Friday, April 14, 2006

April is for Poetry and stuff

Although Minka is headed for Germany and may not see this I wanted to post these two poems, and hopefully she will understand why I think Ogden Nash needs a read, or four or five.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of th purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

And for a 20th century update we have the Ogden Nash version

Love under the Republicans (Or Democrats)


Come live with me and be my love
And we will all the pleasures prove
Of a marriage conducted with economy
In the Twentieth Century Anno Donomy.
We’ll live in a dear little walk-up flat
With practically room to swing a cat
And a potted cactus to give it hauteur
And a bathtub equipped with dark brown water.
We’ll eat, without undue discouragement,
Foods low in cost but high in nouragement
And quaff with pleasure, while chatting wittily,
The peculiar wine of Little Italy.
We’ll remind each other it’s smart to be thrifty
And buy our clothes for something-fifty.
We’ll bus for miles on holidays
For seas at depressing matinees,
And every Sunday we’ll have a lark
And take a walk in Central Park.
And one of these days not too remote
You’ll probably up and cut my throat.

If you prefer your lit short and to the point, check out 55 Fiction.

16 comments:

lime said...

marlowe is wonderful but how can ya not love ogden nash?? my kids are also great fans of shel silverstein and jack prelutsky. and for another good read of irreverent poetry try 'i saw esau' collected by maurice sendak

Anonymous said...

Lime~ Spike Milligan is also great. I love Shel Silverstein. It warms my little heart to walk in their bedrooms and see the Things reading poetry, or listening to it, as the case may be.

Stephanie said...

I love Marlowe - that is one of my favorites!!My kids aren't quite ready for actual poetry. We're still at one fish, two fish...

Soon though - I hope!!

Doug The Una said...

That's my favorite Nash. Easily his best sonnet. Someone other than me needs to write a Nash site.

S said...

Little Rita loves Shel...but yeah, on the topic of kids and reading...
LR was late for school yesterday because she couldnt put down her book, and I thought, let her be late, this is more important, she was so into it! She's reading way beyond her level and Im so proud:D

Thanks for the chuckle from Nash!

Anonymous said...

Snav~ LOVE Dr. Seuss, I worship him almost! There are some really good poetry book for lil lil kids though, you're right though, they may not be ready for Marlowe. This is a good one, ole Kit had a way with words, eh?

Doug~ That would be a fun site, you should get someone on that. This is one of my Nash favorites, I actually wrote a version of this for college, you should all be thankful I couldn't find it or I would have posted it too.

Susie~ Awesome! I love that you did that, especially since I know you don't do it all the time. Good for you. Glad you enjoyed Mr. Nash. Here is another of his little treatures.
Common Sense
Why did the Lord give us agility,
If not to evade responsibility?

DaMasta said...

Wow, seems everyone has heard of these except me. That's ok, I liked them anyways! I actually liked *both* poems, but of course that last one is funny!

;)

Happy Easter, Logo ™

egan said...

I'm not so good with poetry, but wanted to say hello. Long time, no chat.

Anonymous said...

Gentleman-Hobbes~ Eow, go away now.

Damasta~ I am glad you enjoyed them! I like them both as well, although the second one is my favorite because funny is always better in my book. Happy Easter, hon!

Egan~ Wow, it HAS been a while. I've missed you, you should IM me or something when you are on-line.

egan said...

Noted.

TLP said...

I love this. I wish you could find the one you wrote. Why don't you do another?

Anonymous said...

Egan~ Get your pencil and pad out, ready? Logophile_mania@yahoo.com
IM me, baby.

Tan Lucy Pez~ Alright, you asked, you will receive. I am working on it, will post it next week. I plan to spend the weekend on a sugar high.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I never read grown-up Nash before. Anyway, that was fun. Thanks.

Logophile said...

Weirsdo~ Nash is fabulous, definitely worth another look!

Minka said...

Well, yes I was in Germany and didn´t see this post, but hey its blogger and there are archives;) So it was pretty easy to access. I just calculated the time of my vacation, substracted your days where you have weekly things on your blog and ergoed to this post in about 30 seconds :)
I know!

Minka said...

By the way, I love the Ogden Nash version too! although I would love to see Marlow´s face when he reads it for teh first time. :)