Stoic Poem

When I was young and bold and strong,
Oh right was right and wrong was wrong
My plume on high, my flag unfurled,
I rode away to right the world!
"Come out you dogs, and fight!" said I
And wept there was but once to die

Now I am old, and good and bad,
Are woven in a crazy plaid
I sit and say "the world is so,
And he is wise that lets it go
A battle lost, a battle won,
The difference is small my son "

- Author Unknown

The ballad of reading gaol

And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats,
None knew so well as I:
For he who lives more lives then one
More deaths then one must die.

-Oscar wilde

 

Mariel Of Redwall prophecy

The wind’s icy breath o’er the land of death
Tells a tale of the yet to come.
‘Cross the heaving waves which mark ships’ graves
Where seas pound loud and rocks stand proud
And blood flows free as water,
To the far northwest, which knows no rest,
Came a father and his daughter.
The mind was numb, and the heart struck dumb,
When the night seas took the child,
Hurled to her fate, by a son of Hellgate,
The dark one called the wild.
You whom they seek, though you do not speak,
The legend is yet to be born;
One day you will sing over stones that are red,
In the misty summer morn.

-Brian Jaques

 

Long Patrol Memories

Sometimes I sit here through the night,
Dreaming of those far flung days.
I’ll gaze into the fire’s warm light,
As if into some sunlit haze.
And here they come, those comrades mine,
Laughing, happy, brave to see,
Untarnished by the dust of time,
Forever fresh in memory.
The way we marched, feasts so grand,
I’ll tell you of them all,
From salamandestron’s west strand,
And north up to Redwall.
Of high adventures each new morn,
As side by side we stood in war,
This tale is told that you may learn,
Just what true friends are for.

-Brian Jacques

 

The Second Coming

The darkness drops again; But now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

-William Butler Yeats

 

excerpt from "To a Mouse"

But Mousie, thou art not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Go oft awry
And leave us nothing but grief and pain
For promised joy.

-Robert Burns

 

Fairies

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
It's not so very, very far away;
You pass the gardner's shed and you just keep straight ahead --
I do so hope they've really come to stay.
There's a little wood, with moss in it and beetles,
And a little stream that quietly runs through;
You wouldn't think they'd dare to come merrymaking there--
Well, they do.

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
They often have a dance on summer nights;
The butterflies and bees make a lovely little breeze,
And the rabbits stand about and hold the lights.
Did you know that they could sit upon the moonbeams
And pick a little star to make a fan,
And dance away up there in the middle of the air?
Well, they can.

There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
You cannot think how beautiful they are;
They all stand up and sing when the Fairy Queen and King
Come gently floating down upon their car.
The King is very proud and very handsome;
The Queen--now you can quess who that could be
(She's a little girl all day, but at night she steals away)?
Well -- it's Me!

Rose Fyleman