The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it...
Butterfly and Cocoon A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress....
Your own karma Seth Ghanshyam Das lived in a huge mansion. He had three boys. There was money, servant, servant, horse carriage, but he had the most love with his 17 elephants in his treasure. He was very worried about the elephants’ lack of supervision....
Tiger: Alec Derwent Hope At noon thepaper tigers roar — Miroslav Holub The paper tigers roar at noon; The sun is hot, the sun is high. They roar in chorus, not in tune, Their plaintive, savage hunting cry. O, when you hear them, stop your...
Death of the Bird: Alec Derwent Hope For every bird there is this last migration; Once more the cooling year kindles her heart; With a warm passage to the summer station Love pricks the course in lights across the chart. Year after year a speck...
The Pleasure of Princes: Alec Derwent Hope What pleasures have great princes? These: to know Themselves reputed mad with pride or power; To speak few words — few words and short bring low This ancient house, that city with flame devour; To make old men,...
Phallus: Alec Derwent Hope This was the gods’ god, The leashed divinity, Divine divining rod And Me within the me. By mindlight tower and tree Its shadow on the ground Throw, and in darkness she Whose weapon is her wound Fends off the knife, the...
Conquistador: Alec Derwent Hope I sing of the decline of Henry Clay Who loved a white girl of uncommon size. Although a small man in a little way, He had in him some seed of enterprise. Each day he caught the seven-thirty train To work,...
The School of Night: Alec Derwent Hope What did I study in your School of Night? When your mouth’s first unfathomable yes Opened your body to be my book, I read My answers there and learned the spell aright, Yet, though I searched and...
Crossing the Frontier: Alec Derwent Hope Crossing the frontier they were stopped in time, Told, quite politely, they would have to wait: Passports in order, nothing to declare And surely holding hands was not a crime Until they saw how, ranged across the gate, All...
