There was a young man from Busan --
'Twas up the hillside he lived on
That - pressed for time -
He bought a zipline,
But got stuck, dangling above Busan.
Busan Limerick
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Category Archives: Lyric
“In Search of the Taoist, Chang” [寻南溪常道士] by Liu Changqing 刘长卿
I walk the narrow path,
Clogs divoting the moss.
White clouds over the shore;
Gate obscured by Spring grass.
Post-rain, I see the pines,
Follow stream to its source.
Flower-mind, then Zen Mind --
Arrived! Words have no force.
This is poem #136 of the 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] The original in Simplified Chinese goes:
一路经行处， 莓苔见屐痕。
白云依静渚， 春草闭闲门。
过雨看松色， 随山到水源。
溪花与禅意， 相对亦忘言。
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“Limits” by Ralph Waldo Emerson [w/ Audio]
Who knows this or that?
Hark in the wall to the rat:
Since the world was, he has gnawed;
Of his wisdom, of his fraud
What dost thou know?
In the wretched little beast
Is life and heart,
Child and parent,
Not without relation
To fruitful field and sun and moon.
What art thou? His wicked eye
Is cruel to thy cruelty.
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“The Lion” by Hilaire Belloc [w/ Audio]
The Lion, the Lion, he dwells in the Waste,
He has a big head and a very small waist;
But his shoulders are stark, and his jaws they are grim,
And a good little child will not play with him.
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The Common Hoopoe [Lyric Poem]
Let me introduce the Common Hoopoe:
It can raise its crown when it wants to.
With me, it didn't (as you may have guessed;)
I suppose it was just unimpressed.
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The Fire-Bellied Toad [Lyric Poem]
Let me give you a Fire-Bellied Toad fun fact:
They're party in the front, camo in the back.
With safety vest wrong side up on this toad,
You'll often find them squashed on a road.
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“Wonder—is not precisely Knowing” (1331) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
Wonder—is not precisely Knowing
And not precisely Knowing not—
A beautiful but bleak condition
He has not lived who has not felt—
Suspense—is his maturer Sister—
Whether Adult Delight is Pain
Or of itself a new misgiving—
This is the Gnat that mangles men—
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“Death” by William Butler Yeats [w/ Audio]
Nor dread nor hope attend
A dying animal;
A man awaits his end
Dreading and hoping all;
Many times he died,
Many times rose again.
A great man in his pride
Confronting murderous men
Casts derision upon
Supersession of breath;
He knows death to the bone -
Man has created death.
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“Little Echoed Hills” [小重山] by Yue Fei [岳飞] [w/ Audio]
Last night chirps resounded in the cold,
Through witching hour no sleep occurred.
I rose and slowly walked, alone.
Moonlight window glow, but no one stirred.
I've grayed in service and search of fame.
On hills, back home, the pines have grown old.
That's the story I'd let my lute tell,
If a string weren't broken &
there was someone to be told.
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“Chemical Analysis” by Stephen Vincent Benet [w/ Audio]
She's slender hands and pretty lips,
And seafoam and rosemary.
Her ears are pointed at the tips,
She stayed so long in Fairy.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 