While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity,

[Viva_La_Revolution]

heavily thickening
to empire,
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the
mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots
to make earth.


5 points for the author, 5 points for the title, 10 points for the year of publication.

Googling is against the rules.

:popcorn:

[msongs]

1. aztec emperor montezuma before the spaniards arrived? nt

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. right continent...

wrong era.


Please try again. :)

[gumby]

3. Reply to author (?)

You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
Here's something that you never gonna forget
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. BTO baby!

but, wrong.

[Benhurst]

5. "Shine, Perishing Republic" by Robinson Jeffers, 1925

One of my favorite poems. Also like the line: "When the cities lie at the monster's feet, there are left the mountains." I had that put on the mantel of my fireplace.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. Winner!

'Shine, Perishing Republic'

While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity, heavily thickening
to empire,
And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the
mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots
to make earth.
Out of the mother; and through the spring exultances, ripeness and decadence;
and home to the mother.

You making haste, haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it
stubbornly long or suddenly
A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than mountains:
shine, perishing republic.
But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the
thickening center; corruption
Never has been compulsory, when the cities lie at the monster's feet there
are left the mountains.

And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant,
insufferable master.
There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught -- they say --
God, when he walked on earth.

-- Robinson Jeffers


:applause:

[rug]

7. Oh, I bet he googled.

[Benhurst]

8. Hardly necessary to do so for my favorite poem.

Another favorite from Jeffers:

Eagle Valor, Chicken Mind

Unhappy country, what wings you have! Even here,
Nothing important to protect, and ocean-far from the nearest enemy, what a cloud
Of bombers amazes the coast mountain, what a hornet-swarm of fighters,
And day and night the guns practicing.

Unhappy, eagle wings and beak, chicken brain.
Weep (it is frequent in human affairs), weep for the terrible magnificence of the means,
The ridiculous incompetence of the reasons, the bloody and shabby
Pathos of the result.


Especially fitting for September 28,2006.