i. The Wanderer (anonymous Old English poem ca. 9th-10th century; trans. A.S. Kline)

ii. Maffeo Vegio, Book XIII of the Aeneid, 1428, trans. Michael Putnam

iii. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, 1954

some say the goat will end in fire some say in ice from what I've read on the Wikipedia page of past Goat-destroying efforts, I'm pretty sure none of us were reckoning on absolute swarms of hungry birds but birds are also great and will suffice

This is just to say

We have eaten the Goat

That was in your city

And that you were probably saving

To burn for Christmas

Forgive us

It was delicious

So seed

And such goat

My nam is bird

And wen it’s cold

And now the year

Is growing old

I sit on straw

Just lik a coat

With all my friends

I eat the goat.

The birds

They destroyed the goat

Yes

YES

The birds are out

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

this is my favourite poem

(source)

William Wordsworth, Book VI: The Church-Yard Among the Mountains, from The Excursion (1814)

“Where is the horse? Where the rider? Where the giver of treasure? Where the seats of the feast? Where are the joys of the hall? Alas for the bright cup! Alas for the heroic warrior! Alas for the splendor of the king! How they have passed away, Dark under night-cover, As if they never were.” - The Wanderer, An Anglo-Saxon poem of lamentation, which was the inspiration for Tolkien’s Lament of the Rohirrim. (via pipesandmetalandtolkien)

- John Keats

This is like the funniest thing in the world to me for so many reasons

Imagine that every copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio had been destroyed some 350 years ago. We might have heard tell of how great “Macbeth” once was on stage, but we couldn’t perform it ourselves. Without the First Folio, we’d be deprived of at least half of...

4.12.6 - Waiting

Because I love you all, have another translation spreadsheet! for the whole poem! SADS FOR EVERYONE!

(Wilbour doesn’t include a translation, so that’s why it’s not in there. And I am, as usual, APPALLED by Denny. Not only does his version of the poem only have five stanzas instead of seventeen, it sort of drifts away from anything resembling the original text by the end. DENNY.)

Also, for anyone who doesn’t know, this is where “Drink With Me” comes from. (As if we didn’t already have enough reason to cry!!) These are the lyrics in the original French concept album (via Mme. Bahorel’s site, which has translations for the whole libretto):

Sound familiar?

If you don’t have the OFC, here’s the track on YouTube (there’s some disco!Enjolras before we get to this part, so you can laugh before you cry).

I PHYSICALLY CRINGED AT THIS POST. Thank you for doing all this work, I could hardly read the whole thing through ONCE.

You know, I was wondering about this and Drink With Me! I’m  glad it changed, Drink With Me is sad, but THIS might have made it impossible for me to watch the musical.

ETA: DENNY WHY WHAT WHAT EVEN, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

"The Hollow Men", T. S. Eliot, 1925

Credit to Maria Vincente for her brilliance ↯