As he do

For he will do

As he do do

And there’s no doing anything about it!

 

–“The Rum Tum Tugger” by T. S. Eliot

Once upon a time

Once upon a time you told me,

I remember in my bones,

That when the bad world had rolled me

Over on the scalding stones,

Shameless, lost, as the day I came

I should with my beggar’s cup

Howl down the wind and call your name

And you, you would raise me up.

— A letter to Marged Howard-Stepney by Dylan Thomas

moonshine clear

She moved like silence swathed in light,

Like mist in moonshine clear

–“La Danseuse” by Dylan Thomas

a mother

None like a mother can charm away pain

From the sick soul and the world-weary brain

–“Rock Me to Sleep” by Elizabeth Akers Allen

for a’ that

The honest man, though e’er sae poor,

Is king o’ men for a’ that.

–“Is There for Honest Poverty” by Robert Burns

Thy life

Nor knowest thou what argument

Thy life to thy neighbor’s creed has lent.

–“Each and All” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

imagination

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination

–“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

joyful

Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

–“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” by Wendell Berry

life

For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.

—America: A Prophecy by William Blake

Get up

Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see

The dew bespangling herb and tree.

–“Corinna’s Going A-Maying” by Robert Herrick