the Eternal Question
THE ETERNAL QUESTION
She was just a child, really,
A girl of sixteen,
when Stanford White took her
in a champagne fueled dream.
White was an architect of great renown,
He had designed the Garden at Madison Square.
He had designs on this chorus girl now,
whose raven haired beauty drew many men’s stares.
He had dined her and wined her
They had toasts with Champagne
On a red velvet swing
In his quarters they played.
In a room full of mirrors
A virgin lay down
When she awoke the next morning
No virgin was found.
It was Evelyn Nesbit’s fate
To be seen as a pawn or a prize.
Harry Thaw sought her in marriage
To take her from a man he despised.
Stanford White was wealthy, urbane,
and had his pick of life’s pleasures
Harry K Thaw was a wastrel and strange,
living off of his Father’s massed treasures.
White and Thaw had competed
for Evelyn’s affections.
White won, then soon lost interest.
Poor Evelyn lost his protection.
Thaw was an addict and deviant
He injected himself with cocaine.
He enjoyed whipping girls and sometimes young boys
with his riding whip or his cane.
He’d pursued Evelyn Nesbit for years
She’d denied all of his advances
Then her forced her and whipped her and beat her
It was one of life’s stranger romances.
He soon learned that the girl he had married
was no demure and virginal bride.
He learned that his rival, Stanford White
had, once more, plucked his pride.
Harry Thaw was then possessed
by a paranoid Jealous rage
Stanford White was a dead man
if it could be arranged.
Thaw, that summer, found his chance
At the roof Garden of Madison Square
Stanford White was in attendance
Thaw and Nesbitt were also there.
Thaw wore a long black overcoat
Strange dress for a day in June
The chorus girls were singing out
when three shots disturbed the tune.
Harry Thaw had murdered White:
three shots at point blank range.
The crowd, in shock, did nothing
as the murderer fled the stage.
Harry Thaw was placed on trial.
The Trial of the century
His lawyers built a strong defense
Based on an insanity plea...
In exchange for a promised divorce
And a specified sum of cash
Evelyn Nesbit was persuaded
to testify on Thaw’s behalf.
She told of the red velvet Swing
and about the mirrored room.
The Jury ruled insanity
Harry Thaw would be free soon.
After the Divorce, Thaw cut her off.
No cash was ever paid
She went on to a brief career
in movies and on stage..
Thaw died of a heart attack
In Nineteen Forty Nine.
Evelyn died in a Nursing Home
in Ronald Reagan’s time.
White’s Square Garden was demolished
Now moved to Seventh Avenue
It’s in its fourth incarnation
as the World’s most famous venue.
In the forum of the Garden
A golden Statute is in place.
With the body of a huntress
But with Evelyn Nesbit’s face
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Water Anew
From mountain high to valley low, the warmth of springs thaw runoff comes clear cold water from the melting snow.
Spring rain, cool and clear, mist and fog, early morning's dew, creeks, rivers, lakes renew.
Though mud stained from the thaw, the water soon will clear, life sustaining, life anew.
With summer weather comes light or heavy rains, sprinkle, mist or fog, life sustaining, life anew.
With autumn arrives the cold, then frost, soon after winter follows, sleet and snow, water turns to ice.
Though covered with ice and winters snow, the water in creeks, rivers and lakes renew until springs thaw, the water still flows.
Whether spring, summer, autumn or winter, water, life sustaining, life anew.
poem by Alvin Schaut
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Evelyn
Evelyn-Evelyn
Where were you last night?
Evelyn-Evelyn
Where were you last night?
waited on your front porch till the break of day
but when the dawn broke I could no longer wait for...
must have phoned a million times no answer came
what kind of fool am I to play this game with...
this has gone on before
I can't take it no more
I'll even up the score and
get away from...
if you must have your way you won't have me
I won't be pushed around I must get free from...
song performed by by The Tragically Hip from The Tragically Hip
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Global Warming? I think not.
Snow has fallen, snow on snow.
The temperatures remaining low.
There is no sign of any thaw,
In fact we are expecting more.
It’s snowing intermittently.
With intervals of weak sunshine
but it is freezing constantly.
With dread black ice the bottom line
A hazard for the traveller
who has no choice but has to go
Though most of them would much prefer
to stay at home out of the snow.
Authorities are struggling to
ensure the major roads are free
of snow to let the traffic flow.
Albeit very carefully.
Its more than thirty years ago.
Though some of us can still recall
the problems caused by heavy snow.
But memories don’t help at all.
We have to cope with here and now
and not what happened years ago.
We have to show that we know how
to overcome this winters snow.
We do not know when thaw will come
as it has always done before.
But we are sure we will welcome,
the sight of snow free roads once more.
Tuesday,05 January 2010
http: // blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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Some Prefer To Keep It Frozen
Honesty can be that one gift received,
To be quickly unwrapped to wear.
With a daring that is flaunted.
And exposing it to everyone,
To prove a truth living within...
Exists and is shown everywhere.
Unfortunately...
Not everyone welcomes this gift to receive.
With a keeping it under wraps.
To pack away in one's attic.
Or...
Stored in one's basement.
To leave it frozen in a freezer,
With a thawing no one will ever see at all.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
Some prefer to keep frozen,
Never to thaw.
Honesty can be that one gift received,
To be quickly unwrapped to wear.
With a daring that is flaunted.
And exposing it to everyone,
To prove a truth living within...
Exists and is shown everywhere.
But,
Left corrupted...
A shocking honesty can awe.
To be abducted.
Shocking honesty can awe.
With none conducted.
A shocking honesty can awe.
And...
Leaving it to freeze,
Never to thaw.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
A shocking honesty and truth can awe.
Some prefer to keep frozen,
Never to thaw.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Evelyn
We walked till the sunlight died
How could I breathe without your love
Like others we all fight
Against the cruel cruel time
A hundred times a year
The wind blows
A hundred times a year
The wind blows through my skin
Through my skin
All the choices and many voices
Keep on telling me
Its you, evelyn
Its you, evelyn
We talked about wrong or right
I couldnt agree I had to shout
Sometimes we all must fight
Against the cruel heart of doubt
A hundred times a year
We find out
A hundred times a year
We find out
By experience
All the choices and many voices
Keep on telling me
Its you, evelyn
Its you, evelyn
You keep the rain from falling
You keep the rain from falling
Down on me
Evelyn
Everything will die for you
Everyone will cry for you
Evelyn, evelyn, evelyn
You keep the rain from falling
Down on me
Evelyn
song performed by by Xymox
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We all know that somebody did it, but how did they find the answer?
There Was a Cherry-Tree
There was a cherry-tree. Its bloomy snows
Cool even now the fevered sight that knows
No more its airy visions of pure joy --
As when you were a boy.
There was a cherry-tree. The Bluejay sat
His blue against its white -- O blue as jet
He seemed there then!-- But now -- Whoever knew
He was so pale a blue!
There was a cherry-tree -- our child-eyes saw
The miracle:-- Its pure white snows did thaw
Into a crimson fruitage, far too sweet
But for a boy to eat.
There was a cherry-tree, give thanks and joy!--
There was a bloom of snow -- There was a boy --
There was a bluejay of the realest blue --
And fruit for both of you.
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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I'm an introspective person. I'm not an extrovert.
Parts like Morse don't grow on trees. He's a great character.
Snow in Europe
Out of their slumber Europeans spun
Dense dreams: appeasements, miracle, glimpsed flash
Of a new golden era; but could not restrain
The vertical white weight that fell last night
And made their continent a blank.
Hush, says the sameness of the snow
The Ural and Jura now rejoin
The furthest Arctic's desolation. All is one;
Sheer monotone: plain, mountain; country, town:
Contours and boundaries no longer show.
The warring flags hang colourless a while;
Now midnight's icy zero feigns a truce
Between the signs and seasons, and fades out
All shots and cries. But when the great thaw comes,
How red shall be the melting snow, how loud the drums!
poem by David Gascoyne
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The Wholeness
Days are crisp,
nights chilled.
A lake of fluid fire, under the clouds,
prepares for a virgin assault.
I do not thaw the frozen hurts,
respect the disguise of the old lover.
Hearing my own voice from a distance? I
stand by the shore,
discover my lost home,
become a valley of sphinxes.
And the wetland kicks the pain
of earth to break into insanity of scars.
poem by Satish Verma
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A Gentle Thaw
Thick the mist at early morning's dawn,
Cold the chill that enters by the door,
White the frost, that lies, across the lawn,
Each one piercing, striking to the core
Of one's whole being. Then wakes the foggy morn,
Where sunshine will in time, melt frost on haw,
And rouse the sleeping field mouse in the corn,
By dripping water down upon his paw.
He'll scuttle off, expression all forlorn,
To leave the day to begin its gentle thaw.
poem by Ernestine Northover
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The Truth About Aging
Boy looks six, Girl looks four,
I was once six, I was once four,
Young and fresh and not a bore,
All of us were once before,
Unless we find the fountain of youth,
There is none, but one truth,
Once I was hot, now I have to thaw,
I can't escape the Aging Law.
Copyright Philo Yan August 29,2012
Watch the mouth, it reveals what the eyes try to hide.
little Snowflake
A star of snow fell one cold night
Firstborn of that Christmas Season
Perfect, unique, all swathed in white
To be a part of winter was her reason
The tiny star did not question fate
Altho cast amidst a billion others
She did her very best to acclimate
Alongside her sisters n’ brothers
Harsh storms came n’ went
The little snowflake was in awe
At long last the storms were spent
All welcomed back spring thaw
The melting star cried out with glee
“Hooray! I’ll be returning to the sea”
ROTMS
poem by Ray Lucero
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There were 15 people in the village, including five of us. If my father arrested somebody in the winter, he'd have to wait until the thaw to turn him in.
quote by Leslie Nielsen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Evelyn Hope
I
Beautiful Evelyn Hope is dead!
Sit and watch by her side an hour.
That is her book-shelf, this her bed;
She plucked that piece of geranium-flower,
Beginning to die too, in the glass;
Little has yet been changed, I think:
The shutters are shut, no light may pass
Save two long rays thro' the hinge's chink.
II
Sixteen years old, when she died!
Perhaps she had scarcely heard my name;
It was not her time to love; beside,
Her life had many a hope and aim,
Duties enough and little cares,
And now was quiet, now astir,
Till God's hand beckoned unawares,—
And the sweet white brow is all of her.
III
Is it too late then, Evelyn Hope?
What, your soul was pure and true,
The good stars met in your horoscope,
Made you of spirit, fire and dew—
And, just because I was thrice as old
And our paths in the world diverged so wide,
Each was nought to each, must I be told?
We were fellow mortals, nought beside?
IV
No, indeed! for God above
Is great to grant, as mighty to make,
And creates the love to reward the love:
I claim you still, for my own love's sake!
Delayed it may be for more lives yet,
Through worlds I shall traverse, not a few:
Much is to learn, much to forget
Ere the time be come for taking you.
V
But the time will come,—at last it will,
When, Evelyn Hope, what meant (I shall say)
In the lower earth, in the years long still,
That body and soul so pure and gay?
Why your hair was amber, I shall divine,
And your mouth of your own geranium's red—
And what you would do with me, in fine,
In the new life come in the old one's stead.
VI
I have lived (I shall say) so much since then,
Given up myself so many times,
Gained me the gains of various men,
Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes;
Yet one thing, one, in my soul's full scope,
Either I missed or itself missed me:
And I want and find you, Evelyn Hope!
What is the issue? let us see!
VII
I loved you, Evelyn, all the while.
My heart seemed full as it could hold?
There was place and to spare for the frank young smile,
And the red young mouth, and the hair's young gold.
So, hush,—I will give you this leaf to keep:
See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand!
There, that is our secret: go to sleep!
You will wake, and remember, and understand.
poem by Robert Browning from Men and Women (1855)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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