Instability of Human Greatness
Fond man, that looks on earth for happiness,
And here long seeks what here is never found!
For all our good we hold from Heaven by lease,
With many forfeits and conditions bound;
Nor can we pay the fine and rentage due;
Though now but writ, and sealed, and given anew,
Yet daily we it break, then daily must renew.
Why shouldst thou here look for perpetual good,
At every loss 'gainst Heaven's face repining?
Do but behold where glorious cities stood,
With gilded tops and silver turrets shining;
There now the heart, fearless of greyhound, feeds,
And loving pelican in safety breeds:
There screeching satyrs fill the people's empty stedes.
Where is the Assyrian lion's golden hide,
That all the East once grasp'd in lordly paw?
Where that great Persian bear, whose swelling pride
The lion's self tore out with rav'nous jaw?
Or he who, 'twixt a lion and a pard,
Through all the world with nimble pinions fared,
And to his greedy whelps his conquer'd kingdoms shared.
Hardly the place of such antiquity,
Or note of those great monarchies we find:
Only a fading verbal memory,
And empty name, in writ is left behind:
But when this second life and glory fades,
And sinks at length in Time's obscurer shades,
A second fall succeeds, and double death invades.
poem by Phineas Fletcher
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Related quotes
Dead Lion
Lion died
And dead lion
Came to me crying
Dead lion wanted to know
so many thing about life.
I am not here
To told about
Lion's history
Or geography of the area
Where lion was.
Dead lion
I found within
My house my country
Lion was enchanted
on the scene here
Even after death
That much I knew.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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Lion's Roar
In the jungle, a lion's roar,
Loud rumbling from it's core.
Magnificent mane of golden brown,
He is a king but wears no crown.
Predator and enemy they have two,
Human hunters, Hyenas too.
The lion and his lioness pride,
If you cross them, run, don't hide.
The roar of a Lion,
The rolling sound of thunder,
The chase of a Lion,
His prey runs asunder.
The Lion's roar is his symbol,
Of Strength, Of Leadership, Of pride,
The raw Roar sound is tribal,
His pride, so true, abide.
Today... 'The Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah
There in heaven John shed great tears and sighed.
But then, 'Weep not' one of the elders cried.
'The secrets of the scroll can be unveiled'
'for the Lion of Judah has prevailed.'
Before them stood a Lamb so clear and plain
pierced and looking as though it had been slain.
Then the Lamb took the scroll as angels sang
and throughout heaven this great chorus rang.
'Worthy is the Lamb' all the heavens cried
'Worthy is the Lamb' all the earth replied,
'For He was slain for us and shed His blood
and purchased the people on earth for God.'
The Lion became a Lamb to pay the price
and saved the world by His great sacrifice.
When He hung there upon that wooden cross
and gave up His life to redeem the lost.
So weep no more and shed no more tears
Join in the song through the eternal years.
'Worthy is the Lamb' enthroned in Glory
for Christ Jesus has won the victory.
(see also the additional information in the Poet's notes box below)
Bias
even when the lion
smiles at us
we still withhold
confidence
even if the lion is
sincere
and does not think of
evil
like eating all of us
as prey
we always think of
the worst
even if it is just a picture
of the lion
smiling at us
we still suspect
that this can be a trap
another deception
a lion is a lion is a lion
and will always be lion
no matter what
as simple as that
ask the wind
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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We Are The Choice Of The Will
We are the Choice of the Will: God, when He gave the word
That called us into line, set in our hand a sword;
Set us a sword to wield none else could lift and draw,
And bade us forth to the sound of the trumpet of the Law.
East and west and north, wherever the battle grew,
As men to a feast we fared, the work of the Will to do.
Bent upon vast beginnings, bidding anarchy cease -
(Had we hacked it to the Pit, we had left it a place of peace!) -
Marching, building, sailing, pillar of cloud or fire,
Sons of the Will, we fought the fight of the Will, our sire.
Road was never so rough that we left its purpose dark;
Stark was ever the sea, but our ships were yet more stark;
We tracked the winds of the world to the steps of their very
thrones;
The secret parts of the world were salted with our bones;
Till now the name of names, England, the name of might,
Flames from the austral fires to the bounds of the boreal night;
And the call of her morning drum goes in a girdle of sound,
Like the voice of the sun in song, the great globe round and round;
And the shadow of her flag, when it shouts to the mother-breeze,
Floats from shore to shore of the universal seas;
And the loneliest death is fair with a memory of her flowers,
And the end of the road to Hell with the sense of her dews and
showers!
Who says that we shall pass, or the fame of us fade and die,
While the living stars fulfil their round in the living sky?
For the sire lives in his sons, and they pay their father's debt,
And the Lion has left a whelp wherever his claw was set;
And the Lion in his whelps, his whelps that none shall brave,
Is but less strong than Time and the great, all-whelming Grave.
poem by William Ernest Henley
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The Lion's Whelps
There is scarlet on his forehead,
There are scars across his face,
’Tis the bloody dew of battle dripping down, dripping down,
But the war-heart of the Lion
Turns to iron in its place
When he halts to face disaster, when he turns to meet disgrace,
Stung and keen and mettled with the life-blood of his own.
Let the hunters ’ware who flout him,
When he calls his whelps about him,
When he sets the goal before him and he settles to the pace.
Tricked and wounded! Are we beaten
Though they hold our strength at play?
We have faced these things aforetimes, long ago, long ago.
From sunlit Sydney Harbour
And ten thousand miles away,
From the far Canadian forests to the Sounds of Milford Bay,
They have answered, they have answered, and we know the answer now.
From the Britains such as these
Strewn across the world-wide seas
Comes the rally and the bugle-note that makes us one to-day.
Beaten! Let them come against us.
We can meet them one and all.
We have faced the World aforetimes, not in vain, not in vain.
Twice ten thousand hearths be widowed,
Twice ten thousand hearts may fall,
But a million voices answer: “We are ready for the call;
And the sword we draw for Justice shall not see its sheath again,
Nor our cannon cease to thunder
Till we break their strength asunder,
And the Lion’s whelps are round him and the Old Flag over all.”
poem by George Essex Evans
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The hidden Lion
make yourself smell like a perfume of passion, that never dies
and a wonderful moment that never fades, day to reckon
where everybody will remember, when our eternity await,
its final destiny
hidden lion keeps us, roaring in and out looking someone to be
devour living inside our soul, with every tears it fall, even
death it deceived, for the lion is very strong to push us in
the dungeon of the abyss of no return
the gift of life we share is the same life we give, let this be the
life that leads our offspring we entrusted the earth we left
with them, make the best, out what we inherited, the immortal
life, we bring is one that blooms the spring
life is just makes us fool, deceive what makes us fall, a lion in us
push us to feel that, the truth tell us the righteous way to the
kingdom we pray, is the final life we will stay
the freedom gain, of Adam and Eve pain is tainted with blood, that
makes us strong to face what brings us down, for the lion in
our heads hold the fortress, of the secret of the chamber of
our hearts, the Faith........
poem by Antonio Liao
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The Frog and the Lion
A LITTLE FROG WENT OUT ONE DAY
TO HAVE A FROGGIE WALK,
HE SAW A LION ON HIS WAY
AND STOPPED TO HAVE A TALK.
AND THEN THE LION SAID TO HIM,
THERE’S FLIES UPON MY BACK,
AND I AM FEELING PRETTY GRIM
WHILE STANDING IN THIS TRACK.
SO IF YOU CLIMB ABOARD MY FRIEND,
YOU’LL HAVE A LOVELY FEED,
I’LL FLICK MY TAIL SO I CAN SEND
THE FLIES TO FILL YOUR NEED.
SO FROGGIE CLIMED ON LION’S BACK
AND ATE AND ATE AND ATE,
AND LION STOOD UPON THE TRACK
TO WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT.
ONE DAY LION LOOKED AT FROG
AND SAW HIS EYES WERE DIM,
THEN LET HIM DOWN INTO THE BOG
SO HE COULD HAVE A SWIM.
AND THEN THE FROG CAME BACK AGAIN
THE LION TO ATTEND.
HE CLIMBED BACK IN THE LIONS MANE,
THE LION WAS HIS FRIEND.
AS TIME WENT BY THE FROG GOT FAT.
AND LION WAITED ON.
THEN FROG WAS EATEN BY THAT CAT,
AND SO THE FROG WAS GONE.
THE FROGGIE IN THE LION,
JUST SCHRIVLED RIGHT AWAY.
THE FROG WAS FULL OF POISON.
THE LION DIED THAT DAY.
THE MORAL OF THIS STORY.
IS TWOFOLD, LISTEN ON.
JUST BE VERY CAREFULL,
BEFORE YOUR DAYS ARE GONE.
CHOOSE YOU VERY WISELY
THE FRIENDS WITH WHOM YOU GREET.
AND DON’T BE LIKE THE LION.
BE CAREFULL WHAT YOU EAT
poem by George Savige
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The Lion Symbol
Dedicated to the United Kingdom The lion symbol of England is of its strength;
It is blessed with good friends, and life's length.
The lion has many friends;
Most sociable adorable grins. Its voice is heard among the land,
For every lion, and every man's grand.
The symbol of England to this day.
We respect her strength in every way. Our mother land we do adore,
She became our foreign shore.
So remember to ask God for strength;
Good life blessed with quality,
And not just length. A life filled with love remembering the peace dove.
Asking God to help us all.
Bless England, and America's call,
The Lion, and England's strength.
American treaty blessed with length.
poem by Iris Caudle
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The Love Sonnets Of Proteus. Part II: To Juliet: LII
THE SAME CONTINUED
Lame, impotent conclusion to youth's dreams
Vast as all heaven! See, what glory lies
Entangled here in these base stratagems,
What virtue done to death! O glorious sighs,
Sublime beseechings, high cajoleries,
Fond wraths, brave ruptures, all that sometime was
Our daily bread of gods beneath the skies,
How are ye ended, in what utter loss!
Time was, time is, and time is yet to come,
Till even time itself shall have its end.
These were eternal. And behold, a tomb!
Come, let us laugh and eat and drink. God send
What all the world must need one day as we,
Speedy oblivion, rest for memory.
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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The Lion Of Love
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
So much to say
So much to time and space
I said it load and clear
Plot and make my case
I put it into rhythm
Sculpt it into rhyme
Wrap my secrets in a melody
Fire it at the fortress of your mind
And if after all I sing
You dont believe a thing
Thats alright
We got all night
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Use my heart
Use my hands
Use me any way you can
Calling down the lion of love
So much trouble in the world
So much pain
Ive heard it all before
Ill hear it again
But Im trying to imagine
A world transformed by love
Open up my minds eye
And let the pictures flood
Imagine that its real
What does it look like, how does it feel
Hold the vision
Bring it down, spread it around
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Use my vision
Use my voice
Ive had a vision
And Ive made my choice
Calling down the lion of love
song performed by by Waterboys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Lion Of Love
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
So much to say
So much to time and space
I said it load and clear
Plot and make my case
I put it into rhythm
Sculpt it into rhyme
Wrap my secrets in a melody
Fire it at the fortress of your mind
And if after all I sing
You dont believe a thing
Thats alright
We got all night
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Use my heart
Use my hands
Use me any way you can
Calling down the lion of love
So much trouble in the world
So much pain
Ive heard it all before
Ill hear it again
But Im trying to imagine
A world transformed by love
Open up my minds eye
And let the pictures flood
Imagine that its real
What does it look like, how does it feel
Hold the vision
Bring it down, spread it around
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Calling down the lion of love
Use me
Use my vision
Use my voice
Ive had a vision
And Ive made my choice
Calling down the lion of love
song performed by by Waterboys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Be A Lion
(charlie smalls)
There is a place well go
Where there is mostly quiet
Flowers and butterflies
A rainbow lives beside it
And from a velvet sky
A summer storm
You can feel the coolness in the air
But youre still warm
And then a mighty roar
Will start the sky to cryin
But not even lightning
Will be frightening my lion
And with no fear inside
No need to run
No need to hide
Youre standing strong and tall
Youre the bravest of them all
If on courage you must call
Then just keep on tryin
And tryin, and tryin
Youre a lion
In your own way, be a lion
Come on be a lion
I am standing strong and tall
Youre the bravest of them all
If on courage you must call
Keep on tryin
And tryin, and tryin
Im a lion
In my own way
Im a lion
A lion
A lion
A lion
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lovina
My birth place is the Earth but,
I am preparing myself to go to heaven;
For the sun is shining on me and the flowers are blooming to respect my muse,
But the hope of the unseen heaven is all that i have in mind.
I am preparing myself to go to heaven!
And like the sound of silence and the sound of love;
But the troubles of this Earth are like the sounds of war and the sound of peace,
And like the golden banana and the golden pineapples.
I have to run faster trhan the lion!
Because, i need to overcome the troubles around me to reach the heavens;
But, this Earth is my birthplace.
I am now reaching to heaven! !
And i am very hot like a trip from Oshodi to Yaba in Lagos (Nigeria):
But, my lovely name is Lovina,
And you are as cold as ever.
There is always the power to love and the power of dreams,
And like a monkey hanging on a tree;
But, you are like a gold miner ready for my love,
However, the hope of this unseen heaven is always in my mind.
I have the code of the heaven's gate to share with you,
And like my love so sweet in the land of peace and beauty;
But pride comes before a fall in life,
However, i will get off on this dream to get to heaven!
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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The Sick Lion and the Ass
A lion sunk by time's decay,
Too feeble grown to hunt his prey,
Observed his fatal hour draw nigh:
He drooped and laid him down to die.
There came by chance a savage boar,
Who trembled oft to hear him roar,
But when he saw him thus distressed
He tore and gored his royal breast.
A bull came next (ungen'rous foe),
Rejoiced to find him fall'n so low,
And with his horny-armed head
He aimed at once to strike him dead, -
He strikes, he wounds, he shocks in vain,
The lion still conceals his pain.
At length a base inglorious ass,
Who saw so many insults pass,
Came up and kicked him in the side:
'Twas this that raised the lion's pride.
He roused, and thus he spoke at length,
For indignation gave him strength:
Thou sorry, stupid, sluggish creature,
Disgrace and shame and scorn of nature!
You saw how well I could dispense
With blows from beasts of consequence!
They dignified the wounds they gave;
For none complain who feel the brave.
But you, the lowest of all brutes,
How ill your face with courage suits!
What dullness in thy looks appears!
I'd rather far (by heav'n 'tis true)
Expire by these than live by you:
A kick from thee is double death -
I curse thee with my dying breath!
The Moral
Rebukes are easy from our betters,
From men of quality and letters;
But when low dunces will affront,
What man alive can stand the brunt?
poem by Jonathan Swift
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(I'm A) Mean Ole Lion
(Charlie Smalls)
Say what you wanna
But I'm here to stay
'Cause I'm a mean ole lion
You can go where you're gonna
But don't get in my way
I'm a mean ole lion
You'll be standing in a draft
If you don't hear me laugh
And if you happen to come around
Well, you best not make me frown
For I just might knock you down
I'm a mean ole lion
You know I'm ready to fight
And turn your day into night
'Cause I'm a mean ole lion
If you're half bright
You'll detour to the right
From a mean ole lion
All you strangers better beware
This is the king of the jungle here
And if I happen to let you slide
Don't just stand here
Run and hide
You just caught my better side
I'm a mean ole lion
Look,
You better beware
This is the king of the jungle here
And if I happen to let you slide
Don't stand here
Run and hide
You just caught my better side
I'm a mean ole lion
I'm a mean ole lion
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mean Ole Lion
(charlie smalls)
Say what you wanna
But i'm here to stay
'cause i'm a mean ole lion
You can go where you're gonna
But don't get in my way
I'm a mean ole lion
You'll be standing in a draft
If you don't hear me laugh
And if you happen to come around
Well, you best not make me frown
For i just might knock you down
I'm a mean ole lion
You know i'm ready to fight
And turn your day into night
'cause i'm a mean ole lion
If you're half bright
You'll detour to the right
From a mean ole lion
All you strangers better beware
This is the king of the jungle here
And if i happen to let you slide
Don't just stand here
Run and hide
You just caught my better side
I'm a mean ole lion
Look,
You better beware
This is the king of the jungle here
And if i happen to let you slide
Don't stand here
Run and hide
You just caught my better side
I'm a mean ole lion
I'm a mean ole lion
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Empty Handed
What's this I'm holding on to?
Seems like nothing
Seems like nothing at all
My life's foundation
This empty hope
Search for a way to cope
Life's short life
Leaves no time to leave aside
Time wasted
Tears I've tasted
Can't hide these lies
The feelings this heart hold to
Leaves me empty-
Wanting-
It's bound to make me fall
The heart that beats life into
These emapty viens,
The culprit to the murder of an empty love
Has left me stranded
Reaching to heaven above
poem by Travis Peterson
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Sonnet: A Poet’s Greatness
Most lucky, thou art, O Bard and winged Muse!
After thy death, thy soul remains on earth;
Thy God-giv’n gift- how well thou put to use!
And through thy passionate poems gave mirth.
Maybe, thy stay short wasn’t comfortable,
And thy heart got plunged in sadness so oft;
Maybe, thou had to live in a stable!
In God’s heart, thou shall have a corner soft.
What truths thou writ in poems beauteous!
What good advice thou rendered to live life!
How well thou showed men ought to be righteous!
How soothing balm, thou bestowed men in strife!
O great soul, thine place in Heaven’s assured,
O fisherman of souls, thy rest tho’ measured.
poem by John Celes
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Quia Nominor Leo: Sonnets
I.
WHAT part is left thee, lion? Ravenous beast,
Which hadst the world for pasture, and for scope
And compass of thine homicidal hope
The kingdom of the spirit of man, the feast
Of souls subdued from west to sunless east,
From blackening north to bloodred south aslope,
All servile; earth for footcloth of the pope,
And heaven for chancel-ceiling of the priest;
Thou that hadst earth by right of rack and rod,
Thou that hadst Rome because thy name was God,
And by thy creed’s gift heaven wherein to dwell;
Heaven laughs with all his light and might above
That earth has cast thee out of faith and love;
Thy part is but the hollow dream of hell.
II.
The light of life has faded from thy cause,
High priest of heaven and hell and purgatory:
Thy lips are loud with strains of oldworld story,
But the red prey was rent out of thy paws
Long since and they that dying brake down thy laws
Have with the fires of death-enkindled glory
Put out the flame that faltered on thy hoary
High altars, waning with the world’s applause.
This Italy was Dante’s Bruno died
Here Campanella, too sublime for pride,
Endured thy God’s worst here, and hence went home.
And what art thou, that time’s full tide should shrink
For thy sake downward? What art thou, to think
Thy God shall give thee back for birthright Rome?
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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