by Jonathan Swift Ye poets ragged and forlorn, Down from your garret haste; Ye rhymers, dead as soon as born, Not yet consign’d to paste; I know a trick to make you thrive; O, ’tis a quaint device; Your still-born poems shall revive, And scorn to wrap up spice. Get all your verses printed fair,Continue reading “Advice to the Grub Street Verse-writers”
Author Archives: Robin
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
by Emily Dickinson I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you — Nobody — too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! They’d advertise — you know! How dreary — to be — Somebody! How public — like a Frog — To tell one’s name — the livelong June — To an admiring Bog!
The girls I have loved and lost
The Sixties is a country far, far away. It is a land where once we lived and loved, danced and sang, dined and drank. I certainly remember a lot of dancing and drinking, girls and music. Different music for different girls. Hazel was the Troggs – Hi hi hi Hazel, although any Troggs number willContinue reading “The girls I have loved and lost”
My Boy Jack
by Rudyard Kipling “Have you news of my boy Jack?” Not this tide. “When do you think that he’ll come back?” Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. “Has any one else had word of him?” Not this tide. For what is sunk will hardly swim, Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.Continue reading “My Boy Jack”
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 theContinue reading “Alone”
Bright Star
by John Keats Bright star, were I as stedfast as thou art — Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task, Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snowContinue reading “Bright Star”
If music be the food of love . . .
How often do you hear people say: “You either loved the Beatles or you loved the Rolling Stones. It had to be one or the other, you couldn’t like both.”? I’ve heard it over and over again for over 50 years and these days I hear it from people who weren’t born at the timeContinue reading “If music be the food of love . . .”
I Do Not Speak
by Stevie Smith I do not ask for mercy, for understanding and peace And in these heavy days I do not ask for release I do not ask that suffering shall cease. I do not pray to God to let me die To give an ear attentive to my cry To pause in his marchingContinue reading “I Do Not Speak”
All at sea and having fun
Despite college and work and the theatre I did manage to get some social activities in. The Rhyl Yacht Club was a regular watering hole for Roger and myself. We had others of course, including the Clwyd opposite the club where we were both members of the darts team for a few years. But FridayContinue reading “All at sea and having fun”
Greater Love
by Wilfred Owen Red lips are not so red As the stained stones kissed by the English dead. Kindness of wooed and wooer Seems shame to their love pure. O love, your eyes lose lure When I behold eyes blinded in my stead! Your slender attitude Trembles not exquisite like limbs knife-skewed, Rolling and rollingContinue reading “Greater Love”
Robin's Nest 