John Halsted's Blog - Posts Tagged "verse"
Three Poems from the book WHEN HEARTS ARE TRUMPS
Today we take a brief branch away from our usual folkore and fairy tales and have a look at three poems from the book WHEN HEARTS ARE TRUMPS. The verse in this volume were selected from works that had appeared in various periodicals, LIFE, TRUTH, TOWN TOPICS, VOGUE, and MUNSEY'S MAGAZINE during the five years 1893-1898 and whose editors kindly gave Tom Hall permission to republish them. So popular was this collection of poetry, that it had at least six editions. Read on and enjoy……….
THE OLD-FASHIONED GIRL.
There's an old-fashioned girl in an old fashioned street,
Dressed in old-fashioned clothes from her head to her feet;
And she spends all her time in the old-fashioned way
Of caring for poor people's children all day.
She never has been to cotillon1 or ball,
And she knows not the styles of the Spring or the Fall;
Two hundred a year will suffice for her needs,
And an old-fashioned Bible is all that she reads.
And she has an old-fashioned heart that is true
To a fellow who died in an old coat of blue,
With its buttons all brass,—who is waiting above
For the woman who loved him with old-fashioned love.
The Cotillion was a popular 18th and 19th century dance in the French Courts that preceded the Quadrille style of dancing.
- - - - - - -
A RHYMING REVERIE.
It was a dainty lady's glove;
A souvenir to rhyme with love.
It was the memory of a kiss,
So called to make it rhyme with bliss.
There was a month at Mt. Desert,
Synonymous and rhymes with flirt.
A pretty girl and lots of style,
Which rhymes with happy for a while.
There came a rival old and bold,
To make him rhyme with gold and sold.
A broken heart there had to be.
Alas, the rhyme just fitted me.
- - - - - - -
VANITY FAIR.
Oh, whence, oh, where
Is Vanity Fair?
I want to be seen with the somebodies there.
I've money and beauty and college-bred brains;
Though my 'scutcheon's not spotless, who'll mind a few stains?
To caper I wish in the chorus of style,
And wed an aristocrat after a while
So please tell me truly, and please tell me fair,
Just how many miles it's from Madison Square.
It's here, it's there,
Is Vanity Fair.
It's not like a labyrinth, not like a lair.
It's North and it's South, and it's East and it's West;
You can see it, oh, anywhere, quite at its best.
Dame Fashion is queen, Ready Money is king,
You can join it, provided you don't know a thing.
It's miles over here, and it's miles over there;
And it's not seven inches from Madison Square.
- - - - - - -
From WHEN HEARTS ARE TRUMPS compiled by Tom Hall
ISBN: 978-1-907256-55-4
URL: http://www.abelapublishing.com/cg_wha...
Click on the URL for more info, a table of contents and to order in USD or GBP.
A percentage of the profits will be donated to The BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION.
http://www.abelapublishing.com/wpimag...
THE OLD-FASHIONED GIRL.
There's an old-fashioned girl in an old fashioned street,
Dressed in old-fashioned clothes from her head to her feet;
And she spends all her time in the old-fashioned way
Of caring for poor people's children all day.
She never has been to cotillon1 or ball,
And she knows not the styles of the Spring or the Fall;
Two hundred a year will suffice for her needs,
And an old-fashioned Bible is all that she reads.
And she has an old-fashioned heart that is true
To a fellow who died in an old coat of blue,
With its buttons all brass,—who is waiting above
For the woman who loved him with old-fashioned love.
The Cotillion was a popular 18th and 19th century dance in the French Courts that preceded the Quadrille style of dancing.
- - - - - - -
A RHYMING REVERIE.
It was a dainty lady's glove;
A souvenir to rhyme with love.
It was the memory of a kiss,
So called to make it rhyme with bliss.
There was a month at Mt. Desert,
Synonymous and rhymes with flirt.
A pretty girl and lots of style,
Which rhymes with happy for a while.
There came a rival old and bold,
To make him rhyme with gold and sold.
A broken heart there had to be.
Alas, the rhyme just fitted me.
- - - - - - -
VANITY FAIR.
Oh, whence, oh, where
Is Vanity Fair?
I want to be seen with the somebodies there.
I've money and beauty and college-bred brains;
Though my 'scutcheon's not spotless, who'll mind a few stains?
To caper I wish in the chorus of style,
And wed an aristocrat after a while
So please tell me truly, and please tell me fair,
Just how many miles it's from Madison Square.
It's here, it's there,
Is Vanity Fair.
It's not like a labyrinth, not like a lair.
It's North and it's South, and it's East and it's West;
You can see it, oh, anywhere, quite at its best.
Dame Fashion is queen, Ready Money is king,
You can join it, provided you don't know a thing.
It's miles over here, and it's miles over there;
And it's not seven inches from Madison Square.
- - - - - - -
From WHEN HEARTS ARE TRUMPS compiled by Tom Hall
ISBN: 978-1-907256-55-4
URL: http://www.abelapublishing.com/cg_wha...
Click on the URL for more info, a table of contents and to order in USD or GBP.
A percentage of the profits will be donated to The BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION.
http://www.abelapublishing.com/wpimag...
Two Tanka Poems from “A Hundred Verses from Old Japan” or the “Hyaku-Nin-Isshiu”
5
SARU MARU, A SHINTO OFFICIAL or SARU MARU TAIU
Oku yama ni
Momiji fumi wake
Naku shika no
Koe kiku toki zo
Aki wa kanashiki.
HEAR the stag's pathetic call
Far up the mountain side,
While tramping o'er the maple leaves
Wind-scattered far and wide
This sad, sad autumn tide.
NOTE: Very little is known of this writer, but he probably lived not later than A.D. 800. Stags and the crimson leaves of the maple are frequently used the symbolism of autumn.
-------------------
7
NAKAMARO ABE or ABE NO NAKAMARO
Ama no hara
Furisake-mireba
Kasuga naru
Mikasa no yama ni
Ideshi tsuki kamo.
WHILE gazing up into the sky,
My thoughts have wandered far;
Methinks I see the rising moon
Above Mount Mikasa
At far-off Kasuga.
NOTE: The poet, when sixteen years of age, was sent with two others to China, to discover the secret of the Chinese calendar, and on the night before sailing for home his friends gave him a farewell banquet. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and after dinner he composed this verse. Another account, however, says that the Emperor of China, becoming suspicious, caused him to be invited to a dinner at the top of a high pagoda, and then had the stairs removed, in order that he might be left to die of hunger. Nakamaro is said to have bitten his hand and written this verse with his blood, after which he appears to have escaped and fled to Annam. Kasuga, pronounced Kasunga, is a famous temple at the foot of Mount Mikasa, near Nara, the poet's home; the verse was written in the year 726, and the author died in 780
-------------------------
From: A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN
ISBN: 978-1-907256-19-6
http://www.abelapublishing.com/hvoj.html
A percentage of the profits will be donated to the CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE APPEAL.
http://www.abelapublishing.com/wpimag...
SARU MARU, A SHINTO OFFICIAL or SARU MARU TAIU
Oku yama ni
Momiji fumi wake
Naku shika no
Koe kiku toki zo
Aki wa kanashiki.
HEAR the stag's pathetic call
Far up the mountain side,
While tramping o'er the maple leaves
Wind-scattered far and wide
This sad, sad autumn tide.
NOTE: Very little is known of this writer, but he probably lived not later than A.D. 800. Stags and the crimson leaves of the maple are frequently used the symbolism of autumn.
-------------------
7
NAKAMARO ABE or ABE NO NAKAMARO
Ama no hara
Furisake-mireba
Kasuga naru
Mikasa no yama ni
Ideshi tsuki kamo.
WHILE gazing up into the sky,
My thoughts have wandered far;
Methinks I see the rising moon
Above Mount Mikasa
At far-off Kasuga.
NOTE: The poet, when sixteen years of age, was sent with two others to China, to discover the secret of the Chinese calendar, and on the night before sailing for home his friends gave him a farewell banquet. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and after dinner he composed this verse. Another account, however, says that the Emperor of China, becoming suspicious, caused him to be invited to a dinner at the top of a high pagoda, and then had the stairs removed, in order that he might be left to die of hunger. Nakamaro is said to have bitten his hand and written this verse with his blood, after which he appears to have escaped and fled to Annam. Kasuga, pronounced Kasunga, is a famous temple at the foot of Mount Mikasa, near Nara, the poet's home; the verse was written in the year 726, and the author died in 780
-------------------------
From: A HUNDRED VERSES FROM OLD JAPAN
ISBN: 978-1-907256-19-6
http://www.abelapublishing.com/hvoj.html
A percentage of the profits will be donated to the CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE APPEAL.
http://www.abelapublishing.com/wpimag...
