Nymph in Vain

The nymph in vain bestows her pains
That seeks to thrive where Bacchus reigns;
In vain are charms, or smiles, or frowns,
All images his torrent drowns.

Flames to the head he may impart,
But makes an island of the heart,
So inaccessible and cold,
That to be his is to be old.

 

 

Hudibras

 

Hudibras by Samuel Butler is one of my favorite poems. It’s good to know people in India are studying REAL poetry from the English tradition instead of vapid modernist ditherings.

Knot Seize

Nein, nein, das ist nicht der Einsatzgruppen
(Nor the Schutzstaffel, sure as shootin’ . . . )

We understand that it’s all you’ve got, see?
Labeling your neighbors Nazi . . .

As dumb as what real Nazis do:
Calling everyone else a Jew.

That Orange Man was bad; and how.
Eclipsing Hitler, Stalin, Mao . . .

But you, on the other hand, are worse—
And quite as bad as this, my verse.