Attractive

Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 2, 2012

Move him into the sun

Move him into the sun -
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds, -
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved,- still warm,- too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

to whisper: to speak softly
unsown: not planted with seeds
to rouse: to wake
limb: an arm or leg
fatuous: silly and without purpose

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

he-bear: male bear
to accost: approach aggressively
to rend: tear to pieces
tooth and nail: very fiercely

I expect to pass through this world but once

I expect to pass through this world but once;
any good thing therefore that I can do, or any
kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature,
let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

defer: postpone; leave for a future time
fellow-creature: human being
neglect: fail to give proper attention to; ignore

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