Glory
Pindar, poet of the victories, fitted names
And legends into verses for the chorus to sing:
Names recalled now only in the poems of Pindar:
O nearly unpronounceable immortals,
In the dash, Oionos was champion:
Oionos, Likmynios's son, who came from Midea.
In wrestling, Echemos won—the name
Of his home city, Tegea, proclaimed to the crowds.
Doryklos of Tiryns won the prize in boxing,
And the record for a four-horse team was set
By Samos from Mantinea, Halirothios's son.
And Pindar, poet of the Olympian and Isthmian
And Pythian games, wrote also of the boundless
And forgetful savannas of time. What is someone?
The chorus sing in a victory ode—What is a nobody?
Creatures of a day, they chant in answer, Creatures
Of a day. So where is the godgiven glory Pindar says
Settles on mortals?—Bright as gold among the substances,
Say the chorus, paramount as water among the elements.
Not in the victory itself, petty or great,
Of rich young Greeks contending in games.
Not in the poetry itself, with its forgotten dances
And Pindar spinning among tiresome or stirring
Myths and genealogies, the chanted names
Of cities and invoked gods and dignitaries—
Striving, O nearly unpronounceable athletes,
To animate the air with dancing feet raising
A golden pollen of dust: a pervasive blur
Of seedlets in the sunlight, whirling—beyond mere
Victory or applause or performance,
As victory is beyond defeat.
The one who threw the javelin furthest
Sang the chorus, chanting Pindar's incantation
Against envy and oblivion, was Phrastor.
And when Nikeus grunting whirled the stone
Into the air and it flew past the marks
Of all the competitors, Nikeus's countrymen
Shouted his name after it, Nikeus,
Nikeus, and the syllables so say the lines Pindar
Composed for the sweating chorus to chant—radiated
For a spell like the silvery mirror of the moon.
poem by Robert Pinsky
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach.
Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach.
Every gift which is given, even though is be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.
War is sweet to those who have never experienced it.
quote by Pindar
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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The Praise of Pindar in Imitation of Horace His Second Ode, Book 4
Pindarum quisquis studet oemulari, &c.
I.
Pindar is imitable by none;
The phoenix Pindar is a vast species alone.
Whoe'er but Daedalus with waxen wings could fly
And neither sink too low nor soar too high?
What could he who followed claim
But of vain boldness the unhappy fame,
And by his fall a sea to name?
Pindar's unnavigable song,
Like a swollen flood from some steep mountain, pours along;
The ocean meets with such a voice
From his enlarged mouth as drowns the ocean's noise.
II.
So Pindar does new words and figures roll
Down his impetuous dithyrambic tide,
Which in no channel deigns to abide,
Which neither banks nor dikes control.
Whether the immortal gods he sings
In a no less immortal strain,
Or the great acts of god-descended kings,
Who in his numbers still survive and reign,
Each rich embroidered line,
Which their triumphant brows around
By his sacred hand is bound,
Does all their starry diadems outshine.
III.
Whether at Pisa's race he please
To carve in polished verse the conquerors' images,
Whether the swift, the skillful, or the strong
Be crowned in his nimble, artful, vigorous song,
Whether some brave young man's untimely fate
In words worth dying for he celebrate,
Such mournful and such pleasing words
As joy to his mother's and his mistress' grief affords,
He bids him live and grow in fame;
Among the stars he sticks his name;
The grave can but the dross of him devour,
So small is death's, so great the poet's power.
Lo, how the obsequious wind and swelling air
The Theban swan does upwards bear
Into the walks of clouds, where he does play,
And with extended wings opens his liquid way,
Whilst, alas, my timorous Muse
Unambitious tracks pursues;
Does, with weak, unballast wings,
About the mossy brooks and springs,
About the trees' new-blossomed heads,
About the gardens' painted beds,
About the fields and flowery meads,
And all inferior beauteous things,
Like the laborious bee,
For little drops of honey flee,
And there with humble sweets contents her industry.
poem by Abraham Cowley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The days that are still to come are the wisest witnesses.
A graceful and honorable old age is the childhood of immortality.
Great deeds give choice of many tales. Choose a slight tale, enrich it large, and then let wise men listen.
Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.
Whoevers Watchin
Im not wasting my time on earthly longing
Let that glory leave me be
Im just tasting my life story
Just a page in history
Chorus:
Whoevers watching
Must be watching over me
Whoevers watching
Must be watching over me
Well Im not hurting like I used to
I got lucky cant you see
Love came searching
It could choose you
Loves the greatest victory
Repeat chorus
I always look to the sky
And held my head high
Had to be what I had to be
Till the day that I die
Yes I wonder why
Somebodys watching
Watching over me
Repeat chorus (first two lines)
Well if you know me
You know Ive squandered
Everything thats dear to me
Still I stand here in total wonder
How its all come back to me
Repeat chorus
Repeat chorus (first two lines)
song performed by by Reba Mcentire
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We Win
We overcome by Your Word
Your Word will always prevail
We overcome by the blood of the Lamb
And the promise we have in You
We lift our voice with a shout
You always cause us to trumph
We lift our hands like it's already done
For it's already won by You
(Chorus)
We win because of You
We overcome and conquer in Your name
We win because of You
All things are possible
We win
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
We got the victory
We got the victory
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
We got the victory
It's all because of You
We win
(Repeat Chorus)
song performed by by Israel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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