As You Like It
Sweet are the uses of adversity, which,
like the toad, ugly and venomous,
bears yet a precious jewel in it head.
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
sermons in stones, and good in everything.
I would not change it.
Shaker Song
‘Tis the gift to be simple,
‘Tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn, turn will be our delight,
‘Til by turning, turning we come round right.
Extraordinary Machine
If there was a better way to go then it would find me.
I can’t help it, the road just rolls out behind me.
Be kind to me or treat me mean;
I’ll make the most of it – I’m an extraordinary Machine.
Moby Dick
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world
This World is Not Conclusion
This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond –
Invisible, as Music –
But positive, as Sound –
It beckons, and it baffles –
Philosophy – don't know –
And through a Riddle, at the last –
Sagacity, must go –
To guess it, puzzles scholars –
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown –
Faith slips – and laughs, and rallies –
Blushes, if any see –
Plucks at a twig of Evidence –
And asks a Vane, the way –
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit –
Strong Hallelujahs roll –
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul –