The Mourning Bride by William Congreve

Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure,
Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.

 

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An Apple A Day – haiku by Dennis Allen Lange

—

Now, the toast,
A bite of fruit each –
To your health!

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photo by Aga Grafik at
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/osQXlrg/fresh+fruits+on+white+backgrou

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* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.

See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed: https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.
 

 

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Good-bye by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home:
Thou art not my friend, and I’m not thine.
Long through thy weary crowds I roam;
A river-ark on the ocean brine,
Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam;
But now, proud world! I’m going home.  

Good-bye to Flattery’s fawning face;
To Grandeur with his wise grimace;
To upstart Wealth’s averted eye;
To supple Office, low and high;
To crowded halls, to court and street;
To frozen hearts and hasting feet;
To those who go, and those who come;
Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home.  

I am going to my own hearth-stone,
Bosomed in yon green hills alone, —
A secret nook in a pleasant land,
Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;
Where arches green, the livelong day,
Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,
And vulgar feet have never trod
A spot that is sacred to thought and God.  

O, when I am safe in my sylvan home,
I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome;
And when I am stretched beneath the pines,
Where the evening star so holy shines,
I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,
At the sophist schools, and the learned clan;
For what are they all, in their high conceit,
When man in the bush with God may meet? 

 

 

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Indifference by Dennis Allen Lange

—

The Germans, grown calloused to slaughter
Of Jewish man, wife, son, and daughter
…Could go on their way
…Not bothered all day
While just over there was the slaughter.

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We do the same regarding 2500 abortion murders per day.

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.

 

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Song Of Marion’s Men by William Cullen Bryant

Our band is few, but true and tried,
…Our leader frank and bold;
The British soldier trembles
…When Marion’s name is told.
Our fortress is the good greenwood,
…Our tent the cypress-tree;
We know the forest round us,
…As seamen know the sea;
We know its walks of thorny vines,
…Its glades of reedy grass,
Its safe and silent islands
…Within the dark morass.

Woe to the English soldiery
…That little dread us near!
On them shall light at midnight
…A strange and sudden fear;
When, waking to their tents on fire,
…They grasp their arms in vain,
And they who stand to face us
…Are beat to earth again;
And they who fly in terror deem
…A mighty host behind,
And hear the tramp of thousands
…Upon the hollow wind.

Then sweet the hour that brings release
…From danger and from toil;
We talk the battle over,
…And share the battle’s spoil.
The woodland rings with laugh and shout,
…As if a hunt were up,
And woodland flowers are gathered
…To crown the soldier’s cup.
With merry songs we mock the wind
…That in the pine-top grieves,
And slumber long and sweetly
…On beds of oaken leaves.

Well knows the fair and friendly moon
…The band that Marion leads-
The glitter of their rifles,
…The scampering of their steeds.
‘Tis life to guide the fiery barb
…Across the moonlight plain;
‘Tis life to feel the night-wind
…That lifts his tossing mane.
A moment in the British camp-
…A moment – and away,
Back to the pathless forest,
…Before the peep of day.

Grave men there are by broad Santee,
…Grave men with hoary hairs;
Their hearts are all with Marion,
…For Marion are their prayers.
And lovely ladies greet our band,
…With kindest welcoming,
With smiles like those of summer,
…And tears like those of spring.
For them we wear these trusty arms,
…And lay them down no more
Till we have driven the Briton,
…Forever, from our shore.

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Eiffel Eyeful – haiku by Dennis Allen Lange

—

The needle
In Paris haystack –
Easy find.

——————– 

photo by Vladimir Fofanov at
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/pmvWRgw/Paris+view

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* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.

   See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed: https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.
 

 

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The House By The Side Of The Road by Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran—
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by—
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat
Nor hurl the cynic’s ban—
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan—
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by—
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish—so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

 

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The New World by Dennis Allen Lange

—

Our eyes were lifted to this land that lay beyond the sea.
Great dreams arose and hope was born that life could better be.
And such a fire burned in our breasts, I looked into your eyes,
And said, “Let’s go”, and you agreed to sail to-ward this prize.
We booked our passage; packed our things – no, most we left behind –
Like Will’s carved birds, Jane’s second doll. And Moll (wife sweet
…..and kind)
Left pieces of her heart and soul she’d painted, bought or sewn.
And all of us left friends behind as well as flesh and bone.
We sailed. The sea stretched endlessly. Waves rose. Would we survive?
In spite of storms and sicknesses, we stand here, still alive.
Remember how the wagon rolled so slowly down the road
Until we topped the hill today to see our new abode?
What shall we name this treasured place from which we’ll never roam?
His family spoke together, said, “Let’s name it after home.”

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The picture is mine, of The Discovery, one of three ships at Jamestown.
It was shot from the deck of the Susan Constant.

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.

 

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Awake Ye Muses by Emily Dickinson

Awake ye muses nine, sing me a strain divine,
Unwind the solemn twine, and tie my Valentine!

Oh the Earth was made for lovers, for damsel, and hopeless swain,
For sighing, and gentle whispering, and unity made of twain.
All things do go a courting, in earth, or sea, or air,
God hath made nothing single but thee in His world so fair!
The bride, and then the bridegroom, the two, and then the one,
Adam, and Eve, his consort, the moon, and then the sun,
The life doth prove the precept, who obey shall happy be,
Who will not serve the sovereign, be hanged on fatal tree.
The high do seek the lowly, the great do seek the small,
None cannot find who seeketh, on this terrestrial ball;
The bee doth court the flower, the flower his suit receives,
And they make merry wedding, whose guests are hundred leaves;
The wind doth woo the branches, the branches they are won,
And the father fond demandeth the maiden for his son,
The storm doth walk the seashore humming a mournful time,
The wave with eye so pensive, looketh to see the moon,
Their spirits meet together, they make them solemn vows,
No more he singeth mournful, her sadness she doth lose.
The worm doth woo the mortal, death claims a living bride,
Night unto day is married, morn unto eventide;
Earth is a merry damsel, and heaven a knight so true,
And Earth is quite coquettish, and beseemeth in vain to sue.
Now to the application, to the reading of the roll,
To bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul:
Thou are a human solo, a being cold, and lone,
Wilt have no kind companion, thou reap’st what thou hast sown.
Hast never silent hours, and minutes all too long,
And a deal of sad reflection, and wailing instead of song?
There’s Sarah, and Eliza, and Emeline so fair,
And Harriet, and Susan, and she with curling hair!
Thine eyes are sadly blinded, but yet thou mayest see
Six true, and comely maidens sitting upon the tree;
Approach that tree with caution, then up it boldly climb,
And seize the one thou lovest, not care for space, or time!
Then bear her to the greenwood, and build for her a bower,
And give her what she asketh, jewel, or bird, or flower –
And bring the fife, and trumpet, and beat upon the drum –
And bid the world Goodmorrow, and go to glory home!

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Not His Prints – haiku by Dennis Allen Lange

—

Trail in snow.
The road once traveled.
Not by Frost.

———————

photo by Gesine Kuhlmann at
http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/nVthoZ6/Spooky+path

———————

* The haiku I write are lines of 3-5-3 syllables instead of 5-7-5.

See Haiku article here for explanation, if needed: https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/haiku/

——————–

© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2018.

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