On Our Blindness - after John Milton - On His Blindness
On Our Blindness
When we consider all our freedoms lost
with HA! BE U.S.! Corpus of bush law,
black death to hide the whitewash when p’lice score
’gainst innocence ‘wrong place, wrong time’ star-crossed,
One wonders, when our children count the cost
and, chiding, true account present before
Executive Privilege bolted door,
will they, when light denied, in prison tossed,
murmur “God only needs assent Orwellian bossed! ”?
Man, chip embeddèd, acts recorded, sore
bearing harsh yoke, must serve where none ignore
C.C.T.V. controls come shine or frost.
They swerve too late who brake fair freedom’s flow,
stand, wait, burn at State stake, want not to know …
© Jonathan Robin Parody written 15 May 2007 after John MILTON 1608_1674 – On His Blindness. See below for alternative versions
On his Previous Blindness
When I consider how my life's been spent
these whirling years in this dark world and wide,
with that one talent which my wits supplied
held in abeyance waiting for love s[c]ent
to blossom to true beauty, to present
the world with tribute due and undenied,
I thank my stars I have not been denied
your love which none and nothing can prevent,
your love, where that of others is descent,
your love which above all on Earth I pride.
I thank 'coincidence' which could provide
the opportunity to be content.
When I consider this I understand
how two t[hr]o[ugh] one may flow, grow hand in hand
Parody John MILTON 1608_1674 – On His Blindness
Time Misspent
When he considers so much time misspent
these fifty years, he's little right to guide, –
such talent slight which tired wits supplied
suspended, in abeyance, impotent.
He tried to fight conformity, present
the world a contribution bona fide, –
He failed. The spirit is dissatisfied.
Some grief he wrought, feared fraudulent intent,
felt tenderness a threat – heart discontent.
Understanding free from bias, pride,
stays thankful for, thanks life which could provide
the opportunity to learn time lent
grants space to face oneself, to understand
how two should flow together, hand in hand...
Parody John MILTON 1608_1674 – On His Blindness
__________________
On his Blindness
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? '
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.'
John MILTON 1608_1674
____________________
Reminiscent Reflections
When I consider how my life is spent,
I hardly ever repent.
Ogden NASH 1902_1971
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Related quotes
On his Previous Blindness - Parody John MILTON - On His Blindness
When I consider how my life's been spent
these whirling years in this dark world and wide,
with that one talent which my wits supplied
held in abeyance waiting for love s[c]ent
to blossom to true beauty, to present
the world with tribute due and bona fide,
I thank my stars I have not been denied
your love which none and nothing can prevent,
your love, where that of others is descent,
your love which above all on Earth I pride.
I thank 'coincidence' which did provide
the opportunity to be content.
When I consider this I understand
how two t[hr]o[ugh] one may flow, grow hand in hand!
(10 December 2001 after Jphn Milton see below for alternate version)
Time Misspent
When I consider so much time misspent
these fifty years, I've little right to guide, -
such talent slight which tired wits supplied
suspended, in abeyance, impotent.
I tried to fight conformity, present
the world a contribution bona fide, -
I failed. The spirit is dissatisfied.
Some grief I wrought, feared fraudulent intent,
felt tenderness a threat - heart discontent.
Understanding free from bias, pride,
I'm thankful for, thank life which could provide
the opportunity to learn time lent
grants space to face oneself, to understand
how two should flow together, hand in hand..
(10 December 2001 after Jphn Milton see below for alternate version)
On Our Blindness
When we consider all our freedoms lost
with HA! BE U.S.! Corpus of bush law,
black death to hide the whitewash when p'lice score
'gainst innocence ‘wrong place, wrong time' star-crossed,
One wonders, when our children count the cost
and, chiding, true account present before
Executive Privilege bolted door,
will they, when light denied, in prison tossed,
murmur "God only needs assent Orwellian bossed! "?
Man, chip embeddèd, acts recorded, sore
bearing harsh yoke, must serve where none ignore
C.C.T.V. controls come shine or frost.
They swerve too late who brake fair freedom's flow,
stand, wait, burn at State stake, want not to know …
(15 May 2007 after John MILTON 1608_1674 On His Blindness)
On his Blindness
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? '
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.'
John MILTON 1608_1674
poem by Jonathan Robin
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When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
poem by John Milton
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On His Blindness
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
poem by John Milton
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Sonnet XIX: When I Consider How my Light is Spent
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
poem by John Milton
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Sonnet 19
XIX
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest He returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask; But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
poem by John Milton
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Sonnet 16
XVI
When I consider how my light is spent,
E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and waite.
poem by John Milton
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They also Serve after John Milton On His Blindness
'They also serve, who only stand and wait'
survivor said, regretting others' fate.
'They also serve who wait without the gate'
time-server said, observing patron's gait.
'What service, light denied, anticipate? '
'Light - despite paradoxical life's plate! '
They're served, who only put on weight, expand,
whose judgement lies, so heavy on the land.
They swerve from justice, who, with heavy hand,
pervert the law, - for which they should be damned.
They wait, who only seem to serve and stand,
beware! a revolution is at hand.
To stand and wait in life to some seems nice
to taste of time, like salad, lacking spice!
(28 March 1981 revised 7 August 2007)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Love Is Blindness (live)
Love is blindness
I don't wanna see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my heart
Love is blindness
In a parked car
In a crowded street
You see your love
Made complete
Thread is ripping
The knot is slipping
Love is blindness
Love is clockworks
And cold steel
Fingers too numb to feel
Squeeze the handle
Blow out the candle
Love is blindness
Love is blindness
I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my love
Blindness
A little death
Without mourning
No call
And no warning
Baby, a dangerous idea
That almost makes sense
Love is drowning
In a deep well
All the secrets
And no one to tell
Take the money
Honey
Blindness
Love is blindness
I don't want to see
Won't you wrap the night
Around me?
Oh my love
Blindness
song performed by by U2
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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If I look at light (Un-wreathed quatrains) (in answer to John Milton)
If I look at light in this world of darkness
the starkness of a moonless starless night
brings nothing bright to my own consciousness
with only a flickering kind of strange sight,
the light is dim in a world of bickering,
existing is a bad reflection of Him
and the brim decline is in every thing
while we as is due act proper and prim,
in everything it still stays very true,
in what we do that the Supreme Being
who's everlasting somewhere beyond the blue,
does indeed from us not need a thing
and at His behest many thousands speed
in each deed, in nothing that we suggest,
but to His request even existence heed,
to bring constant joy, happiness and rest.
[Reference: Sonnet xix "On his Blindness" by John Milton.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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I said Don’t Tell Me
Don’t tell me of a world of masterful politicians
Don’t tell me of a world of embattled coalitions
Don’t tell me of a world of the spin doctors slurs
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Don’t tell me of a world of the dominance in hate
Don’t tell me of a world in riches for who last ate
Don’t tell me of a world of trades in bloodied furs
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Do tell me of a world where a heart seeks allures
Do tell me of a world for when tranquillity conquers
Do tell me of a world empowered as rebellion stirs
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Don’t tell me of a world of violent augmentation
Don’t tell me of a world in servitude of aggression
Don’t tell me of a world of pennies before the cures
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Don’t tell me of a world of the lost and the listless
Don’t tell me of a world of a dying disciple so lifeless
Don’t tell me of a world infested by human aggressors
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Do tell me of a world that the politician fought for freedom
Do tell me of a world where we dropp the food not the bomb
Do tell me of a world when making love new life occurs
Cannot perceive the blindness as the vision blurs
Do tell me of a world for grain that fed the thousand starving
Do tell me of a world when a day broke in a child’s laughing
Do tell me of a world where I can drink from purest streams
I can start to perceive though to only make sense in dreams
poem by Vision Ghost
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Descent Into Grey (Life Poem)
It could be the end of the world as you know it,
When change is a crisis that decolours your life,
If you choose in your blindness to only see grey.
You know nothing has changed, and it's just
Your perspective that turns day into night, but
It could be the end of the world as you know it.
It's hard to see good when the news is so bad,
With everyone nervous about what is to come,
If you choose in your blindness to only see grey.
Go back to a place when colours were bright,
Unless you can see that things are not really grey,
It could be the end of the world as you know it.
Try recolouring your life with Instagram intensity,
And switch back and forth to see it's your choice,
If you choose in your blindness to only see grey.
Repainting your world with your Instagram mind,
A perspective that is more balanced than true, or
It could be the end of the world as you know it,
If you choose in your blindness to only see grey.
poem by Ian Beckett
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Shadows & Light
Every picture has its shadows
And it has some source of light
Blindness, blindness and sight
The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight
Threatened by all things
Devil of cruelty
Drawn to all things
Devil of delight
Mythical devil of the ever-present laws
Governing blindness, blindness and sight
Suntans in reservation dining rooms
Pale miners in their lantern rays
Night, night and day
Hostage smile on presidents
Freedom scribbled in the subway
Its like night, night and day
Threatened by all things
God of cruelty
Drawn to all things
God of delight
Mythical God of the everlasting laws
Governing day, day and night
Critics of all expression
Judges in black and white
Saying its wrong, saying its right
Compelled by prescribed standards
Or some ideals we fight
For wrong, wrong and right
Threatened by all things
Man of cruelty-mark of cain
Drawn to all things
Man of delight-born again, born again
Man of the laws, the ever-broken laws
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Wrong and right
song performed by by Joni Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Shadows And Light
Every picture has its shadows
And it has some source of light
Blindness, blindness and sight
The perils of benefactors
The blessings of parasites
Blindness, blindness and sight
Threatened by all things
Devil of cruelty
Drawn to all things
Devil of delight
Mythical devil of the ever-present laws
Governing blindness, blindness and sight
Suntans in reservation dining rooms
Pale miners in their lantern rays
Night, night and day
Hostage smile on presidents
Freedom scribbled in the subway
Its like night, night and day
Threatened by all things
God of cruelty
Drawn to all things
God of delight
Mythical God of the everlasting laws
Governing day, day and night
Critics of all expression
Judges in black and white
Saying its wrong, saying its right
Compelled by prescribed standards
Or some ideals we fight
For wrong, wrong and right
Threatened by all things
Man of cruelty-mark of cain
Drawn to all things
Man of delight-born again, born again
Man of the laws, the ever-broken laws
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Governing wrong, wrong and right
Wrong and right
song performed by by Joni Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Waiting So Long
Did you get all you want?
Did you see the whole show?
So wheres all the fun
That we used to know?
As the memories fade
Way out of view
Id love those old days
To come back to you
Ive been waiting so long
Im not feeling so strong
Did you say what you mean?
Did you mean what you say?
About this new scene
Is it really that way?
But the blindness goes on
You say its not so
But what do you know?
Ive been waiting so long
Im not feeling so strong
Aint nothing new, its just the same old thing
You got me singing those old blues again
Angry music, words of fire
Painted faces filled with rage
Even then they sound so tired
I must be set in my old ways
If this world is unimpressive
Its been that way for quite awhile
I dont need no heavy message
Just turn me on and make me smile
Yes Ive been waiting such a long time
Just for something to ring true
Now Id rather taste the old wine
Than mess around with something new
And the blindness goes on
The blindness goes on
song performed by by Supertramp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Is Second Best Just Jest Test or Unjust Protest Gest?
When second best protests against dire chance
he or she echoes stress at life's twist dance.
Self-confidence is put to sorry test,
ambitions, on the shelf, are laid to rest.
Inadequacy often will deny
the will to try, succeed, luck's lies decry.
'They also serve, who only stand and wait'
survivor said, regretting callous fate.
'They also serve who wait without the gate'
time-server grates, perceiving patron's pate.
'What service, light denied, anticipate? '
'Light - despite paradoxical life's plate! '
They're served, who only put on weight, expand,
whose judgement lies, so heavy on the land.
They swerve from justice, who, with heavy hand,
pervert the law- for which they should be damned.
They wait, who only seem to serve and stand,
beware! banned revolution is at hand.
To stand and wait in life to some seems nice
to taste of time, like salad, lacking spice!
When dream of self esteem turns rancid, raw,
apologies tears crocodile soon pour.
Poor too is mind that looks behind not for
top flight successes, recognized, in store.
Fresh opportunities are infinite,
no need to mope, scorn hope, of goals lose sigh.
What second best may seem at any time
can role-reverse distress, blessed see self climb.
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Sonnet On Famous And Familiar Sonnets And Experiences
(With much help from Robert Good, William Shakespeare,
John Milton, and little Catherine Schwartz)
Shall I compare her to a summer play?
She is too clever, too devious, too subtle, too dark:
Her lies are rare, but then she paves the way
Beyond the summer's sway, within the jejune park
Where all souls' aspiration to true nobility
Obliges Statues in the Frieze of Death
And when this pantomime and Panama of Panorama Fails,
"I'll never speak to you agayne" -- or waste her panting breath.
When I but think of how her years are spent
Deadening that one talent which -- for woman is --
Death or paralysis, denied: nature's intent
That each girl be a mother -- whether or not she is
Or has become a lawful wife or bride
-- 0 Alma Magna Mater, deathless the living death of pride.
poem by Delmore Schwartz
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Lucinda Wrobel
L ight and laughter bona fide,
U nderstanding without pride,
C herish others, never hide
I n a rut, but help provide.
N ever fail, take all in stride,
D o not let impatience chide,
A nd life with joy will be supplied.
W ork that happiness abide,
R ighteousness on every side,
O ffer aid to those denied.
B eauty within with truth outside,
E vil everywhere defied,
L ife in triumph meets each tide.
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Mask Of Future
Dreams weren’t farfetched for me
Life wasn’t bad for me
I got everything I wanted,
Power and ability, and even opportunity
But I ignored something unknown.
I got an opportunity,
But I did not complete my wish.
I did not misuse my opportunity,
But this world has a sequence.
A flow which we all follow
Something I failed to do.
I used my powers at the wrong time.
I stepped into higher steps ignoring the lower ones.
But I failed to realize something,
I failed to realize that everything required a basement.
A basement on which it can stand.
A power on which it can function.
I ignored the lower aspects of my life,
I went for the larger ones and accomplished them with ease
But there were two things in the lower steps.
Two things that I ignored.
Time and patience.
I ignored the aspect of time, and looked into the future.
I lacked patience and was eager to reach the future.
But I failed to realize that the future did not exist.
We can never reach our future.
For, when we reach it, it becomes the present.
I failed to realize that the future is yet another present,
A present which I always ignored.
I failed to realize that we can control only our present.
Use the present wisely, and the future will follow up.
I failed to see the hidden mask of future.
A mask, if opened, showed that the future is just another present.
poem by Vivek Kartha
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Love In The Light
Words:deborah d. smith
Music: michael w. smith
Darkness thick and heavy,
Black and steady screaming darkness
Anyone who hates his brother,
Who plans evil for another
Walks in darkness
Sonlight, warm and shining,
Purifying, welcome sonlight
Everyone who loves completely
With a heart that opens freely
Walks in sonlight
Chorus:
Let us love in the light
For love is from god
If we love what is right
We show whose we are
In a world of the dying
Were living our parts
If we love in the light
With all of our hearts
Blindness, terrifying, left for dying, spirit blindness
Anyone who thirsts for evil plots
His very own upheaval
Lost in blindness
New sight, truth unending, faith unbending, new sight
Everyone who seeks the father leaves the world
And all its bother
Sees with new sight
Chorus
song performed by by Michael W. Smith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable.
quote by John Milton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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