Vice President Cheney to the President:
“Sir, good news. Another 100 Brazilian Soldiers will be sent to Iraq.”
President Bush:
“That is good news, Dick. How many in a Brazilian?”
Category Archives: Poetry
Sleep and Poetry
(an excerpt) by John Keats (1795–1821)
What is more gentle than a wind in summer?
What is more soothing than the pretty hummer
That stays one moment in an open flower,
And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
In a green island, far from all men’s knowing?
More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
More secret than a nest of nightingales?
More serene than Cordelia’s countenance?
More full of visions than a high romance?
What, but thee Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!
Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!
Silent entangler of a beauty’s tresses!
Most happy listener! when the morning blesses
Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes
That glance so brightly at the new sun-rise.
The Melting Snow
Japanese Death Poetry has some beautiful examples of writing about the transience of life. This one is by Bokusui:
A parting word?
The melting snow
is odorless.Jisei nado
zansetsu ni ka mo
nakarikeri
…and, of course, my own translation:
Words to remember?
The snow that melts before you
leaves no aroma.
Let Not Mankind Bogart Love
Willie Nelson in A Colbert Christmas sings of peace on earth. The graphics are excellent, as is his command of the lyrics:
What, no mention of biowillie (biodiesel)?
Feist’s rendition of “Please Be Patient…Due to Increased Prayer Amounts” is aslo amusing, especially the part where she explains that prayers will be taken in the order that they were received. Sadly, she does not reach the lyrical achievement of Nelson, but I think that is because of the format she was given. I wish (not pray, mind you) that Feist had been allowed more of her usual punchy rhythmic upbeat style instead of a syrupy formulaic hymnal, but I suspect Colbert was going for a different style of parody.