"The lowest trees have tops, the Ant her gall"
The lowest trees have tops, the Ant her gall,
the flie her spleene, the little sparke his heate,
and slender haires cast shadowes though but small,
and Bees have stings although they be not great.
Seas have their source, and so have shallowe springs,
and love is love in beggers and in kings.
Where waters smoothest run, deep are the foords,
The diall stirres, yet none perceives it move:
The firmest faith is in the fewest words,
The Turtles cannot sing, and yet they love,
True hearts have eyes and eares, no tongues to speake:
They heare, and see, and sigh, and then they breake.

***
The Sheepheeards Description of Love
MELIBEUS
Sheepheard, what’s Love, I pray thee tell?

FAUSTUS
It is that Fountaine, and that Well,
Where pleasure and repentance dwell.
It is perhaps that sauncing bell,
That toules all into heaven or hell,
And this is Love as I heard tell.

MELI.
Yet what is Love, I pre-thee say?

FAU.
It is a worke on holy-day,
It is December match’d with May,
When lustie-bloods in fresh aray,
Heare ten moneths after of the play,
And this is Love, as I heare say.

MELI.
Yet what is Love, good Sheepheard saine?

FAU.
It is a Sun-shine mixt with raine,
It is a tooth-ach, or like paine,
It is a game where none dooth gaine,
The Lasse saith no, and would full faine:
And this is Love, as I heare saine.

MELI.
Yet Sheepheard, what is Love, I pray?

FAU.
It is a yea, it is a nay,
A pretty kind of sporting fray,
It is a thing will soone away,
Then Nimphs take vantage while ye may:
And this is love as I heare say.

MELI.
Yet what is love, good Sheepheard show?

FAU.
A thing that creepes, it cannot goe,
A prize that passeth too and fro,
A thing for one, a thing for moe,
And he that prooves shall finde it so;
And Sheepheard this is love I troe.

From Penguin Book of English Verse


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#217: Voices from 1900-1914 Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 1/2/23: Tonight, I read a handful of voices from those living in Europe and the United States between 1900 and 1914. Rephrased only slightly, nearly all of their concerns (over technology, gender, nationalism, war, eugenics) feel like they could appear in the news or on the street today. Then and now, what is actually going on alongside all the dread? What can we learn from these voices that sound so much like our own, and what will people look back on 2023 learn for themselves?Each of these quotations can be found in Philipp Blom’s wonderful book, The Vertigo Years.The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, due out next year, is now available for preorder. Other books include Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
  1. #217: Voices from 1900-1914
  2. #216: Poets, Prophets, Seeresses & Goddesses from Time & the River
  3. #215: 8 Favorite Poems from "Time and the River"
  4. #214: Two of the Best Poems You've Never Heard of (by William Cullen Bryant)
  5. #213: Van Gogh's Early Years
  6. #212: The Most Popular Story in Ancient India
  7. #211: Who Was William Cullen Bryant?
  8. #210: Memories & Legends of William Shakespeare
  9. #209 – Being a Jew in 1900, Being a Jew Now
  10. #208: Bach & God

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