Frost at Midnight

The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud-- and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
This populous village! Sea, and hill, and wood,
With all the numberless goings-on of life,
Inaudible as dreams! the thin blue flame
Lies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;
Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,
Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.
Methinks, its motion in this hush of nature
Gives it dim sympathies with me who live,
Making it a companionable form,
Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling Spirit
By its own moods interprets, every where
Echo or mirror seeking of itself,
And makes a toy of Thought.
But O ! how oft,

How oft, at school, with most believing mind,
Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,
To watch that fluttering stranger! and as oft
With unclosed lids, already had I dreamt
Of my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,
Whose bells, the poor man's only music, rang
From morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,
So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted me
With a wild pleasure, falling on mine ear
Most like articulate sounds of things to come!
So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt,
Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams!
And so I brooded all the following morn,
Awed by the stern preceptor's face, mine eye
Fixed with mock study on my swimming book:
Save if the door half opened, and I snatched
A hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up,
For still I hoped to see the stranger's face,
Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved,
My play-mate when we both were clothed alike!

Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,

Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,
Fill up the intersperséd vacancies
And momentary pauses of the thought!
My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart
With tender gladness, thus to look at thee,
And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,
And in far other scenes! For I was reared
In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim,
And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.
But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores
And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God
Utters, who from eternity doth teach
Himself in all, and all things in himself.
Great universal Teacher! he shall mould
Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.
Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,

Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,

Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.


-- samuel taylor coleridge

kickass.

hello all, I know this is no great work of writing, I did this all very quickly, because I have still lots of hw to do, however this is almost entirely the work of my brother dan, with slight editing out of IM format and into a format that can be easily (by myself) translated into italian... as the assignment he was helping me with was a composition of a fable that I'll be rewriting in italian for class. Ever the political commentator, my brother's blood chills blue. Hehe just so you know, here is the cast of characters as appropriated by my brother dan:

CHARACTER WILL BE PLAYED BY

1- Story Narrarator/Toucan :: GENEVIEVE P
(apparently a beautiful bird
with loads of "birds eye view"
insight to shed on the situation)

2- Chilled out Lemur :: DAN P
(hangs around literally all day)

3- Raccoon :: SEAN F
(Rebel with black eyes, a sly
guy with james dean written
all over him)

4- Squirrel :: CHRISTINA P
(She's a cutie, you can't deny)

5- Fox :: JAMES W
(He's keepin his eyes on peoples)

6- Billy Goat :: JOE K
(He's wise and calculated, he
lives on a mountain, one wrong step
.... plus very aggressive with the
horns.)

7- RHINO :: GEORGIE W. B n CREW
(Militaristic, Opportunistic,
Greedy and stuck in a rut)

enjoy:


Una favola

Once upon a time in Madagascar there was a beautiful oasis beside a mountain which separates the harsh desert of Madagascar, from the thick forest. In this oasis there was a group of animals who lived in harmony until one day a ruffian rhino, with thick and rough skin came along, and started to force the other animals to do his bidding. The rhino had come to the watering hole because he had heard talk of this wonderful oasis, where the water runs wild and the fruits taste sweet. It was easy for him to take control, because it was not well defended.

The rhino came into the watering hole to get water, and started to boss around the lemur and the fox and the squirrel. When the fox tried to stop the rhino, the rhinos horn was too strong. So the squirrel and the lemur went and told the billy-goat about this ruffian rhino who had made so much trouble. He forced the lemur to gather food from the tops of the trees, forced the fox to gather grass from the other side of the thick forest, where the rhino couldn’t fit, and had his allies the squirrel and the raccoon steal things from the local villagers. At first the raccoon was happy working with the rhino, but after a while he realized that the rhino didn’t think of them as allies, but slaves. The raccoon didn’t like getting bullied around, and soon thought of the oasis as an oppressive place.

Daily each animal complained to the wise and strong Billy-Goat for help. The Billy Goat thought for a long time about the animals’ problem. Then one day he announced his plan. He told the fox to tell the rhino of glorious treasures hidden deep in the thick forest, that the fox was too weak to retrieve. The squirrel and the raccoon also bragged to the rhino about the many treasures in the deep forest. So the rhino, selfishly decided to leave the water hole in the middle of the night and steal all of the treasures for himself. When he went into the forest, he got stuck in the dense bushes and couldn’t get out. He went in too deep, without any friends around to help, because he misused him and didn’t want to share. From that day on the animals were happy.

Moral: Those who are willing to abandon their friends and allies, might just find themselves stuck with Bushs.