If the Barbarians are destroyed, who will we then be able to blame for the bad things?
quote by Angela Carter
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Waiting for the Barbarians
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn't anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city's main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don't our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Sonnet: Just Correct Yourself
Don’t blame the door for creakiness when old;
Don’t blame the oven for burnt cakes it bakes;
Don’t blame the seller of the things bought/sold;
Don’t blame the cot for squeaky noise, it makes.
Don’t blame the stars or dates or time of year;
Don’t blame the pen for writing bad verses;
Don’t blame the pedestrian, stone-deaf by ear;
Don’t blame the voters for your reverses.
For, failures could be pre-destined by God,
Or they could happen on account of us;
Our human reasoning can’t explain things odd;
Why blame the cyclist hit by our ‘spare-bus’.
Set-backs will come in all the things we do;
But they should never serve to perturb you.
6-2-2002 by Dr John Celes
poem by John Celes
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If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.
quote by Thomas Sowell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet: Such Blaming is Futile
Why blame poor Death when it does its duty?
Why blame the land for becoming desert?
Why blame Nature for unleashing fury?
Why blame dame Luck for being so inert?
Why blame the Sun for scorching summer’s heat?
Why blame the winter for its freezing cold?
Why blame the Wind for turning land less neat?
Why blame women for asking diamonds, gold?
Why blame the Sky for not bringing the Rain?
Why blame the Air for becoming so foul?
Why blame the nerves for sensation of pain?
Why blame the devils for your sinful soul?
Why blame the Stars for good or bad life brings?
Why blame your God for bad turn of some things?
poem by John Celes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Our society distributes itself into Barbarians, Philistines and Populace; and America is just ourselves with the Barbarians quite left out, and the Populace nearly.
quote by Matthew Arnold
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet: Why Blame?
Why blame the eagle for its swoop on mice?
Why blame the tiger for hunting its prey?
Why blame the drug-peddler for playing dice?
Why blame the donkey when it can but bray?
Why blame the wind that makes the branches sway?
Why blame the snake for its poison-fangs?
Why blame the sun for a hot summer’s day?
Why blame the police for the thieving gangs?
Why blame the night for being dark and cold?
Why blame the devils when they will tempt man?
Why blame our fate when we are getting old?
Why blame the Maker for how Man began?
Why blame the circumstances for our sins?
Why blame the tongue, whenever our words mince?
7-30-2002
poem by John Celes
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Don't Blame Me
(dorothy fields, jimmy mchugh)
Don't blame me
For falling in love with you.
I'm under your spell
But how can i help it?
Don't blame me.
Can't you see
When you do the things you do
If i can't conceal
The thrill that i'm feeling,
Don't blame me.
I can't help it
If that doggone moon above
Makes me need
Someone like you to love.
Blame your kiss
As sweet as a kiss can be,
And blame all your charms
That melt in my arms,
But don't blame me.
(interlude)
Blame your kiss
As sweet as a kiss can be,
And blame all your charms
That melt in my arms,
But don't blame me.
(interlude)
Blame all your charms
That melt in my arms,
But don't blame me.
song performed by by Nat King Cole
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Waiting on the barbarians (a reply to C.P. Cavafy)
Called up for armed military service
hundreds of thousands white boys
are forced into a war
of whom I am but a single one
and with all battles won and even the war,
with the enemy forces shattered,
thousands of Cubans killed,
almost a hundred enemy tanks shot out,
hundreds of enemy armoured cars destroyed,
even the soviets admitting that no victory
against us is possible
the man with the bold polished head
doesn’t surrender, doesn’t even sell out,
no, he gives the whole country away
and gets a Nobel Prize for it
he opens the prison doors for the leaders
of bomb planting killers
to walk to freedom
and we and the world expect the barbarians
who used burning tires as necklaces
to appear
and out steps a man, dignified
and also receives a Nobel Prize
for his charity
and now years later the damage is done
with affirmative action
and nobody that is white who still has a job
realizes the impact of it,
that it is just another kind of racial discrimination
and slowly but surely in the long run
every white person is forced to into poverty
and the bold man sees himself
as a hero,
is viewed as a type of messiah by some
and the utmost traitor by others
and I wonder where the barbarians are
who torched living people?
Since they did not come but for one
who was the leader of our own ranks
whose actions are forcing everyone
slowly but surely into the gutter
and now the present government
wants to implement a law
to take away freedom of speech
to quench, to sensor, to scrap all poems all stories,
all news articles like this.
[Reference: Waiting on the Barbarians by C.P. Cavafy.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Who To Blame But Myself?
WHO TO BLAME BUT MYSELF?
Who to blame but myself?
I did not even know
I was not doing alright.
Who to blame but G-d
For before I was myself
God made me.
Who to blame
When life does not work out
As we wanted it to?
Ourselves?
God?
Who knows?
I am just one small person
In a universe of billions of living things
Billions already dead.
Why is it so important
What I have done or not done?
Why do I care so much now
When I know I too one day
Perhaps sooner than I expect
I will also not know and care?
Oh God Oh God
What is to be done about all this?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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A Toast to the Men
Here's to the men! Since Adam's time
They've always been the same;
Whenever anything goes wrong,
The woman is to blame.
From early morn to late at night,
The men fault-finders are;
They blame us if they oversleep,
Or if they miss a car.
They blame us if, beneath the bed,
Their collar buttons roll;
They blame us if the fire is out
Or if there is no coal.
They blame us if they cut themselves
While shaving, and they swear
That we're to blame if they decide
To go upon a tear.
Here's to the men, the perfect men!
Who never are at fault;
They blame us if they chance to get
The pepper for the salt.
They blame us if their business fails,
Or back a losing horse;
And when it rains on holidays
The fault is ours, of course.
They blame us when they fall in love,
And when they married get;
Likewise they blame us when they're sick,
And when they fall in debt.
For everything that crisscross goes
They say we are to blame;
But, after all, here's to the men,
We love them just the same!
poem by Edgar Albert Guest
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When You Feel Nothing At The End
they come to hurt you
and you allow pain to
penetrate you
you grieve for a while
to your helplessness
blame yourself
blame the world
they come to hurt you
again and again
and pain at last has
no more meaning
you take your revenge
you show them your numbness
you expose your palm
you show them your body
so they may hurt you some more
someday they will find you
with your new skin your new frame of mind
unshattered
unbeaten
unbowing
then they will ask you your name
and then they will know how you managed to smile
and live like nothing happened
you have redeemed what they have destroyed
you win.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Untitled Poem - I
Once, one of my students read a book we had.
She was doing a history assignment on
the decline and fall of the Roman Empire
and crying. When I asked her why
she said Because. All those people died.
I said that if you start to cry for the dead
You won’t have much time for anything else.
Besides, after all the city people were killed
or died off, because their cultures got too high,
the barbarians kept some peasants alive
for their food value. Some barbarian raped
some peasant woman who produced
a child who ultimately produced you
and me, so there is this family continuity,
so don’t cry, it’s obvious, look around!
This is the reason why we Americans
are a nation of peasants and barbarians,
poem by Alan Dugan
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Ziyi Song
Chang-an -- one slip of moon;
in ten thousand houses, the sound of fulling mallets.
Autumn winds keep on blowing,
all things make me think of Jade Pass!
When will they put down the barbarians
and my good man come home from his far campaign?
Put The Blame On Me
(words & music by twomey - wise - blagman)
If they say we were doin wrong
If they say we were out too long
Well, you can say
My arms were just too strong
Put the blame, put the blame on me
Felt so good when I held you tight
Couldnt stop when we kissed goodnight
So if they tell us we dont heave the right
Put the blame, put the blame on me
What I feel is deep inside
This is real and I wont hide
Go ahead, use my name
Ill be proud to take the blame
You just did what I made you do
You love me and I love you
So if the way they talk can bother you
Put the blame, put the blame on me
song performed by by Elvis Presley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Biggest One
The water running down that pipe
Looks like a snake to me
By docs sugar bowl my coffee gets cold
Because I dont want to see that
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
Im the biggest one
Im the biggest one
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
Should have changed that stupid lock
Should have thrown away the key
No, no, not i, I will survive
Right down here on my knees cause
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
Im the biggest one
Im the biggest one
Ive got no one to blame but my fat self
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Blame You
Ten miles from nowhere
Theres a story thats true
About a fine girl
And a boy just like you
They fell so deeply
But then fell apart
Now they say the same words
Of what used to be
What used to be
I blame you (I blame you)
I blame you (I blame you)
I blame you (I blame you)
He drops his car keys
And crawls on the ground
Finds her old haircomb
Shed wear into town
Cant bear to keep it
Or throw it away
Gets back down on his kness
Put it back where it lay
Back where it lay
I blame you (I blame you)
I blame you (I blame you)
I blame you (I blame you)
Notes
There is a different song on dial-a-song with the same tune as this. it is titled free birds rebirth, and goes:
Listen dear people
To a story so sad
About a poor boy
Who never went bad
He got some chain mail
But he broke the chain
Now he must sing free bird
Again and again
Again and again
Again and again
Free bird
Free bird
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bang And Blame
If you could see yourself now, baby
Its not my fault
You used to be so in control
Youre going to roll right over this one
Just roll me over, let me go
Youre laying blame
Take this as no, no, no, no, no
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Its not my thing so let it go
If you could see yourself now, baby
The tables have turned
The whole world hinges on your swings
Your secret life of indiscreet discretions
Id turn the screw and leave the screen
Dont point your finger
You know thats not my thing
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Its not my thing so let it go now
Youve got a little worry
I know it all too well
Ive got your number
But so does every kiss and tell
Who dares to cross your threshold
Or happens on you way
Stop laying blame
You know thats not my thing
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Its not my thing so let it go
You bang, bang, bang, bang, bang
Then blame, blame, blame
Its not my thing so let it go
You kiss on me, tug one me
Rub on me, jump on me
You bang on me, beat on me
Hit on me, let go on me
You let go on me
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bang & Blame
If you could see yourself now, baby
Its not my fault
You used to be so in control
Youre going to roll right over this one
Just roll me over, let me go
Youre laying blame
Take this as no, no, no
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Its not my thing so let it go.
If you could see yourself now baby,
The tables have turned
The whole world hinges on your swings
Your secret life of indiscreet discretions
Id turn the screw and leave the screen,
Dont point your finger,
You know thats not my thing
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Its not my thing so let it go.
Youve got a little worry,
I know it all too well,
Ive got your number,
But so does every kiss-and-tell
Who dares to cross your threshold,
Or happens on your way,
Stop laying blame.
You know thats not my thing.
You know thats not my thing,
You came to bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Its not my thing so let it go.
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Blame, blame, blame
You bang, bang, bang, bang and bang,
Its not my thing so let it go.
You kiss on me, tug on me, rub on me, jump on me,
You bang on me, beat on me, hit on me, let go on me,
You let go on me.
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Frontiers
Oh yeah
Progress flys, into our lives
Got to find time, find time
Talk digit talk
Youre doin find
Machines never mind
They never mind
Out on the border
Of a changing skyline
We put hope in front of fear
And all the heroes
Have gone east of eden
We all need new frontiers
Ooh its a 3d rise
All tech-na-ca-jive
Talk a video dive
War is for fools
Crisis is cool
Barbarians play
(chorus)
New, new, frontiers
Barbarians play away, away, away...play
song performed by by Journey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bad Boy
Oh no,
Don't want to be a bad boy.
Oh no,
You don't want to be the one destroyed.
I know,
You don't want to be a bad boy.
Don't you want to live your life with friends to enjoy?
Oh no,
Don't want to be a bad boy.
Oh no,
You don't want to be the one destroyed.
I know,
You don't want to be a bad boy.
Don't you want to live your life with friends to enjoy.
And have the freedom to resist those things that annoy.
Why, why, why and for what reason,
What is it that you wish to rush too quick?
And...
Who told you being slick would get it to you quicker!
I know...
Everything you want you've got to work for it.
But your getting closer to have hand cuffs on your wrists.
Oh no,
Don't want to be a bad boy.
Oh no,
You don't want to be the one destroyed.
I know,
You don't want to be a bad boy.
Don't you want to live your life with friends to enjoy.
And have the freedom to resist those things that annoy.
You just need to know,
You can be a winner.
You just need to know,
There is a winner in ya!
You just need to know,
You can be a winner.
You just need to know,
There is a winner in ya!
There is a winner there!
Oh,
And I know,
You don't want to be a bad boy.
Don't you want to live your life with friends to enjoy.
And have the freedom to resist those things that annoy.
Oh,
And I know,
You can be a winner.
You just need to know,
There is a winner in ya!
You just need to know,
You can be a winner.
You just need to know,
There is a winner in ya!
Oh...
And I know,
You're the winner.
You're the winner
You are that winner that is there!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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