tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74026323440373792762024-02-20T03:10:13.166-08:00Poems of Spiritual PowerThe spoken word has a power to uplift and renew!TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-85653497164706414962013-12-28T14:28:00.002-08:002013-12-28T14:28:42.524-08:00Psalm 91<iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/126826497&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true"></iframe><br>
1: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.<br>
2: I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.<br>
3: Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.<br>
4: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.<br>
5: Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;<br>
6: Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. <br>
7: A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.<br>
8: Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.<br>
9: Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; <br>
10: There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.<br>
11: For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. <br>
12: They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. <br>
13: Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. <br>
14: Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. <br>
15: He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. <br>
16: With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-50857193259355529672009-02-01T22:33:00.000-08:002013-11-10T03:04:21.425-08:00Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,Thomas Gray, read by Andre Walters<iframe frameborder="no" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119430348" width="100%"></iframe>The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The plowman homeward plods his weary way,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And leaves the world to darkness and to me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And all the air a solemn stillness holds,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The moping owl does to the moon complain</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Molest her ancient solitary reign.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or busy housewife ply her evening care:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">No children run to lisp their sire's return,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">How jocund did they drive their team afield!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The short and simple annals of the poor.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The paths of glory lead but to the grave.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Can storied urn or animated bust</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And froze the genial current of the soul.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Full many a gem of purest ray serene,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And waste its sweetness on the desert air.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The little tyrant of his fields withstood;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The threats of pain and ruin to despise,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Along the cool sequester'd vale of life</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some frail memorial still erected nigh,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The place of fame and elegy supply:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And many a holy text around she strews,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">That teach the rustic moralist to die.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">On some fond breast the parting soul relies,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some pious drops the closing eye requires;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">If chance, by lonely contemplation led,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Brushing with hasty steps the dews away</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">His listless length at noontide would he stretch,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And pore upon the brook that babbles by.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Another came; nor yet beside the rill,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">"The next with dirges due in sad array</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">THE EPITAPH</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">No farther seek his merits to disclose,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">(There they alike in trembling hope repose)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The bosom of his Father and his God.</span>TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-34215046083195542972009-01-31T04:08:00.001-08:002013-11-10T03:13:39.689-08:00DH Lawrence 1885-1930, Ship of Death, read by Andre Walters<iframe frameborder="no" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119431022" width="100%"></iframe><span style="color: #741b47;">I sing of autumn and the falling fruit
</span><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #741b47;"> </span>and the long journey towards oblivion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> The apples falling like great drops of dew</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> to bruise themselves an exit from themselves.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Have you built your ship of death, oh, have you?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Build then your ship of death, for you will need it!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Can man his own quietus make</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> with a bare bodkin?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> With daggers, bodkins, bullets, man can make</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> a bruise or break of exit for his life</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> but is that a quietus, oh tell me, is it quietus?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Quietus is the goal of the long journey</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the longest journey towards oblivion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Slips out the soul, invisible one, wrapped still</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> in the white shirt of the mind's experiences</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and folded in the dark-red, unseen</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> mantle of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="color: #660000;"></span><span style="color: #660000;">bouys still mortal memories.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Frightened and alone, the soul slips out of the house</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> or is pushed out</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> to find himself on the crowded, and margins of existence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh, it is not so easy, I tell you it is not so easy</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> to set softly forth on the longest journey, the longest journey.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> The margins, the grey beaches of shadow</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> strewn with dim wreckage, and crowded with crying souls</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> that lie outside the silvery walls of our body's </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="color: #660000;">builded</span><span style="color: #660000;"> city.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> It is easy to be pushed out of the silvery city of the body</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> through any breach in the wall,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> thrust out on to the grey grey beaches of shadow</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the long marginal stretches of existence, crowded with lost souls</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> that intervene between tower and the shaking sea of the beyond.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh build your ship of death, oh build it in time</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and build it lovingly, and put it between the hands of your soul.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Once outside the gate of the walled silvery life of days</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> once outside, upon the grey marsh beaches, where lost souls moan</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> in millions, unable to depart</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> having no boat to launch upon the shaken, soundless</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> deepest and longest of seas,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> once outside the gate</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> what will you do, if you have no ship of the soul?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh pity the dead that are dead, but cannot take</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the journey, still they moan and beat</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> against the silvery adamant walls of this our exclusive existence.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> They moan and beat, they gnash, they rage</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> they fall upon the new </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="color: #660000;">outcoming</span><span style="color: #660000;"> souls with rage</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and they send arrows of anger, bullets and bombs of frustration</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> over the adamant walls of this, our by-no-means impregnable existence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Pity, oh pity the poor dead that are only ousted from life</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and crowd there on the grey mud beaches of the margins</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> gaunt and horrible</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> waiting, waiting till at last the ancient boatman with the common barge</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> shall take them aboard, towards the great goal of oblivion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Pity the poor gaunt dead that cannot die</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> into the distance with receding oars</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> but must roam like outcast dogs on the margins of life,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and think of them, and with the soul's deep sigh</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> waft nearer to them the bark of delivery.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> But for myself, but for my soul, dear soul</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> let me build a little ship with oars and food</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and little dishes, and all </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> dainty and ready for the departing soul.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> And put it between the hands of the trembling soul.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> So that when the hour comes, and the last door closes behind him</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> he shall slip down the shores invisible</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> between the half-visible hordes</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> to where the furthest and the longest sea</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> touches the margins of our life's existence</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> with wincing unwilling waves.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> And launching there his little ship,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> wrapped in the dark-red mantle of the body's memories</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the little, slender soul sits swiftly down, and takes the oars</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and draws away, away, away, towards the dark depths</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> fathomless deep ahead, far, far from the grey shores</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> that fringe with shadow all this world's existence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Over the sea, over the farthest sea</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> on the longest journey</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> past the jutting rocks of shadow</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> past the lurking, octopus arms of agonised memory</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> past the strange whirlpools of remembered greed</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> through the dead weed of a life-time's falsity,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> slow, slow my soul, in his little ship</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> on the most soundless of all seas</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> taking the longest journey.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Pulling the long oars of a life-time's courage</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> drinking the confident water from the little jug</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and eating the brave bread of a wholesome knowledge</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> row, little soul, row on</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> on the longest journey, towards the greatest goal</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Neither straight nor crooked, neither here nor there</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> but shadows folded on deeper shadows</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> and deeper, to a core of sheer oblivion</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> like the convolutions of shadow-shell</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> or deeper, like the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="color: #660000;">foldings</span><span style="color: #660000;"> and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="color: #660000;">involvings</span><span style="color: #660000;"> of a womb.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Drift on, drift on, my soul, towards the most pure</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> most dark oblivion.</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> And at the penultimate porches, the dark-red mantle</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> of the body's memories slips and is absorbed</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> into the shell-like, womb-like convoluted shadow.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> And round the great final bend of unbroken dark</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the skirt of the spirit's experience has melted away</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the oars have gone from the boat, and the little dishes</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> gone, gone, and the boat dissolves like pearl</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> as the soul at last slips perfect into the goal, the core</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> of sheer oblivion and of utter peace,</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> the womb of silence in the living night.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Ah peace, ah lovely peace, most lovely lapsing</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> of this my soul into the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" style="color: #660000;">plasm</span><span style="color: #660000;"> of peace.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh lovely last, last lapse of death, into pure oblivion</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> at the end of the longest journey</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> peace, complete peace!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> But can it be that also it is procreation?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh build your ship of death</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> oh build it!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"> Oh, nothing matters but the longest journey.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-34399630693882100812009-01-22T01:42:00.000-08:002013-11-10T03:16:59.906-08:00Rupert Brooke, Heaven, read by Andre<iframe frameborder="no" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119431277" width="100%"></iframe><span style="color: #e06666;">Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Dawdling away their wat'ry noon)</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Each secret fishy hope or fear.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">But is there anything Beyond?</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">This life cannot be All, they swear,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">For how unpleasant, if it were!</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">One may not doubt that, somehow, Good</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Shall come of Water and of Mud;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And, sure, the reverent eye must see</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">A Purpose in Liquidity.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">We darkly know, by Faith we cry,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">The future is not Wholly Dry.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Mud unto mud! -- Death eddies near --</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Not here the appointed End, not here!</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">But somewhere, beyond Space and Time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Is wetter water, slimier slime!</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And there (they trust) there swimmeth One</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Who swam ere rivers were begun,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Immense, of fishy form and mind,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Squamous, omnipotent, and kind;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And under that Almighty Fin,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">The littlest fish may enter in.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Oh! never fly conceals a hook,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Fish say, in the Eternal Brook,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">But more than mundane weeds are there,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And mud, celestially fair;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Fat caterpillars drift around,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And Paradisal grubs are found;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Unfading moths, immortal flies,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And the worm that never dies.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">And in that Heaven of all their wish,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">There shall be no more land, say fish.</span>TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-8596980759778796382009-01-19T07:51:00.001-08:002013-10-09T06:35:20.155-07:00As Kingfishers catch fire, GM Hopkins, read by Andre Walters<iframe src="http://archive.org/embed/AsKingfishersCatchFireGMHopkins" width="500" height="30" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe><span style="color: #e06666;">As kingfishers catch fire,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">dragonflies dráw fláme;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">like each tucked string tells,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Selves - goes itself; myself it speak and spells,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"> Í say móre: the just man justices;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Kéeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is -</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">Chríst - for Christ play in ten thousand places,</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"> Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his</span><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;">To the Father through the features of men's faces</span>.TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-4132852037729151722009-01-15T07:57:00.000-08:002013-10-09T06:38:19.803-07:00John Donne, Death Be Not Proud, read by Andre
<iframe src="http://archive.org/embed/DeathBeNotProudJohnDonne" width="500" height="30" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Death be not proud, though some have called thee<br />Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,<br />For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,<br />Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.<br />From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,<br />Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,<br />And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,<br />Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.<br />Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,<br />And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,<br />And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,<br />And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;<br />One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,<br />And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.</span><span style="color: #660000;"> </span>TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-24981255783092732242009-01-09T03:15:00.000-08:002013-11-10T03:21:32.805-08:00Intimations of Immortality, by William Wordsworth read by Andre Walters<iframe frameborder="no" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119431652" width="100%"></iframe><span style="color: #660000;">I</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: #660000;">THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The earth, and every common sight,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To me did seem</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Apparelled in celestial light,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The glory and the freshness of a dream.</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">It is not now as it hath been of yore;--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Turn wheresoe'er I may,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">By night or day,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The things which I have seen I now can see no more.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">II</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Rainbow comes and goes,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And lovely is the Rose,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Moon doth with delight</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Look round her when the heavens are bare,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Waters on a starry night</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Are beautiful and fair;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The sunshine is a glorious birth;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But yet I know, where'er I go,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">That there hath past away a glory from the earth.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">III</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And while the young lambs bound</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">As to the tabor's sound,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To me alone there came a thought of grief:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A timely utterance gave that thought relief,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And I again am strong:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And all the earth is gay;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Land and sea</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Give themselves up to jollity,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And with the heart of May</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Doth every Beast keep holiday;--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thou Child of Joy,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Shepherd-boy!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">IV</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Ye blessed Creatures, I have heard the call</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Ye to each other make; I see</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">My heart is at your festival,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">My head hath its coronal,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The fulness of your bliss, I feel--I feel it all.</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Oh evil day! if I were sullen</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">While Earth herself is adorning,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">This sweet May-morning,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And the Children are culling</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">On every side,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In a thousand valleys far and wide,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Fresh flowers; while the sun shines warm,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And the Babe leaps up on his Mother's arm:--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">I hear, I hear, with joy I hear!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">--But there's a Tree, of many, one,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A single Field which I have looked upon,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Both of them speak of something that is gone:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Pansy at my feet</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Doth the same tale repeat:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Whither is fled the visionary gleam?</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Where is it now, the glory and the dream?</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">V</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Hath had elsewhere its setting,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And cometh from afar:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Not in entire forgetfulness,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And not in utter nakedness,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But trailing clouds of glory do we come</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">From God, who is our home:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Heaven lies about us in our infancy!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Shades of the prison-house begin to close</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Upon the growing Boy,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But He beholds the light, and whence it flows,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">He sees it in his joy;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Youth, who daily farther from the east</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And by the vision splendid</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Is on his way attended;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">At length the Man perceives it die away,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And fade into the light of common day.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">VI</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And, even with something of a Mother's mind,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And no unworthy aim,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The homely Nurse doth all she can</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Forget the glories he hath known,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And that imperial palace whence he came.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">VII</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Behold the Child among his new-born blisses,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A six years' Darling of a pigmy size!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">With light upon him from his father's eyes!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">See, at his feet, some little plan or chart,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Some fragment from his dream of human life,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Shaped by himself with newly-learned art;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A wedding or a festival,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A mourning or a funeral;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And this hath now his heart,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And unto this he frames his song:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Then will he fit his tongue</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To dialogues of business, love, or strife;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But it will not be long</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Ere this be thrown aside,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And with new joy and pride</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The little Actor cons another part;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Filling from time to time his "humorous stage"</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">With all the Persons, down to palsied Age,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">That Life brings with her in her equipage;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">As if his whole vocation</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Were endless imitation.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">VIII</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thy Soul's immensity;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thy heritage, thou Eye among the blind,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">That, deaf and silent, read'st the eternal deep,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Haunted for ever by the eternal mind,--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Mighty Prophet! Seer blest!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">On whom those truths do rest,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Which we are toiling all our lives to find,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thou, over whom thy Immortality</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Broods like the Day, a Master o'er a Slave,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">A Presence which is not to be put by;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thou little Child, yet glorious in the might</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Why with such earnest pains dost thou provoke</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The years to bring the inevitable yoke,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thus blindly with thy blessedness at strife?</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Full soon thy Soul shall have her earthly freight,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And custom lie upon thee with a weight</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life!</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">IX</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">O joy! that in our embers</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Is something that doth live,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">That nature yet remembers</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">What was so fugitive!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The thought of our past years in me doth breed</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Perpetual benediction: not indeed</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">For that which is most worthy to be blest--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Delight and liberty, the simple creed</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Of Childhood, whether busy or at rest,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">With new-fledged hope still fluttering in his breast:--</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Not for these I raise</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The song of thanks and praise;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But for those obstinate questionings</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Of sense and outward things,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Fallings from us, vanishings;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Blank misgivings of a Creature</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Moving about in worlds not realised,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">High instincts before which our mortal Nature</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Did tremble like a guilty Thing surprised:</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">But for those first affections,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Those shadowy recollections,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Which, be they what they may,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Are yet the fountain light of all our day,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Are yet a master light of all our seeing;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Our noisy years seem moments in the being</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To perish never;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Which neither listlessness, nor mad endeavour,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Nor Man nor Boy,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Nor all that is at enmity with joy,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Can utterly abolish or destroy!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Hence in a season of calm weather</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Though inland far we be,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Which brought us hither,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Can in a moment travel thither,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And see the Children sport upon the shore,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">X</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And let the young Lambs bound</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">As to the tabor's sound!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">We in thought will join your throng,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Ye that pipe and ye that play,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Ye that through your hearts to-day</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Feel the gladness of the May!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">What though the radiance which once so bright</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Be now for ever taken from my sight,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Though nothing can bring back the hour</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">We will grieve not, rather find</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Strength in what remains behind;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In the primal sympathy</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Which having been must ever be;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In the soothing thoughts that spring</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Out of human suffering;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In the faith that looks through death,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">In years that bring the philosophic mind.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">XI</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #660000;">And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Forebode not any severing of our loves!</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">I only have relinquished one delight</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To live beneath your more habitual sway.</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The innocent brightness of a new-born Day</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Is lovely yet;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">The Clouds that gather round the setting sun</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Do take a sober colouring from an eye</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Another race hath been, and other palms are won.</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thanks to the human heart by which we live,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">To me the meanest flower that blows can give</span><br /><span style="color: #660000;">Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. </span></span><span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>TEXThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00253901413798627016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7402632344037379276.post-77178360067661853132008-02-08T01:07:00.001-08:002008-02-08T01:07:39.765-08:00I Met God in the Morning...<script language="JavaScript" src="http://ourmedia.org/players/1pixelout/audio-player.js"></script><br /><object id="audioplayer1" data="http://channels.ourmedia.org/players/1pixelout/player.swf" width="260" height="24" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param value="http://channels.ourmedia.org/players/1pixelout/player.swf" name="movie"/><param 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