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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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I'll cop to having not written this one. Hell, if I could write like this in a poetic fashion, I wouldn't be studying journalism. But as it is, I much prefer my variety of prose to poetry.
At any rate, this poem has really stuck with me, so I thought, what the heck:
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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Cool poem, and it's by William Ernest Henley. Just for the record.
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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It is indeed. And apparently a slightly-simplified language version of it fits to "Amazing Grace", so I've had that stuck in my head all week.
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Dang it Adam! Now I'm singing it!
Youth crisis hot-line 866-488-7386, 24 hr (U.S.A.)
There are people who want to help you cope with being you.
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Yes, Adam,
Me too. I almost know it by heart. William Ernest Henley, I believe.
But why post it here? (said he curiously)
Love,
Anthony
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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No reason. I just see an awful lot of poetry whenever I read the board of late, so I thought I'd add one I liked.
Now I'm going to add another, one of my all-time favorites and one I'm curiously proud I can recite:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
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It's `High Flight,' a poem by John Gillespie Magee, he was a flyer in the Royal Air Force in WWII. It was quoted in the movie "Memphis Belle" I think.
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Your right Jon. The poem was found in his locker after he died while out on a mission. If Im not mistaken I think he was Canadian. There was also something to do with the Astronauts, but I dont remember what.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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>There was also something to do with the Astronauts, but I dont remember what.
Astronaut Michael Collins brought an index card with the poem typed on it on his Gemini 10 flight and included the complete poem in his autobiography Carrying The Fire. Former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz quoted the first line of the poem in his book Failure Is Not An Option, at the end of Chapter 16, which deals with the Apollo 11 moon landing. American President Ronald Reagan quoted two brief phrases from the poem at the end of his address to the nation following the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. It is required to be recited by memory by first year cadets at the United States Air Force Academy.*
*Wikipedia
Youth crisis hot-line 866-488-7386, 24 hr (U.S.A.)
There are people who want to help you cope with being you.
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There is a comic that runs in the papers here called RED and ROVER. Its about a boy and his dog. One of the best of these cartoons was one where Red is sitting in a box with Rover and looking up at the sky and there are 7 stars then 3 more and then 7 more. And Red is saying to Rover, "Some stars just shine brighter than the others" I wonder how many people missed what he was saying.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
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If I had read it, I would have missed it
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Timmy, we lost 7 astronauts in one shuttle, three in a capsul fire, and another 7 in a shuttle.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
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Thanks. Not a lot can follow that, really.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I read this thread and then remembered "I Vow To Thee my Country" which is one of my fave hymns and that tune called Thaxted has been running around in my head all day.
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I think it's one of those things that Americans relate to more than a British person would. Like you still wear poppies on Remembrance Day and it's hardly even observed over here.
Good one little brother.
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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I don't know that movie, but I do so love this poem. I was introduced to it through the Reagan speech that's mentioned in another post, but the remainder is simply glorious. Probably my all-time favorite piece, and one of the few I can properly recite.
---
Although, when it comes to reciting poetry, at least for me, there's no substitute for:
Halfway down the stairs is the stair where I sit.
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
It isn't at the bottom, and it isn't at the top.
But this is the stair where I always stop.
Halfway down the stairs isn't up and isn't down;
It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts run around my head:
It isn't really anywhere. It's somewhere else instead.
Brits should get that one.
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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I don't know if I would have picked it up right away, but that is, indeed, a nice tribute.
Christa McAuliffe, the teacher-astronaut from Challenger, was from my hometown. So anyone in my area knows all about that one.
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ProfZodiac
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Likes it here |
Location: United States
Registered: August 2006
Messages: 115
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This is completely random, but I like your new picture more than your old one.
Maybe I should change my avatar to better reflect myself. Hmm.
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Hi Eldon, nice to have you back where you belong.
The hymn that you mention was originally a poem written in 1908 by a British diplomat Cecil Spring-Rice. He re-worked it in 1918. Apparently, his daughter went to the same school as the daughter of the composer Gustav Holst (who lived in the village of Thaxted). In 1921 the "grand tune" from Holst's "Jupiter" in his Planet's Suite was married to the poem by Spring-Rice and - bingo! - the hymn you so like was born. You can read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Vow_to_Thee,_My_Country
J F R
[Updated on: Fri, 11 January 2008 04:39]
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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>Maybe I should change my avatar to better reflect myself. Hmm.
You mean that's not your photo?  )
Youth crisis hot-line 866-488-7386, 24 hr (U.S.A.)
There are people who want to help you cope with being you.
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Oh yes, Adam,
The sitter on the stair was Christopher Robin. When we were very young, Now we are six, Winnie the Pooh and The house at Pooh Corner.
Were you aware that the real Christopher Robin Milne paid almost with his life for those books. He was bullied and teased unmercifully at school and afterwards I believe; in a way it was worse than being outed because he really was the only one like him.
I've always felt sorry for him. I know that I was a good little boy just like him. Even the houses in the pictures of him were like the house I lived in - until the war broke out.
And I didn't get the allusion to seven, three and seven. I couldn't have told you how many lives were lost in the space program. Donny was absolutely right that people here are not so conscious of it (IMHO).
But I do think the public is very fickle about whose deaths are important. A huge fuss is made about Diana, yet three or four hundred people die on UK roads every year.
Love,
Anthony
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I could show y'all my poetry but most of it sucks so...
I have my one favourite poem of all time though
I HEAR the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,
Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white;
The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night,
The East her hidden joy before the morning break,
The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away, 5
The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire:
O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless Desire,
The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay:
Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat
Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, 10
Drowning love’s lonely hour in deep twilight of rest,
And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet.
who is this by{i know who just want y'all to guess}
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O man, this is so cool! Thanks for the information about that hymn. I don't know much about music, but I know that the meter of hymns is like the meter of poetry because basically hymns are poems set to music. Sometime the organist will decide to have a hymn but played to a tune that's different from the usual one the congregation is used to singing. About a third of the people are so confused they don't know what to sing, and a third are singing the usual tune, and a third are trying to learn and sing the new tune. It gets kind of chaotic! My other fave tunes are "Christ is Made The Sure Foundation" to "Westminster" and the hymns sung to "Stuttgart" and there are others that I can't remember, and I don't have The Hymnal here in class. But anyway I'm going to Google that Spring-Rice guy and find out more about him. Thanks!
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You mean you aren't Calvin?
This is the picture that Curtis likes too. Jon made me change the avatar.
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You know I can imagine being teased about the Pooh books. Now I'm going to tell you guys something that is one of my deepest secrets. When I was a boy, I mean a little boy, I had a pooh bear and also a Paddington bear, and I loved them very much. Of all the stuffed animals I had they were the ones I kept, and I put them into a box with some moth balls to save in case I ever have a son or daughter.
Our house has a staircase that turns halfway up, and there's a window with a window seat. When I was at the stuffed animal age, I used to stop there on the way up or down and look out over the water and be on the lookout for pirates!
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Yeats
And let's see some of your poetry too.
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Hi Eldon,
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a hugely popular British patriotic song/hymn over here, along with "Land of Hope and Glory" and "Jerusalem". Do you sing those two as well, or are they too obviously British/English?
Now I've got it stuck in my head again, too!
David
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
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If that pic is you I wish you had been a kid when I was a kid  In the same place, of course!
I'd have been too shy and terrified, though. I get tongued tied when I talk to attractive boys
[Updated on: Fri, 11 January 2008 16:25]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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ROFLMAO.
It's him alright. He's embarrassed about all the attention.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
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The thing about looks is that some folk are lucky and have good ones. It's better luck than being ugly. You get better jobs, better choice of partners, the lot.
Now please excuse me while I find a mop and bucket.
At least the chair's level. I can tell because I'm drooling evenly out of each side of my mouth.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Hey! We're sitting in the school Commons and eating lunch, and Donny is getting a crash course in hymns and meters from Brittany and Kristin, and the look on his face is priceless. He can do trigonometry and calculus but is learning how to count meters of songs. Priceless!
No, I can't ever remember singing "Land of Hope and Glory" or "Jersulam." The words are very British oriented I think. Our big patriotic hymns are "America the Beautiful" and "My Country,'Tis of Thee" (which is the tune of "God Save the Queen" so go figure!)
Brittany told me to tell you just now that we have a hymn called "Jersulam, Jersulam" to the tune of Jersulam, but by Purday and not Parry. Now I'm confused. But she says you will know what she's talking about.
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Show off!
At least one of us didn't sleep through English Literature.
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Eldon, I dont know why that would be a deep dark secret. I have a Pooh bear and it still sits on the pillow on my bed. I have had him since I was 5 and I dont care how much Jeff says about him Ill keep him till Im gone. I know what you mean about the window and water. We have a stair case that has a window that looks out over the lake. I used to stand and watch the boats go by, I dont think I ever dreamed of being a pirate tho. In case anyone wants to know the origial Pooh Bear and Eeyore are held by a company in NY. A long time ago they were brought to the US to promote the books and the owners never asked for them back. Now there is this big to do about who owns them and should get them and whatever. They are on display.
I have always loved Amazing grace, but there is another one I heard that Im in love with and its "Saviors Day". Oh and by the way. Libera performed at the Kennedy Center for Brian Wilson. They are supposed to be planing a concert tour of the US. I would love to see them if they come anywhere near here.
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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You sleep in English, and I sleep in history, and we manage to bumble through both comparing notes. But what are we going to do next year at different colleges?
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You sleep in class???????? How rude
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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So it's 88.88D or 88.88.88.88, and that's the meter of Jersulam, and any hymn with that meter marking can be sung to that tune. Do I get a gold star?
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Lunchtime for u 2 huh!
Sorry I missed you on the IM last night. I had a boatload of calculus to get finished and then it was late...
Jon and I don't really actually sleep in class, but some of the teachers are SO boring we just sort of zone out. And you know me and reading history!
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I didnt get on last night. We were having some really bad thuderstorms and lightning and there were tornado warning all over the place, so I stayed off line and disconnected the puter.
I know about the boring part and zoning out. some teachers just have no pazzaz. LOL
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you......
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See Jon! I told you I wasn't the only dude our age who kept stuffed animals!
I would love to hear Libera in person but I doubt if they ever come close enough to where we live here on the coast. No big cities nearby except Norfolk, and that ain't exactly a cultured place!
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
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I still have the bear I had when I was a kid. It lives beside my bed.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Ok I think I understand this now 
