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Poem of the day

poet Anonymous

On this thread I will publish one famous poem per day. Please send me a private message if you'd like a favourite piece put up, and I'll publish alongside the name of the user who recommended it.

On Desire by Aphra Behn

What art thou, oh! thou new-found pain?
From what infection dost thou spring?
Tell me - oh! tell me, thou enchanting thing,
Thy nature, and thy name;
Inform me by what subtle art,
What powerful influence,
You got such vast dominion in a part
Of my unheeded, and unguarded, heart,
That fame and honour cannot drive ye thence.

Oh! mischievous usurper of my peace;
Oh! soft intruder on my solitude,
Charming disturber of my ease,
That hast my nobler fate pursued,
And all the glories of my life subdued.

Thou haunt'st my inconvenient hours;
The business of the day, nor silence of the night,
That should to cares and sleep invite,
Can bid defiance to thy conquering powers.

Where hast thou been this live-long age
That from my birth till now,
Thou never cloudst one thought engage,
Or charm my soul with the uneasy rage
That made it all its humble feebles know?

Where wert thou, oh, malicious sprite,
When shining honour did invite?
When interest called, then thou wert shy,
Nor to my aid one kind propension brought,
Nor wouldst inspire one tender thought,
When Princes at my feet did lie.

When thou couldst mix ambition with my joy,
Thou peevish phantom thou wert nice and coy,
Not beauty could invite thee then
Nor all the hearts of lavish men!
Not all the powerful rhetoric of the tongue
Not sacred wit could charm thee on;
Not the soft play that lovers make,
Nor sigh could fan thee to a fire,
Not pleading tears, nor vows could thee awake,
Or warm the unformed something - to desire.

Oft I've conjured thee to appear
By youth, by love, by all their powers,
Have searched and sought thee everywhere,
In silent groves, in lonely bowers:
On flowery beds where lovers wishing lie,
In sheltering woods where sighing maids
To their assigning shepherds hie,
And hide their bushes in the gloom of shades.
Yet there, even there, though youth assailed,
Where beauty prostrate lay and fortune wooed,
My heart insensible to neither bowed:
Thy lucky aid was wanting to prevail.

In courts I sought thee then, thy proper sphere
But thou in crowds were stifled there,
Interest did all the loving business do,
Invites the youths and wins the virgins too.
Or if by chance some heart the empire own
(Ah power ingrate!) the slave must be undone.

Tell me, thou nimble fire, that dost dilate
Thy mighty force through every part,
What god, or human power did thee create
In me, till now, unfacile heart?
Art thou some welcome plague sent from above
In this dear form, this kind disguise?
Or the false offspring of mistaken love,
Begot by some soft thought that faintly strove,
With the bright piercing beauties of Lysander's eyes?

Yes, yes, tormenter, I have found thee now;
And found to whom thou dost thy being owe,
'Tis thou the blushes dost impart,
For thee this languishment I wear,
'Tis thou that tremblest in my heart
When the dear shepherd does appear,
I faint, I die with pleasing pain,
My words intruding sighing break
When e'er I touch the charming swain
When e'er I gaze, when e'er I speak.
Thy conscious fire is mingled with my love,
As in the sanctified abodes
Misguided worshippers approve
The mixing idol with their gods.
In vain, alas! in vain I strive
With errors, which my soul do please and vex,
For superstitions will survive,
Purer religion to perplex.

Oh! tell me you, philosophers, in love,
That can its burning feverish fits control,
By what strange arts you cure the soul,
And the fierce calenture remove?

Tell me, ye fair ones, that exchange desire,
How 'tis you hid the kindling fire.
Oh! would you but confess the truth,
It is not real virtue makes you nice:
But when you do resist the pressing youth,
'Tis want of dear desire, to thaw the virgin ice.
And while your young adorers lie
All languishing and hopeless at your feet,
Raising new trophies to your chastity,
Oh tell me, how you do remain discreet?
How you suppress the rising sighs,
And the soft yielding soul that wishes in your eyes?
While to th' admiring crowd you nice are found;
Some dear, some secret, youth that gives the wound
Informs you, all your virtue's but a cheat
And honour but a false disguise,
Your modesty a necessary bait
To gain the dull repute of being wise.

Deceive the foolish world - deceive it on,
And veil your passions in your pride;
But now I've found your feebles on my own,
From me the needful fraud you cannot hide.
Though 'tis a mighty power must move
The soul to this degree of love,
And though with virtue I the world perplex,
Lysander finds the weakness of my sex,
So Helen while from Theseus' arms she fled,
To charming Paris yields her heart and bed.

poet Anonymous

recommended by Levi The Forgotten (siphondarkness)

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

poet Anonymous

[font=Verdana]recommended by beautiful_accident

Neutral Tones by Thomas Hardy

We stood by a pond that winter day,
And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,
And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;
       – They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.


Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove
Over tedious riddles of years ago;
And some words played between us to and fro
       On which lost the more by our love.


The smile on your mouth was the deadest thing
Alive enough to have strength to die;
And a grin of bitterness swept thereby
       Like an ominous bird a-wing….


Since then, keen lessons that love deceives,
And wrings with wrong, have shaped to me
Your face, and the God curst sun, and a tree,
       And a pond edged with grayish leaves.

poet Anonymous

[font=Verdana]recommended by Eamon (lepperochan)

On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh

On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;
I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way,
And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge
Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge,
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay -
O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that's known
To the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint. I did not stint for I gave her poems to say.
With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had wooed not as I should a creature made of clay -
When the angel woos the clay he'd lose his wings at the dawn of day.

rayheinrich
Death Plane for Teddy
Tyrant of Words
Canada 32awards
Joined 4th Dec 2009
Forum Posts: 4409

[font=Courier New][size=2] If you would like to post your own 'Poem of the Day'
without it being approved (censored) by Jack Heslop
(by using a DELETE BUTTON that none of the rest of us
 is allowed to have), just go to:

Poem of the Day - Free Speech
http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/poetry/read/1323/

And don't forget:

OccupyWallStreet!
http://occupywallst.org/

P.S. [font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Webmiz: As long as our breath endures,
the struggle to regain our DELETE BUTTON
shall not perish from this earth!!!

poet Anonymous

[font=Verdana]Your poems don't need to be approved for this thread. If you send them to me by private message they'll be published, regardless of content. I deleted Ray's original post because it broke the rules of this thread. I'd do the same on any other thread if its creator asked me to and I felt the rules had been broken. You are also free to comment on any of the previous poems published.

rayheinrich
Death Plane for Teddy
Tyrant of Words
Canada 32awards
Joined 4th Dec 2009
Forum Posts: 4409

But Jack, that's not what I'm objecting to.
Your 'Poem of the Day' is fine by me.

What you did was delete my mistaken poem post without
public explanation.
All you had to do was explain my mistake in public.
That would have been OK.
BUT you DELETED IT!  That's the problem:
[font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Why do you have a DELETE BUTTON
when none of the rest of us do?

[font=Courier New][size=2]
Post you favorite poems the free way, go to:
Poems of the Days - Free Speech
http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/poetry/read/1323/

And don't forget:

OccupyWallStreet!
http://occupywallst.org/

P.S. [font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Webmiz: As long as our breath endures,
the struggle to regain our DELETE BUTTON
shall not perish from this earth!!!

poet Anonymous

[font=Verdana]I deleted your post because it was in violation of the rules I very clearly stated. I then informed you of this in a private message. I saw no need to chastise you publicly when I thought you'd be mature enough to either accept the decision I made on behalf of my thread, or quietly start your own without trying to pick a fight.

poet Anonymous

Does the poem have to be famous? Or can it be by a famous poet?

rayheinrich
Death Plane for Teddy
Tyrant of Words
Canada 32awards
Joined 4th Dec 2009
Forum Posts: 4409


OK, let me repeat myself since you didn't answer my main question:

But Jack, that's what I'm objecting to.
Not your 'Poem of the Day' which is fine by me.
All you had to do was explain it in public.
What you did was delete my mistaken post without
public explanation. But mainly I ask:
[font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Why do you have a DELETE BUTTON
when none of the rest of us do?

[font=Courier New][size=2]
Post you favorite poems the free way, go to:
Poems of the Days - Free Speech
http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/forum/poetry/read/1323/

And don't forget:

OccupyWallStreet!
http://occupywallst.org/

P.S. [font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Webmiz: As long as our breath endures,
the struggle to regain our DELETE BUTTON
shall not perish from this earth!!!

rayheinrich
Death Plane for Teddy
Tyrant of Words
Canada 32awards
Joined 4th Dec 2009
Forum Posts: 4409

[font=Courier New][size=2]
 OK, too long-winded, here, answer this:
[font=Courier New][size=5][b]
Why do you have a DELETE BUTTON
when none of the rest of us do?

poet Anonymous

Haha... you make me laugh

poet Anonymous

[font=Verdana]This isn't about the delete button, Ray. I refuse to be drawn into that debate. I made a decision on behalf of my thread that my current status on this site allows me to. If I wasn't a moderator I would have appealed to one to have your original post removed. You were not censored. At no point have I contested your right to start "Poems of the Days", and I'd hoped you could have done that without publicly attacking me.

poet Anonymous

autumn_018 said:Does the poem have to be famous? Or can it be by a famous poet?

It can be any poem which has been published and is available to the general public. I hope you make a suggestion

rayheinrich
Death Plane for Teddy
Tyrant of Words
Canada 32awards
Joined 4th Dec 2009
Forum Posts: 4409

     Jack said: "This isn't about the delete button, Ray. I refuse to be drawn into that debate."

  Jack: It really and TRULY IS about the DELETE BUTTON!
        You can't ignore it!

        Oh, OK, I'm just being stupid here; it's obvious you will.

        But to the rest of the people reading this:
       
[font=Courier New][size=5][b]
        PLEASE DON'T IGNORE THIS.

        IT'S THE HEART AND SOUL OF FREE SPEECH.

 

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