Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... December, 2008

12-01-08 | JustAmy; St.Louie1; MamaBear; Billie

[JustAmy]

Welcome To....


'Amy's Place' welcomes all poets
and those who enjoy poetry.
'Amy's Place' is more than just about poetry.
Come in, relax, and share with fellow FReepers
your thoughts about any of the things on the *Menu*.

Enjoy! :)











Never Forget!





Bad Penny



Amy's personal guardian ~
the ever charming, lovable, huggable,
LouieWolf




Many thanks for stopping by. : )

[ConorMacNessa]

The Eagle

(Fragment)

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[ConorMacNessa]

The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet

At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away:
"Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!"
Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: "'Fore God I am no coward;
But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear,
And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick.
We are six ships of the line; can we fight with fifty-three?"

Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: "I know you are no coward;
You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.
But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.
I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard,
To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain."

So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day,
Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven;
But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land
Very carefully and slow,
Men of Bideford in Devon,
And we laid them on the ballast down below;
For we brought them all aboard,
And they blest him in their pain, that they were not left to Spain,
To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord.

He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight,
And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight,
With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow.
"Shall we fight or shall we fly?
Good Sir Richard, tell us now,
For to fight is but to die!
There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be set."
And Sir Richard said again: "We be all good English men.
Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil,
For I never turned my back upon Don or devil yet."

Sir Richard spoke and he laughed, and we roared a hurrah, and so
The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,
With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;
For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen,
And the little Revenge ran on through the long sea-lane between.

Thousands of their soldiers looked down from their decks and laughed,
Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craft
Running on and on, till delayed
By their mountain-like San Philip that, of fifteen hundred tons,
And up-shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of guns,
Took the breath from our sails, and we stayed.

And while now the great San Philip hung above us like a cloud
Whence the thunderbolt will fall
Long and loud,
Four galleons drew away
From the Spanish fleet that day,
And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard lay,
And the battle-thunder broke from them all.

But anon the great San Philip, she bethought herself and went
Having that within her womb that had left her ill content;
And the rest they came aboard us, and they fought us hand to hand,
For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musqueteers,
And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears
When he leaps from the water to the land.

And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the summer sea,
But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty-three.
Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came,
Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder and flame;
Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and her shame.
For some were sunk and many were shattered, and so could fight us no more -
God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before?

For he said "Fight on! fight on!"
Though his vessel was all but a wreck;
And it chanced that, when half of the short summer night was gone,
With a grisly wound to be dressed he had left the deck,
But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly dead,
And himself he was wounded again in the side and the head,
And he said "Fight on! fight on!"

And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far over the summer sea,
And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round us all in a ring;
But they dared not touch us again, for they feared that we still could sting,
So they watched what the end would be.
And we had not fought them in vain,
But in perilous plight were we,
Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain,
And half of the rest of us maimed for life
In the crash of the cannonades and the desperate strife;
And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark and cold,
And the pikes were all broken or bent, and the powder was all of it spent;
And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side;
But Sir Richard cried in his English pride,
"We have fought such a fight for a day and a night
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men!
And a day less or more
At sea or ashore,
We die -does it matter when?
Sink me the ship, Master Gunner -sink her, split her in twain!
Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!"

And the gunner said "Ay, ay," but the seamen made reply:
"We have children, we have wives,
And the Lord hath spared our lives.
We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;
We shall live to fight again and to strike another blow."
And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.

And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then,
Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last,
And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace;
But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:
"I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true;
I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do:
With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!"
And he fell upon their decks, and he died.

And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true,
And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap
That he dared her with one little ship and his English few;
Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,
But they sank his body with honour down into the deep,
And they manned the Revenge with a swarthier alien crew,
And away she sailed with her loss and longed for her own;
When a wind from the lands they had ruined awoke from sleep,
And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,
And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,
And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags,
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shattered navy of Spain,
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags
To be lost evermore in the main.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[Lady Jag]

On His Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide, "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts: who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed And post o'er land and ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and wait." John Milton

Happy birthday, John Miltion, December 9, 1608-1674

[jaycee]

I love that little girl with her cowboy hat on! That background you said was last year’s tree. I would have loved to have seen that tree. Bet it was a sight for the eyes. I am getting ready to lay down a little while.

[Kitty Mittens]

Jaycee, you did a Wonderful Job on Today's Holidays!
Meg, your #1008 is So Beautiful; just Awesome!
Lady Jag, Lol at your Kitty Pic in #1027; so Cute. : )
Amy, the Doggie in the Graphic in #1044 Looks Somewhat Like my Doggie. Adorable!
Conor, that is an Awesome Poem by Tennyson in your #1058.
GeeBee, I'm about to Listen to the Links you Posted.

Thank you to Everyone for the Pings and Neat Posts!

[jaycee]

Kitty, thank you for your kind words on the Holidays! I just had to tell you that is one of the prettiest cat pictures I have ever seen. That kitty is just so sweet looking I could squeeze it to death. We on this thread sure do love out little animals, don't we? I know I enjoy it so much. Hope all is well with you and your family during this glorious season.

[jaycee]

Amy, that is such a darling picture of that dog trying to unwrap the present, with that pitiful little guilty look on its face. Love it.

[GodBlessUSA]

Sure I'll enjoy posting music each day. I take requests too :) I have Ave Maria by Pavorotti and enjoy his version also. He's a close 2nd to Maria Callas.
Falalalala la la la la ;)

[jaycee]

That last post didn’t turn out like it did in preview. First time I have seen that happen......LOL! Anyway, its okay!

[jaycee]

That is awfully cute, GeeBee.

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you, Sweet Jaycee! I Fell in Love with that Kitty when I Found his Pic on the 'Net.

All is Well with my Family and I, and I Pray you and your Family are Well, Dear FRiend. I have a Precious Brother in Christ who Posts on FR, named Alpha-8-25-02, who is Very Ill and in the Hospital. Please Remember him in your Prayers, Asking for our Savior's Healing Mercies to be with him.

[GodBlessUSA]

[GodBlessUSA]

Thanks :)

[GodBlessUSA]

Hi Kitty

Hope you are having a good day.

[jaycee]

Awwwww~~~ :o)

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you, Dear GeeBee, and I Hope your Day is a Wonderful One. I Love the Mannheim Steamroller Song you Posted; it's So Beautiful. Hugs!

[jaycee]

So sorry to hear about Alpha-8-25-02. I will remember him in prayer very gladly. Let me know of his progress. Glad you and your family are doing well at this time. God Bless you, dear Kitty.

[ConorMacNessa]

A Song

I THOUGHT no more was needed
Youth to prolong
Than dumb-bell and foil
To keep the body young.
Oh, who could have foretold
That the heart grows old?

Though I have many words,
What woman’s satisfied,
I am no longer faint
Because at her side?
Oh, who could have foretold
That the heart grows old?

I have not lost desire
But the heart that I had,
I thought ’twould burn my body
Laid on the death-bed.
But who could have foretold
That the heart grows old?

William Butler Yeats

Lamh Foistenach Abu!

[GodBlessUSA]

Thanks Conor :)

I enjoyed reading! I especially like Flower in the Crannied Wall. :)

[jaycee]

Hi Billie, I don't think I posted you a Christmas picture today so I will do that very thing. I had this one last year. Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!