His Shield
The pin-swin or spine-swine
(the edgehog miscalled hedgehog) with all his edges out,
echidna and echinoderm in distressed-
pin-cushion thorn-fur coats, the spiny pig or porcupine,
the rhino with horned snout–
everything is battle-dressed.
Pig-fur won’t do, I’ll wrap
myself in salamander-skin like Presbyter John.
A lizard in the midst of flames, a firebrand
that is life, asbestos-eyed asbestos-eared, with tattooed nap
and permanent pig on
the instep; he can withstand
fire and won’t drown. In his
unconquerable country of unpompous gusto,
gold was so common none considered it; greed
and flattery were unknown. Though rubies large as tennis-
balls conjoined in streams so
that the mountain seemed to bleed,
the inextinguishable
salamander styled himself but presbyter. His shield
was his humility. In Carpasian
linen coat, flanked by his household lion-cubs and sable
retinue, he revealed
a formula safer than
an armorer’s: the power of relinquishing
what one would keep; that is freedom. Become dinosaur-
skulled, quilled or salamander-wooled, more ironshod
and javelin-dressed than a hedgehog battalion of steel, but be
dull. Don’t be envied or
armed with a measuring rod.
poem by Marianne Moore
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Related quotes
Hedgehog
The snail moves like a
Hovercraft, held up by a
Rubber cushion of itself,
Sharing its secret
With the hedgehog. The hedgehog
Shares its secret with no one.
We say, Hedgehog, come out
Of yourself and we will love you.
We mean no harm. We want
Only to listen to what
You have to say. We want
Your answers to our questions.
The hedgehog gives nothing
Away, keeping itself to itself.
We wonder what a hedgehog
Has to hide, why it so distrusts.
We forget the god
under this crown of thorns.
We forget that never again
will a god trust in the world.
from 'Poems 1968-1998'
poem by Paul Muldoon
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Salamander
It was a cold spring morning.
During a walk at Oxbow Park
I ran across a reddish-brown
salamander in the middle of
the paved road. Reaching down
I touched its tail and it twitched
slightly. It was clear that the
salamander was just chilled
and was moving slow as
cold amphibians do.
I picked up the creature and
carried it to the side of the
road, where I gently placed it
on the ground beneath a Salal shrub.
Walking on I reflected on
what it might be like to be that
salamander sitting in the road.
Being approached by a giant being
that could pick me up and with little
effort, move me to safety.
I must have seemed like
a god to that small salamander.
I further reflected about just how we
humans must look to greater beings
than us. Would we not see them as gods?
In that moment I felt gigantic and minuscule,
all at the same time…
ROTMS
poem by Ray Lucero
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The Hungry Hedgehog
By the time I returned back to our estate,
The sky was dark, and it was getting late.
I came into a large, moonlit square,
And a hungry hedgehog, I saw there.
At seeing the hedgehog, I felt such a thrill;
I stopped in my tracks, and stood stock still.
Seeing him there was quite a surprise;
For a few moments, we interlocked eyes.
He looked, as if to say ‘Why are you looking at me?
What's the big deal? There's nothing to see!
I've been a hedgehog since I was born:
For me, being a hedgehog is quite the norm! '
‘You are the one, who looks rather weird,
And you are the one, who should be feared.
I don't see your kind often: you are quite rare.
So please could you not just stand and stare? '
‘Right, well, if we're done here, then I'll be off:
I'm hungry, and am hunting for insects to scoff.'
By my intrusion, the hedgehog seemed annoyed;
Encounters with humans, they try hard to avoid.
He was otherwise engaged: he could not stay,
He soon turned tail, and then scampered away.
Seeing a hedgehog in these parts, is a rare sight:
So now, forever in my mind, I will recall that night.
poem by Angela Wybrow
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Getting Closer
Say you dont love him, my salamander.
Why do you need him?
Oh no, dont answer, oh no.
Im getting closer,
Im getting closer to your heart.
Keeping ahead of the rain on the road,
Watching my windscreen wipers.
Radio play me a danceable ode,
Cattle beware of snipers.
When will you see me, my salamander?
Now dont try to tell me
Oh no, dont answer, oh no.
Lm getting closer,
Im getting closer to your heart.
Hitting the chisel and making a joint,
Glueing my fingers together.
Radio play me a song with a point,
Sailor beware of weather.
Lm getting closer, my salamander.
Well when will we be there?
Ah no, dont answer, oh no.
Lm getting closer,
Im getting closer to your heart.
Im getting closer to your heart.
Im getting closer to your heart.
song performed by by Paul McCartney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Quicksilver Rider
I see the raven's eyes,
and I see the lights
I saw the gold rush
San Francisco nights
I am the reader,
a palmist fly
I can see the future,
I can testify
I knew Attilla,
I met Genghis Khan
Drank with Napoleon,
held Nelson in my arms
Quicksilver rider
medicine man
A sign of faith
children of the damned
Quicksilver rider
salamander man
Prophet of the guises
with the world in his hands
I've known love
I've known pain
Death and sorrow
the mighty and the slain
I was created
in 10 BC
The sign of life
the sign of seed
I met Moses,
I know Jezebel
Partied with Nero
as Rome burned and fell
Quicksilver rider
medicine man
A sign of faith
children of the damned
Quicksilver rider
salamander man
Prophet of the guises
with the world in his hands
Solo
Rattlesnakes heads
and voodoo dolls
It's old religion
like old creole
I am the dust of
time and space
Your darkest nightmare
without a face
I saw sunrise
from Enola Gay
Sat down with Ghandi
and started to pray
Quicksilver rider
medicine man
A sign of faith
children of the damned
Quicksilver rider
salamander man
Prophet of the guises
with the world in his hands
Quicksilver rider
medicine man
A sign of faith
children of the damned
Quicksilver rider
salamander man
Prophet of the guises
with the world in his hands
song performed by by Ufo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bladesmith Alchemy
He toils over fire fueled by coke
Forging a fine Damascus blade
Coaxes, cajoles, at last invokes
A sacred fire totem…unafraid
The Bladesmith knows;
Salamanders can pass thru fire
Unburnt/unharmed by such heat
A tempered blade its one desire
Lest, this fine sword be incomplete
Thru blade salamander does pass
Pursued by fiery flames from hell
Thru blinding smoke of sulfur gas
Mission done, he bids “farewell”
Revealed here the secret of 'Damascus Steel'
Perfected by one tiny amphibian's ordeal
(Inspired by Howlin Dervish)
ROTMS
poem by Ray Lucero
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Song Of Four Faries
Fire, Air, Earth, and Water,
Salamander, Zephyr, Dusketha, and Breama.
Salamander.
Happy, happy glowing fire!
Zephyr.
Fragrant air! delicious light!
Dusketha.
Let me to my glooms retire!
Breama.
I to the green-wood rivers bright!
Salamander.
Happy, happy glowing fire!
Dazzling bowers of soft retire,
Ever let my nourish'd wing,
Like a bat's, still wandering,
Faintly fan your fiery spaces,
Spirit sole in deadly places.
In unhaunted roar and blaze,
Open eyes that never daze,
Let me see the myriad shapes
Of men, and beasts, and fish, and apes,
Portray'd in many a fiery den,
And wrought by spumy bitumen.
On the deep intenser roof,
Arched every way aloof,
Let me breathe upon their skies,
And anger their live tapestries;
Free from cold, and every care,
Of chilly rain, and shivering air.
Zephyr.
Spirit of Fire! away! away!
Or your very roundelay
Will sear my plumage newly budded
From its quilled sheath, all studded
With the self-same news that fell
On the May-grown Asphodel.
Spirit of Fire -- away! away!
Breama.
Spirit of Fire -- away! away!
Zephyr, blue-ey'd Faery turn,
And see my cool sedge-bury'd urn,
Where it rests its mossy brim
'Mid water-mint and cresses dim;
And the flowers, in sweet troubles,
Lift their eyes above the bubbles,
Like our Queen, when she would please
To sleep, and Oberon will teaze.
Love me, blue-ey'd Faery, true!
Soothly I am sick for you.
Zephyr.
Gentle Breama! by the first
Violet young nature nurst,
I will bathe myself with thee,
So you sometimes follow me
To my home, far, far, in west,
Beyond the nimble-wheeled quest
Of the golden-browed sun:
Come with me, o'er tops of trees,
To my fragrant palaces,
Where they ever floating are
Beneath the cherish of a star
Call'd Vesper, who with silver veil
Ever hides his brilliance pale,
Ever gently-drows'd doth keep
Twilight for the Fayes to sleep.
Fear not that your watery hair
Will thirst in drouthy ringlets there;
Clouds of stored summer rains
Thou shalt taste, before the stains
Of the mountain soil they take,
And too unlucent for thee make.
I love thee, crystal Faery, true!
Sooth I am as sick for you!
Salamander.
Out, ye aguish Faeries, out!
Chilly lovers, what a rout
Keep ye with your frozen breath,
Colder than the mortal death.
Adder-eye'd Dusketha, speak,
Shall we leave these, and go seek
In the earth's wide entrails old
Couches warm as their's are cold?
O for a fiery gloom and thee,
Dusketha, so enchantingly
Freckle-wing'd and lizard-sided!
Dusketha.
By thee, Sprite, will I be guided!
I care not for cold or heat;
Frost and flame, or sparks, or sleet,
To my essence are the same;--
But I honour more the flame.
Spirit of Fire, I follow thee
Wheresoever it may be,
To the torrid spouts and fountains,
Underneath earth-quaked mountains;
Or, at thy supreme desire,
Touch the very pulse of fire
With my bare unlidded eyes.
Salamander.
Sweet Dusketha! paradise!
Off, ye icy Spirits, fly!
Frosty creatures of the sky!
Dusketha.
Breathe upon them, fiery sprite!
Zephyr and Breama.
Away! away to our delight!
Salamander.
Go, feed on icicles, while we
Bedded in tongue-flames will be.
Dusketha.
Lead me to those feverous glooms,
Sprite of Fire!
Breama.
Me to the blooms,
Blue-ey'd Zephyr, of those flowers
Far in the west where the May-cloud lowers;
And the beams of still Vesper, when winds are all wist,
Are shed thro' the rain and the milder mist,
And twilight your floating bowers.
poem by John Keats
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Chicken Lips And Lizard Hips
When i was a little kid
I never liked to eat
Mom would put things on my plate
And i'd dump 'em on her feet
But then one day she made this soup
I ate it all in bed
I asked her what she put in it
And this is what she said:
"oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise"
I went into the bathroom
And i stood beside the sink
I said, "i'm feeling slightly ill
And i think i'd like a drink"
Mama said, "i've just the thing
I'll get it in a wink
It's full of lots of protein
And vitamins, i think"
"oh, chicken lips and lizard hips
And alligator eyes
Monkey legs and buzzard eggs
And salamander thighs
Rabbit ears and camel rears
And tasty toenail pies
Stir 'em all together
And it's mama's soup surprise
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rime 208
Love made me such that I live in fire
like a new salamander on earth
or like that other rare creature, the Phoenix,
who expires and rises at the same time
poem by Gaspara Stampa
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Love And Be Loved
The Princess was given a gift;
she would love and be loved
her whole life long, when the
evil fairy came with her curse
to the christening, saying the
Princess would be turned out
of her kingdom; she could not
take away the gift of love
Though the curse was fulfilled,
the Princess lost her kingdom,
love went with her in the form
of a Prince turned into a Hedge-
hog who loved the Princess
more than life; the Princess
grew to love the Hedgehog
also and her kiss revealed
Her love to him, turned him back
into a Prince; all the evil fairy had
done was to make sure that the
Princess had an adventurous life,
married her true love who had laid
down his life to save hers when he
became a Hedgehog to serve…
E Nesbit - The Princess and the Hedgehog -
Abelard-Schumann 1974
poem by Margaret Alice
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The Hedgehog and the Fox
At dusk a fox walked down the street
searching for any scraps to eat.
Across gardens and down folks’ drives,
oblivious to many peoples lives.
An adult hedgehog scurrying by
caught the watchful fox’s eye.
Being a fox it instinctively thought,
this meal was as good as caught.
It stopped and sniffed it from head to foot,
and couldn’t believe its stroke of luck.
However, a time for friendship this was not,
the wise hedgehog had sussed the plot.
Waiting on ceremony was not its style at all,
the hedgehog rolled into a ball.
A predicament not met by the fox before,
which made the creature a mite unsure.
A tentative touch here, a gentle touch there,
but this wasn’t getting it anywhere.
It touched it again then licked its paw,
this was an enigma, that’s for sure.
Taking two paces back there it sat,
wondering how to unroll it flat.
It suddenly got up and peed on the ball,
but the hedgehog never flinched at all.
From four paces away the fox sat and observed,
waiting for the hedgehog to lose its nerve.
It peed on it once more, and again sat down,
and waited for it to become unwound.
It waited and waited, and became distracted,
then like a spring the hedgehog reacted,
through the grass and over a high fence,
leaving the fox bemused by its sudden absence.
poem by Orlando Belo
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Rhino Skin
You need rhino skin
If youre gonna begin
To walk
Through this world
You need elephant balls
If you dont want to crawl
On your hands
Through this world
Oh my love if I reveal
Every secret Ive concealed
How many thoughts would you steal
How much of my pain would you feel
You need eagles wings
To get over things
That make no sense
In this world
You need rhino skin
If youre gonna pretend
Youre not hurt by this world
If you listen long enough
You can hear my skin grow tough
Love is painful to the touch
Must be made of stronger stuff
You need rhino skin
To get to the end
Of the maze through this world
You need rhino skin
Or youre gonna give in
To the needles and pins
The arrows of sin
The evils of men
You need rhino skin
song performed by by Tom Petty
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The way you want to respond is to ask a question: Is this technology directly relevant to our hedgehog concept? If the answer is YES, then we want to become pioneers, not in the technology, but in the application of that technology specifically linked to our hedgehog concept.
quote by James Collins
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Living
The fire in leaf and grass
so green it seems
each summer the last summer.
The wind blowing, the leaves
shivering in the sun,
each day the last day.
A red salamander
so cold and so
easy to catch, dreamily
moves his delicate feet
and long tail. I hold
my hand open for him to go.
Each minute the last minute.
poem by Denise Levertov
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Anarchists
The leaders of this country,
Think were the ones that do wrong,
They take control of the power,
and steal this land of forgotten freedom
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
They call the ones dressed in black,
The evil ones but we fight back,
We've got hackers, we've got protesters,
we let no man left behind
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
The unions dressed in black,
With their flag raised up high,
Don't take no for an answer,
As the forces stain the streets with blood
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
We fight for the people,
Our obligation is good as gold,
And though we fight with arms of steel,
we don't let death go in vein
Its not the people afraid of the government,
Its the government afraid of the people
poem by Bing D'Amico
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The asbestos problem impacts everyone.
quote by John Engler
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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10th Chorus Mexico City Blues
The great hanging weak teat of India
on the map
The Fingernail of Malaya
The Wall of China
The Korea Ti-Pousse Thumb
The Salamander Japan
the Okinawa Moon Spot
The Pacific
The Back of Hawaiian Mountains
coconuts
Kines, balconies, Ah Tarzan-
And D W Griffith
the great American Director
Strolling down disgruntled
Hollywood Lane
- to toot Nebraska,
Indian Village New York,
Atlantis, Rome,
Peleus and Melisander,
And
swans of Balls
Spots of foam on the ocean
poem by Jack Kerouac
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On the New Forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament
Because you have thrown off your Prelate Lord,
And with stiff vows renounced his Liturgy,
To seize the widowed whore Plurality,
From them whose sin ye envied, not abhorred,
Dare ye for this adjure the civil sword
To force our consciences that Christ set free,
And ride us with a Classic Hierarchy,
Taught ye by mere A. S. and Rutherford?
Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent,
Would have been held in high esteem with Paul
Must now be named and printed heretics
By shallow Edwards and Scotch What-d’ye-call!
But we do hope to find out all your tricks,
Your plots and packing, worse than those of Trent,
That so the Parliament
May with their wholesome and preventive shears
Clip your phylacteries, though baulk your ears,
And succour our just fears,
When they shall read this clearly in your charge:
New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large.
poem by John Milton
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The Science of Truth
Estimating values, we assign upon a podium,
In position of primary importance all that remains
For us to hold when all that is secondary has been
Declared Unfit for the honour of priority. Our science
Thus takes the form of an Index upon emphasis, held
Within the realm of speculation. Our mission is to establish
The relation of the fire to the salamander; of manifestation
To intangible cause. Of all that lay pure, divine in nature
We seek to know upon our Journey. Thus is the science of truth.
poem by David Lacey
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Youth And Knowledge
What price, child, shall I pay for your bright eyes
(How large a debt!) the light they shed on me?
What for your cheeks, so red in their surprise,
Your lips, your hands, your maiden gestures free,
Your fair brows crowned with grave nobility,
All the delight which in your presence lies,
The words unsaid, the deeds which dare not be,
The dreams undreamed, my meed of Paradise?
--Nay, I can pay naught; your poor bankrupt I,
Since gold may not nor frankincense nor myrrh
Serve my account nor any gift of kings.
Yet be my wealth yours, joys that fools deny,
Knowledge of life, love, power as presbyter,
The wit to teach youth's zeal to use its wings.
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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