Love Among The Ruins - Robert Browning

I.
Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles,
Miles and miles
On the solitary pastures where our sheep
Half-asleep
Tinkle homeward thro' the twilight, stray or stop
As they crop--
Was the site once of a city great and gay,
(So they say)
Of our country's very capital, its prince
Ages since
Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far
Peace or war.

II.
Now,--the country does not even boast a tree,
As you see,
To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills
From the hills
Intersect and give a name to, (else they run
Into one)
Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires
Up like fires
O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall
Bounding all,
Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed,
Twelve abreast.

III.
And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass
Never was!
Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads
And embeds
Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,
Stock or stone--
Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe
Long ago;
Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame
Struck them tame;
And that glory and that shame alike, the gold
Bought and sold.

IV.
Now,--the single little turret that remains
On the plains,
By the caper overrooted, by the gourd
Overscored,
While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks
Through the chinks--
Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time
Sprang sublime,
And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced
As they raced,
And the monarch and his minions and his dames
Viewed the games.

V.
And I know, while thus the quiet-coloured eve
Smiles to leave
To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece
In such peace,
And the slopes and rills in undistinguished grey
Melt away--
That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair
Waits me there
In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul
For the goal,
When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, dumb
Till I come.

VI.
But he looked upon the city, every side,
Far and wide,
All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades'
Colonnades,
All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,--and then,
All the men!
When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand,
Either hand
On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace
Of my face,
Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech
Each on each.

VII.
In one year they sent a million fighters forth
South and North,
And they built their gods a brazen pillar high
As the sky,
Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force--
Gold, of course.
Oh heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!
Earth's returns
For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!
Shut them in,
With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!
Love is best.

I Want You

I am in love with Kings of Leon. They are my new favourite band. I mean just the lead singer's voice, all that yearning squeezed into every syllable that leaves his gravelly throat. Just that alone. And the lyrics. Sample:

Get back on track, pick me up some bottles of booze
Fickle freshman, probably thinks he's cooler than you
A hay ride ,a fire, everybody's coming around
So go press your skirt, word is there's a new girl in town

I call shotgun, you can play your RnB tunes
The fellowship time, it always comes a little too soon
The land of the creeps, freshened up and babyfaced shame
Put your eyes on me, and I know a place where we can get away

Just say I want you, just 'zactly like I used to
'Cause baby this is only bringing me down

Homeboy's so proud, he finally got the video proof
The night vision shows she was only ducking the truth
It's heavy I know, the black guy with the gift down below
A choke and a gag, she spit up and came back for more

And said I want you, just exactly like i used to
And baby this is only bringing me down
She said I want you
I want you, just exactly like i used to
And baby this is only bringing me down
I said I want you, just exactly like i used to
And baby this is only bringing me down