Out of the church she followed them
With a lofty step and mien:
His bride was like a village maid,
Maude Clare was like a queen.
“Son Thomas, ” his lady mother said,
With smiles, almost with tears:
“May Nell and you but live as true
As we have done for years;
......
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;
......
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When Nag, the wayside cobra, hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can,
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail -
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
......
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
......
We were a tribe, a family, a people.
Wallace and Bruce guard now a painted field,
And all may read the folio of our fable,
Peruse the sword, the sceptre and the shield.
A simple sky roofed in that rustic day,
The busy corn-fields and the haunted holms,
The green road winding up the ferny brae.
But Knox and Melville clapped their preaching palms
And bundled all the harvesters away,
Hoodicrow Peden in the blighted corn
......
You are the air that fills my soul,
The whisper in winds that makes me whole.
Yet human I am, with flaw and stain,
Yearning for purity, escaping pain.
In this love, where mercy overflows,
I find myself, in both highs and lows.
No earthly hand, no fleeting embrace,
But in Your sight, I find my place.
......
Jack Horner was an impish little boy, who lived on Cherry Orchard farm;
That produced varieties of fruit. For a mellowing sun, kept groves warm.
The Horners had always been a serious set-no nonsense, like spring rain;
And tried to teach their son responsibility, like time's jewels that remain.
But, alas, it was a big challenge, with hilarious grasshoppers in the hall!
Sent early to bed, he laughed long, the way you only laugh, when small.
Friends came face-to-face on fun Fridays, as February fled into summer,
......
I wish I could smash my heart with a hammer so everyone could see how badly I hurt inside.
I'd wear it with pride and pain in my eyes.
Porcelain cracked and peices lying, forgotten
I wish I could smash my heart with a hammer
So everyone could see how I feel inside.
I lived a story,
In a bloody dream.
A fight for glory,
In a running stream.
The roaring sound,
Of rapid fire,
Onto the ground,
Good men retire.
I hear the screams,
......
I play by the rules day in and day out,
Showing my class, wielding my clout.
I take the hard blows time and again,
Knowing my patience shan't be in vain.
Joe's on the ropes, all by himself,
Waiting around to be dumped on the shelf,
Restraint is my friend, as I pull back and watch,
Those flailing wild jabs I so easily dodge.
......