[This poem contains references to the current DebConf at IMT Atlantique, Brest and may not make sense to those not here] Debconf25 at Technopole Brest Is my first and thus therefore the best Matching known names to faces But impossible places Find i14 rooms - and the rest :) The stand up introduced each to all Many there had answered the call To seek help is not meek For Debcamp's all week And the…
From 2011 Tsunami haiku - for Sophia Spring flowers blossom Earthquake waves threaten, prove Impermanent world
Laborare est orare To work is to pray Making that your credo, Live holy through the day Don't disallow the Spirit - Since Heaven's your goal Allow the poetry of God''s love To bless and heal the soul
Every common frog or toad Should learn to cross an English road Though signs warn drivers "Natterjack" They still get squashed going there and back
"No man is an island" though some would wish it so Aloof, alone: above others' to and fro Self-reliant: not dependent on world's show "Intire unto itself" - and they reach their goal What profit self-wholeness if they lose their soul?
Here's to Zippy and Nemo, Jennyfur and Kay And Val with best wishes for this Christmas day Here we may have snow - for Van Wert, I don't know From two cats and two - here's best wishes to you.
A double length Debian release means the Release Team don't get much peace What with last minute breaks And the time that it takes Treat them with respect today, please The media teams on the hook As we follow our normal play book With laptops all primed The images are timed Once we're told we'll start taking our look This is the last time for 11 And for Bookworm, it's just 12.7 Give us time for…
What we leave behind ============== Every year there's a Debconf And the next year, there's one more Debconf23 was in Kochi Busan is 24 The time is fine for cheese and wine For Mao and for much more There's always space to drink and dine And new good things in store Whether with mates or new good friends To get the best, we find Think of what's left when Debconf ends And what we leave behind Treat…
Mille Regretz Mille regretz de vous abandonner Et d'eslonger vostre fache amoureuse, J'ay si grand dueil et paine douloureuse, Qu'on me verra brief mes jours definer. I regret abandoning you a thousand times Pushing myself far from your loving face I've such sorrow and pain for these You'll see my time is short within life's space.
Carpe diem Don’t fret Leuconoe on what may be Take this advice, just as it comes from me Don’t ask – it tempts fate – what should be our end And Babylon’s horoscopes are no-one’s friend Take what Jove gives us – one last winter or storms Like those that fret the cliffs which Summer warms In southern waters. Strain the wine and drink. Quickly for we have little time to think Not of tomorrow – the…
Vixi Puellis nuper idoneus Until just now, I've lived for Love And did well under her arms I've sheathed my weapon: now my lyre Hangs with her other charms With the axes and the nightlights And the bars to force the way So put them up on the left wall As from another day Queen of Cyprus and Sithonia Memphis where never snow will fall Pray now on stuck-up Chloe Use your whip for once, that's all
After Horace Pyrrha What perfumed sweetie presses you this hour Pyrrha, within your cave, that rose-strewn bower? For whom are you retying your golden hair With artless artifice - how will he fare? If he sees faith when safe within your arms What will he think of storms, downpours, alarms? When riven from you - battered, tempest-tossed Will he, half-drowned, then see just what he's lost? Who…
Dido's farewell to Aeneas And did you think to steal away to sea And let your silence speak the truth to me? That neither love nor pledges rank with you That thus my fate to meet cruel Death ensue? You'd do this in the winter, foolish work And seek to sail Northwards, heartless jerk? If Troy still stood, even then you'd not sail West For in these stormy seas, to stay were best So it's me then -…
The vision of Dido Trojan Aeneas,hidden, surveyed all the new Enraptured, stock still, fixed upon the view The beauteous Dido with a bustling throng Came to the temple, girdled by the strong Young men at arms, as Diana at the front Went with her Oreads arrayed for the hunt Such sights as would thrill a Latona's breast Seeing her offspring thus in all her best Thus fairest Dido, Queen, pursued her…
Ovid once banished on Dacia's distant shore The Eternal vanished: Goethe saw Rome no more Isis to Chelt you came: for marmalade, toast and tea Explaining Ovid and exile's geography Few souls to listen early in the cold "The Meta" made Latin myths from the old And lingers still - the tales we know are those If literature flowers, this the rose You mentioned Icarus' fall, that steep descent To a…
Ding, dong, ding - at Epiphany Catholic angels cease singing polyphony Three eastern sages, wise Magi Bear gifts 'neath a portentous sky Then Queen of Heaven and family flee Making the God-child a refugee Ding, dong, dong, at Theophany Orthodox bells ring a cacophony To celebrate a virgin birth Theotokos upon the earth These simultaneous mysteries Arise from schismatical histories May those who…
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir, à la chandelle, Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant, Direz, chantant mes vers, en vous émerveillant : Ronsard me célébrait du temps que j’étais belle. Lors, vous n’aurez servante oyant telle nouvelle, Déjà sous le labeur à demi sommeillant, Qui au bruit de mon nom ne s’aille réveillant, Bénissant votre nom de louange immortelle. Je serai sous la terre…
Vom Himmel bis in die tiefsten Klüfte Ein milder Stern herniederlacht; Vom Tannenwalde steigen Düfte Und hauchen durch die Winterlüfte, Und kerzenhelle wird die Nacht. From Heaven into the deep vale A pale star sends its nearward light And fir tree woods sweetly exhale A scent to waft through winter's night The whole lit as by candlelight [Originally paraphrased from a Dutch translation]
Ah ! Vous dirai-je maman Ce qui cause mon tourment? Papa veut que je raisonne Comme une grande personne Moi je dis que les bonbons Valent mieux que la raison. Ah, now I will tell you, Mom What's made me lose my aplomb Daddy wants, as end result, I should think like an adult Me, I think that pretty sweeties Are worth more than such entreaties OR Ah, now let me tell you, Mummy What's upset my head…
Orpheus at the outset Though all would know his name, the lyre He'd have to steal his father's spark And pitch his game - and tuning - higher Were he to lieder in the dark No latent anguish : that hidden hiss Had meant that he had come to Dis The legacy Orpheus, shredded in every part Gave Sappho's Lesbos a head start The prize [Ovid: Metamorphoses 10,40-52] The bloodless souls wept - with each…
My lady sleeps, dreams borne by distant seas 'Posed as a goddess taken at her ease Her ivory skin ambered by golden light A modest varnish veils parts hid to sight No thoughts of Cupid, Paris, Trojan wars The model's cheap and common - and she snores
Back-referenced Ennius, heroic metre Dust mote atoms: what, then, sweeter? Enraptured Cheltenham in a tent Thank you all: so glad we went!
If, unexpectedly, I hear your voice My heart stops, leaps and strains to cross the void An instantaneous frequency response Reflex emotions' plot is cardioid
This is the world of Black and Red Of Alice and Bob and Carol (and Eve) Where little is spoken, much left unsaid And who, in the end, can you believe? This is the world which drew us together This, then, the world that forced us apart This, the world still where - loved forever - You hold the key that broke my heart
"If the grammar is slightly archaic Then the writing sounds fresh and different" Though an MP's life's no less prosaic Writing thus to each sundry constituent It seems clerical rather than laic And the reader wonders what is meant "Write English, be clear and no Latin (Unless needed)" said one Eric Blair J. Rees Mogg has no right to put that in For his helpers to labour and care It's the readers'…