Reason

Lernen Sie »Nein« sagen - Learn to say "No".
Hugo Weber-Rumpe.

Rhyme

The Lamplighter
Robert Louis Stevenson

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea.
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!

Reason

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.
Henry Kissinger, New York Times Magazine 1969.

Rhyme

Untitled
Leeanne Stevens

Consider the sun, the moon, the stars
That shine and twinkle in the Milky Way,
The light, the dusk, the deepening dark
That gently falls at close of day.

Look at the rain falling fast upon us,
Hark to the wind blowing loud and shrill,
Imagine the glow that comes at sunset
Tinting the sea and the quiet hill.

Forget the cares that hover around you
For they will come, and they will go.
That sky of grey to blue is changing
No need to fret and worry so.

Reason

If you face the Universe with good intentions, it will reward you.
G'Kar of Babylon 5

Rhyme

The Horseman's Word
Kenneth Steven

He did not know French or the history of art.
He did not know the declensions of verbs.
He did not know when Sir Christopher Wren
Built the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.

He knew the names of the songbirds.
He knew where the geese came to rest in autumn,
And he knew the one word
That could bridle a wild horse;
The word that had passed like a pearl,
From mouth to mouth, son after son,
That secret whisper old as the fields themselves.

When his father lay
Washed up on the last tide of his life,.
He gave his word
To the young, bright, blue well of a boy,
Who caught it and kept it,
Let it flow into the strong blood of his growing.

And later, when a whole galloping of horses
Had softened under his voice,
They envied him black
On the farms where they had books and learning and stables;
They stared at him dumb, bewildered,
As he broke their stallions from wild thrashings of river
To beautiful waterfalls, creatures that poured
Into one word's gallop, that stilled
At the weight of a single hand.

He kept his word, his pearl,
Deep in the dark of his head -
A whole inheritance.

If you want to find out more about Kenneth Steven and his poetry and other writing, please visit his web page.

Reason and Rhyme in 2005
Reason and Rhyme in 2004
Reason and Rhyme in 2003