Friday, October 10, 2008

A poem about Wall Street. Sort of.

Richard Corey

by Edward Arlington Robinson

WHENEVER Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.


Tore Claesson said...

They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.

Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.

Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.

Why is it then we stray
Around that sunken sill?
They are all gone away.

And our poor fancy-play
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.

There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.

george tannenbaum said...

There's a lot to be said for rhyme schemes.

Tore Claesson said...

there's a lot to be said for true and deep intelligence and understanding of the mind of humans..
some call it "oh those elite intellectuals" ,scoff at it, and win points with those are are simply not intellectual, or intelligent, enough to understand that they are being had. I wish i could say it in a poetic language, with rhymes and all.
Having said that. I'm a firm believer in the arts as the sharpest of weapons, the most inspirational of lessons. Which is, by the way, the only reason for us in advertising to be creative. Because we can't simply shout: "BUY MY PRODUCT NOW!"
Not even the dumbest fool will hear your cry.
(Sorry for ending on such a mundane note. i guess that is what having been in advertising a serious part of ones life does to you, or at least did to me.)