Nature is a Sphinx...
Nature's a Sphinx. And her ordeal
Is all the more destructive to mankind
Because, perhaps, she has no riddle.
Nor did she ever have one.
poem by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev
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Two Riddles. -- 1710
Sphinx was a monster that would eat
Whatever stranger she could get,
Unless his ready wit disclosed
The subtile riddle she proposed.
OEdipus was resolved to go
And try what strength of parts would do;
Says Sphinx, on this depends your fate;
Tell me what animal is that
Which has four feet at morning bright,
Has two at noon, and three at night?
'Tis Man, said he, who, weak by nature,
At first creeps, like his fellow-creature,
Upon all four; as years accrue,
With sturdy steps he walks on two;
In age at length grows weak and sick,
For his third leg adopts the stick.
Now, in your turn, 'tis just, methinks,
You should resolve me, Madam Sphinx,
What greater stranger yet is he
Who has four legs, then two, then three;
Then loses one, then gets two more,
And runs away at last on four?
poem by Matthew Prior
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A major difficulty is that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is partly a product of the answers that we already have given to the riddle in its various forms.
quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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An Ode to the Sphinx
2500 years after Oedipus and the Sphinx
was written
I sit in my English class
studying her riddle
as the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly
a teenager, I think
no- twelve years old perhaps
we live in the toughest time
we grow; we are no longer a child
with neon signs lighting the streets
the roar of cars and trucks from city
to town and back
a man playing golf on the moon
we grow
we need to get used to our body
there's new power, new responsibilities
never known before, and we grow
we reek of adolescent growth
and in our premature fear
we fight
we fuel our wars with hatred
hatred from fear
still learning our place
not quite child- not quite adult
and the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly
we fight back
when we are shown love
we cower, hold back
trying to figure out what is right
entering the world with no parent
communism
monarchy
democracy
d ictatorship
nuclear war
bombing the head, the torso, the feet
meanwhile the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly
we discover ourselves in time
and now- 2500 years later
the Sphinx returns with a new riddle
The Sphinx is a girl
The Sphinx is a girl
the test for centuries
failed and failed again
this time aiming for the heart
stabbing, crushing, stomping
the fall of dynasties,
emperors,
kings,
and power
she once again seizes control
the toughest enemy...
the loneliness! that's the riddle!
twisted with fear and hope
failed and failed again
the Sphinx is a girl
lost, wandering and waiting
waiting again
waiting
and the silverfish crawls
poem by Greg Friedrich
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Riddle
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
Monday morning was the first time
That I noticed something strange
Now I know with your kiss was not the same
Was it all just in my mind
Or was it something I should pay attention to
Then on tuesday having lunch with friends
I thought I saw your car
Leaving from our favorite restaurant but too far
For my eyes to see what I feel
Would be heartbreaking if I saw was true whoo
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
Wednesday evening
Every time the phone would rang
Youd say hello
When Id come around youd say I got to go
Youre friends never called line two before
And I dont know nobody named tyrone
Oh now its thursday
You left the house to go to work an hour early
You said you had some papers for your boss to sign
But you left your briefcase home
And when I called you job
They said you were not there oh yeah
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
Friday night
Is the night weve always had our weekend date
But you showed up at the house extremely late
Without any conversation you just went to bed
And said that youre head ached
Now its the weekend
And you know that its the day I do my cleaning
And when I washed your shirts I just could not believe
Im picking hair weave off your seam
Found a letter in your pocket from the week please
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
song performed by by En Vogue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is to the Riddle of the Sphinx that I have devoted fifty years of professional life as an anthropologist.
quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sphinx
The smartest of all
Was the lion woman Sphinx
Asking her riddle
Until one answered it right
She killed herself in despair
poem by Chelsey Ferner
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Mandkind vs. Nature
Nature
It fills teh world
With untold beauty
Nature
It provieds a home
for mandkind and animal alike
Mankind
It fills the world
with dense smog
Mankind
It destroys the world
and nature
Mankind
and
Nature
fight an endless battle
poem by Wendelin Weird
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I Can Write About It, I Can't Write Some More
that is the riddle of the sphinx,
but i will make sure you cannot figure it out
that your answer shall never be right,
for i am the sphinx,
and i still do not want to die.
tell me all the lies so i may live some more.
i will keep this answer till the last breath of my life.
you shall never know it.
be human still, for i am half lion half bird sitting on a hill
challenging those that pass before me
killing them without pity
you are the chosen one to kill me
with an answer
you are the answer but you are blind still
and too dumb
for not loving me and so i live still
perhaps forever,
for i am attuned to this pain
of loving not
and truly not loving still
you, my secret, my truth, my death.
i live, and only through lies, i live and only through your indifference
you must not have the wit
you must never learn to love
for when this happens
i shall be no more.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should be in step with how we conduct our civilisation, and this should in turn be in step with the actual workings of living systems.
quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Role Of A Hero
In this life
In this great life
Nature gave me a role
To play in the movie of life
A protagonist fighting for nature
That mankind may exit forever
Love for all mankind
The animals and all nature
To save my world from the destroyer
To heal the breaches of the humandom
Freedom from the devilish kingdom
Unit mankind against his common enemy
Who rains waters of poverty
I came that there might prosperity
Feel the wind of change blowing
This is my making
poem by Matt Ancient
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My Friend How Can You Ever Trace Me In That Labyrinth?
in that labyrinth once you saw me as the minotaur
i went into hiding and changed my form
i became a faun, and when you found me with my horn and tail
and lots of hair and goat-like musk, i changed again
into another mythological animal,
a dragon spitting fire,
a centaur, a snake with eight heads,
a dinosaur, a sphinx,
a lion, an eagle,
whatever form i assumed, you still find me,
and sometimes i wonder how have you been following me
through and through in this labyrinths of my hiding
and concealment in masks and names
myriad, escapes and exits,
despite all these, you still find me.
i know one thing, but i will not tell you.
The riddle of the Sphinx
you must know, if solved, crumbles my existence
into ash,
or like a leaf, under too much scorching,
crumples me into dusts.
Please do not tell me the answer.
Make me live a little longer inside your innocence.
Let the chaos stay.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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What I Cannot Write
what i cannot write
is the answer of the riddle of the sphinx
to me.
i know myself.
hence, i know the answer very well.
i cannot even say it.
thinking about it
shakes my being
like an earthquake
to the foundations
of my house.
i cannot say or write it.
because if i will
everything in me crashes
like September 11.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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We Are Sorry...
sometimes to survive
this daily ordeal
we must realize that
we sometimes say
what we do not mean
we hurt because we are
lost and when we find ourselves
it is only this time
that we must admit
we do not really mean it
our nature, our real nature
has always been as soft as water
and never cruel...
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I Am A Man
in the morning of my life
i need four of you
at noon i only need two
in the night of my life
i will need three
now you must know me
i am the answer to the riddle
of the sphinx
i am man
when the night is gone
at dusk
i only need one.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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It's like the riddle of the Sphinx... why are there so many great unmarried women, and no great unmarried men?
quote by Sarah Jessica Parker
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Nature's Sting Back Survival Ploy
'Mankind consumes everything,
Coaxing Mother nature's wrath to sting! '
inspired poem Ken Hall themed in realities,
etchings of the laws of nature with contrasts,
of observational brilliant insight sustained,
line by line building reveal ultimate climatic
revelation; destructive humanity stir baits
all creation, not according to kill or be killed
but by ultimate control or destroy insanity,
pending is nature's sting back survival ploy.
A written dedication to the poem 'Natures Call Save the Forest of the Night' by Ken Hall. Quoted lines by Ken Hall.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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To Alex. Smith, The 'Glasgow Poet,' On His Sonnet To 'Fame
Not vainly doth the earnest voice of man
Call for the thing that is his pure desire!
Fame is the birthright of the living lyre!
To noble impulse Nature puts no ban.
Nor vainly to the Sphinx thy voice was raised!
Tho' all thy great emotions like a sea,
Against her stony immortality,
Shatter themselves unheeded and amazed.
Time moves behind her in a blind eclipse:
Yet if in her cold eyes the end of all
Be visible, as on her large closed lips
Hangs dumb the awful riddle of the earth; -
She sees, and she might speak, since that wild call,
The mighty warning of a Poet's birth.
poem by George Meredith
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I Am Forbiden
Under this terrible sun I lay to rest,
Mind and heart at it never ending struggle
Who should I embrace, oh spirit of nature.
My self is not content with self,
And I am force to adhere to my lower self.
Where all the ethers turn sour in moments.
Hmm….my tears would not flow,
For these ancient mysteries i must conceal.
From the idle nature of mankind,
Who see reality as it and never enduring to unveil?
Ignorant, false knowledge are the true embodiment
Of this animal nature, in it never ending stupendous nature.
Which I am forbidding to reveal.
I pray god save mankind.
poem by Samuel Donkor
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At Any Rate
at any rate
what does it really matter
if she knows you
granting that to be true?
does the riddle of the Sphinx
ring true?
can't you be Phoenix for once
and rise
from the ashes
after some centuries?
just be yourself
the truth is
you are more beautiful when you
wear your true face
when i speak your true name
(from the four or so
many names you have
invented for yourself
so many selves
like a gorgon's head)
will it not be the sweetest?
i mean, your real name.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Ecliptic Arguments Haunt Water Erosion Sphinx
mysterious Sphinx stretches
paws out deep into desert sands
watching stars span satin ages
mystery tranquility peacefully
Sphinx lies timeless built exactly
on east-west axis gaze perfectly
sun greeting equinoctial marker
set due east of Giza necropolis
Sphinx red rising sun illuminates
summer solstice latitude Gaza
sun rises 28 degrees north of east
winter solstice at latitude Gaza
sun rises 28 degrees south of east
at equinoxes sun always rises due east
an accurate reference to cardinal
direction high precision design gaze set
due east Sphinx is an equinoctial marker
targets exact position of sunrise at dawn
ancient astronomers built Sphinx when
2500BC focused upon zodiacal constellation
Taurus houses sun on spring equinox
yet Sphinx is built as significant form leonine
in 10,500 BC our sun rises into Leo constellation
ecliptic arguments haunt water erosion sphinx
poem by Terence George Craddock
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