Yip Harburg's poems discovered today. They appeared in Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965) and At This Point in Rhyme (1976). I particularly liked the "Atheist" and the "Adverbs"
ATHEIST
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree;
And only God who makes the tree
Also makes the fools like me.
But only fools like me, you see,
Can make a God, who makes a tree.
REPENT IN PLEASURE
A little secret sinning now and then,
Should not disturb the saintliest of men;
For when your life is spent, and sun has set,
It's easier to repent than to regret.
MUTUAL ADMIRATION
"Speaking of the Common Man," said Lincoln,
"God must love him."
And the Common Man, he must love God--
He made so many of Him.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
God made the world in six days flat,
On the seventh, He said, "I'll rest,"
So He let the thing into orbit swing,
To give it a dry-run test.
A billion years went by, then He
Took a look at the whirling blob;
His spirits fell, as He shrugged, "Ah well,
It was only a six-day job."
COURTSHIP IN GREENWICH VILLAGE
Our days will be oh, so ecstatic,
Our nights will be oh, so exotic,
For I'm a neurotic erratic,
And you're an erratic erotic.
ADVERBS
WHERE and WHEN
Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
©2008 yipharburg.com
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Yip Harburg poems
Nov 21, 2008 @ 16:39
The text you are quoting:
Yip Harburg's poems discovered today. They appeared in Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965) and At This Point in Rhyme (1976). I particularly liked the "Atheist" and the "Adverbs"
ATHEIST
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree;
And only God who makes the tree
Also makes the fools like me.
But only fools like me, you see,
Can make a God, who makes a tree.
REPENT IN PLEASURE
A little secret sinning now and then,
Should not disturb the saintliest of men;
For when your life is spent, and sun has set,
It's easier to repent than to regret.
MUTUAL ADMIRATION
"Speaking of the Common Man," said Lincoln,
"God must love him."
And the Common Man, he must love God--
He made so many of Him.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
God made the world in six days flat,
On the seventh, He said, "I'll rest,"
So He let the thing into orbit swing,
To give it a dry-run test.
A billion years went by, then He
Took a look at the whirling blob;
His spirits fell, as He shrugged, "Ah well,
It was only a six-day job."
COURTSHIP IN GREENWICH VILLAGE
Our days will be oh, so ecstatic,
Our nights will be oh, so exotic,
For I'm a neurotic erratic,
And you're an erratic erotic.
ADVERBS
WHERE and WHEN
Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
©2008 yipharburg.com
FreeNov 21, 2008 @ 16:39
ATHEIST
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree;
And only God who makes the tree
Also makes the fools like me.
But only fools like me, you see,
Can make a God, who makes a tree.
REPENT IN PLEASURE
A little secret sinning now and then,
Should not disturb the saintliest of men;
For when your life is spent, and sun has set,
It's easier to repent than to regret.
MUTUAL ADMIRATION
"Speaking of the Common Man," said Lincoln,
"God must love him."
And the Common Man, he must love God--
He made so many of Him.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
God made the world in six days flat,
On the seventh, He said, "I'll rest,"
So He let the thing into orbit swing,
To give it a dry-run test.
A billion years went by, then He
Took a look at the whirling blob;
His spirits fell, as He shrugged, "Ah well,
It was only a six-day job."
COURTSHIP IN GREENWICH VILLAGE
Our days will be oh, so ecstatic,
Our nights will be oh, so exotic,
For I'm a neurotic erratic,
And you're an erratic erotic.
ADVERBS
WHERE and WHEN
Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
©2008 yipharburg.com
FreeNov 21, 2008 @ 16:39
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Re: Yip Harburg poems
Post 1
Nov 22, 2008 @ 03:07
Nice poems, some humor and some oblique references. I've never read him. Thanks for the pointer. Isa-which one is it?;)
The text you are quoting:
Nice poems, some humor and some oblique references. I've never read him. Thanks for the pointer. Isa-which one is it?;)
Maplady, Nov 22, 2008 @ 03:07
Maplady, Nov 22, 2008 @ 03:07
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Re: Yip Harburg poems
Post 2
Nov 22, 2008 @ 15:31
Isa,
no problem. Here is the full version, followed by one about children, equally beautiful, which every parent should learn by heart
Poems by Khalil Gibran, from his masterpiece The Prophet, (1923)
About Love
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
no problem. Here is the full version, followed by one about children, equally beautiful, which every parent should learn by heart
Poems by Khalil Gibran, from his masterpiece The Prophet, (1923)
About Love
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
The text you are quoting:
Isa,
no problem. Here is the full version, followed by one about children, equally beautiful, which every parent should learn by heart
Poems by Khalil Gibran, from his masterpiece The Prophet, (1923)
About Love
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Free, Nov 22, 2008 @ 15:31
no problem. Here is the full version, followed by one about children, equally beautiful, which every parent should learn by heart
Poems by Khalil Gibran, from his masterpiece The Prophet, (1923)
About Love
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Free, Nov 22, 2008 @ 15:31
Your Reply:
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Re: Yip Harburg poems
Post 3
Nov 27, 2008 @ 03:06
Thanks for sharing these beautiful poems! Here's my all time favourite.
From the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me-
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its
disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in ones life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Happy sailing everyone :P
The text you are quoting:
Thanks for sharing these beautiful poems! Here's my all time favourite.
From the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
George Gray
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me-
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its
disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in ones life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Happy sailing everyone :P
Lannah, Nov 27, 2008 @ 03:06
Your Reply:
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Re: Yip Harburg poems
Post 4
Dec 3, 2008 @ 02:19
[quote]Isa,
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.[/quote]
Thank you Free this has been a favorite passage of mine for many years. I heard it from my mother when I was young, before I had my children and have now passed it on to them. Every parent should take it to heart.
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.[/quote]
Thank you Free this has been a favorite passage of mine for many years. I heard it from my mother when I was young, before I had my children and have now passed it on to them. Every parent should take it to heart.
The text you are quoting:
[quote]Isa,
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.[/quote]
Thank you Free this has been a favorite passage of mine for many years. I heard it from my mother when I was young, before I had my children and have now passed it on to them. Every parent should take it to heart.
Maplady, Dec 3, 2008 @ 02:19
Children
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.[/quote]
Thank you Free this has been a favorite passage of mine for many years. I heard it from my mother when I was young, before I had my children and have now passed it on to them. Every parent should take it to heart.
Maplady, Dec 3, 2008 @ 02:19
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