When fishes flew and forests walked    And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood    Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry    And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody    On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth,    Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,    I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour;    One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears,    And palms before my feet.

errabant sylvae, pecus et squamosa volabat,    fructus erat sento ficus opima vepri, deinde cruentata surrexit imagine luna:    scilicet in tali tempore natus ego. en asini deforme caput, damnosa querela,    auris inassueto devia pinna loco! me gentem Stygia illudens fabricavit Erinys,    quattuor in pedibus quot properamus iter. ille ego, terrarum lacer et miserabilis exsul:    haeret in antiquo mens mea prava modo. verberer, esuriam, illudar: tamen usque tacebo:    quicquid secreto novimus, usque latet. o stulti! mihi enim fuit et mirabilis hora,    una fuit dudum dulcis et acris item: namque resultavit multorum clamor in aures,    et tetigit nostros plurima palma pedes.

‘i, sequere’ inquit erus ‘pantechnicon, impigra cursu.’     plaustrum abiit; veterem constat abisse domum. en sequor, en sequitur passer meus ille canorus,     sed pigra, sed pigro corde soluta vagor, nescio qua. vigili suffecto credere noli!     quae via sit, fallor; fallit adempta domus.

My old man said "Follow the van, And don't dilly dally on the way". Off went the van wiv me 'ome packed in it, I followed on wiv me old cock linnet. But I dillied and dallied, dallied and dillied Lost me way and don't know where to roam. Well you can't trust a special like the old time coppers When you can't find your way 'ome.

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: “His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.” The accursed power which stands on privilege     (and goes with women, champagne and bridge) Broke - and democracy resumed her reign     (which goes with bridge and women and champagne. Good morning, Algernon: Good morning, Percy. Good morning, Mrs Roebeck. Christ have mercy! I'm tired of love; I'm still more tired of rhyme; but money gives me pleasure all the time.

umbra, rubens peccator, amer modo versificator. perdidit imperium fatale superbior ordo:     tres aderant comites alea, Bacchus, amor. reddita iam plebis florebat Roma tribunis:     tres aderant comites tessera, vina, Venus. salve, Marce. Mari, salve. Curiatia, salve.     o di immortales, parcite supplicibus ! lassat Amor ; plus Musa ; manet iucundius Aurum.

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thighs? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead.     Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

vi subita ignaram ferit ille, alasque tremendis   ictibus en supra, dum labat ipsa, ciet ; collum inhibet rostro, femora et cute mulcet opaca,   et gremium gremio prendit inerme suo. num manus imbellis pinnatum arcere nitorem,   territa num fluido tollere crure potest? labitur incursu niveo; mirabile sentit,   qua iacet, ad costas, cor resonare suas. confractos muros, ustam cum culmine turrim,   et motum ile necem gignit, Atrida, tuam. sic ferus aurarum sanguis superavit amatam,   rostraque sic captae denique laxat iners. num mihi Thestiadae dedit et prognoscere fatum,   quod dederat caeco corpore ferre Tonans?

A: tristia fata iubent: similis fit femina matri:     non fit vir similis (tristia fata!) suae. J: nonne sapis? A: pulchro modulor! sat vera loquela est:     haud nimium veram suavibus esse decet. J: quippe salis taedet. coepit iam quisque lepores:     occurrit lepidus, quicquid inibis iter.     laeditur immenso lepidorum publica damno     res. date, di, stultis posse manere! A: manent. J: nosse velim certe. quo more loquuntur? A: inepti?     de lepidis. J: o mens stulta et inepta gregis!

Algernon: All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his. Jack: Is that clever? Algernon: It is perfectly phrased! And quite as true as any observation in civilised life should be. Jack: I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left. Algernon: We have. Jack: I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about? Algernon: The fools? Oh, about the clever people, of course. Jack: What fools.

💜When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces,       The mother of months in meadow or plain Fills the shadows and windy places       With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain; And the brown bright nightingale amorous Is half assuaged for Itylus, For the Thracian ships and the foreign faces,       The tongueless vigil, and all the pain. 💜Come with bows bent and with emptying of quivers,       Maiden most perfect, lady of light, With a noise of winds and many rivers,       With a clamor of waters, and with might; Bind on thy sandals, O thou most fleet, Over the splendor and speed of thy feet; For the faint east quickens, the wan west shivers,       Round the feet of the day and the feet of the night. 💜Where shall we find her, how shall we sing to her,       Fold our hands round her knees, and cling? O that man's heart were as fire and could spring to her,       Fire, or the strength of the streams that spring! For the stars and the winds are unto her As raiment, as songs of the harp-player; For the risen stars and the fallen cling to her,       And the southwest wind and the west wind sing. 💜For winter's rains and ruins are over,       And all the season of snows and sins; The days dividing lover and lover,       The light that loses, the night that wins; And time remembered is grief forgotten, And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, And in green underwood and cover       Blossom by blossom the spring begins. 💜The full streams feed on flower of rushes,       Ripe grasses trammel a traveling foot, The faint fresh flame of the young year flushes       From leaf to flower and flower to fruit; And fruit and leaf are as gold and fire, And the oat is heard above the lyre, And the hoofed heel of a satyr crushes       The chestnut-husk at the chestnut-root. 💜And Pan by noon and Bacchus by night,       Fleeter of foot than the fleet-foot kid, Follows with dancing and fills with delight       The Maenad and the Bassarid; And soft as lips that laugh and hide The laughing leaves of the trees divide, And screen from seeing and leave in sight       The god pursuing, the maiden hid. 💜The ivy falls with the Bacchanal's hair       Over her eyebrows hiding her eyes; The wild vine slipping down leaves bare       Her bright breast shortening into sighs; The wild vine slips with the weight of its leaves, But the berried ivy catches and cleaves To the limbs that glitter, the feet that scare       The wolf that follows, the fawn that flies.

vir hiemem indagat: latrans vestigia pellit: ~~ nutrit prata Ceres et novus annus agros: murmura crebrescunt pluviae frondisque susurri, ~~ dum repleant tenebras aeriosque locos: fuscaque rursus amans minuit Philomela dolorem, ~~ clara nitens, neque Ityn iam velut ante gemit: mente cadunt Thressae naves et barbara turba ~~ et quantus vigili lingua resecta dolor. at venias, virgo sanctissima, lucis origo: ~~ tende ferox arcum: prompta sagitta micet! detque sonum surgens multo cum flumine ventus: ~~ detque sonum raucae vis resonantis aquae. indue tu soleas, o velocissima cursu: ~~ ornetur rapidi splendida forma pedis: nam veniente die veniente et nocte tremescit ~~ pallidus, en! Zephyrus, regna et Eoa nitent. queis quaerenda locis numerisve adfanda puella est? ~~ haereat apprendens qua manus arte genu ? o si cor nostrum saliens ceu flamma salutet, ~~ flamma, vel exortae mobile robur aquae ! sidera enim et venti sunt illi talis amictus, ~~ psallentem fertur qui decorasse Linum : illam oriens sidus, delapsum amplectitur illam : ~~ Africus Orpheos dat Zephyrusque sonos. nam sat hiems dederat stragis : iam desiit imber: ~~ diffugere nives: tollitur omne nefas : iam perit et tempus quod amantibus abdit amantes, ~~ quod noctes auget deminuitque dies. iam est memor horarum, maeroris et immemor, idem: ~~ confectum nascens flos fugat acre gelu: iam virgulta virent, frondescunt germina gemmis : ~~ verna sub arbustis incipit ipsa dies. crescit arundinibus pinguis cum floribus amnis: ~~ gramen opimum obstat, quin vetat ire pedem : vix rubet igne novo tener annus, et impiger heres ~~ flos folio, flori denique fructus adest : fructusque et folium splendent velut ignis et aurum, ~~ rustica dum cultam vincit avena lyram, cornipedi et Satyrus contundit calce sub umbra ~~ castaneam siliquam castaneamque nucem. et pede Pan rapido – non acrior haedus eundo! – ~~ tuve movens noctu, Liber, ut ille die, saltibus exagitans mirabilibusque choreis ~~ Maenadas oblectas Bassaridumque comas : et, ceu dissiliunr risu mollita labella, ~~ arboreae molles dissiluere comae : nec latet ille sequens Bacchantem divus amandam, ~~ nec patet adsiduo tecta puella deo. delapsi crines, hedera et delapsa puellae : ~~ cumque superciliis lumina clara latent: labitur et vitis: pectus nudatur anhelum : ~~ occultant nitidum tegmina nulla sinum. sub pede procumbunt oneroso palmite vites: ~~ ipsa hedera haere nti baccare membra capit, membra corusca et turbantes animalia plantas, ~~ seu lupus insequitur, seu cita cerva fugit.