Billy Whizz!
Billy Whizz!
How fast you run!
You climb the mountains…
You cross the plains…
And when you’re done,
You do it all over again!

Her tongue was silent, and her lips were still;
She lay on a flowery bed, pale and chill.
Her eyes were closed, by her was a rose;
A girl of whom I could no more boast.
The snow was pelting, in the still of night;
The wind was roaring, whilst her soul took flight.
The thunder rumbling, the lightning sparkling –
Revealing her face placid, unwailing.
I could not leave her, and the night dragged on;
I heard my soul sighing – my love was gone.

When we grow decrepit and old,
Good health is like a crown of gold.
Youth is young, nimble and bold;
Old age is weak, slow and cold.
Envy not the young when age brings our decline;
We’ve lived it if we live to be ninety-nine!
We have struggled to the top of the hill;
On neither side is the grass greener still.
Life is to be lived, not to look idly on;
Live and learn, school starts on the day we are born!
As we grow, we learn to laugh and play;
‘Tis as certain as night follows day.
When we fall, pick ourselves up again;
Should we stay down in eternal pain?
Winners don’t lose, losers don’t win;
‘Tis a shame both make such a din!
One day we’ll play against ourselves to win;
Will we then be banging on drums of tin?
When all are champions playing on the same side,
Will everyone be happy with equal pride?
When we at last improve all,
Then humankind can walk tall.
We’ll shine as stars in the sky,
Watching boulders drifting by.

My spirits are low –
My wits thus made slow,
My thoughts stormy as the monsoon,
Can’t be subdued ev’n by the moon
Which hangs in state up the cold sky –
Looks on earth, laughs and mocks my cry.

A truly calm moon!
Life is a buffoon;
Life is a jester that mocks man
Which man clings to as to a friend!
Great kings may frown at their jesters;
Yet, keep them to hide their slippers!

A man is so small –
Scarce a dot at all!
Yet, man carries in his small head
What cannot on this earth be laid.
It is life that laughs and mocks him;
Yet, mockery is man’s own whim!

Should nimble Muse outspread her wings and fly,
Just wave your hand and to her smile good-bye.

Midnight Queen! Midnight Queen! How I grieve for thee.
Alas! That thou in thy garment white,
Should but show thy splendour for a night,
And then sink back into earth away from me!
Alas! Thy beauty once shown departs forever,
Tho’ it remains in the human mind,
As visions may eternally shine,
Thy sad departure remains also in mind!

This is life! This is life! A glimpse of splendour,
Like the fragrance of flowers blown away,
Life passes after a glorious day;
Life comes but once and then departs forever!

Necklaces at night I behold,
Both of silver and of gold.
Clinging on the hills they lie;
Ones which you can never buy.