|
[John Donne's Holy Sonnet 10 ("Death Be Not Proud") is anagrammed into a poem inspired by our late awardsmaster Larry Brash which also pays tribute to him in several ways, detailed below:]
John Donne's Death Be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
|
Tomes Kept By A Master Poet
He stocks the breadth of joy profound,
Those hallowed wealths of plot and ode,
Within the archives set around
That study at his old abode.
He'll note Wilde's potent novelty
Then ponder Blake's unstable tone,
Or sip one dash of morning tea
And, peaceful, read The Bard alone.
It's no surprise that such a soul
Would note the force behind most works;
The human touch preserved them whole
And touch does have some worthy perks.
And when our shy and standout man
Remembers folks whom he once knew,
No truth feels more compelling than
A latent truth which still holds true:
Most poets' charms stayed strong and pure;
Though they are dead, the wit endures.
[The poem mentions Oscar Wilde, William Blake and Shakespeare specifically since they were Larry's favorite fodder for literary and poetic anagrams. But the poem itself is also a graphic tribute to him; an A (our Anagrammy Awards logo) can be drawn in the monospaced anagram text using three specific phrases:]
Tomes Kept By A Master Poet
He stocks the breadth of joy profound,
Those hallowed wealths of plot and ode,
Within the archives set around
That study at his old abode.
He'll note Wilde's potent novelty
Then ponder Blake's unstable tone,
Or sip one dash of morning tea
And, peaceful, read The Bard alone.
It's no surprise that such a soul
Would note the force behind most works;
The human touch preserved them whole
And touch does have some worthy perks.
And when our shy and standout man
Remembers folks whom he once knew,
No truth feels more compelling than
A latent truth which still holds true:
Most poets' charms stayed strong and pure;
Though they are dead, the wit endures.
|
