The Glory of the Ptolemies
I'm Lagides, king -through my power and wealth
complete master of the art of pleasure.
There's no Macedonian, no barbarian, equal to me
or even approaching me. The son of Selefkos
is really a joke with his cheap lechery.
But if you're looking for other things, note this too:
my city's the greatest preceptor, queen of the Greek world,
genius of all knowledge, of every art.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Of Dimitrios Sotir
Everything he'd hoped for turned out wrong.
He'd seen himself doing great things,
ending the humiliation that had kept his country down
ever since the battle of Magnesia
seen himself making Syria a powerful state again,
with her armies, her fleets,
her big fortresses, her wealth.
He'd suffered in Rome, become bitter
when he sensed in the talk of friends,
young men of the great families,
that in spite of all their delicacy, their politeness
toward him, the son
of King Selefkos Philopator-
when he sensed that in spite of this there was always
a secret contempt for the Hellenized dynasties:
their heyday was over, they weren't fit for anything serious,
were completely unable to rule their peoples.
He'd cut himself off, indignant, swearing
it would be quite different from the way they thought.
Why, wasn't he himself full of determination?
He would act, he would fight, he would put it all right again.
If he could only find a way of getting to the East,
only manage to escape from Italy,
then all this inner strength,
all this energy,
he'd pass on to his people.
Only to be in Syria!
He was so young when he left his country
he hardly remembered what it looked like.
But in his mind he'd always thought of it
as something sacred that you approach reverently,
as a beautiful place unveiled, a vision
of Greek cities and Greek ports.
And now?
Now despair and sorrow.
They were right, the young men in Rome.
The dynasties resulting from the Macedonian Conquest
can't be kept going any longer.
It doesn't matter. He'd made the effort,
fought as much as he could.
And in his bleak disillusion
there's only one thing in which he still takes pride:
that even in failure
he shows the world his same indomitable courage.
The rest: they were dreams and wasted energy.
This Syria -it almost seems it isn't his country
this Syria is the land of Valas and Herakleidis.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
King Of The Night Time World
Ken fowley, michael anthony, paul stanley, bob ezrin
Its so sad, livin at home
Far from the city and the midnight fun
Its so bad, goin to school
So far from me and the dirty things that we do
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream
Its so fine, lovin with ease
Far from the house and the family fights
Its so fine, bein with you
Bein with me makes everything alright
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream, alright
Its so sad, youre not content
Far from the music and the neon glow
Aint you glad we got the time
Far from our folks, theyll never ever know
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream
Im the king, Im the king, Im the king, Im the king
Im the king, Im the king, Im the king, Im the king
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream
Im the king of the night time world
And youre my headlight queen
Im the king of the night time world
Come live your secret dream
Im the king of the night time world
song performed by by Kiss
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Alexander The Great: Ancient World Conquest
Alexander pure will lion strength light skin
blond hair with one eye dark as pitch night
one melting blue as sweeping horizon sky
a sweet natural fragrance born in his body
so strong smelling it perfumed his clothes
illuminating action glory not pleasure wealth
burning fame was intense flame his passion
Alexander the Great
a Macedonian king conquered
Ancient Greece, Persia, Egypt
conquered into western India feared
by a whole civilized known world
driven by a supposedly
divine ambition world conquest
creation of universal world monarchy
Alexander conquered by tyrant sword
Greek states feared his cruelty
despotic enigma godlike Alexander III of Macedon
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Love Of Mammon
My friend nationalistically proclaims
his nation is the world’s greatest nation;
on this entire earth because a person
can chance become a billionaire there?
My Lord said master slave are equal
the body of the congregation is one;
one in Christ not one in mammon
extreme wealth coveted is meaningless?
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human.
quote by Honore De Balzac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Philhellene
Make sure the engraving is done skillfully.
The expression serious, majestic.
The diadem preferably somewhat narrow:
I don't like that broad kind the Parthians wear.
The inscription, as usual, in Greek:
nothing excessive, nothing pompous—
we don't want the proconsul to take it the wrong way:
he's always nosing things out and reporting back to Rome—
but of course giving me due honor.
Something very special on the other side:
some discus-thrower, young, good-looking.
Above all I urge you to see to it
(Sithaspis, for God's sake don't let them forget)
that after "King" and "Savior,"
they engrave "Philhellene" in elegant characters.
Now don't try to be clever
with your "where are the Greeks?" and "what things Greek
here behind Zagros, out beyond Phraata?"
Since so many others more barbarian than ourselves
choose to inscribe it, we will inscribe it too.
And besides, don't forget that sometimes
sophists do come to us from Syria,
and versifiers, and other triflers of that kind.
So we are not, I think, un-Greek.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Prisoner
`Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?'
`It was my master,' said the prisoner.
`I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power,
and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king.
When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord,
and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.'
`Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?'
`It was I,' said the prisoner, `who forged this chain very carefully.
I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive
leaving me in a freedom undisturbed.
Thus night and day I worked at the chain
with huge fires and cruel hard strokes.
When at last the work was done
and the links were complete and unbreakable,
I found that it held me in its grip.'
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Fortune Is All I Care
Addiction to faith as knowledge is insane,
For the belief in you carries a burden.
Insanity carries genius, forsaken one,
Forsaken one please describe the knowledge.
To complete genius in one’s lifetime
You spend another life as an existence;
Fortnightly, the cure to all illness is taken,
Fortune married itself to the men of doctors.
The doctors are in this life, forsaken one,
For me, the whole world needed a doctor.
Doctors compose cures to make an effect of healing,
Yet addiction is a knowledge, not a wisdom.
poem by Naveed Akram
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Knowledge Light For Bright Future!
Nothing can be known in darkness;
Darkness makes one ignorant in life.
Light only makes one see in darkness;
Light removes darkness to show a way.
Ignorance is removed by knowledge;
Knowledge is light power leads in life.
Festival of lights celebrates brightness
And Festival of lights starts light of life!
Light of knowledge gives confidence
And helps gain courage and wealth.
Wealth without knowledge can’t last
And can’t give courage and power!
Knowledge is must for bright future
As knowledge is bright power in life!
poem by Ramesh T A
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
There is no self-knowledge but an historical one. No one knows what he himself is who does not know his fellow men, especially the most prominent one of the community, the master's master, the genius of the age.
quote by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Many a pupil has gained more wealth than his master.
The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
quote by Elizabeth Hardwick
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
quote by Moses Hadas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Pleasure is a shadow, wealth is vanity, and power a pageant; but knowledge is ecstatic in enjoyment, perennial in frame, unlimited in space and indefinite in duration.
quote by DeWitt Clinton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Lyrical Genius,
lyrical genius,
compare the man of genius,
to all those,
who wish to reach our level,
when you see me,
I got lyric's,
The diction of poetry,
the euphoric nature,
the rythmic tone,
the man of genius reveal's some occult power,
morals and grace,
not playing the victim of false pity,
just like will power,
in nothingness of distinguish character,
the prodigy in the society,
the seeing as the menace,
the crime from man of genius,
man of genius reveal's so much poetic language,
write some classic lyric's,
think of another enigma,
nostalgia, retribution,
bloody fiend,
all those men of genius from history did these,
genius has to go with the moral's,
grace and morality,
will to create in humanity,
not to ruin humanity,
think and act right,
the world belong's to us.
poem by Maxim Muyu
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Crownless King City
pieces have clashed down
and the pictuers become blur
people's fronts frown
in front of the closed door
of crownless king city
ref:
welcome to my world
Mr lugubrious stress, sadness street, loneliness block, apratment N°1
crownless king city is my adress
i've been guided by the light of darkness
to crownless king city
locked by my obsolute absence of counsciousness
in crownless king city
enjoying my tragic loneliness
with the people of crownless king city
poem by Abdelmajid Seghir
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Orophernis
The figure on this four drachma coin
who seems to have a smile on his face
his beautiful, delicate face
this figure is Orophernis, son of Ariarathis.
A child, they threw him out of Cappadocia,
out of his great ancestral palace,
and sent him to grow up in Ionia,
to be forgotten there among foreigners.
Oh those exquisite Ionian nights
when fearlessly, and entirely in a Greek way,
he came to know sensual pleasure totally.
In his heart, Asiatic always,
but in manners and language, a Greek;
with his turquoise jewellery, his Greek clothes,
his body perfumed with oil of jasmine,
he was the most handsome, the most perfect
of Ionia's handsome young men.
Later, when the Syrians entered Cappadocia
and made him king,
he became fully engrossed in his kingship
so as to enjoy himself in a new way each day,
greedily hoarding gold and silver,
delightedly gloating over
the piles of wealth glittering before his eyes.
As for worrying about the country and running it-
he had no idea what was going on.
The Cappadocians quickly got rid of him,
and he ended up in Syria, at the palace of Dimitrios,
where he spent his time amusing himself and loafing.
But one day unfamiliar thoughts
broke in on his completely idle life:
he remembered how through his mother Antiochis
and that old grandmother Stratoniki
he too was connected with the Syrian crown,
he too almost a Selefkid.
For a while he gave up lechery and drink
and ineptly, half dazed,
tried to start an intrigue,
do something, come up with a plan;
but he failed pitifully and that was that.
His end must have been recorded somewhere only to be lost;
or maybe history passed over it
and rightly didn't bother to notice
anything so trivial.
The figure on this four drachma coin,
something of whose young charm can still be seen,
a ray of his poetic beauty
this sensuous image of an Ionian boy,
this is Orophernis, son of Ariarathis.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Speed Queen
1) I like green grass and I like pontiacs
I like cheap clothes and boys thatll never know
When the wind blows, I smell el porto
So I keep cigarettes, down in my panty hose
And I roll like thunder
2) Ive got a fairlane, I drive with my dog flame
Hes got a red scarf and we sell cocaine
I smoke mistys, and I got red knees
I sweat hair gel, when I do the hard sell
And we roll like thunder
Chorus -
Speed queen
Speed queen
3) I like young things and I like cheap flings
Flame likes pinball so we hang at the shopping mall
I run red lights, stay out all night
So when I get busted, remember who you trusted
And that we rolled like thunder
Chorus -
Speed queen
Speed queen
Speed queen
Speed queen
song performed by by Zuba
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Thought Upon the Power of Words
Words have the power to please the soul of awareness
Words have the power of ecstasy; they have the power to heal or to scorn
Words have the power to rebuild worlds that have been torn apart by words.
Words have the power to invoke, to choke and to joke,
They have the power to bring you to your knees just as they have the power to plea.
Words have the power to incite trance like states, they have the power of fate,
They conceal meanings deeper than he greatest oceans and are a method
By which we express the emotions we feel, just as we may use them to question
What we consider to be real. You can incite love, hatred, fear,
You can bring a tear to the most stone cold of king giants and you may
Describe the sorrows of the world yet through words we may also share our dreams,
We may ponder upon the events of tomorrow and we may laugh with one another.
We may love and express love through our words though at times we go unheard,
We may share in our experience as we may laugh alongside memories ghost.
Words are the host to our instinctive knowing of all we wish to express,
Words are the dressing of our wisdoms blessing, with words we may put the soul to rest.
poem by David Lacey
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!