A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage...
I lived in the first century of world wars.
Most mornings I would be more or less insane,
The newspapers would arrive with their careless stories,
The news would pour out of various devices
Interrupted by attempts to sell products to the unseen.
I...
If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and
your sleep for it
If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things...
Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?
Did you give a cheerful...
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil...
Let there be peace
So frowns fly away like albatross
And skeletons foxtrot from cupboards,
So war correspondents become travel show presenters
And magpies bring back lost property,
Children, engagement rings, broken things.
Let there be peace
So...
Ich bin Soldat, doch bin ich es nicht gerne (I am a soldier, though I don’t want to be one)
Als ich es ward, hat man mich nicht gefragt (When I became one, it was mandatory)
Man riss mich fort, hinein in die Kaserne (I was torn away into the...
'He would see this country burn if he could be King of the ashes'
Mutually assured destruction, that’s the promised foundation of nuclear weapons. Mankind’s most destructive creation is sadly back in the picture thanks to the recent conflict...
Saturday afternoon. The barracks is almost empty.
The soldiers are almost all on overnight pass.
There is only me, writing this letter to you,
And one other soldier, down at the end of the room,
And a spider, that hangs by the thread of his guts,...
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Think of the endless...
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones". -Albert Einstein
Earlier today, Russia moved troops into Ukraine in an aggressive military operation that can only be described...
If a poem you would write,
Now's the time!
Ne'er was epic yet or sonnet
Captured but by leaping on it;
Pegasus depend upon it,
Knows his time.
If you have a task to do,
Now's the time!
Now, while you've a notion to it;
Now, while zeal will help...
And what is Life? — An hour-glass on the run,
A mist retreating from the morning sun,
A busy, bustling, still-repeated dream.
Its length? — A minute's pause, a moment's thought.
And Happiness? — A bubble on the stream,
That in the act of seizing...
THIS cosmic dust beneath our feet
Rising to hurry down the street,
Borne by the wind and blown astray
In its erratic, senseless way,
Is the same stuff as you and I—
With knowledge and desire put by.
Thousands of times since time began
It has been...
Did you meet that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful;
For a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
It isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that...