by Henry Lawson If you fancy that your people come from better stock than mine,If you hint of higher breeding by a word or by sign,If you’re proud because of fortune or the clever things you do -Then I’ll play no second fiddle: I’m a better man than you!If you think that your profession has theContinue reading “A Prouder Man Than You”
Category Archives: Literature
On Death
by Anne Killigrew Tell me thou safest end of all our woe,Why wretched mortals do avoid thee so.Thou gentle drier o’th’ afflicted’s tearsThou noble ender of the coward’s fears.Thou sweet repose to lovers sad dispaire,Thou calm t’ambitions rough tempestuous care.If in regard of bliss thou wert a curse,And then the joys of Paradise art worse,YetContinue reading “On Death”
One And Twenty
by Samuel Johnson Long-expected one and twentyLing’ring year at last has flownPomp and pleasure, pride and plentyGreat Sir John, are all your own.Loosen’d from the minor’s tether,Free to mortgage or to sell,Wild as wind, light as featherBid the slaves of thrift farewell.Call the Bettys, Kates and JenneysEv’ry name that laughs at care.Lavish of your Grandsire’sContinue reading “One And Twenty”
First Memory
by Louise Gluck Long ago, I was wounded. I livedto revenge myselfagainst my father, notfor what he was -for what I was from the beginning of time,in childhood, I thoughtthat pain meantI was not loved.I was loved.
Hear, ye Ladies
by John Fletcher Hear, ye ladies that despiseWhat the mighty Love has done;Fear examples and be wise:Fair Callisto was a nun;Leda, sailing on the streamTo deceive the hopes of man,Love accounting but a dream,Doted on a silver swan;Danae, in a brazen tower,Where no love was, loved a shower.Hear, ye ladies that are coy,What the mightyContinue reading “Hear, ye Ladies”
The Knife
by Keith Douglas 1920-1944 Can I explain this to you? Your eyesare entrances the mouths of cavesI issue from wonderful interiorsupon a blessed sea and a fine day,from inside these caves I look and dream.Your hair as explicable as a waterfallin some black liquid cooled by legendfell across my thought in a momentbecame a garmentContinue reading “The Knife”
On The Disadvantages Of Central Heating
by Amy Clampitt cold nights on the farm, a sock-shodstove-warmed flatiron slid underthe covers, mornings a damascene-sealed bizzarrerie of fernworkdecades ago nowwalking in northwest london, teabrought up steaming, a Peek Freanbiscuit alongside to be nibbledas blue gas leaps up singingdecades ago nowdamp sheets in Dorset, fog-hunghabitat of bronchitis, of longhot soaks in the bathtub, ofContinue reading “On The Disadvantages Of Central Heating”
O Love! Thou Makest All Things Even
by Sarah-Flower Adams O Love! thou makest all things evenIn earth or heaven;Finding thy way through prison-barsUp to the stars;Or, true to the Almighty plan,That out of dust created man,Thou lookest in a grave 0 to seeThine immortality!
The British
by Benjamin Zephaniah Take some Picts, Celts and SiluresAnd let them settle,Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.Remove the Romans after approximately 400 yearsAdd lots of Norman French to someAngles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,Trinidadians, and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,Vietnamese and Sudanese.Then take a blend of Somalians,Continue reading “The British”
Memento
by Yevgeny Yevtushenko Like a reminder of this lifeof trams, sun, sparrows,and the flighty uncontrollednessof streams leaping like thermometers.and because ducks are quacking somewhereabove the crackling of the last, paper-thin ice,and because children are crying bitterly(remember children’s lives are so sweet!)and because in the drunken, shimmering starlightthe moon whoops it up,and a stocking crackles atContinue reading “Memento”
Robin's Nest 