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POEMS
AND STORIES
The
Art of Love
Ovid
My
dear, your hair was perfect;
delicate to touch;
one feared to braid it. It was as fine as silk,
finer than silks that dark-skinned girls from Asia wear
at a feast, and fragile as the spider's silver thread.
It's colors dazzles, neither black nor gold, of that rare
light,
that breaks through shadows of a spring-freshed valley,
and of the bark-stripped cedars on the hill.
And never twice the same;
it fell in a hundred ways, in waves, in ripples,
nor comb's teeth tore it.
Docile it was, and bright, and never angry,
so girls who dressed your hair never fear it,
nor hairpin scratched their arms;
my girl as gentle as her cheerful hair.
So I have seen her of an early morning,
languid and naked,
serene as sunlight on her purple bed;
her hair in charmed disorder at one shoulder.
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With
All Your False
Berton Braley
Your hair that glitters in the sun
Thrills me with loverlike emotions;
(Although I know its gold is done
With various lotions).
I love your lips of luscious rose,
Your brows so delicately pencilled,
(Though I have reason to suppose
That they are stencilled).
Your shell-like ears, so faintly pink,
Your cheeks, whose blush is merely hinted,
I love them too (although I think
Their hues are tinted.
Your neck and shoulders rouse delight,
And set my heart to beating louder,
(Although I know their snowy white
Is liquid powder).
But it's your eyes that stir romance,
Your eyes, (whose bella-donna flashes),
Whose artful shadows so enhance
Your loaded lashes.
Though artificial be their thrill,
And though their fascination be a
Cosmetic urge, I call you still "Mascara mia!"
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Tresses
Author Unknown
He said to me: "Tonight I dreamed a dream.
Your hair came down and fell about my throat.
Your locks were as a yoke about my neck, a red fan spreading
on my breast."
"And I caressed them; and they were my own;
and we were bound together thus forever,
by the same tresses, mouth on mouth,
like two twin laurels with a single root."
"And little by little, it seemed to me,
our limbs were so entwined that I became your body,
or you entered into mine like some sweet dreammingling with
my own."
When he had finished he softly placed his hand upon
my shoulders,
and looked into my eyes with such a look
I lowered them and trembled...
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Rapunzel
Once upon
a time there was a man and wife who longed for a child. After
many years she finally became pregnant. Their house was next
to a beautiful garden with a high wall around it keeping everyone
out. It was owned by a sorceress who had great powers that
people were afraid of.
One day the wife looked out her window into the garden and
longed to eat the beautiful Rapunzel-plants. She told her
husband that she would surely die if she did not have one.
Her husband was frightened by this so he climbed the garden
wall and snatched a bunch of Rapunzels and gave them to his
wife to eat. The next day her appetite for the flower was
three times greater so her husband climbed the wall again.
This time the wicked sorceress caught him and threatened to
cast a spell on him. He explained to her his wife's addiction
to the flowers and the sorceress made a bargain with him.
He could pick as many flowers as he wanted but when the baby
was born, he was to give it to the sorceress as payment. He
agreed to the arrangement and nine months later gave her a
little baby girl.
The
sorceress named the baby Rapunzel. When she turned 13, the
sorceress locked her in a tall tower with no doors or stairs
so that she could not escape. Each day the sorceress would
visit Rapunzel with food and water and yell to her, "Rapunzel,
Rapunzel, let down your hair." Rapunzel would lower her
golden locks from the window, and the sorceress would climb
up the braids to the tower.
One day
a prince was riding by and witnessed this occurrence. When
nighttime came and he knew that the sorceress had left, he
went to the tower and said, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let
down your hair." Rapunzel lowered her golden hair and
the handsome prince climbed up. At first Rapunzel was afraid
but soon fell in love with the prince. He visited her every
evening from then on.
After
many months, the sorceress realized that Rapunzel was pregnant
and she became furious. Rapunzel told her of the prince and
how in love she was with him. The sorceress was so angered
she cut Rapunzel's hair and sent her to the Land of Forgotten.
The prince returned that evening only to encounter the sicked
sorceress. She blinded him with thorns from the berry bushes
before he was able to escape.
The prince wandered for many years over the land, living on
berries and herbs that he managed to find until one day he
wandered into the Land of Forgotten. Rapunzel recognized him
and held him in her arms. Her tears fell upon his face and
restored his vision. It was then that he realized that it
was Rapunzel who held him and she had given birth to twins.
They lived happily ever after.
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Lady
Godiva
In the 14th century, Lady Godiva was the wife
of
Leofric, the Lord of Coventry,
in England. She pleaded with her husband to lower the taxes
on the townspeople. Knowing that she was a very modest woman,
he stated that he would not oblige unless she rode her white
horse naked though the middle of town. Lady Godiva issued a
proclamation that all people should remain in their homes with
their windows shut while she rode naked with only her blonde
tresses covering her naked body. After she accomplished this
feat, her husband kept his word and abolished the taxes.
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