BEHAVIOUR POEMS

The Flower And The Leaf: Or, The Lady In The Arbour.[1]

A VISION.


Now turning from the wintry signs, the sun,
.....

John Dryden

Girls Spinning

FIRST GIRL
MALLO lero iss im bo nero!
Go where they're threshing and find me my lover,
Mallo lero iss im bo bairn!
.....

Padraic Colum

The Odyssey: Book 20

Ulysses slept in the cloister upon an undressed bullock's hide, on
the top of which he threw several skins of the sheep the suitors had
eaten, and Eurynome threw a cloak over him after he had laid himself
down. There, then, Ulysses lay wakefully brooding upon the way in
.....

Homer

The Old Gumbie Cat

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.
All day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat;
She sits and sits and sits and sits-and that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!
.....

T. S. Eliot

Song-fragment-johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver

WHEN first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!
.....

Robert Burns

Answer To Dr. Delany's Fable Of The Pheasant And Lark.

1730


In ancient times, the wise were able
.....

Jonathan Swift

Sonnet 079: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace,
But now my gracious numbers are decayed,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
.....

William Shakespeare

Four Quartets 3: The Dry Salvages

(The Dry Salvages-presumably les trois sauvages
- is a small group of rocks, with a beacon, off the N.E.
coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Salvages is pronounced
to rhyme with assuages. Groaner: a whistling buoy.)
.....

T. S. Eliot

Hurrahing In Harvest

Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks arise
Around; up above, what wind-walks! what lovely behaviour
Of silk-sack clouds! has wilder, wilful-wavier
Meal-drift moulded ever and melted across skies?
.....

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Hero And Leander: The First Sestiad

On Hellespont, guilty of true love's blood,
In view and opposite two cities stood,
Sea-borderers, disjoin'd by Neptune's might;
The one Abydos, the other Sestos hight.
.....

Christopher Marlowe

The Maid Of The Sweet Brown Knowe

Come all ye lads and lassies and listen to me a while,
And I'll sing for you a verse or two will cause you all to smile;
It's all about a young man, and I'm going to tell you now,
How he lately came a-courting of the Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe.
.....

Anonymous

The Peeler And The Goat

A Bansha Peeler wint won night
On duty and pathrollin' O,
An' met a goat upon the road,
And tuck her for a sthroller O.
.....

Anonymous

The Flies

Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol,
(A fly upon the chariot-pole
Cries out) What blue-bottle alive
Did ever with such fury drive?
.....

Matthew Prior

Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace,
But now my gracious numbers are decayed,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
.....

William Shakespeare

Limerick

There was an old bugger called God,
who got a young virgin in pod.
This disgraceful behaviour
begot Christ our Saviour,
.....

Dylan Thomas

Limerick: There Was An Old Man Of Moldavia

There was an Old Man of Moldavia,
Who had the most curious behaviour;
For while he was able,
He slept on a table.
.....

Edward Lear

Ch 05 On Love And Youth Story 10

In the exuberance of youth, as it usually happens and as thou knowest, I was on the closest terms of intimacy with a sweetheart who had a melodious voice and a form beautiful like the moon just rising.

He, the down of whose cheek drinks the water of immortality,
Whoever looks at his sugar lips eats sweetmeats.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

That V.c.

'Twas in the days of front attack;
This glorious truth we'd yet to learn it --
That every "front" has got a back.
And French was just the man to turn it.
.....

Banjo Paterson

The Hero Of Rorke's Drift

Twas at the camp of Rorke's Drift, and at tea-time,
And busily engaged in culinary operations was a private of the line;
But suddenly he paused, for he heard a clattering din,
When instantly two men on horseback drew rein beside him.
.....

William Topaz Mcgonagall

Shakuntala Act 1

King Dushyant in a chariot, pursuing an antelope, with a bow and quiver, attended by his Charioteer.
Suta (Charioteer). [Looking at the antelope, and then at the king]
When I cast my eye on that black antelope, and on thee, O king, with thy braced bow, I see before me, as it were, the God Mahésa chasing a hart (male deer), with his bow, named Pináca, braced in his left hand.

.....

Kalidasa

Point Spread

The skull in the box is that of Cornelius A. Burleigh, the first man to be hanged in London, Ontario, August 19, 1830. The public hanging attracted an audience of over 3,000 when the village of London numbered only a few hundred. Because the rope broke, he was hanged twice! The top of the skull was taken on a world tour by Dr. O.S. Fowler, a phrenologist.
This part of the skull was presented to the Harris family.
(Eldon House brochure)

.....

Paul Cameron Brown

The Modest Couple

When man and maiden meet, I like to see a drooping eye,
I always droop my own - I am the shyest of the shy.
I'm also fond of bashfulness, and sitting down on thorns,
For modesty's a quality that womankind adorns.
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

Ch 02 The Morals Of Dervishes Story 34

A man, professing to be a hermit in the desert of Syria, attended for years to his devotions and subsisted on the leaves of trees. A padshah, who had gone in that direction by way of pilgrimage, approached him and said: â??If thou thinkest proper, we shall prepare a place for thee in the town where thou wilt enjoy leisure for thy devotions and others may profit by thy spiritual advice as well as imitate thy good works.â?? The hermit refused compliance but the pillars of the State were of opinion that, in order to please the king, he ought to spend a few days in town to ascertain the state of the place; so that if he feared that the purity of his precious time might become turbid by association with strangers, he would still have the option to refuse compliance. It is related that the hermit entered the town where a private garden-house of the king, which was a heart-expanding and soul refreshing locality, had been prepared to receive him.

Its red roses were like the cheeks of belles,
Its hyacinths like the ringlets of mistresses
.....

Saadi Shirazi

There Was An Old Man Of Moldavia

There was an Old Man of Moldavia,
Who had the most curious behaviour;
For while he was able,
He slept on a table.
.....

Edward Lear

Krishna Denying He Stole The Butter

O mother mine, I did not eat the butter
come dawn, with the herds,
you send me to the jungle,
o, mother mine, I did not eat the butter.
.....

Sant Surdas

The Titmouse

You shall not be overbold
When you deal with arctic cold,
As late I found my lukewarm blood
Chilled wading in the snow-choked wood.
.....

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Maid Of The Sweet Brown Knowe

COME all ye lads and lassies and listen to me a while,
And I-ll sing for you a verse or two will cause you all to smile;
It-s all about a young man, and I-m going to tell you now,
How he lately came a-courting of the Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe.
.....

Anonymous English

-phasellus Ille-

1 his papier-mâché, which you see, my friends,
Saith 'twas the worthiest of editors.
Its mind was made up in 'the seventies',
Nor hath it ever since changed that concoction.
.....

Ezra Pound

Ch 04 On The Advantages Of Silence Story 03

An intelligent youth possessed an abundant share of accomplishments and discreet behaviour so that he was allowed to sit in assemblies of learned men but he refrained from conversing with them. His father once asked him why he did not likewise speak on subjects he was acquainted with. He replied: â??I fear I may be asked what I do not know and be put to shame.â??

Hast thou heard how a Sufi drove
A few nails under his sandals
.....

Saadi Shirazi

Ch 02 The Morals Of Dervishes Story 27

It once happened that on a journey to the Hejaz a company of young and pious men, whose sentiments harmonized with mine, were my fellow-travellers. They occasionally sung and recited spiritual verses but we had with us also an aâ??bid, who entertained a bad opinion of the behaviour of the dervishes and was ignorant of their sufferings. When we reached the palm-grove of the Beni Hallal, a black boy of the encampment, falling into a state of excitement, broke out in a strain which brought down the birds from the sky. I saw, however, the camel of the aâ??bid, which began to prance, throwing him and running into the desert.

Knowest thou what that matutinal bulbul said to me?
What man art thou to be ignorant of love?
.....

Saadi Shirazi

Ch 07 On The Effects Of Education Story 04

I saw a schoolmaster in the Maghrib country, who was sour-faced, of uncouth speech, ill-humoured, troublesome to the people, of a beggarly nature and without self-restraint, so that the very sight of him disgusted the Musalmans and when reading the Quran he distressed the hearts of the people. A number of innocent boys and little maidens suffered from the hand of his tyranny, venturing neither to laugh nor to speak because he would slap the silver-cheeks of some and put the crystal legs of others into the stocks. In short, I heard that when his behaviour had attained some notoriety, he was expelled from the school and another installed as corrector, who happened to be a religious, meek, good and wise man. He spoke only when necessary and found no occasion to deal harshly with anyone so that the children lost the fear they had entertained for their first master and, taking advantage of the angelic manners of the second, they acted like demons towards each other and, trusting in his gentleness, neglected their studies, spending most of their time in play, and breaking on the heads of each other the tabletsâ?? of their unfinished tasks.

If the schoolmaster happens to be lenient
The children will play leapfrog in the bazar.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

On The Death Of Mistress Mary Prideaux

Weep not because this childe hath dyed so yong,
But weepe because yourselves have livde so long:
Age is not fild by growth of time, for then
What old man lives to see th' estate of men?
.....

William Strode

Ch 05 On Love And Youth Story 05

A schoolboy was so perfectly beautiful and sweet-voiced that the teacher, in accordance with human nature, conceived such an affection towards him thatâ?? he often recited the following verses:

I am not so little occupied with thee, O heavenly face,
That remembrance of myself occurs to my mind.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

A Hymn To The Graces

When I love, as some have told
Love I shall, when I am old,
O ye Graces! make me fit
For the welcoming of it!
.....

Robert Herrick

The Rival Poet Sonnets (78 - 86)

LXXVIII

So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse,
And found such fair assistance in my verse
.....

William Shakespeare

Hymn To The Grace

When I love, as some have told
Love I shall, when I am old,
O ye Graces! make me fit
For the welcoming of it!
.....

Robert Herrick

The Black Mousquetaire: A Legend Of France

Francois Xavier Auguste was a gay Mousquetaire,
The Pride of the Camp, the delight of the Fair:
He'd a mien so distingu and so dbonnaire,
And shrugg'd with a grace so recherch and rare,
.....

Richard Harris Barham

Poems - The New Edition - Preface

In two small volumes of Poems, published anonymously, one in 1849, the other in 1852, many of the Poems which compose the present volume have already appeared. The rest are now published for the first time.

I have, in the present collection, omitted the Poem from which the volume published in 1852 took its title. I have done so, not because the subject of it was a Sicilian Greek born between two and three thousand years ago, although many persons would think this a sufficient reason. Neither have I done so because I had, in my own opinion, failed in the delineation which I intended to effect. I intended to delineate the feelings of one of the last of the Greek religious philosophers, one of the family of Orpheus and Musaeus, having survived his fellows, living on into a time when the habits of Greek thought and feeling had begun fast to change, character to dwindle, the influence of the Sophists to prevail. Into the feelings of a man so situated there entered much that we are accustomed to consider as exclusively modern; how much, the fragments of Empedocles himself which remain to us are sufficient at least to indicate. What those who are familiar only with the great monuments of early Greek genius suppose to be its exclusive characteristics, have disappeared; the calm, the cheerfulness, the disinterested objectivity have disappeared: the dialogue of the mind with itself has commenced; modern problems have presented themselves; we hear already the doubts, we witness the discouragement, of Hamlet and of Faust.

.....

Matthew Arnold

The Sonnets Lxxix - Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious numbers are decay'd,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
.....

William Shakespeare

Cock Up Your Beaver.

Tune - "Cock up your beaver."


I.
.....

Robert Burns

Psychological Warfare

This above all remember: they will be very brave men,
And you will be facing them. You must not despise them.

I am, as you know, like all true professional soldiers,
.....

Henry Reed

The Bridge Of Sighs

One more Unfortunate,
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death!
.....

Thomas Hood

The Story Of The Dreadful Griffin. (prose)

My Dear Children,--I am going to tell you a really breathless story for your holiday treat. It will have to begin with the moral, because everyone will be too much exhausted to read one at the end, and as the moral is the only part that really matters, it is important to come to it quite fresh.

We will, therefore, endeavour to learn from this story:-

.....

Michael Fairless

Ch 01 Manner Of Kings Story 16

One of my friends complained of the unpropitious times, telling me that he had a slender income, a large family, without strength to bear the load of poverty and had often entertained the idea to emigrate to another country so that no matter how he made a living no one might become aware of his good or ill luck.

Many a man slept hungry and no one knew who he was.
Many a man was at the point of death and no one wept for him.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

To F.w.f.

Farrar, when oâ??er Goodwinâ??s page
Late I found thee poring,
From the hydrostatic Sage
Leaky Memory storing,
.....

James Clerk Maxwell

Ch 06 On Weakness And Old Age Story 02

It is related that an old man, having married a girl, was sitting with her privately in an apartment adorned with roses, fixing his eyes and heart upon her. He did not sleep during long nights but spent them in telling her jokes and witty stories, hoping to gain her affection and to conquer her shyness. One night, however, he informed her that luck had been friendly to her and the eye of fortune awake because she had become the companion of an old man who is ripe, educated, experienced in the world, of a quiet disposition, who had felt cold and warm, had tried good and bad, who knows the diities of companionship, is ready to fulfil the conditions of love, is benevolent, kind, good-natured and sweet-tongued.

As far as I am able I shall hold thy heart
And if injured I shall not injure in return.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

His Meditation Upon Death

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.....

Robert Herrick

Limericks

THERE is a big artist named Val,
The roughs' and the prizeâ??fighters' pal:
The mind of a groom
And the head of a broom
.....

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Ch 07 On The Effects Of Education Story 05

The son of a pious man inherited great wealth left him by some uncles, whereon he plunged into dissipation and profligacy, became a spendthrift and, in short, left no heinous transgression unperpetrated and no intoxicant untasted. I advised him and said: â??My son, income is a flowing water and expense a turning mill; that is to say, only he who has a fixed revenue is entitled to indulge in abundant expenses.

â??If thou hast no income, spend but frugally
Because the sailors chant this song:
.....

Saadi Shirazi

Phantasmagoria Canto I (the Trystyng )

ONE winter night, at half-past nine,
Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,
I had come home, too late to dine,
And supper, with cigars and wine,
.....

Lewis Carroll