The Eagle and the Mole

Elinor Wylie

Avoid the reeking herd,

Shun the polluted flock,
Live like that stoic bird,
The Eagle of the rock.

The huddled warmth of crowds

Begets and fosters hate;
He keeps, above the clouds,
His cliff inviolate.

When flocks are folded warm,

And herds to shelter run,
He sails above the storm,
He stares into the sun.

If in the eagle's track

Your sinews cannot leap,
Avoid the lathered pack,
Turn from the steaming sheep.

If you would keep your soul

from spotted sight or sound,
Live like the velvet mole;
Go borrow underground.

And there hold intercourse

With roots of trees and stones
With rivers at their source,
And disembodied bones.
 When to the Sessions
of Sweet Silent Thought
William Shakespeare

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, Unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:
Then can I grieve at Grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account to fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
 From Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare

When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth everyday.

But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, Alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
 To the evening star
William Blake

Thou fair-hair'd angel of the evening,

Now, while the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawers the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
And the lion glares thro' the dun forest:
The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence
 A Beautiful Person With A Heart Of Gold
Francis Duggan

She sees things of beauty in all that she see

And what's beautiful to her seems ugly to me

What to her is a flower to me is a weed

We do seem so different so different indeed.

The window of her soul is open to light

She always seems happy and bubbly and bright

And her type of person a pleasure to know

For beauty goes with her where-ever she go.

Of those who are different good things she does say

And for to help out others she goes out of her way

She helps out the homeless and those in dire poverty

I do not know of anyone as great as she.

And sad to think her type are becoming more rare

For the poor and downtrodden she genuinely does care

To the most worthy causes her work free time she devote

Yet she is not seen as one worthy of note.

A beautiful person with a heart of gold

And surely her story deserves to be told

Not proud of her beauty and free of conceit

And people like her one does not often meet.

 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
By Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,

Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow Rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,

With Coral clasps and Amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May-morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

 THE AIM WAS SONG

The Aim Was Song

By Robert Frost

Before man came to blow it right

The wind once blew itself untaught,

And did its loudest day and night

In any rough place where it caught.

Man came to tell it what was wrong:

It hadn’t found the place to blow;

It blew too hard—the aim was song.

And listen—how it ought to go!

He took a little in his mouth,

And held it long enough for north

To be converted into south,

And then by measure blew it forth.

By measure. It was word and note,

The wind the wind had meant to be—

A little through the lips and throat.

The aim was song—the wind could see.

 Gathering Leaves
By Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves

No better than spoons,

And bags full of leaves

Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise

Of rustling all day

Like rabbit and deer

Running away.

But the mountains I raise

Elude my embrace,

Flowing over my arms

And into my face.

I may load and unload

Again and again

Till I fill the whole shed,

And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,

And since they grew duller

From contact with earth,

Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use,

But a crop is a crop,

And who’s to say where

The harvest shall stop?

 Eating Words

By Katherine Hauth

When you know that vore means eat,

you will know that insectivores feed

on grasshoppers, moths, and butterflies,mosquitoes, bees, and

plain-old flies.

When you know

that carni means meat,

you will know

that carnivores eat snakes and lizards, deer and lamb,carrion,

birds, fish, and ham.

When you know

that herb means plant,

you will know

that herbivores CAN'T eat anything that moves on a foot,

just foods that spring up from a root.

When you know

that omni means all,

you will know

that omnivores call

Everything they can suck or chew—sometimes even me or you—food.