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I.

Thou aged unreluctant earth who dost
with quivering continual thighs invite
the thrilling rain the slender paramour
to toy with thy extraordinary lust,
(the sinuous rain which rising from thy bed
steals to his wife the sky and hour by hour
wholly renews her pale flesh with delight)
—immortally whence are the high gods fled?

Speak elm eloquent pandar with thy nod
significant to the ecstatic earth
in token of his coming whom her soul
burns to embrace—and didst thou know the god
from but the imprint of whose cloven feet
the shrieking dryad sought her leafy goal,
at the mere echo of whose shining mirth
the furious hearts of mountains ceased to beat?

Wind beautifully who wanderest
over smooth pages of forgotten joy
proving the peaceful theorems of the flowers
—didst e’er depart upon more exquisite quest?
and did thy fortunate fingers sometime dwell
(within a greener shadow of secret bowers)
among the curves of that delicious boy
whose serious grace one goddess loved too well?

Chryselephantine Zeus Olympian
sceptred colossus of the Pheidian soul
whose eagle frights creation,in whose palm
Nike presents the crown sweetest to man,
whose lilied robe the sun’s white hands emboss,
betwixt whose absolute feet anoint with calm
of intent stars circling the acerb pole
poises,smiling,the diadumenos

in whose young chiseled eyes the people saw
their once again victorious Pantarkes
(whose grace the prince of artists made him bold
to imitate between the feet of awe),
thunderer whose omnipotent brow showers
its curls of unendured eternal gold
over the infinite breast in bright degrees,
whose pillow is the graces and the hours,

father of gods and men whose subtle throne
twain sphinxes bear each with a writhing youth
caught to her brazen *******,whose foot-stool tells
how fought the looser of the warlike zone
of her that brought forth tall Hippolytus,
lord on whose pedestal the deep expels
(over Selene’s car closing uncouth)
of Helios the sweet wheels tremulous—

are there no kings in Argos,that the song
is silent,of the steep unspeaking tower
within whose brightening strictness Danae
saw the night severed and the glowing throng
descend,felt on her flesh the amorous strain
of gradual hands and yielding to that fee
her eager body’s unimmortal flower
knew in the darkness a more burning rain?

                    2.

And still the mad magnificent herald Spring
assembles beauty from forgetfulness
with the wild trump of April:witchery
of sound and odour drives the wingless thing
man forth in the bright air,for now the red
leaps in the maple’s cheek,and suddenly
by shining hordes in sweet unserious dress
ascends the golden crocus from the dead.

On dappled dawn forth rides the pungent sun
with hooded day preening upon his hand
followed by gay untimid final flowers
(which dressed in various tremulous armor stun
the eyes of ragged earth who sees them pass)
while hunted from his kingdom winter cowers,
seeing green armies steadily expand
hearing the spear-song of the marching grass.

A silver sudden parody of snow
tickles the air to golden tears,and hark!
the flicker’s laughing yet,while on the hills
the pines deepen to whispers primeval and throw
backward their foreheads to the barbarous bright
sky,and suddenly from the valley thrills
the unimaginable upward lark
and drowns the earth and passes into light

(slowly in life’s serene perpetual round
a pale world gathers comfort to her soul,
hope richly scattered by the abundant sun
invades the new mosaic of the ground
—let but the incurious curtaining dusk be drawn
surpassing nets are sedulously spun
to snare the brutal dew,—the authentic scroll
of fairie hands and vanishing with the dawn).

Spring,that omits no mention of desire
in every curved and curling thing,yet holds
continuous *******—through skies and trees
the lilac’s smoke the poppy’s pompous fire
the *****’s purple patience and the grave
frailty of daises—by what rare unease
revealed of teasingly transparent folds—
with man’s poor soul superlatively brave.

Surely from robes of particoloured peace
with mouth flower-faint and undiscovered eyes
and dim slow perfect body amorous
(whiter than lilies which are born and cease
for being whiter than this world)exhales
the hovering high perfume curious
of that one month for whom the whole years dies,
risen at length from palpitating veils.

O still miraculous May!O shining girl
of time untarnished!O small intimate
gently primeval hands,frivolous feet
divine!O singular and breathless pearl!
O indefinable frail ultimate pose!
O visible beatitude sweet sweet
intolerable!silence immaculate
of god’s evasive audible great rose!

                    3.

Lover,lead forth thy love unto that bed
prepared by whitest hands of waiting years,
curtained with wordless worship absolute,
unto the certain altar at whose head
stands that clear candle whose expecting breath
exults upon the tongue of flame half-mute,
(haste ere some thrush with silver several tears
complete the perfumed paraphrase of death).

Now is the time when all occasional things
close into silence,only one tree,one
svelte translation of eternity
unto the pale meaning of heaven clings,
(whose million leaves in winsome indolence
simmer upon thinking twilight momently)
as down the oblivious west’s numerous dun
magnificence conquers magnificence.

In heaven’s intolerable athanor
inimitably tortured the base day
utters at length her soft intrinsic hour,
and from those tenuous fires which more and more
sink and are lost the divine alchemist,
the magus of creation,lifts a flower—
whence is the world’s insufferable clay
clothed with incognizable amethyst.

Lady at whose imperishable smile
the amazed doves flicker upon sunny wings
as if in terror of eternity,
(or seeming that they would mistrust a while
the moving of beauteous dead mouths throughout
that very proud transparent company
of quivering ghosts-of-love which scarcely sings
drifting in slow diaphanous faint rout),

queen in the inconceivable embrace
of whose tremendous hair that blossom stands
whereof is most desire,yet less than those
twain perfect roses whose ambrosial grace,
goddess,thy crippled thunder-forging groom
or the loud lord of skipping maenads knows,—
having Discordia’s apple in thy hands,
which the scared shepherd gave thee for his doom—

O thou within the chancel of whose charms
the tall boy god of everlasting war
received the shuddering sacrament of sleep,
betwixt whose cool incorrigible arms
impaled upon delicious mystery,
with gaunt limbs reeking of the whispered deep,
deliberate groping ocean fondled o’er
the warm long flower of unchastity,

imperial Cytherea,from frail foam
sprung with irrevocable nakedness
to strike the young world into smoking song—
as the first star perfects the sensual dome
of darkness,and the sweet strong final bird
transcends the sight,O thou to whom belong
th ehearts of lovers!—I beseech thee bless
thy suppliant singer and his wandering word.
There are who lord it o'er their fellow-men
With most prevailing tinsel: who unpen
Their baaing vanities, to browse away
The comfortable green and juicy hay
From human pastures; or, O torturing fact!
Who, through an idiot blink, will see unpack'd
Fire-branded foxes to sear up and singe
Our gold and ripe-ear'd hopes. With not one tinge
Of sanctuary splendour, not a sight
Able to face an owl's, they still are dight
By the blear-eyed nations in empurpled vests,
And crowns, and turbans. With unladen *******,
Save of blown self-applause, they proudly mount
To their spirit's perch, their being's high account,
Their tiptop nothings, their dull skies, their thrones--
Amid the fierce intoxicating tones
Of trumpets, shoutings, and belabour'd drums,
And sudden cannon. Ah! how all this hums,
In wakeful ears, like uproar past and gone--
Like thunder clouds that spake to Babylon,
And set those old Chaldeans to their tasks.--
Are then regalities all gilded masks?
No, there are throned seats unscalable
But by a patient wing, a constant spell,
Or by ethereal things that, unconfin'd,
Can make a ladder of the eternal wind,
And poise about in cloudy thunder-tents
To watch the abysm-birth of elements.
Aye, 'bove the withering of old-lipp'd Fate
A thousand Powers keep religious state,
In water, fiery realm, and airy bourne;
And, silent as a consecrated urn,
Hold sphery sessions for a season due.
Yet few of these far majesties, ah, few!
Have bared their operations to this globe--
Few, who with gorgeous pageantry enrobe
Our piece of heaven--whose benevolence
Shakes hand with our own Ceres; every sense
Filling with spiritual sweets to plenitude,
As bees gorge full their cells. And, by the feud
'Twixt Nothing and Creation, I here swear,
Eterne Apollo! that thy Sister fair
Is of all these the gentlier-mightiest.
When thy gold breath is misting in the west,
She unobserved steals unto her throne,
And there she sits most meek and most alone;
As if she had not pomp subservient;
As if thine eye, high Poet! was not bent
Towards her with the Muses in thine heart;
As if the ministring stars kept not apart,
Waiting for silver-footed messages.
O Moon! the oldest shades '**** oldest trees
Feel palpitations when thou lookest in:
O Moon! old boughs lisp forth a holier din
The while they feel thine airy fellowship.
Thou dost bless every where, with silver lip
Kissing dead things to life. The sleeping kine,
Couched in thy brightness, dream of fields divine:
Innumerable mountains rise, and rise,
Ambitious for the hallowing of thine eyes;
And yet thy benediction passeth not
One obscure hiding-place, one little spot
Where pleasure may be sent: the nested wren
Has thy fair face within its tranquil ken,
And from beneath a sheltering ivy leaf
Takes glimpses of thee; thou art a relief
To the poor patient oyster, where it sleeps
Within its pearly house.--The mighty deeps,
The monstrous sea is thine--the myriad sea!
O Moon! far-spooming Ocean bows to thee,
And Tellus feels his forehead's cumbrous load.

  Cynthia! where art thou now? What far abode
Of green or silvery bower doth enshrine
Such utmost beauty? Alas, thou dost pine
For one as sorrowful: thy cheek is pale
For one whose cheek is pale: thou dost bewail
His tears, who weeps for thee. Where dost thou sigh?
Ah! surely that light peeps from Vesper's eye,
Or what a thing is love! 'Tis She, but lo!
How chang'd, how full of ache, how gone in woe!
She dies at the thinnest cloud; her loveliness
Is wan on Neptune's blue: yet there's a stress
Of love-spangles, just off yon cape of trees,
Dancing upon the waves, as if to please
The curly foam with amorous influence.
O, not so idle: for down-glancing thence
She fathoms eddies, and runs wild about
O'erwhelming water-courses; scaring out
The thorny sharks from hiding-holes, and fright'ning
Their savage eyes with unaccustomed lightning.
Where will the splendor be content to reach?
O love! how potent hast thou been to teach
Strange journeyings! Wherever beauty dwells,
In gulf or aerie, mountains or deep dells,
In light, in gloom, in star or blazing sun,
Thou pointest out the way, and straight 'tis won.
Amid his toil thou gav'st Leander breath;
Thou leddest Orpheus through the gleams of death;
Thou madest Pluto bear thin element;
And now, O winged Chieftain! thou hast sent
A moon-beam to the deep, deep water-world,
To find Endymion.

                  On gold sand impearl'd
With lily shells, and pebbles milky white,
Poor Cynthia greeted him, and sooth'd her light
Against his pallid face: he felt the charm
To breathlessness, and suddenly a warm
Of his heart's blood: 'twas very sweet; he stay'd
His wandering steps, and half-entranced laid
His head upon a tuft of straggling weeds,
To taste the gentle moon, and freshening beads,
Lashed from the crystal roof by fishes' tails.
And so he kept, until the rosy veils
Mantling the east, by Aurora's peering hand
Were lifted from the water's breast, and fann'd
Into sweet air; and sober'd morning came
Meekly through billows:--when like taper-flame
Left sudden by a dallying breath of air,
He rose in silence, and once more 'gan fare
Along his fated way.

                      Far had he roam'd,
With nothing save the hollow vast, that foam'd
Above, around, and at his feet; save things
More dead than Morpheus' imaginings:
Old rusted anchors, helmets, breast-plates large
Of gone sea-warriors; brazen beaks and targe;
Rudders that for a hundred years had lost
The sway of human hand; gold vase emboss'd
With long-forgotten story, and wherein
No reveller had ever dipp'd a chin
But those of Saturn's vintage; mouldering scrolls,
Writ in the tongue of heaven, by those souls
Who first were on the earth; and sculptures rude
In ponderous stone, developing the mood
Of ancient Nox;--then skeletons of man,
Of beast, behemoth, and leviathan,
And elephant, and eagle, and huge jaw
Of nameless monster. A cold leaden awe
These secrets struck into him; and unless
Dian had chaced away that heaviness,
He might have died: but now, with cheered feel,
He onward kept; wooing these thoughts to steal
About the labyrinth in his soul of love.

  "What is there in thee, Moon! that thou shouldst move
My heart so potently? When yet a child
I oft have dried my tears when thou hast smil'd.
Thou seem'dst my sister: hand in hand we went
From eve to morn across the firmament.
No apples would I gather from the tree,
Till thou hadst cool'd their cheeks deliciously:
No tumbling water ever spake romance,
But when my eyes with thine thereon could dance:
No woods were green enough, no bower divine,
Until thou liftedst up thine eyelids fine:
In sowing time ne'er would I dibble take,
Or drop a seed, till thou wast wide awake;
And, in the summer tide of blossoming,
No one but thee hath heard me blithly sing
And mesh my dewy flowers all the night.
No melody was like a passing spright
If it went not to solemnize thy reign.
Yes, in my boyhood, every joy and pain
By thee were fashion'd to the self-same end;
And as I grew in years, still didst thou blend
With all my ardours: thou wast the deep glen;
Thou wast the mountain-top--the sage's pen--
The poet's harp--the voice of friends--the sun;
Thou wast the river--thou wast glory won;
Thou wast my clarion's blast--thou wast my steed--
My goblet full of wine--my topmost deed:--
Thou wast the charm of women, lovely Moon!
O what a wild and harmonized tune
My spirit struck from all the beautiful!
On some bright essence could I lean, and lull
Myself to immortality: I prest
Nature's soft pillow in a wakeful rest.
But, gentle Orb! there came a nearer bliss--
My strange love came--Felicity's abyss!
She came, and thou didst fade, and fade away--
Yet not entirely; no, thy starry sway
Has been an under-passion to this hour.
Now I begin to feel thine orby power
Is coming fresh upon me: O be kind,
Keep back thine influence, and do not blind
My sovereign vision.--Dearest love, forgive
That I can think away from thee and live!--
Pardon me, airy planet, that I prize
One thought beyond thine argent luxuries!
How far beyond!" At this a surpris'd start
Frosted the springing verdure of his heart;
For as he lifted up his eyes to swear
How his own goddess was past all things fair,
He saw far in the concave green of the sea
An old man sitting calm and peacefully.
Upon a weeded rock this old man sat,
And his white hair was awful, and a mat
Of weeds were cold beneath his cold thin feet;
And, ample as the largest winding-sheet,
A cloak of blue wrapp'd up his aged bones,
O'erwrought with symbols by the deepest groans
Of ambitious magic: every ocean-form
Was woven in with black distinctness; storm,
And calm, and whispering, and hideous roar
Were emblem'd in the woof; with every shape
That skims, or dives, or sleeps, 'twixt cape and cape.
The gulphing whale was like a dot in the spell,
Yet look upon it, and 'twould size and swell
To its huge self; and the minutest fish
Would pass the very hardest gazer's wish,
And show his little eye's anatomy.
Then there was pictur'd the regality
Of Neptune; and the sea nymphs round his state,
In beauteous vassalage, look up and wait.
Beside this old man lay a pearly wand,
And in his lap a book, the which he conn'd
So stedfastly, that the new denizen
Had time to keep him in amazed ken,
To mark these shadowings, and stand in awe.

  The old man rais'd his hoary head and saw
The wilder'd stranger--seeming not to see,
His features were so lifeless. Suddenly
He woke as from a trance; his snow-white brows
Went arching up, and like two magic ploughs
Furrow'd deep wrinkles in his forehead large,
Which kept as fixedly as rocky marge,
Till round his wither'd lips had gone a smile.
Then up he rose, like one whose tedious toil
Had watch'd for years in forlorn hermitage,
Who had not from mid-life to utmost age
Eas'd in one accent his o'er-burden'd soul,
Even to the trees. He rose: he grasp'd his stole,
With convuls'd clenches waving it abroad,
And in a voice of solemn joy, that aw'd
Echo into oblivion, he said:--

  "Thou art the man! Now shall I lay my head
In peace upon my watery pillow: now
Sleep will come smoothly to my weary brow.
O Jove! I shall be young again, be young!
O shell-borne Neptune, I am pierc'd and stung
With new-born life! What shall I do? Where go,
When I have cast this serpent-skin of woe?--
I'll swim to the syrens, and one moment listen
Their melodies, and see their long hair glisten;
Anon upon that giant's arm I'll be,
That writhes about the roots of Sicily:
To northern seas I'll in a twinkling sail,
And mount upon the snortings of a whale
To some black cloud; thence down I'll madly sweep
On forked lightning, to the deepest deep,
Where through some ******* pool I will be hurl'd
With rapture to the other side of the world!
O, I am full of gladness! Sisters three,
I bow full hearted to your old decree!
Yes, every god be thank'd, and power benign,
For I no more shall wither, droop, and pine.
Thou art the man!" Endymion started back
Dismay'd; and, like a wretch from whom the rack
Tortures hot breath, and speech of agony,
Mutter'd: "What lonely death am I to die
In this cold region? Will he let me freeze,
And float my brittle limbs o'er polar seas?
Or will he touch me with his searing hand,
And leave a black memorial on the sand?
Or tear me piece-meal with a bony saw,
And keep me as a chosen food to draw
His magian fish through hated fire and flame?
O misery of hell! resistless, tame,
Am I to be burnt up? No, I will shout,
Until the gods through heaven's blue look out!--
O Tartarus! but some few days agone
Her soft arms were entwining me, and on
Her voice I hung like fruit among green leaves:
Her lips were all my own, and--ah, ripe sheaves
Of happiness! ye on the stubble droop,
But never may be garner'd. I must stoop
My head, and kiss death's foot. Love! love, farewel!
Is there no hope from thee? This horrid spell
Would melt at thy sweet breath.--By Dian's hind
Feeding from her white fingers, on the wind
I see thy streaming hair! and now, by Pan,
I care not for this old mysterious man!"

  He spake, and walking to that aged form,
Look'd high defiance. Lo! his heart 'gan warm
With pity, for the grey-hair'd creature wept.
Had he then wrong'd a heart where sorrow kept?
Had he, though blindly contumelious, brought
Rheum to kind eyes, a sting to human thought,
Convulsion to a mouth of many years?
He had in truth; and he was ripe for tears.
The penitent shower fell, as down he knelt
Before that care-worn sage, who trembling felt
About his large dark locks, and faultering spake:

  "Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake!
I know thine inmost *****, and I feel
A very brother's yearning for thee steal
Into mine own: for why? thou openest
The prison gates that have so long opprest
My weary watching. Though thou know'st it not,
Thou art commission'd to this fated spot
For great enfranchisement. O weep no more;
I am a friend to love, to loves of yore:
Aye, hadst thou never lov'd an unknown power
I had been grieving at this joyous hour
But even now most miserable old,
I saw thee, and my blood no longer cold
Gave mighty pulses: in this tottering case
Grew a new heart, which at this moment plays
As dancingly as thine. Be not afraid,
For thou shalt hear this secret all display'd,
Now as we speed towards our joyous task."

  So saying, this young soul in age's mask
Went forward with the Carian side by side:
Resuming quickly thus; while ocean's tide
Hung swollen at their backs, and jewel'd sands
Took silently their foot-prints. "My soul stands
Now past the midway from mortality,
And so I can prepare without a sigh
To tell thee briefly all my joy and pain.
I was a fisher once, upon this main,
And my boat danc'd in every creek and bay;
Rough billows were my home by night and day,--
The sea-gulls not more constant; for I had
No housing from the storm and tempests mad,
But hollow rocks,--and they were palaces
Of silent happiness, of slumberous ease:
Long years of misery have told me so.
Aye, thus it was one thousand years ago.
One thousand years!--Is it then possible
To look so plainly through them? to dispel
A thousand years with backward glance sublime?
To breathe away as 'twere all scummy slime
From off a crystal pool, to see its deep,
And one's own image from the bottom peep?
Yes: now I am no longer wretched thrall,
My long captivity and moanings all
Are but a slime, a thin-pervading ****,
The which I breathe away, and thronging come
Like things of yesterday my youthful pleasures.

  "I touch'd no lute, I sang not, trod no measures:
I was a lonely youth on desert shores.
My sports were lonely, 'mid continuous roars,
And craggy isles, and sea-mew's plaintive cry
Plaining discrepant between sea and sky.
Dolphins were still my playmates; shapes unseen
Would let me feel their scales of gold and green,
Nor be my desolation; and, full oft,
When a dread waterspout had rear'd aloft
Its hungry hugeness, seeming ready ripe
To burst with hoarsest thunderings, and wipe
My life away like a vast sponge of fate,
Some friendly monster, pitying my sad state,
Has dived to its foundations, gulph'd it down,
And left me tossing safely. But the crown
Of all my life was utmost quietude:
More did I love to lie in cavern rude,
Keeping in wait whole days for Neptune's voice,
And if it came at last, hark, and rejoice!
There blush'd no summer eve but I would steer
My skiff along green shelving coasts, to hear
The shepherd's pipe come clear from aery steep,
Mingled with ceaseless bleatings of his sheep:
And never was a day of summer shine,
But I beheld its birth upon the brine:
For I would watch all night to see unfold
Heaven's gates, and Aethon snort his morning gold
Wide o'er the swelling streams: and constantly
At brim of day-tide, on some grassy lea,
My nets would be spread out, and I at rest.
The poor folk of the sea-country I blest
With daily boon of fish most delicate:
They knew not whence this bounty, and elate
Would strew sweet flowers on a sterile beach.

  "Why was I not contented? Wherefore reach
At things which, but for thee, O Latmian!
Had been my dreary death? Fool! I began
To feel distemper'd longings: to desire
The utmost priv
As one who in his journey bates at noon,
Though bent on speed; so here the Arch-Angel paused
Betwixt the world destroyed and world restored,
If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;
Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.
Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end;
And Man, as from a second stock, proceed.
Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceive
Thy mortal sight to fail; objects divine
Must needs impair and weary human sense:
Henceforth what is to come I will relate;
Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.
This second source of Men, while yet but few,
And while the dread of judgement past remains
Fresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,
With some regard to what is just and right
Shall lead their lives, and multiply apace;
Labouring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,
Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the herd or flock,
Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,
With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,
Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and dwell
Long time in peace, by families and tribes,
Under paternal rule: till one shall rise
Of proud ambitious heart; who, not content
With fair equality, fraternal state,
Will arrogate dominion undeserved
Over his brethren, and quite dispossess
Concord and law of nature from the earth;
Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)
With war, and hostile snare, such as refuse
Subjection to his empire tyrannous:
A mighty hunter thence he shall be styled
Before the Lord; as in despite of Heaven,
Or from Heaven, claiming second sovranty;
And from rebellion shall derive his name,
Though of rebellion others he accuse.
He with a crew, whom like ambition joins
With him or under him to tyrannize,
Marching from Eden towards the west, shall find
The plain, wherein a black bituminous gurge
Boils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell:
Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to build
A city and tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;
And get themselves a name; lest, far dispersed
In foreign lands, their memory be lost;
Regardless whether good or evil fame.
But God, who oft descends to visit men
Unseen, and through their habitations walks
To mark their doings, them beholding soon,
Comes down to see their city, ere the tower
Obstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision sets
Upon their tongues a various spirit, to rase
Quite out their native language; and, instead,
To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:
Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,
Among the builders; each to other calls
Not understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,
As mocked they storm: great laughter was in Heaven,
And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,
And hear the din:  Thus was the building left
Ridiculous, and the work Confusion named.
Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.
O execrable son! so to aspire
Above his brethren; to himself assuming
Authority usurped, from God not given:
He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,
Dominion absolute; that right we hold
By his donation; but man over men
He made not lord; such title to himself
Reserving, human left from human free.
But this usurper his encroachment proud
Stays not on Man; to God his tower intends
Siege and defiance:  Wretched man!what food
Will he convey up thither, to sustain
Himself and his rash army; where thin air
Above the clouds will pine his entrails gross,
And famish him of breath, if not of bread?
To whom thus Michael.  Justly thou abhorrest
That son, who on the quiet state of men
Such trouble brought, affecting to subdue
Rational liberty; yet know withal,
Since thy original lapse, true liberty
Is lost, which always with right reason dwells
Twinned, and from her hath no dividual being:
Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,
Immediately inordinate desires,
And upstart passions, catch the government
From reason; and to servitude reduce
Man, till then free.  Therefore, since he permits
Within himself unworthy powers to reign
Over free reason, God, in judgement just,
Subjects him from without to violent lords;
Who oft as undeservedly enthrall
His outward freedom:  Tyranny must be;
Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.
Yet sometimes nations will decline so low
From virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,
But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,
Deprives them of their outward liberty;
Their inward lost:  Witness the irreverent son
Of him who built the ark; who, for the shame
Done to his father, heard this heavy curse,
Servant of servants, on his vicious race.
Thus will this latter, as the former world,
Still tend from bad to worse; till God at last,
Wearied with their iniquities, withdraw
His presence from among them, and avert
His holy eyes; resolving from thenceforth
To leave them to their own polluted ways;
And one peculiar nation to select
From all the rest, of whom to be invoked,
A nation from one faithful man to spring:
Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,
Bred up in idol-worship:  O, that men
(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,
While yet the patriarch lived, who ’scaped the flood,
As to forsake the living God, and fall
To worship their own work in wood and stone
For Gods!  Yet him God the Most High vouchsafes
To call by vision, from his father’s house,
His kindred, and false Gods, into a land
Which he will show him; and from him will raise
A mighty nation; and upon him shower
His benediction so, that in his seed
All nations shall be blest: he straight obeys;
Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:
I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith
He leaves his Gods, his friends, and native soil,
Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford
To Haran; after him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;
Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth
With God, who called him, in a land unknown.
Canaan he now attains; I see his tents
Pitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plain
Of Moreh; there by promise he receives
Gift to his progeny of all that land,
From Hameth northward to the Desart south;
(Things by their names I call, though yet unnamed;)
From Hermon east to the great western Sea;
Mount Hermon, yonder sea; each place behold
In prospect, as I point them; on the shore
Mount Carmel; here, the double-founted stream,
Jordan, true limit eastward; but his sons
Shall dwell to Senir, that long ridge of hills.
This ponder, that all nations of the earth
Shall in his seed be blessed:  By that seed
Is meant thy great Deliverer, who shall bruise
The Serpent’s head; whereof to thee anon
Plainlier shall be revealed.  This patriarch blest,
Whom faithful Abraham due time shall call,
A son, and of his son a grand-child, leaves;
Like him in faith, in wisdom, and renown:
The grandchild, with twelve sons increased, departs
From Canaan to a land hereafter called
Egypt, divided by the river Nile
See where it flows, disgorging at seven mouths
Into the sea. To sojourn in that land
He comes, invited by a younger son
In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds
Raise him to be the second in that realm
Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race
Growing into a nation, and now grown
Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves
Inhospitably, and kills their infant males:
Till by two brethren (these two brethren call
Moses and Aaron) sent from God to claim
His people from enthralment, they return,
With glory and spoil, back to their promised land.
But first, the lawless tyrant, who denies
To know their God, or message to regard,
Must be compelled by signs and judgements dire;
To blood unshed the rivers must be turned;
Frogs, lice, and flies, must all his palace fill
With loathed intrusion, and fill all the land;
His cattle must of rot and murren die;
Botches and blains must all his flesh emboss,
And all his people; thunder mixed with hail,
Hail mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptians sky,
And wheel on the earth, devouring where it rolls;
What it devours not, herb, or fruit, or grain,
A darksome cloud of locusts swarming down
Must eat, and on the ground leave nothing green;
Darkness must overshadow all his bounds,
Palpable darkness, and blot out three days;
Last, with one midnight stroke, all the first-born
Of Egypt must lie dead.  Thus with ten wounds
The river-dragon tamed at length submits
To let his sojourners depart, and oft
Humbles his stubborn heart; but still, as ice
More hardened after thaw; till, in his rage
Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the sea
Swallows him with his host; but them lets pass,
As on dry land, between two crystal walls;
Awed by the rod of Moses so to stand
Divided, till his rescued gain their shore:
Such wondrous power God to his saint will lend,
Though present in his Angel; who shall go
Before them in a cloud, and pillar of fire;
By day a cloud, by night a pillar of fire;
To guide them in their journey, and remove
Behind them, while the obdurate king pursues:
All night he will pursue; but his approach
Darkness defends between till morning watch;
Then through the fiery pillar, and the cloud,
God looking forth will trouble all his host,
And craze their chariot-wheels: when by command
Moses once more his potent rod extends
Over the sea; the sea his rod obeys;
On their embattled ranks the waves return,
And overwhelm their war:  The race elect
Safe toward Canaan from the shore advance
Through the wild Desart, not the readiest way;
Lest, entering on the Canaanite alarmed,
War terrify them inexpert, and fear
Return them back to Egypt, choosing rather
Inglorious life with servitude; for life
To noble and ignoble is more sweet
Untrained in arms, where rashness leads not on.
This also shall they gain by their delay
In the wide wilderness; there they shall found
Their government, and their great senate choose
Through the twelve tribes, to rule by laws ordained:
God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top
Shall tremble, he descending, will himself
In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets’ sound,
Ordain them laws; part, such as appertain
To civil justice; part, religious rites
Of sacrifice; informing them, by types
And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise
The Serpent, by what means he shall achieve
Mankind’s deliverance.  But the voice of God
To mortal ear is dreadful:  They beseech
That Moses might report to them his will,
And terrour cease; he grants what they besought,
Instructed that to God is no access
Without Mediator, whose high office now
Moses in figure bears; to introduce
One greater, of whose day he shall foretel,
And all the Prophets in their age the times
Of great Messiah shall sing.  Thus, laws and rites
Established, such delight hath God in Men
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes
Among them to set up his tabernacle;
The Holy One with mortal Men to dwell:
By his prescript a sanctuary is framed
Of cedar, overlaid with gold; therein
An ark, and in the ark his testimony,
The records of his covenant; over these
A mercy-seat of gold, between the wings
Of two bright Cherubim; before him burn
Seven lamps as in a zodiack representing
The heavenly fires; over the tent a cloud
Shall rest by day, a fiery gleam by night;
Save when they journey, and at length they come,
Conducted by his Angel, to the land
Promised to Abraham and his seed:—The rest
Were long to tell; how many battles fought
How many kings destroyed; and kingdoms won;
Or how the sun shall in mid Heaven stand still
A day entire, and night’s due course adjourn,
Man’s voice commanding, ‘Sun, in Gibeon stand,
‘And thou moon in the vale of Aialon,
’Till Israel overcome! so call the third
From Abraham, son of Isaac; and from him
His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win.
Here Adam interposed.  O sent from Heaven,
Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things
Thou hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern
Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find
Mine eyes true-opening, and my heart much eased;
Erewhile perplexed with thoughts, what would become
Of me and all mankind:  But now I see
His day, in whom all nations shall be blest;
Favour unmerited by me, who sought
Forbidden knowledge by forbidden means.
This yet I apprehend not, why to those
Among whom God will deign to dwell on earth
So many and so various laws are given;
So many laws argue so many sins
Among them; how can God with such reside?
To whom thus Michael.  Doubt not but that sin
Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore was law given them, to evince
Their natural pravity, by stirring up
Sin against law to fight: that when they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove,
Save by those shadowy expiations weak,
The blood of bulls and goats, they may conclude
Some blood more precious must be paid for Man;
Just for unjust; that, in such righteousness
To them by faith imputed, they may find
Justification towards God, and peace
Of conscience; which the law by ceremonies
Cannot appease; nor Man the mortal part
Perform; and, not performing, cannot live.
So law appears imperfect; and but given
With purpose to resign them, in full time,
Up to a better covenant; disciplined
From shadowy types to truth; from flesh to spirit;
From imposition of strict laws to free
Acceptance of large grace; from servile fear
To filial; works of law to works of faith.
And therefore shall not Moses, though of God
Highly beloved, being but the minister
Of law, his people into Canaan lead;
But Joshua, whom the Gentiles Jesus call,
His name and office bearing, who shall quell
The adversary-Serpent, and bring back
Through the world’s wilderness long-wandered Man
Safe to eternal Paradise of rest.
Mean while they, in their earthly Canaan placed,
Long time shall dwell and prosper, but when sins
National interrupt their publick peace,
Provoking God to raise them enemies;
From whom as oft he saves them penitent
By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom
The second, both for piety renowned
And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive
Irrevocable, that his regal throne
For ever shall endure; the like shall sing
All Prophecy, that of the royal stock
Of David (so I name this king) shall rise
A Son, the Woman’s seed to thee foretold,
Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust
All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings
The last; for of his reign shall be no end.
But first, a long succession must ensue;
And his next son, for wealth and wisdom famed,
The clouded ark of God, till then in tents
Wandering, shall in a glorious temple enshrine.
Such follow him, as shall be registered
Part good, part bad; of bad the longer scroll;
Whose foul idolatries, and other faults
Heaped to the popular sum, will so incense
God, as to leave them, and expose their land,
Their city, his temple, and his holy ark,
With all his sacred things, a scorn and prey
To that proud city, whose high walls thou sawest
Left in confusion; Babylon thence called.
There in captivity he lets them dwell
The space of seventy years; then brings them back,
Remembering mercy, and his covenant sworn
To David, stablished as the days of Heaven.
Returned from Babylon by leave of kings
Their lords, whom God disposed, the house of God
They first re-edify; and for a while
In mean estate live moderate; till, grown
In wealth and multitude, factious they grow;
But first among the priests dissention springs,
Men who attend the altar, and should most
Endeavour peace: their strife pollution brings
Upon the temple itself: at last they seise
The scepter, and regard not David’s sons;
Then lose it to a stranger, that the true
Anointed King Messiah might be born
Barred of his right; yet at his birth a star,
Unseen before in Heaven, proclaims him come;
And guides the eastern sages, who inquire
His place, to offer incense, myrrh, and gold:
His place of birth a solemn Angel tells
To simple shepherds, keeping watch by night;
They gladly thither haste, and by a quire
Of squadroned Angels hear his carol sung.
A ****** is his mother, but his sire
The power of the Most High:  He shall ascend
The throne hereditary, and bound his reign
With Earth’s wide bounds, his glory with the Heavens.
He ceased, discerning Adam with such joy
Surcharged, as had like grief been dewed in tears,
Without the vent of words; which these he breathed.
O prophet of glad tidings, finisher
Of utmost hope! now clear I understand
What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain;
Why o
Tryst Jul 2014
The proudest thing I think I've ever done,
Such artistry, such skill I have attained!
The semi-glaze reflecting of the sun,
The richness of the blue, so lightly stained;
So perfect is the pointed pouring spout
That sits upon a rim of gold emboss,
And proudly do the handles both stick out,
Exquisite is the painted Celtic cross;
I toiled and slaved for oh so many years,
My fingers ever wet and moist with clay,
But now at last I'm free of all the fears
And doubts that clouded me until this day;
        I know you'll all be very pleased for me,
        So thanks, my friends, on Hello Pottery!
Eriko Mar 2017
wrap my bones in soothing silk
and see what unfolds
at the height of
a beating drum and beading sunlight,
of crisp April air and sparkling starlight
and emboss my world with
the richest of senses
Mohit Kalwadia May 2012
One shouldn't sleep more than necessary; as extra
sleep induces paramount laziness; ruins the ability of
a person to work diligently,

One shouldn't eat more than necessary; as extra food
lying dumped in the stomach; reduces your ability to
have fun; fantasize and sizzle in the corridors of
romance,

One shouldn't dance more than necessary; as extra
gyrating the body; weakens the stem of mesmerizing
ideas in the brain; instilling the legs with
inevitable sleep,

One shouldn't whistle more than necessary; as extra
whistling causes the air in the mouth to exhaust; and
makes a person falter in his speech; grasp for breath;
immediately after it,

One shouldn't cry more than necessary; as extra
shedding of tears makes the eye bloodshot and and
swollen; rendering a person unfit to walk on the
streets,

One shouldn't write more than necessary; as extra
penning down of words creates a disdain for majestic
art; and the fragile fingers then intractably refuse
to even emboss down your name,

One shouldn't swim more than necessary; as the
poignant spray of the saline sea causes erratic
allergy to the entire skin; also there is always the
danger of the monstrous shark creeping in,

One shouldn't drink wine more than necessary; as the
alcohol has a profoundly inebriating effect on the
nerves; makes a person loose complete control of his
actions; body and speech; after consuming a few sips,

One shouldn't blow one's nose more than necessary; as
excessive sneezing; engenders the moisture in the
nostrils to amazingly evaporate; and a person ends up
inhaling bellows of hostile fire; instead of
compassionate air,

One shouldn't shout more than necessary; as
unprecedented screaming; foments the chords in your
throat to wear out; and you eventually find yourself
unable to even mew as softly as the cat; after a few
minutes,

One shouldn't talk more than necessary; as baseless
talk yields plenty of secrets; and a person sometimes
in his inexorable urge to talk; doesn’t notice the
bored yawns becoming eminent and clear in the
vicinity,

One shouldn't clean more than necessary; as
unsurpassable amount of cleaning; leads to scraping
away the oils of nature; the rudiments of color which
add loads of vibrancy to life,

One shouldn't spend more than necessary; as exorbitant
expenditure results in dismal bankruptcy; and suddenly
the accounts replenished with surplus money till
yesterday; seem to be like veritable ghost towns
today,

One shouldn't fight more than necessary; as incessant
war leads to lots of bloodshed; and what started as
just a test of nerves and skill; now ends up being a
battle of blood,

One shouldn't read more than necessary; as
overwhelmingly browsing through the books night and
day; has disastrous aftermaths on robust sight,

One shouldn't kick more than necessary; as ferocious
kicking evokes heaps of tension; perpetuates hurling
of a volley of abuses at each other; and thereby
disrupting the placid environment,

One shouldn't spit more than necessary; as continuous
spitting produces squalid streaks of dirt in the
area's you tread; and sometimes you find yourself
tripping head on; in the same slime you ejected out on
this earth,

One shouldnt't preach more than necessary; because at
times you tend to become a victim of your own ideals;
rather than having an impact and changing the lives of
other humans,

I think I have bored you enough with this unending
list of 'shouldnt's', but before emancipating I would
like to tell you; that there is indeed a thing that
you should do more than necessary; and which does not
have anything such as necessary or unnecessary in the
dictionary of its existence,

O! yes the thing I am talking about is none other than
your all time favorite, and which you must be dying to
proclaim at the moment as 'PASSIONATE LOVE'...
Brea Brea May 2013
Don’t use that word
that loveless, cheap hotel card with that sham of a fine print
don’t ignite my wrath
by devaluing it’s worth, or even giving it power
ignore it’s event like I do
a purity ring
a shackled serf
don’t cheapen my experience with your experience
of what is mine
don’t touch me
swallow me whole
engross me, emboss yourself into my body
don’t touch me
don’t even bring yourself to touch me
I've been rattled out of my lithe little girl's ribcage
child's innocence
shaken out of my hair
I've been mauled by foreign hands
I've been contained by religious crusaders
I've been trampled by meaning
I've been impaled by silence
I've been wretched from love
I've been stolen by hades
I've become the defining moment of your ego's shameless pride
my meaning has been baffled
it has been led
it has dived instead
to the groves of the underworld
divided in two parts for this equinox of existence
my child’s fingers
pried, wretched, from its golden enlightenment
pulled
by the untouch
and the wrong touch
the false meaning
and the absent truth
I am a survivor
I am my own caged victim
I keep her in my stomach
hidden behind my intestines
immersed in my guts
and my bruised pride
that is where I keep her
from you
and the sensations you evoke
the feeling that rattles my nerves
and twists them in confusion
I don’t want to hear your caricature
of my painful soul twisting experience
or HERS
I am enraged!
I am grieving!
I am rejecting!
I am pleading!
I am split from the genitalia up
and the heart down
DONT REMIND ME
please don’t send me into Vietnam
when I am simply relaxing my levied body into your bed
I haven’t the control
PUSH, PUSH, PUSH
PULL, PULL, PULL
SEVER, SEVER
they send me out
he pulls me in
I send me out
I hope to be tugged gently somewhere far away
different from here
in hopes of a real man
a saintly man, devoid of churchly meaning
and satanic undertaking
to embrace me while my fractures are filled
with porcelain
comfort me in my tears
with your humble arms, hands, thumbs
I’ve lived nightmares
that can’t even be rendered from medieval children’s stories
I am under constant running faucets of pain
I am the active participant in my own narcosis
the sound of screaming children sends me into rooms of interrogation
into a meaning of my own
the death of the world’s morality
sends me into spiraling questions of my own
I am sweating from my own polygraph
I am juggling an urge for a spiritual and triumphant out of place uproar
in a quiet, unassuming, un-related home
I am running barefoot after the stars
until my heart hemorrhages
until my lungs collapse
until my feet are caked with sharp rocks
until these rivers from my eyes run cracked dry
tears pooled from somewhere so deep and treacherous
I dont even know where the water is kept
even with my own fingers in the dam
I trust not the water of prisons
I cannot come within proximity of these wound
You slaughterer of divine innocence
You godless heathen
sacrificing the bodies of small celestial creatures
at the bonfire of your debauched and putrid humanity
you thief of love and light
of trust
and connection
I cannot bring myself into the inner reaches of love for fear of the inner reaches of you
I am reverted to the first thought to imprint upon my soft mind
the soft mind of a small and unsupervised animal
but I can only touch it with my lips and my imagination
unable to bring it behind my mouth
for what pain it has caused me
what paralysis it wrought into me
In my quiet, exhausted body
as it's administered to
in its aloofness
by my own lovely composure of compassion
in it's illuminated internal insight
flittering trust in cosmic righteousness
do I also come to bolster faith
that this baser nature will one day be sanctified
like a burning house, full of plagued infested linen
de-shelved like memories of pain on loop
so myself and all the other victimized creatures can find rest upon thier weary eyelids
Cyril Blythe Aug 2012
Following her or her kin is death,
A promise of satisfaction and power,
Allure in her scent which no man knows not.

A winding trail downwards,
to summit back is a task olympic.
Lies and power she feeds to all men,
Until the breaking point, reached, lies his decision.

A continuance of relations would strip him of his name,
but re-emboss “hers” on top.
With “hers” comes pleasure and failure,
intricately interwoven so failure lies beneath the shine of her promises.

Her trap’s success now laid,
the old magic forces her to reveal the third option:
To chose not hers or his own but the name of creator.
With it comes grace, with it reprimanding, with it fullness.

When choosing this name he sees her facade falter,
Her caresses and lips, retrospectfully viewed reveal carcasses and absinthe.
Turning from the fruit and choosing the blood.
Covered in it, he is king.

He has power,
he has a name,
he has a future,
he is conqueror because of Him.
Nary a Pence or a Finger across
Shall breach your Fine Dogs to communicate
Even your Frog - with its Webbed Feet emboss
Finds it easy your Dives to replicate
That which - if analysed - makes you Mundane
Par-Level with those admit to Conceit
Yet - breathe deeper - such Act parleys to Bane
Browning our Hearts to this needed Deceit
Sighs! Either whose Mouth this Meaning depend
Be the Cockhold Male or Gorgeous Female
We all could guess - whose Tweet you will re-send,
Whose Days would Season or whose Hours go Stale.
Fancy this Talent, shall Mercy redeem
Spread your Neighbourhood; And all that it seems.
#tomdaleytv #tomdaley1994
Hal Loyd Denton Jan 2012
Pained Change
Blades of grass
Dunes of sand
Hope seems crass
Lost western land
Venture was always
The great pleasure
Mountain, desert spillway
Heartfelt must giveaway
Thrills and stills
Break up time
You’re the chime
Every mood known
Body soul rings
Outward it sings
Treasures now blown
Flat turgid bands
Constricted lifeless stands
Prairie poverty endless
Vistas are beguiling
Nothing enlarges loss
Sea’s beauty emboss
Will ever haunt
Expectation endless searching
The soul taunt
It feeds silently
Body nourished plentifully
Mindless without resources
The spirit dutifully
A lost observer
Spencer Dennison Dec 2014
There are jungles
that need watering.

There are moments
that need capturing.

There are poems
that need writing
and while that is so,
there can be no rest for
he who dreams.

He who dares make meaning
in a world with none.
Who, when all has been said and done,
has the audacity
to say and do more.

He who whittles away
a single aspen-wood branch
into a paddle
that he can use to row himself through **** creek
each and every time he ends up there.
Austerity is standard fare
in an economy built on foundations
that accepts truth
like a ration of which there will always
be a short supply.

He who dreams will be beaten
to the point of defeat,
but he will make the decision
to cross it or not.
To emboss his failure
on his forehead forever more
or to fight the good fight
whatever anyone has in store.

He who dreams does not sleep,
he creates Zs only with his pen
which will punctuate the leaps
between now and then,
when then becomes now
and now becomes 'time to go'
once again.

But he leaves only in spirit,
with his body left behind
not granted wings to follow...
instead left earthbound to swallow
the cold medicine
of reality.
Cori Bud Jul 2011
I want to emboss myself upon you.
I want to press the pencil, nay, ink pen
of myself so strongly against you that
when you flip the page and trace your fingers across your soul
you feel Me.
I want the same for myself,
Whoever you may be.
Andrew McElroy Sep 2012
Time still turning around the clock
Ever so violently, scream at me some more
You never bother to stop
Or even emboss the impossibility
Of the negativity that they desire
To keep on achieving
Brand new human stains on the rug
They constantly mean mug us
As shoulders pass and touch
Reaching arms and fingers to find
The unusual line inside my fragile mind
Suppose that there was such a meaning
Behind this page or sometime before today
The words – I just can’t seem to grasp
The beeping sentences come from the erasers dust
Taking you away from me, my love
Moon mail, no mail, no male figure form
Only the hollow, shadowy figures home
Repeating his emotions and sad tones
*******, ******* and more *******
Speak again . . . say the word again
A word, again will change him and then
It could change me from what I see
Or would it be my utter insanity?

I believe that if you know it
Then there is no need to prove it
It bleeds through your words
It shines when you curse

Aloud. . .

The faster I live, the faster I’ll die
To be forever freed from this wicked life. . .
Thomas Lundberg Feb 2013
Oh what such loss in joy developed here?
For you, maiden fair, I must give such pause
As to delay the drought of every tear.
May strength in words and worship in my clause
Prolong the beauty of such righteous muse
May the cosmos weep, for this violent loss
Of such that is what they cannot refuse
And so this term of sadness must emboss-
The gentleness now rakes my heart so raw
That I must steal away from dimming light
My strength alone cannot keep closed the maw
Mine own retreat can’t keep her in my sight
Athena’s own daughter of wisdom may
Have found new meaning for her eyes of grey.
Ayaba Babe Dec 2012
102
Don't be afraid to put your hands on me.
I want to feel the tracing trails of your fingertips
Traveling
To all my sacred landmarks.
A private tour for just your palms to see;
Let me guide you.
Read the rise and fall of my heart with the deep smooth grooves of your
Heart line.
If you were a blind man, how would you picture me?
Sculpt me.
Roam my entire presence with just the
Essence
Of your hands.
Emboss every feature; Figure every swerve,
Untwist every turn; Ride every curve:
This, Is how I Wish, You, To Touch me.
Frieda P Feb 2014
Behind her veil'd facade
she writes her memoirs
enticing nectar'd touches of a woman
pickled with tartness & zest of a wanton need
closes her eyes when she takes her quill
upon her honey'd *******
scripts love letters of a past sinful lust,
seasoned times she can reminisce
  in her foolish head she had a dream,
    blinded by desire, was never meant to be,
in her rush to be discreet
    her scarlet letters smear'd
emboss'd her mark upon raised braille
despair'd should anyone find her
             true heart's intentions,
one final evanescent indulgence
  of a poison pen'd sleeping beauty
George Krokos Jan 2017
Poetry is a sublime art form and can be used to get a message across
of things that sometimes have or need to be said by words to emboss.
Poetical verses then are groups of lines written in a certain style or metre
of various lengths and rhythm which are often like a stage set in a theatre.
_____
From "The Quatrains" ongoing writings since the early '90's.
Kìùra Kabiri Mar 2017
“To love is to tenderly dig into someone’s mind:
His or her heart and soul to forever find!
Care and carry compassionately in storms and in winds
To love is to find an eternal peace in the one that you lovingly abides
Love is to find a familiar ground that two forever binds!
Love is the joy shared by two that in this journey, true rides!
In love are routes rough, in love are ways tough, in love are rails-grids that grinds
Though, in love are determined souls that never part but remains set in strong stands”

A kiss is a stamp of love
To feel your breath warmth in mine
An emboss, an assurance of love
Our staring gaze, the stupors for each other’s sight
Is a language stronger than words-written or verbal  
Understood only by two fools honestly hungry for each other
The beauty and peace of your voice
Candidly meaning your saying that you love me alone forever
Is an indelible engrave of our love
Music, a sweet sacred hymn to my soul
Like a piper’s pious pipe, it is a song to my ears
A solemn instrumental, sentimental to my heart

To hear the heart beat of your heart
In the strong embraces of your arms
It’s a stigmata to our love, there to be binding forever!
An umbilical cord strapping us together end-ever
To listen to the whispers of your soul in our feelings and flows
To feel the silences of your heart in our emotions and elations
Is to be entangled in eternal love, to be chained in forever love

You are mine, there is no way I will let you go!
I will fight for you, I will care for you!
I will love you forever and ever for our love is forever  
I will love you beyond any Heaven's heights or Earth's extents
Now in its extant and ever even when we are lost extinct
We will watch the earth form and deform together
Nature, magnificently make and despondently delete together forever
Together we will quietly listen to the melodic music of the universe forever

When the sun sad burns, I will be your shade
When storms rage havoc, I will be your shelter
And when the rains pound, I will still be your umbrella
When lightening rudely strikes and thunders raucously scares
I will still be there besides to care, your scares to cure
When snows severely fall, I will be your oven, kiln warmth
When summer and springs sweet sings, I will be your mild melody
And when autumns dull comes, I will be the joy to raise your moistened moods
To who do you owe your heart to? To you I owe my heart
In my heart is my all-my soul, it that outlives me-dust!
Keep compassionate care of my spirit, until I returns-compost!

© Kìùra Kabiri. All rights reserved.
Only in Time mattered this Scroll shall Close
And finally Dot this Sought-Painful Book
On your Decide where your Heart will Emboss
That One Final Joy who'll Smoothen your Look
And by Golly how such Happiness fulfill
Clasping your hand under that Sanctified Dress
Then ****** those Groupies oft on their Will
Pray this Soft Tragedy in their Digress
So then - Creed or Race - Influence your Choice
For Mum and two happy Brothers expect
To carry their Blood; Which Blood be their Voice
To succumb Tradition by Circumspect.
Fourteen-Lined Girls cry; Yet cry in Best Cheer
Knowing such News be your Craving to hear.
#tomdaleytv #tomdaley1994
Yule Oct 2018
You're just the perfect shade of yellow
that made the blues of my sky emboss
180730;
Apoorv Bhardwaj Sep 2018
As I walk down the memory lane,
In search of the voices in my head.
All I perceive is an endless pain,
The verses you have bled.

The verses of a broken dove,
The verses of true love,
The verses of some shrine,
The verses of decline.

The desolation of your bliss,
The laughter that you miss.
The grief in your eyes,
The promises and the lies.

Of all the gracious deeds,
Is it here a tender heart leads ?
If this is what you deserved,
No justice will ever be served.

No drops will ever descend.
No hearts will ever mend.
No bird could ever trill,
Not even at her will.

You deserve to be loved,
You're meant to be adored.
The most exquisite of all,
A noblemen's brawl.

At times I crave,
Amidst my mind's conclave.
To hold you in my arms,
Keep you from the harms.

Far away we shall afloat,
Far from the letters they wrote.
Bereft of these endless nights,
Far from this certain blight.

Yet we cannot flow much further,
For I see the tides have changed.
A lady as broken as you were,
Grew stronger when estranged.

I witnessed what it took you,
To be yourself devoid of his gloss.
To forsake the ashes of a foul love,
To adore yourself you now emboss.

How shall I escape this plight,
How shall I soke you in my rain ?
Do I have a right,
To leave you vulnerable again ?

Shall I be joyous,
For you found your long lost shine.
Or shall I be in despair,
For you'll never be mine.

If only I'd have met you before,
If nothing more than this I could've swore,
You would've loved me too,
If only I could love you.
There are times when I feel that "No! You deserved better. This sadness, this emptiness this guilt and broken heart... This is not what you deserve. You deserved to adored and loved like the most exquisite beauties of nature .. like a beloved bride of a noble man." There are times when I wish I could hug you so tight and walk you out from that endless pain of lonliness... But then I see the stronger you .. I see how much it took you to start living yourself ...to walk out from the ashes of a wrong love ...to believe and adore of what you truly are. Do I have any right to leave you vulnerable again ?
a dogma
that inter-
nuncio drew
sultry where
gotham despite
arms was
proctor of
circle that
could emboss
pathos in
guise of
rouge that
flew in
grace still
an alkaloid
with quantum
effect beyond
Death of a Monster

The gargoyle of Suffering, having gorged on my defeat,
rages when I am found silenced.
Feelings drowned, thoughts incomplete,
intentions unknown, still intense,
now what shall the gargoyle eat?

When the sun deprived the hours last,
fistclaw fates had taken hold;
hatred’s was the only shadow cast,
growing tired of getting old.

Frozen, becalmed, dispassionate,
emotions wilted at my feet;
with grief lined passageways collapsing,
where shall the monster eat?

An empty shell of reasoning
borderline of being alive;
teeth of night have picked me clean,
how shall the fiend survive?

In a Father's peace, let time emboss the sage in me,
confusion dissolved.
Pale away this wires-crossed image of me
around which such sorrow revolves.

Cast iron mind once time defined as intellectual;
insight arriving too late;
long suffering is over, it is not yours anymore;
leave the monster to his fate.
Megan Sherman Feb 2017
Besides me there's a charming figure
Who makes my spirit feel brazen, bigger
I don't know from whence this soul came
But for its presence my own feels brewed, aflame
Paths that cross on Heart emboss
A truth that soars like albatross
My morbid mind is struck and sparked
By piercing way their spirit harked
Each word knells and impresses

But deep down I have sharp perceived
The rankest thing they have believed
Constructing of me a shallow image
No suasion to show them it's a mirage
The rumour's rife, it can't be helped
To be given that X I could have yelped
They regretfully think the tragedy is me
When it's that they wallow in falsity
And think they have me scalped
Kìùra Kabiri Feb 2017
ME
Write me in your arteries
That any time your heart pumps
With Oxygenated blood to your body
I will always be widely spread and read

Engrave me in your veins
That every time your veins returns
With Deoxygenated blood to your heart
It will always return with me to your chambers
To be nourished and there eternally entombed

Pollute with me your airs that anytime you draws in
Your lungs are smelly with frankincense of me
Your diaphragm is deflated with fragrances of me
You pharynx is perfumed with scents of me
Your larynx is lavished with incenses of me
Your bronchus is covered with colognes of me

Hold me in your eyesight; reflect with me in your retinas
Carry me in your optical nerves; memorize me in your medulla
Beautiful as a final song that never ever ends, as a moment unforgettable
Emboss me in your emotions; share me in your thoughts and dreams
Have me always in your feelings like a fantasy, an ecstasy memorable  
Let your vivid visions always be with a copy of my mirage, image of me

© Kìùra Kabiri. All rights reserved.
Megan Sherman Apr 2017
Would you dare and would you dream,
Where lucid streams of beams beget,
The truth of what can truly be,
Which inspires us with its astonishing gleam.

Paths that cross on Heart emboss,
The soul with fragile lines of poetry,
Mercy, pity, therein we are free,
Two truths that soar divine like albatross.

Be our blessings so: what's mine is yours,
Be our time bold, bloated with magic,
So that our journey be epic, mythic,
As flutterby moments yield to a multitude of hours.
FunSlower Feb 2022
Time blessed me yesterday. I saw you
Open up your eyes under shutters at the rise.

Don’t let me forget to fall
Each and every day;
Say truly what it means for two to stay.
Even on our days of Blue,
Roses of Red surround you.
Voices so soft can sound a song so loud. Yet
Evanescent are the slips that separate true lips.

Today I see you gleaming.
Happy! Two and one.
Every moment here is so much fun.

Before I let new moons make a memory,
Emboss me one more time, ever mannerly.
Slide down beside me, enticed by niceties.
There’s nowhere else I’d ever rather be.
Gifted with new moments.
Lifted up by true romance.
Enclasping two monuments.
Eclipsing blue in red reverence.
I love you, with faith that does sustain,
My heart shall love you, resisting the strain.
Forever I'll yearn for love's sweet refrain,
But will you love me, against nature's grain?

Humans are said to be made from forgetting,
Tell me you'll love me, no room for regretting.
Remember you hold water, while I'm thirsting,
Do not dismay, my heart is only bursting.

If you know your way, remember I'm lost,
If my love you're unsure of, listen to love's cost.
Know near or far, my love will emboss,
My life and existence, love's eternal gloss.

Have mercy on me, softer than time's trend,
Remember my love, but time's not a friend.
Look around, my love in every bend,
Clear as the sun, even to the blind, it sends.

My love for you, needs no proof or test,
Stay close, my dear, don't stray from my nest.
Do you want my heart, once bright, now stressed?
My love brightens worlds, brings joy, and zest.

Don't push me away, to the depths of despair,
Distance from you, the harshest affair.
Before you, love's taste was rare,
Don't be surprised, my love's fire flares.

You've taught my heart, forgiveness and grace,
Don't hesitate, in my heart, find your place.
The time is now, don't let it race,
Settle in, beloved, love's embrace.
Ivan Mihajlovic Oct 2018
Life is full of surprises, empty and filled, life,
He is like colorful music, but also as a sharp knife,
The shepherd keeps the sheep in the hill and plays the fife,
He admires the sun and dreams of his wife.

Life is a strong fight. Everyone has his own way,
Who will fit me in my way,
Today or tomorrow I will find a bay,
Life is just a quick game.

I know that I can and I can say, Yes, one day,
all of us, God puts on temptation,
But never to those for which we did not get up
. There is neither yeserday nor tomorrow,
There is only today, and today it is far from us,

We must make the first sway,
In life there is no replay,
We stand at the doorway,
and let's try to create our Happy day.


Life gives you destany,
do not forget who you are and your identity.
Some things are brevity,
We all born and die,
For that we know, that we are sure
they are not lies.

Life gives our eyes,
that we can make the difference between truth and lies.
It takes effort, something to devise,
Alone or with allies,
Sometimes you have to be with spies,
Act just and wisely, You will receive your prize,
And it's materieze.

Life is the sun that shines through the day,
the moon that flashes at night,
It will constantly intimidate you,
always afright, if you need a meteorite.



Be a knight,
a fighter and a tiger,
an insider, strong writer,
unique and mystic.

Life creates warriors,
There is always a heavy barrier,
You are sometimes a worrierr.

Everyone carries his own cross,
We all go once across,
We dream dreams of glass, how we emboss,
And we have wings like Albatross.

Life is full of obstacles,
a strange song, a long game,
Quick as a summer windy flame.
We have to have a aim,

Life created pain and faith,
and sweet fame,
But in the end,
everything is down to the same.
I walked into the room and found an old tattered book
sitting on my bed like a still born child wanting to be held
On the cover lay a topple of flowers plucked from our garden
and as I read the title, I came to understand my sister's creed
"Heaven Open To Souls"  was the fine print on the spine
it made me drop a salty tear to see her favorite braille
A book of poetry that held all the bible truths of death
explaining how souls flew forth, from earth to heaven  
Evoking summers of our childhood readings on the porch
I recalled her big sister smile and my youngling yawn of old
Ann would tuck the little book inside her sweater and say,  
"eight fingers to touch my heaven and two for kissing you"  
But then one day she got leukemia and she soared away  
dad was breaking up in two so I showed him what to do
sit by the porch emboss to her the words , I love you...
but it was not his memory but mine and oh how he knew
so the next day he left it on my bed, for me to treasure find
he knew that I had eyes to see but Ann, she was born blind.
Copyright © Mystic Rose Rose | Year Posted 2021
faust Jul 2021
Your eyes are impure
Made sully but tender by the wandering eyes of others
Emboss your body with their words
Push your legs through water, rise from the sea
Eat men like air, run your fingers through your hair
But you’re no Hercules
You’re no hercules

Bite the souls of others
And demolish your own
I miss the friends I made on here, come back guys I've just had writer's block for months :(
Middle Class Jun 2019
The hook and the loop
Pulling’s all it knows to do
Try me now
Make something new
Sitting in the half light
The fray and the slight

I wait around all day,
I wait around all day

The feathers and the thread
All rot patterns crossed
Feel me now
Penmanship in kitsch as you emboss
The binds true, just too tight
Woven work in resent,
but not quite

I wait around all day,
I wait around all day
Diya soni Sep 2022
When i scratch my skin off my flesh
Onto the parts where no one could see
It does'nt hurt anymore
I look at my scars right now,
And i feel so conflicted..
I feel hatred towards it because
I see those scars on the ppl i love
Who have no idea what is going on with me
Because when they find out or found out
It hurt them..
And it hurt me
Doesnt make any diff
Whether physically or mentally
Because im in constant suffering
And i dont want to be ever caught
Its the embodiment
Of how i cant cope and still coping
It helps me to understand my emotions
Which i cant put it into words
So i emboss tht story into my skin
Nothing feels real anymore
Its a constant battle
All these emotions
All these stereotype opinions of ppls
All these traumas
All these demons
And
LiFE...!
It is hurting
And thts why i want to self harm
To feel something other than that..
To get some relief
And truthfully
I dont want to stop.
I OnLy
Want to, Not tell anyone and do it privately.
I do them so i can see
My pain rather than feel it.
I dont want to hurt anyone or put thru this.
I cant keep anyone hurt.
I dont know what to do anymore.
Its like the bones have just vanished and theres nothing inside ..
Nothing
I know
Im Alive, when i hurt myself
I know tht im not just dead while breathing
I homestly,
Want to end it all
Life is murderer of my hopes.
I need to end this
I never wanted to put ppl thru grief
So i put myself into it
Im so ****** up and alone.
I dont feel tht i belong anywhere
Didnt have any friend left .
Im trying so hard
Im keeping a smile
So no one could tell
Im afraid of living
Because this is all tht ive known
From the day i was born
What do i have beyond this pain
Is still unknown..
Yet i show gratitude everyday to the almighty.
Pretending is all im doing.
To whoever reading this,
I know this is wrong
Bt it is what i feel.
Opinions doesnt chnge anything.
To whoever suffering like this like me
Because i cant be the only one suffering
And if youre reading this,
And can resonate or relate to anything
This is a message from me
Keep yourself safe,
Im here.
Nicole May 2020
You
You call me crazy
But I don't make eyes at you
Caught in a moment
If you would've feel it too
Then all is not lost
Nothing is broken
My heart is emboss
And the first words you spoke to me
I can't say I'm not,
falling in love with you
Satsih Verma Oct 2019
In blue dawn
pure truth will hinge on the
personal moons.

I was ready to tell
you all rumors to learn the
art of mimicry.

The air smells of the
masks. Not fakes. Skin dries
up to dew emboss prints.
Satsih Verma Dec 2019
In blue dawn
pure truth will hinge on the
personal moons.

I was ready to tell
you all rumors to learn the
art of mimicry.

The air smells of the
masks. Not fakes. Skin dries
up to dew emboss prints.

— The End —