldn't answer that until I have had the opportunity to assess the referent of the statement that I commented upon.
It could be enigmatic but rationally related -- or it could just be spherical objects. Only time will (possibly) tell.
Tone
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Post by WeeWilly on Jun 10, 2011 5:34:36 GMT
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám's Moving Finger has long been one of my favorites, too.
But the following is something of a masterpiece, don't you think?
Is there anybody there?’ said 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 an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller’s call. And 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 on 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 hoofs were gone.
--The Listeners by Walter de la Mare
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 10, 2011 16:59:33 GMT
Yes, lovely! Just the right amount of enigma.
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 10, 2011 17:12:12 GMT
Thanks so much. ;D Tone, do you know Geoff Walker, the famous colour canary breeder? I hope you do well with your Northern bullfinches and mealy redpolls this year. I've discovered Geoff Walker of canary fame, but I've no clue as to his link to Tone.
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