Oh, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose(Robert Burns)
Oh, my love is like a red, red dore
That’s newly sprung in June;
My love is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonny lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will love thee still, my deer;
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only love!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my love
Though it were ten thousand mile.
The Man He Killed (Thomas Hardy)
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because –
Because he was my foe,
Just so; my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d list, perhaps,
Off-hand-like – just as I –
Was out of work – had sold his traps –
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown
Cross (Langston Hughes)
My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white nor black?
Haiku
A bitter morning:
Sparrows sitting together
Without any necks
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data
Guess which has occurred
Limerick
As a beauty I am not a star
There are others more handsome, by far,
But my face – I don’t mind it,
For I am behind it,
It’s the people in front get the jar.
There was an old man of Devices
Whose ears were of different sizes.
The one that was small
Was no use at all
But the other won several prizes.
