The Chameleon
As the Chameleon, who is known
To have no colours of his own,
But borrows from his neighbour's hue
His white or black, his green or blue,
And struts as much in ready light,
Which credit gives him upon sight,
As if the rainbow were entail
Settled on him and his heirs-male;
So the young 'squire, when first he comes
From country school to Will's or Tom's,
And equally in truth is fit
To be a statesman or a wit,
Without one notion of his own,
He saunters wildly up and down,
Till some acquaintance good or bad,
Takes notice of a staring lad,
Admits him in among the gang;
They jest, reply, dispute, harangue;
He acts and talks as they befriend him,
Smear'd with the colours which they lend him.
Thus merely as his fortune chances
His merit or his vice advances.
If haply the sect pursues
That read and comment upon news,
He takes up their mysterious face;
He drinks his coffee without lace:
This week his mimic tongue runs o'er
What they had said the week before;
His wisdom sets all Europe right,
And teaches Marlborough when to fight.
Or if it be his fate to meet
With folks who have more wealth than wit,
He loves cheap Port and double bub,
And settles in the Humdrum club:
He learns how stocks will fall or rise;
Holds poverty the greatest vice;
Thinks wit the bane of conversation,
And says that learning spoils a nation.
But if at first he minds his hits,
And drinks Champaigne among the wits,
Five deep he toasts the towering lasses,
Repeats yon verse wrote on glasses:
Is in the chair, prescribes the law,
And lies with those he never saw.
poem by Matthew Prior
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Related quotes
JAZZ and RAINBOWS
What is Jazz - What is a Rainbow?
You can ask the questions - don't expect answers
Jazz is free and yet constrained
Rainbows come and go as they please
Jazz is wild and yet restrained
Rainbow can't exist without rain
Jazz is open and yet contained
Rainbows always have red at the top
Jazz is unscored and yet maintained
Rainbows can be single - double - triple
Just as Jango Rheinhardt said to Segovia
Senor it ees all in ze 'ed
The same is true of rainbows
Zey are all inside my 'ed!
It takes all the colours of pure white sound
To create jazz.
It takes all the colours of pure white light
To create a rainbow.
Jazz and rainbows operate on the same principle
In jazz the tone colours are separated by the players
In a rainbow the visible colours are separated by a raindrop
Jazz and rainbows are boh equally beautiful.
After the rain there are stll some drops in the atmosphere
They refract the white light into R O Y G B I V,
In the same way the 'Jazz Combo' is able to dissect.
The white sound of music is disected by the musicains
On a sunny day - the white light hits the raindrop
The colours are dispersed forming the rainbow.
In jazz - each member if the Combo has a colour!
The double bass has red - the saxaphone is orange!
The percussion is yellow - the brass is green
The clarinet is blue - trhe banjo is indigo
The guitar is violet and the piano is striped!
The combo plays and whiite sound is re-produced.
Because we are humans our senses of life are acute.
Our eyes for colour and our ears for sound.
The quality of this provision enables us to distinguish colour
And to distinguish between all the tones and semi-tones.
So next time you see a rainbow - think jazz
And the rainbow will dance for you
Next time you hear some jazzy jazz - think rainbow
And the tone colours of the jazz will spring out at you.
(John Knight - Colchester - October 2009)
poem by John Knight
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Black, White Or Coloured
I was born black and you were born white or coloured;
But we all came from the lovely hands of the Creator,
Because the Creator loves colours!
And like the muse of the rainbow seen across the sky.
I am always black! !
In the sun, in sickness and even when i die;
But the Creator made it so,
And i will be buried as a black when i die.
You were born white or coloured,
But you came out of the womb with the colour of the rose!
And you became whit eor coloured in the process of your growth,
But you are always blue when it is cold.
You do turn green when there is fear in your eyes!
But yellow when you are sick;
And like the various colours of the rainbow as seen across the sky,
But you will be grey when you die.
This shows that i am always black from birth to death,
But you do have various colours to satisfy your muse like the rainbow;
So you are more coloured than i am in this life,
And we all know the reality of these facts on this earth.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Daddy's late?
I know a man who has two drinks
then talks like he's had ten.
It isn't long before he thinks
'I'll have two more, again.'
And so the day goes two by two
a chaser and a beer.
He talks to folks, he seems to know,
whose names just disappear.
The drink is like a dagger
nestling snuggly in his back
I've never seen him stagger
but his tongue gets awful slack.
I've never seen him carried out
nor fall down on his knees,
but I have seen, without a doubt
the worst of his disease.
For I have seen the soiled stains
when fumbling with his flies
and I have heard my mother's pains
unravelling his lies.
But worse by far than all he does
is what he never says.
The scar of disappointment was
carved in his daughter's face.
poem by Hola Mentirosa
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Standing Out Reality
I'm living in a civilized nation
Seeing true colours of cultural chime
Black or blue white too
All around the globe god bless you
Let's come together
We will fight
Our natural colours with delight
Civilized nation insight
Looking bright as we fight
For freedom and the guilt or racism...
From The Parish: A Satire
I
In politics and politicians' lies
The modern farmer waxes wondrous wise;
Opinionates with wisdom all compact,
And een could tell a nation how to act;
Throws light on darkness with excessive skill,
Knows who acts well and whose designs are ill,
Proves half the members nought but bribery's tools,
And calls the past a dull dark age of fools.
As wise as Solomon they read the news,
Not with their blind forefathers' simple views,
Who read of wars, and wished that wars would cease,
And blessed the King, and wished his country peace;
Who marked the weight of each fat sheep and ox,
The price of grain and rise and fall of stocks;
Who thought it learning how to buy and sell,
And him a wise man who could manage well.
No, not with such old-fashioned, idle views
Do these newsmongers traffic with the news.
They read of politics and not of grain,
And speechify and comment and explain,
And know so much of Parliament and state
You'd think they're members when you heard them prate;
And know so little of their farms the while
They can but urge a wiser man to smile.
II
A thing all consequence here takes the lead,
Reigning knight-errant oer this dirty breed--
A bailiff he, and who so great to brag
Of law and all its terrors as Bumtagg;
Fawning a puppy at his master's side
And frowning like a wolf on all beside;
Who fattens best where sorrow worst appears
And feeds on sad misfortune's bitterest tears?
Such is Bumtagg the bailiff to a hair,
The worshipper and demon of despair,
Who waits and hopes and wishes for success
At every nod and signal of distress,
Happy at heart, when storms begin to boil,
To seek the shipwreck and to share the spoil.
Brave is this Bumtagg, match him if you can;
For there's none like him living--save his man.
As every animal assists his kind
Just so are these in blood and business joined;
Yet both in different colours hide their art,
And each as suits his ends transacts his part.
One keeps the heart-bred villain full in sight,
The other cants and acts the hypocrite,
Smoothing the deed where law sharks set their gin
Like a coy dog to draw misfortune in.
But both will chuckle oer their prisoners' sighs
And are as blest as spiders over flies.
Such is Bumtagg, whose history I resign,
As other knaves wait room to stink and shine;
And, as the meanest knave a dog can brag,
Such is the lurcher that assists Bumtagg.
poem by John Clare
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In The End
My baby was born in a bed
With white sheets, machines and heat
Travelled home in a car
To a three room nest, eats and sleeps
Laminate floor to crawl on, t.v.
Talks, starts to walk amongst love and security
Goes to school, learns to read an write
Probably follows a team with his friends
And gets to ride the train
Probably fall in love
Probably get to fly on a plane
Get to work all week and spend what he earns
On the high street
He's got doctors, nurses, fireman, churches
Kindergartens, wedding bells and jet black hurses
Passport, bank card, maybe his own yard
Locks and alarms, trinkets and charms
Maybe a baby in his arms.
My baby was born on his knee, one of poverty's offspring
Can into the world coughing, already full of mama's disease
Went back to a flat with no gas, no cash
Wrapped in a duvet full of cigarette ash
Mama can't get no sleep
Baby never quiet enough to eat
Goes to school, learns to steal and fight
Probably form a team with hs friends
Go steam those trains
Fall in love an never trust nobody again
Gets to work all week
standing in the high street for joe
Hustlin' blow
Hustlin' blow...
song performed by by Faithless
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black Silver
Silver is the mirror,
Where colours cannot run
From one into another
For silver it has none
Silver is a blackness
Which defies pure light to come
And when it does reflects it
Its image still as one
So that when you look upon it
Your face it will become
Not in silver, but the colours,
With which your face does run
Then with your world behind you
By light reflected one
Not in blackness, but in colours
You are colours of the sun
All mirrors do remind us
That colour is the light
And that they do not see us
In the darkness of the night
For colours are but energy
From the spectrum as it falls
On everything around us
Except, from silver balls
The colours of the rainbow
The colours in the sky
The colours of our galaxy
Are in a baby’s eye
Colours all around us
Enable us to see
That the world in which we live, is part of us,
Lifes chemistry
poem by Egal Bohen
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Life Is Like Rainbow!
Life is like a rainbow,
you need both
sun and rain to make it appear,
and one who observe,
Life is that rainbow appearing
with Energy and matter, Self is the observer!
Life is like rainbow needs both Sun and rain to spread it colours,
Walk along the garden path,
Or trek along mountain forest paths,
Life spreads its colours,
In flowers and butterflies,
Flora and fauna!
Life spread its colours like rainbow in every ecosystem,
May green mountains,
Shining beneath surface of lake,
May be in hot deserts,
or in cold polar continents!
Life is like rainbow need Life and habitat are two things to spreads its colours!
Life is like rainbow needs food and love to spread its colours!
Life is like rainbow needs love and compassion to spread it colours!
life is like Rainbow spreads colours need lover and beloved in their eyes!
Life is like rainbow that needs desires an ambitions to spread it colours!
Life is like rainbow need feelings and thoughts to spread its colours!
Life is like rainbow that needs children and parents to spread colours,
Life is like rainbow that needs kids and their innocent thoughts to spread it colours,
Life is like rainbow that needs wisdom and patience in elders to spread its colours!
Life is like rainbow that needs two things in teenagers energy and dreams to spread its colours!
Life is like rainbow that needs sky and observer,
Some feel rainbow
is illusion like mirage,
But some manage to bridge between life and soul!
Rainbow colours found in every soap bubble,
bubbles grow and shine,
spread colours before they burst and die, .
Strange feeling they create,
Spread their message,
Just like colours spread on their face!
For a scientist life is like rain bow that needs rain and sun,
For a philosopher,
Life is like rainbow needs illusion and misidentification,
Rainbow is illusion created by elements and light,
just like life and world!
It is natural and nature's MAYA,
Nonexisting thing showup,
hiding existing things,
object is hidden in subject
Just like a mirage in desert or fragrance in a flower!
poem by Ramdas Bhandarkar
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You're My Evergreen
The words we say, old flowers fade away
Remember yesterday, wish it would bloom again
Apathy and pain, here comes the autumn rain
Old apologies scattered in the wings of fate
Cause today it all looks black and white, wish it would change
We can't keep painting colours when its
Don't hesitate, cause you will bleed
A thousand tears won't wash it clean
Don't hesitate cause you can free yourself
Evergreen, evergreen
Down on my knees, crawling though the streets again
Surrendered to my needs, so i can breathe the air
You're my evergreen, regents park in spring
It takes me to a place, where i can dream again
Cause today it all looks black and white, wish it would change
We can't keep painting colours when it rains
I just want some place where i can breathe without this bitter taste
Cause today it all looks black and white, wish it would change
We can't keep painting colours when it's grey
It all looks black and white today
You're my evergreen, regents park in spring
It takes me to a place, where i can dream again
Cause today it all looks black and white, wish it would change
We can't keep painting colours when it rains
Evergreen, evergreen, evergreen
song performed by by Feeder
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Colours
Colours are just colours
One might suppose
Rage is red…
But then again…
so is a rose
So colours are more
Than they seem, don’t’ you think
For boys it’s usually blue
For little girls always pink
Yep, colours are colours
Perhaps that’s all they should be
Just something to look at
Only something to see
But colours have emotion
At least they do to me
Perhaps I just don’t see hues
In the same way
that you see
Because blue to me
Is more than just a hue
It’s the sky, it’s berries,
Oceans … and sadness too
Green is envy, grass and dinero
Purple is royalty, plums and passion
Yellow is cowardice, butter and tallow
Colours are … whatever you wish to fashion
Perhaps I see colours differently than you
Perhaps exactly the same way… I hope
But my advice to you, whatever you do
Is … don’t get me started on taupe! !
poem by David Whalen
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Catch a Rainbow
On one side the Sun is shinning bright
And on the other side clouds are pouring rain in daylight
I wonder what it's going to be like
And then to my surprise
I see seven colours that I can recognise! !
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet! !
All the beautiful colours it reflects.
A Rainbow is arch of light,
And it gives us all insight.
A Rainbow is Spectrum of colours,
And it gives us great Honors.
A Rainbow is a positive energy,
And it gives our life a good synergy.
A Rainbow is a symbol of Peace and Harmony,
And it gives life a meaning and symphony.
A Rainbow is a complete Circle,
And it gives us a chance to believe in miracles.
I wish I had Wings to fly high,
Up in the open sky,
To be bold and catch the pot of gold,
To catch the Rainbow and see if the mystery unfolds! !
poem by Leena Ajay Pimple
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Colours Of Life
Sunny morning, golden noon, rose pink twilight, silver moon.
Grey black cloud, creamy sea, lightning bright, green brown tree.
Yellow with age, white with fright, red with rage, black as night.
Green with envy, rainbow hue, in the pink, sky of blue.
Countless colours running rife. These are the colours of our life.
poem by Rod Morris
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Scandal
She hastens out and scarcely pins her clothes
To hear the news and tell the news she knows;
She talks of sluts, marks each unmended gown,
Her self the dirtiest slut in all the town.
She stands with eager haste at slander's tale,
And drinks the news as drunkards drink their ale.
Excuse is ready at the biggest lie--
She only heard it and it passes bye.
The very cat looks up and knows her face
And hastens to the chair to get the place;
When once set down she never goes away,
Till tales are done and talk has nought to say.
She goes from house to house the village oer,
Her slander bothers everybody's door.
poem by John Clare
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Black And Red
Black and Red
The colours of dead
Black and Red
The colours of my bed.
Black and Red
swirling in my head
Black and Red
Killing my brov Ted.
BLACK AND RED
Black and Red
Colours that spread
Black and Red
The patterned thread.
Black and Red
The voices said
Black and Red
I Iove eating bread
Black and Red
My favourite colours till the end.
poem by Carniz Fatema
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Power
Sometimes a smile can deceive the one who has made you promise
Suddenly you can't believe, the truth only leaves you cold
Sometimes the answers you fear are there on the face in the mirror
Something the world needs to hear but no one is even listening
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To back up the things you say
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To cut through the chains Breakaway
Fortune can wear a disguise Pride is a grand illusion
And when it's your name up in lights fate proves this one conclusion
Sometimes the answers you fear are there on the face in the mirror
Something the world needs to hear the truth only leaves you cold
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To back up the things you say
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To cut through the chains Breakaway
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To fight back and not be afraid
Power It takes Power Power It takes Power
To cut through the chains Breakaway
All that you see someday will be
Lost in the shadows of time
Mountains must fall someday this all
Will be darkness where light used to shine
song performed by by Kansas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Flying Colours
Shout if you will, but that just wont do.
I, for one, would rather follow softer options.
Ill take the easy line; another sip of wine,
And if I ignore the face you wore its just a way of
Mine to keep from flying colours.
Dont lay your bait while the whole world waits
Around to see me shoot you down --- its all so second-rate.
When we can last for days on a loving night;
Or for hours at least on a warm whisper given.
You always pick the best time to rise to the fight.
To break the hard bargain that weve driven.
Once again were flying colours.
I thought we had it out the night before,
And settled old scores, but not the hard way.
Was it a glass too much? or a smile too few?
Did our friends all catch the needle match --- did we
Want them to?
In a fancy restaurant we were all aglow
Keeping cool by mutual permission.
How did the conversation get to where we came to blows?
We were set up in a red condition
And again were flying colours.
Shout --- but you see it still wont do.
With my colours on I can be just as bad as you.
Have I had a glass too much? did I give a smile too few?
Did our friends all catch the needle match --- did we
Want them to?
We act our parts so well, like we wrote the play.
All so predictable and we know it.
Well settle old scores now, and settle the hard way.
You may not even live to outgrow it!
Once again were flying colours.
song performed by by Jethro Tull
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Wednesday Week
The movies save on conversation
And the tv saves on sight
We met in a head-on collision
So I would say our chances would be slight
You can lead and I will follow
See us dancing cheek to cheek
Youll remember me tomorrow
But you wont give a damn by wednesday week
Say you love me until you do so
Joso singing just like caruso
Three little words roll off your tongue
Somehow your face just doesnt look so young
You say you want to strike a bargain
Now there is no need to speak
You say you want to learn the jargon
But you wont give a damn by wednesday week
You start acting like a zombie
Someone wants your piece of cake
You think you want to jump up on me
But you wont give a damn by wednesday week
Oh what a letdown when the battle was finally won
One little breakdown and then it was over and done
I wish I had your confidence
Its love and not coincidence
Do you say these words to everyone ?
Youre fantastic, youre terrific
Your excellence is almost scientific
You took the words out of my mouth
You put the tongue into my cheek
But Id better lose my memory by wednesday week
song performed by by Elvis Costello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black coffee and the news
Black coffee and the news
~
I hold the cup in my hands
Burning at my finger tips
My eyes half focused on the television
I’m still half asleep, but alert enough
Watching the news, the world go to hell
Half is pleading poverty, half dying
Somewhere the is a war going on
A young man has just died
The reporter talks of a climbing number
I am unable to digest it just yet
The coffee is extra strong and black
Giving me enough bite to face the day
It lacks what I need to face the news
Which reads out blacker still
I’d change the channel
If only I could find the remote
Looking for some happy news
Something, anything to make me smile
It’s a new day beginning with the old routine
poem by Matthew Holloway
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Black &Amp; White
read all about it tell me
have you heard the news
captain bob he don't pay no dues
you know he's looking in my window
he's stepping on my toes
don't want the truth and it goes to show
i got a joker up my sleeve
i know what to believe
it ain't right just because it's in black and white
find yourself a hero
treat him like a friend
you build him up and tear him down again
it don't hold a candle hold it to the light
check it out is it wrong or right
is this the news of the world
it's just a pretty girl
she's all the news that's fit to print in black and white
inside information taken down note by note
a silent footstep that's all she wrote
shit that's all she wrote
no need to worry the baby's gone to bed
dreaming dirty dreams in black and white and read
now i got nothing to fear
is this the scoop of the year
headlines on my bathroom wall in black and white
song performed by by Deep Purple
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Colourful Family Tree
This world is made up of colours and,
I am glad to come up from a colourful family tree.
There are many colours around us and,
You can enjoy the colours in your bathrooms too;
For nature is full of colours!
Like the human beings,
I an brown in colour and my mother is a black woman from Africa.
I have many relatives all over the continets and,
My father is a white man from the U.S.A.
Four of my aunties are from Australia, Japan, Brazil and the U.K.;
Four of my uncles are from India, Mexico, Canada and Denmark;
So i grew up among many colours of this world.
A colourful family tree is what i came from and,
I am very glad to meet various colours in my life time;
For a long the lines of my growth,
I have come to love all the colours around me.
Colours are very beautiful and we need them around us,
They are in your offices and your houses too;
Yes, we need all the colours to beautify things around us.
Black is beautiful and white is beautiful too,
For we were made from the Creator with colours!
And i am very glad to be part of this family tree.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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