Mates

It boots not to retrace the path

To ages dim and hoar,

When Man, at the domestic hearth,

First learned the art of war,

And-since in battle one must fall-

Held his defeated spouse in thrall,

That she should fight no more;

And thereby doomed to sleep and sloth

Strength that in action strengthened both.

It boots not when the better day

First showed a glint of morn,

Nor whose the eye that, in its ray,

Saw Woman’s chains outworn;

Nor which was first and which was last

When savage rivalry was past

And chivalry was born;

Enough for us that, free or pent,

Her primal treasure was misspent.

The waxing noontide sees them now

Joint sovereigns of the land,

No trace upon the gentler brow

Of the old helot brand.

Consenting that the right is right,

They walk as comrades-or they might-

For ever hand in hand.

Yet still a stronger leads and drags,

And still a weaker leans and lags.

Because we reap what we have sown,

And are as we were bred;

Because one passion, overgrown,

Since so long overfed,

Still works confusion to the scheme

Whereof both man and woman dream.

‘T’is the unnumbered dead

That laid it on him for a curse,

And her, its immemorial nurse.

But, with these tyrants in the dust,

Why should their ghosts hold sway?

Cut the long entail of their lust,

Heirs of a cleaner day!

Lift the dead hand from living mind,

Break the old spells that bind and blind,

O Woman, far astray!

And march with Man the open road

Without a fetter or a load.

Our pioneer brothers can discern

The sunlit heights around;

We, that should likewise look and learn,

Keep eyes upon the ground

And drug our feebleness with sweets

When needing tonic of strong meats;

And all our ways surround

With tangling trifles, gaud and toy,

That mock us with the name of joy.

What brains these fragile webs enmesh!

What soaring thought they tie!

What energies of soul and flesh

They still or stultify!

What wasted riches of the mind,

What wealth of genius, dumb and blind,

In shop and workroom lie,

While the great realms of life are stored

With such vast mystery unexplored!

Where were the sciences and arts

When men went plumed and curled?

Where were the brains, the hands, the hearts,

That now subdue the world-

The March of Progress, straight and true-

When men wore coats of every hue?

In childish swaddlings furled,

Their strength lay latent and unknown,

As ineffectual as our own.

Freed from this complicated coil

By mere vainglory spun,

Uprooted from this fruitless soil,

Unfed by rain or sun,

Where sleep the germs of noble deeds

In still unfructifying seeds,

Or leafage scarce begun-

This ash-heap or the poor and small

That chokes the greatness in us all-

Uplifted to the light-the place

Where Man his manhood found

When tyranny of silk and lace

No longer held him bound;

With eyes, from Fashion’s witchcraft clear,

For Beauty, simple and sincere,

And, unbeguiled by sound

Of siren wooings, quiet ears

For the high message that he hears:

The swelling call to loftier life

That, like a distant bell,

Chimes through the traffic and the strife

Of those who buy and sell;

Through camp and temple, field and street,

The market where we game and cheat,

The home wherein we dwell:-

Here should we stand, as strong, as free,

For splendid enterprise as he.

To him no flowering parasite

That only sucks and clings

To drain and enervate and blight,

But impulse to his wings;

His mate in passion, mate in power,

His soul’s wife, that for marriage dower

Exhaustless treasure brings-

The daily bread, the daily spur,

The day’s reward for him-and her.

Like woodland creatures, that have willed

To pair by Nature’s plan,

A woman finished and fulfilled

And a completed man;

To run together and abreast,

And side by side to fight or rest,

As when the world began;

Each bound to other, yet both free . . . .

It is not, but it ought to be.

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A few random poems:

External links

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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Address to the Toothache by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to the shade of Thomson by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to the Deil by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to Edinburgh by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Adam Armour’s Prayer by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Winter Night by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Vision by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Tippling Ballad—When Princes and Prelates, etc. by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Prayer under the Pressure of Violent Anguish by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Prayer in the Prospect of Death by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Poet’s Welcome to his Love-Begotten Daughter by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A New Psalm for the Chapel of Kilmarnock by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Mother’s Lament for her Son’s Death by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Grace before Dinner by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• A Grace after Dinner by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• News, lassies, news (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Mally’s meek, Mally’s sweet (Song) by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

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Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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