Philipp Sorge’s Reviews > The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry > Status Update

Goodness is required.
It is part of the design.
Badness is understood.
It is a lapse, and part of the design.

Acknowledgement of the good
And condemnation of the bad
Are required. Lapses
Are not understood.

You have taken the east from me; you have taken the west from me;
you have taken what is before me and what is behind me;
you have taken the moon, you have taken the sun from me;
and my fear is great that you have taken God from me!

‚May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten, and may//
The High King of Glory permit her to get the mange‘

Wird in mein Beleidigungsrepertoire aufgenommen.

Nothing more funny than a poem where a rider curses his horse to hell because it threw him off in front of the woman he loved, she lost all respect for him and broke up with him.

'I gave you oats, you thankless devil!
And saved your life, you graceless fiend, you!
From ragged mane to scrubby tail
I combed and brushed and scraped and cleaned you.'

"Lover and Echo"

'Tell me, Echo fair!
From the air above
Since thou knowest, why
I to sorrow clove?
Echo: Love

Love!-O no, of course,
That source ceased to flow;
That I knew of yore
Now no more I know.
Echo: No?

Lo, if Fortune hard
Will thy bard oppress,
Is there - tell me sure
cure for my distress?
Echo: Yes

Sage and witty Sprite
Rightly now reply,
Since there's healing calm
Choose what balm should I?
Echo: Die.