Dorothy Parker: A Sense of Mirth

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A Life Worth Living
Thoughts Along The Way
The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde
Wilder Still
Dorothy Parker: A Sense of Mirth
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Music Of Words
Shannon I
Mightier Than The Sword

Laughter is Wisdom enjoying itself.

INVENTORY
Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
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THE LEAL
The friends I made have slipped and strayed,
And whos the one who cares?
A trifling lot and best forgot ~
And thats my tale and theirs.

Then if my friendships break and bend,
Theres little need to cry
The while I know that every foe
Is faithful till I die.
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A VERY SHORT SONG
Once, when I was young and true,
Someone left me sad ~
Broke my brittle heart in two;
And that is very bad.

Love is for unlucky folk,
Love is but a curse.
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.
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MEN
They hail you as their morning star
Because you are the way you are.
If you return the sentiment,
Theyll try to make you different;
And once they have you safe and sound,
They want to change you all around.
Your moods and ways they put a curse on;
They'd make of you another person.
They cannot let you go your gait;
They influence and educate.
They'd alter all that they admired.
They make me sick, they make me tired.
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THE VETERAN
When I was young and bold and strong,
O, right was right, and wrong was wrong!
My plume on high, my flag unfurled,
I rode away to right the world.
Come out, you dogs, and fight! said I,
And wept there was but once to die.

But I am old; and good and bad
Are woven in a crazy plaid.
I sit and say, "The world is so;
And he is wise who lets it go.
A battle lost, a battle won ~
The difference is small, my son."

Inertia rides and riddles me;
The which is called Philosophy.
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Résumé
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful ~
You might as well live.
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EPITAPH
The first time I died, I walked my ways;
I followed the file of limping days.

I held me tall, with my head flung up,
But I dared not look on the new moons cup.

I dared not look on the sweet young rain,
And between my ribs was a gleaming pain.

The next time I died, they laid me deep.
They spoke worn words to hallow my sleep.

They tossed me petals, they wreathed me fern;
They weighted me down with a marble urn.

And I lie here warm, and I lie here dry,
And watch the worms slip by, slip by.

Isn't she wonderful?

These are selections from the Dorothy Parker book, "Enough Rope," published by The Sun Dial Press in 1940, copyright 1926, by Horace Liveright, Inc.

There is so much more: many small verses of delight in this slim little volume. I urge you to purchase it.

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