Effective Words

[Yerda]

'Dulce et decorum est' by Wilfred Owen is a vivid recount of the first world war. No doubt you've all read it, but...

..."under a green sea, I saw him drowning"

..."In all my dreams, before my helpless sight.

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."

Absolutely haunting in its arresting beauty.

 

[Bastet]

I also like this Robert Frost Poem:

Robert Frost [size=-1](1874–1963).[/size] Mountain Interval. [size=-1]1920.[/size]
[size=+1]1. The Road Not Taken[/size]

T[size=-1]WO[/size] 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 layIn
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.

That is one of my all time favourite poems! (You and Voice both have good taste. )

 

[Bastet]

One of my all time favourites is Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd, but the mention of Danny Boy reminded me of the acapella group I used to go see all the time. They used to sing this at the end of every gig.

The Parting Glass

Oh all the money
That e'er I spent
I spent it in good company

And all the harm
That e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me

And all I've done
For one dog whit
To memory now I can't recall

So fill to me the parting glass
Goodnight and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades
That e'er I had
Are sorry for my going away

And all the sweethearts
That e'er I had
Would wish me one more day to stay

But since it falls
Unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not

I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Goodnight and joy be with you all

For some reason it reminds me of funerals. The guy that sang the lead has the most beautiful bass voice and he always sounded so wistful...bought tears to my eyes every time.

I actually had that in my head when we buried Pop. Do you have that on cd? Bring it at Christmas if you do...I need a copy, cause my tape is buggered. Sanks!

 

[Bastet]

I've been sitting here, trying to think of my all-time favourite song...and many are coming to mind, but I'm not sure any of them are my absolute fav. One of my favourites is 'Wildflower', by The Bee Gees (for reasons other than just the fact that it's a beautiful song). My favourite line:

'If older is wise,
One look in your eyes,
I'm younger than I should be.'

*sigh*

 

[desi]

Many great selections here.

Tonight I think of the first time I saw the girl who became my wife. Byron's words come to mind...

She walks in beauty--like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to the tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
She walks in beauty--like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,

 

[Scuba Pete]

"I close my eyes,
Only for a moment,
and the moment's gone
All my dreams,
Pass before my eyes,
in curiosity

C: Dust in the wind,
all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song,
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do,
Crumbles to the ground,
though we refuse to see

C: Dust in the wind,
all they are is dust in the wind[2]

Don't hang on,
Nothing last foreverbut the earth and sky
It slips away,
And all your money
won't another minute buy

C: Dust in the wind,
all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind,
everything is dust in the wind"

Kansas

 

[Quoth The Raven]

'Dulce et decorum est' by Wilfred Owen is a vivid recount of the first world war. No doubt you've all read it, but...

..."under a green sea, I saw him drowning"

..."In all my dreams, before my helpless sight.

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."

Absolutely haunting in its arresting beauty.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori. (It is sweet and fitting to die for the fatherland)

 

[Jaymes]

Ah, how could I forget poems!

One of my favorites is The Tyger, by William Blake.

This part gets me more than the rest, for some reason:

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze thy fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And why thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors grasp?

Another I'm very fond of is The World Is Too Much With Us by William Wordsworth.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

 

[Scuba Pete]

I must way,

when I read poetry I always hear Garrison Keillor's voice in my head. He has such a great way of reading. He probably wants to get out from time to time, though.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite threads of all time.

The Parting Glass is sung at closing time in every pub I've ever been in, in Scotland. I had never heard all of those lines that you posted, only some of them - and it's a classic.

Everyone is doing a great job of putting up some thought provoking poetry (most in the form of song lyrics) and I love it.

I was on a date with a girl I really liked one time, and at the end of the date I wanted to ask her about seeing each other some more. I really don't know where the words came from, but I told her:
"I know what I think a beautiful girl looks like on the outside, and you are definitely that. I also know what I think makes a person beautiful on the inside, and you are definitely that. So, I'd like to see you again."
The good news is that she bit! She agreed to see me again (that rarest of all things - a second date!). We ended up living together for almost two years. Some of the best times of my life.

TVOR

 

[jewscout]

Here's another one by Metallica you can find on my RF webpage
It's "Creeping Death" or as i like to call it "The Passover Song"! :biglaugh:

Slaves
Hebrews born to serve to the Pharoh
Heed
To his every word live in fear
Faith
Of the unkown one, the Deliverer
Wait something must be done four hundred years

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born Pharoh's son
I'm creeping death

Now
Let my people go, Land of Goshen
Go
I will be with thee, bush of fire
Blood
Running red and strong down the Nile
Plague
Darkness three days long, hail to fire

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born Pharoh's son
I'm creeping death

Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first born man
Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first born man

I
Rule the midnight air the destroyer
Born
I shall soon be there, deadly mass
I
Creep the steps and draw final darkness
Blood
Lamb's blood painted door I shall pass

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born Pharoh's son
I'm creeping death


And you thought only Adam Sandler made Jewish holiday songs

 

[Dadball]

I never knew this was a Christian Hymm. This is an Easter song for me. I also like Amzing Grace played to the tune of Peaceful Easy Feelings of the Eagles. I hope that's not sacrilegious to you Eagles fans.

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day

 

[Scuba Pete]

I never knew this was a Christian Hymm.

I think this was a Cat Stevens hit first... at least that was the first place I heard it.

 

[Dadball]

I think this was a Cat Stevens hit first... at least that was the first place I heard it.

From the UMC Hymnal, it was written in 1931. It's funny that this Christian hymm was performed and made famous in a Secular way by a now Muslim.

 

[Bastet]

Ah, how could I forget poems!

One of my favorites is The Tyger, by William Blake.

This part gets me more than the rest, for some reason:

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze thy fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And why thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors grasp?

When I was at Uni, I wrote out a heap of poems I liked and stuck them to my dorm room walls. 'The Road Not Taken' was one, and 'The Tyger' was another. I also had these three:

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

~ William Blake

________________________________

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

~ Adrienne Rich

_____________________________________

Choice

Allegiance is assigned
Forever when the mind
Chooses and stamps the will.
Thus, I must love you still
Through good and ill.

But though we cannot part,
We may retract the heart,
And build such privacies
As self-regard agrees
Conduce to ease.

So manners will repair
The ravage of despair
Which generous love invites,
Rejecting vain delights
For quiet nights.

~ J.V. Cunningham

 

[mrscardero]

one line from this group I love


Headwig and the Angry Inch:

To be free One must give up a little part of once self.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

"Morning Has Broken" was written by Eleanor Farjeon, as a poem. It was then included in a hymnal, later sung by Cat Stevens, and lastly used a the basis for a children's book.

Thanks,
TVOR

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I like this example of visual imagery from Elton John (again, by Bernie Taupin):

"Just a pawn outplayed by a dominating queen." - from "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"

Taupin said that he wrote this lyric is in regards to a girlfriend that was beginning to control him, and that it was never a homosexual reference to a "queen". The latter was insinuated long after the song was released, due to the revelation by Elton John of his sexual orientation.

TVOR

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Artist: Lonnie Mack (GREAT guitar player)
Album: Strike Like Lightning
Song: Oreo Cookie Blues

"Chocolate on my fingers,
Icing on my lips,
Sugar diabetes,
and blubber on my hips!

I keep the night light burning in the kitchen, baby
So I can go downstairs and cruise..."


Thanks,
TVOR

 

[Ceridwen018]

Oh man, I forgot about this one. This is my actual favorite song. My mom wouldn't let me get the CD because of the "mature content" warning or whatever :sarcastic, (Oh college, where art thou?), and I haven't gotten around to running out to Wal-Mart for it myself. Anyhow, whenever I hear this song on the radio, I turn it up as loud as it will go before it becomes unintelligible, and let the music reverbate through me. I don't hear this song, I experience it.

Bush
Glycerine
[size=+0][font=verdana, times new roman][/font][/size] [font=verdana, times new roman][size=+0]
Must be your skin I'm sinking in
must be for real cause now I can feel
and I didn't mind
it's not my kind
not my time to wonder why
everything's gone white
and everything's gray
now you're here now you're away
I don't want this
remember that
I'll never forget where you're at
don't let the days go by

glycerine

I'm never alone
I'm alone all the time
are you at one
or do you lie
we live in a wheel
where everyone steals
but when we rise it's like strawberry fields

if I treated you bad
you bruise my face
couldn't love you more
you got a beautiful taste
don't let the days go by
could have been easier on you
I couldn't change though I wanted to
could have been easier by three
our old friend fear and you and me
glycerine [repeat]
don't let the days go by
glycerine

I needed you more
when we wanted us less
I could not kiss just regress
it might just be
clear simple and plain
that's just fine
that's just one of my names
don't let the days go by
could've been easier on you
glycerine

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