Double Ballade of Life and Fate

[med_cat]

DOUBLE BALLADE OF LIFE AND FATE

Fools may pine, and sots may swill,
Cynics gibe, and prophets rail,
Moralists may scourge and drill,
Preachers prose, and fainthearts quail.
Let them whine, or threat, or wail!
Till the touch of Circumstance
Down to darkness sink the scale,
Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.

What if skies be wan and chill?
What if winds be harsh and stale?
Presently the east will thrill,
And the sad and shrunken sail,
Bellying with a kindly gale,
Bear you sunwards, while your chance
Sends you back the hopeful hail:-
'Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.'

Idle shot or coming bill,
Hapless love or broken bail,
Gulp it (never chew your pill!),
And, if Burgundy should fail,
Try the humbler pot of ale!
Over all is heaven's expanse.
Gold's to find among the shale.
Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.

Dull Sir Joskin sleeps his fill,
Good Sir Galahad seeks the Grail,
Proud Sir Pertinax flaunts his frill,
Hard Sir AEger dints his mail;
And the while by hill and dale
Tristram's braveries gleam and glance,
And his blithe horn tells its tale:-
'Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.'


Araminta's grand and shrill,
Delia's passionate and frail,
Doris drives an earnest quill,
Athanasia takes the veil:
Wiser Phyllis o'er her pail,
At the heart of all romance
Reading, sings to Strephon's flail:-
'Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.'

Every Jack must have his Jill
(Even Johnson had his Thrale!):
Forward, couples--with a will!
This, the world, is not a jail.
Hear the music, sprat and whale!
Hands across, retire, advance!
Though the doomsman's on your trail,
Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.

Envoy

Boys and girls, at slug and snail
And their kindred look askance.
Pay your footing on the nail:
Fate's a fiddler, Life's a dance.

(William Ernest Henley)

Comments

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this here; so fitting for November.

[med_cat]

My pleasure! Ah, I see what you mean, because of this, right?

"What if skies be wan and chill?
What if winds be harsh and stale?"

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Yes, those lines in particular - more generally, to cheer the spirit in the dark season of the year.

[med_cat]

OK :) I'll have to rustle up some more cheerful poems then, or if you see any you like in my LJ, you are always welcome to repost.

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I appreciate it very much. I have scheduled entries here through Nov. 12; soon will be posting more.

[med_cat]

No problem; I'd just posted an autumn poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar to the comm, and scheduled a general one by Phyllis McGinley to post in a few days :)

[med_cat]

Hello Kir,

Just wondering if you know anything about it--I just now tried to post/schedule a poem or two to greatpoets, and kept getting messages like "max number of posts reached" and "can't post to comms with a moderation queue"--had no such problems yesterday...

Any idea if it's something with the comm, or is LJ glitching yet again?

Thanks,

Cat

[duathir.livejournal.com]

Hello Cat,

I have just tested and did not have trouble posting a scheduled entry here. I currently have 1678 entries scheduled for war_poetry, and only 28 for this community, so I do not believe the max number of posts has been reached. Have you tried again? It may be the glitch has resolved by now.

Good luck,

- Kír

[med_cat]

Thanks...I've tried again, and I'd only had a couple of entries scheduled for the comm--but I keep getting the same stupid message--"you can't post to comms with a moderation queue."

Well, too bad, guess I won't be posting to the comm...

[duathir.livejournal.com]

No, that will not do. The owner of this community is moireach; I suggest you message her, or one of the other moderators.

[med_cat]

I'd messaged the owner a couple days ago, asking to have tags added...still waiting to hear back.

We shall see. LJ has really gone downhill in the last few years; I strongly suspect it's yet another glitch.

[med_cat]

It works now, go figure...so, I posted another poem :)

[duathir.livejournal.com]

I am glad it is working.

[med_cat]

:)

[go-teen-angst.livejournal.com]

Love this one.

[med_cat]

My pleasure! :)

[debriswoman]

Not heard this one before.
Quite apt
Thank you:-)

[med_cat]

My pleasure! It's one of my favourites among his poems. duathir suggested I post it here...

Best wishes :)

[debriswoman]

Thanks again, and all the best for the week ahead.

[med_cat]

You're most welcome, and the same to you :)