• Take Me Away

    From brian.mallard@brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Freeagentprose) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Fri May 15 22:11:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Fri May 15 22:16:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG



    Outstanding poetry as song lyrics.

    '


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Fri May 15 22:23:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG



    Nice photography as well, Brian.

    '


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  • From brian.mallard@brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Freeagentprose) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Fri May 15 22:30:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Will-Dockery wrote:
    [snip]



    Thank you!


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  • From Will Dockery@user3274@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 03:19:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments


    brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Freeagentprose) posted:
    Will-Dockery wrote:

    [snip]



    Thank you!

    Good to see you back on the poetry newsgroup, Brian.



    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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    https://www.reverbnation.com/willdockery
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  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.com to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 06:43:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Verily, in article <bhednf6QzeN9Tpr3nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d@giganews.com>, did brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid deliver unto us this
    message:
    [snip of most]

    Nice. Thanks for posting.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    This was my favorite part. I see the gates reaching up to the stars themselves, maybe opening the heavens.
    --
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    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
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  • From Will Dockery@user3274@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 12:22:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments


    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> posted:

    Verily, in article <bhednf6QzeN9Tpr3nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d@giganews.com>, did brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid deliver unto us this
    message:
    [snip of most]

    Nice. Thanks for posting.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    This was my favorite part. I see the gates reaching up to the stars themselves, maybe opening the heavens.

    Agreed, a good one
    --
    Poetry and songs of Will Dockery:
    https://www.reverbnation.com/willdockery
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 13:48:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    The True Melissa wrote:
    Verily, in article <bhednf6QzeN9Tpr3nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d>, did brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid deliver unto us this
    message:
    [snip of most]

    Nice. Thanks for posting.


    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why



    This was my favorite part. I see the gates reaching up to the stars themselves, maybe opening the heavens.

    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos



    That's a good verse.


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  • From Bruce@Bruce@invalid.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 14:49:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Will-Dockery wrote:
    I see the gates reaching up to the stars


    Lay off of the hootch, Donkey.
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  • From Will Dockery@user3274@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 19:00:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments


    Bruce <Bruce@invalid.invalid> posted:

    I see the gates reaching up to the stars


    Lay off of the hootch

    I didn't write that.
    --
    Poetry and songs of Will Dockery:
    https://www.reverbnation.com/willdockery
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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 15:27:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Bruce wrote:
    Will Dockery wrote:

    I see the gates reaching up to the stars




    Lay off of the hootch



    I didn't write it, Bruce.

    Here's the poem, try to keep up:

    [quote="Freeagentprose"]Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG

    ***


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  • From Bruce@Bruce@invalid.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 15:36:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Will-Dockery wrote:
    Bruce wrote:
    Will Dockery wrote:

    I see the gates reaching up to the stars


    Lay off of the hootch


    Ok, but why did you have to tell me that twice?
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  • From michaelmaleficapendragon@michaelmaleficapendragon@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (HarryLime) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sat May 16 19:01:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG



    [quote="Freeagentprose"]Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 10:24:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.




    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


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  • From michaelmaleficapendragon@michaelmaleficapendragon@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (HarryLime) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 11:45:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="NancyGene"]
    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?



    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 12:17:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.



    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 12:39:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="NancyGene"]
    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?



    Ducky Mallard


    View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705184541#705184541




    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 12:40:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="NancyGene"]
    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    Ducky Mallard



    Gardner McKay - 6'4", chiseled body, actual male model and actor.


    View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705184561#705184561




    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 14:34:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Good song.

    I've never seen the movie.


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  • From michaelmaleficapendragon@michaelmaleficapendragon@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (HarryLime) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Sun May 17 18:34:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="NancyGene"]
    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?



    Different species.


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 03:49:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Bruce wrote:
    Will-Dockery wrote:

    Bruce wrote:
    Will Dockery wrote:

    I see the gates reaching up to the stars

    I didn't write that ^^^




    Ok, but why did you have to tell me that twice?



    That I didn't write what you attributed me with writing?


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 07:06:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year), calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    Different species.



    Homo guitar non-sapien?


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
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  • From Cujo DeSockpuppet@cujo@petitmorte.net to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 15:14:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) wrote in news:XbScnbt0qJ11bpf3nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com:

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough
    as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be
    spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the
    different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening
    line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing
    how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about
    daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the
    "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of
    syllables in the line). Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should
    be part of the same picture: Try: The creak of timbers to the
    ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that
    songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common
    expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change
    the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a
    reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise,
    the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and
    changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut,
    lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly
    because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I
    can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo
    choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse
    race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star
    imagery of the preceding line and say: Fling wide the night and
    let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something
    more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2)
    because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for
    a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in
    detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that
    "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs
    song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is
    correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane
    porlock. Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me.
    It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only
    credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me
    With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening
    credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be
    heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my
    all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your
    favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical
    locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through
    it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of
    Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were
    possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year),
    calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in
    it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    Different species.



    Homo guitar non-sapien?

    Anas platyrhynchos Ineptus.

    It pairs well with Douchimus Maximus Ineptus.
    --
    "The fact that it doesn't apply to the poem is of little consequence to
    you, because your poems don't have a literary basis, because you're functionally illiterate and haven't got a clue as to what a poem is." -
    Little Willie Douchebag gets another asskicking from Pendragon
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  • From durrtmike@durrtmike@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Miguel Sucio) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 11:03:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG



    Fake Me Away

    Fake me awayrCa fake me away
    To where the talent doesnrCOt die on stage
    Out there past Columbus, GA
    Where every third guyrCOs a rCLpoetrCY
    And every bandrCOs rCLthe next big thingrCY
    Till you hear rCOem play three chords
    And murder everything

    Open the gates and let me run
    Far from Donkey and his bongos con
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I forget that open mic night

    Fake me awayrCa fake me today
    To where the crowds donrCOt clap from pure clich|-
    Where the old dreams havenrCOt turned to dust
    And every Facebook post
    IsnrCOt dripping self-love lust
    Ghosts of decent musicians whisper:
    rCLManrCa this town is rough.rCY

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Before Ducky posts again tonight

    Take me awayrCa take me at dawn
    Past riverwalk prophets carrying on
    Mesas bear the sky
    But Columbus bears bad art
    Every guy with a notebook
    Thinks herCOs Tennessee Williams at heart
    Meanwhile Ducky plays his guitar low
    Auditioning for Worst in Show

    Buy me a ticketrCa one way please
    Far from the Pillars of Mediocrity
    Where white ruins remember
    Better bands that came and went
    Alexandria cried unseen tears
    Columbus just posts compliments

    Open the gates and let me run
    From low-rent fame and everyone
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Out there the seabirds cry at night
    Back here they argue Facebook likes
    Songs of the sirens used to call
    Now itrCOs a hayseed bumping threads at 3 a.m. yrCOall

    Open the gates and let me run
    Past every rCLartistrCY under the sun
    Swing wide the gates and let me flee
    Before Columbus starts applauding poetry!


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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 12:11:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Miguel Sucio wrote:
    Fake Me Away

    Fake me awayrCa fake me away
    To where the talent doesnrCOt die on stage
    Out there past Columbus, GA
    Where every third guyrCOs a rCLpoetrCY
    And every bandrCOs rCLthe next big thingrCY
    Till you hear rCOem play three chords
    And murder everything

    Open the gates and let me run
    Far from Donkey and his bongos con
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I forget that open mic night

    Fake me awayrCa fake me today
    To where the crowds donrCOt clap from pure clich|-
    Where the old dreams havenrCOt turned to dust
    And every Facebook post
    IsnrCOt dripping self-love lust
    Ghosts of decent musicians whisper:
    rCLManrCa this town is rough.rCY

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Before Ducky posts again tonight

    Take me awayrCa take me at dawn
    Past riverwalk prophets carrying on
    Mesas bear the sky
    But Columbus bears bad art
    Every guy with a notebook
    Thinks herCOs Tennessee Williams at heart
    Meanwhile Ducky plays his guitar low
    Auditioning for Worst in Show

    Buy me a ticketrCa one way please
    Far from the Pillars of Mediocrity
    Where white ruins remember
    Better bands that came and went
    Alexandria cried unseen tears
    Columbus just posts compliments

    Open the gates and let me run
    From low-rent fame and everyone
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Out there the seabirds cry at night
    Back here they argue Facebook likes
    Songs of the sirens used to call
    Now itrCOs a hayseed bumping threads at 3 a.m. yrCOall

    Open the gates and let me run
    Past every rCLartistrCY under the sun
    Swing wide the gates and let me flee
    Before Columbus starts applauding poetry!




    Excellent and insightful poetry, Miguel! You should set that to music (with multiple chords).


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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 13:21:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="Cujo DeSockpuppet"]nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) wrote in
    news:XbScnbt0qJ11bpf3nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com:



    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough
    as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be
    spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the
    different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening
    line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing
    how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about
    daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the
    "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of
    syllables in the line). Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should
    be part of the same picture: Try: The creak of timbers to the
    ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that
    songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common
    expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change
    the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a
    reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise,
    the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and
    changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut,
    lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly
    because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I
    can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo
    choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse
    race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star
    imagery of the preceding line and say: Fling wide the night and
    let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something
    more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2)
    because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for
    a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in
    detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that
    "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs
    song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is
    correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane
    porlock. Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me.
    It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only
    credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me
    With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening
    credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be
    heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my
    all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your
    favorites?


    It's possible. ;) The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical
    locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through
    it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of
    Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were
    possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year),
    calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis. There's also no singing in
    it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    Different species.



    Homo guitar non-sapien?



    Anas platyrhynchos Ineptus.

    It pairs well with Douchimus Maximus Ineptus.



    Does Will Donkey spell that "anus?" Actually Will Donkey walks like a duck.


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  • From durrtmike@durrtmike@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Miguel Sucio) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 13:07:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    NancyGene wrote:

    Miguel Sucio wrote:
    Fake Me Away

    Fake me awayrCa fake me away
    To where the talent doesnrCOt die on stage
    Out there past Columbus, GA
    Where every third guyrCOs a rCLpoetrCY
    And every bandrCOs rCLthe next big thingrCY
    Till you hear rCOem play three chords
    And murder everything

    Open the gates and let me run
    Far from Donkey and his bongos con
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I forget that open mic night

    Fake me awayrCa fake me today
    To where the crowds donrCOt clap from pure clich|-
    Where the old dreams havenrCOt turned to dust
    And every Facebook post
    IsnrCOt dripping self-love lust
    Ghosts of decent musicians whisper:
    rCLManrCa this town is rough.rCY

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Before Ducky posts again tonight

    Take me awayrCa take me at dawn
    Past riverwalk prophets carrying on
    Mesas bear the sky
    But Columbus bears bad art
    Every guy with a notebook
    Thinks herCOs Tennessee Williams at heart
    Meanwhile Ducky plays his guitar low
    Auditioning for Worst in Show

    Buy me a ticketrCa one way please
    Far from the Pillars of Mediocrity
    Where white ruins remember
    Better bands that came and went
    Alexandria cried unseen tears
    Columbus just posts compliments

    Open the gates and let me run
    From low-rent fame and everyone
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Out there the seabirds cry at night
    Back here they argue Facebook likes
    Songs of the sirens used to call
    Now itrCOs a hayseed bumping threads at 3 a.m. yrCOall

    Open the gates and let me run
    Past every rCLartistrCY under the sun
    Swing wide the gates and let me flee
    Before Columbus starts applauding poetry!



    Excellent and insightful poetry, Miguel! You should set that to music (with multiple chords).



    I spoke to the boys, who agreed to do it on one, and only one condition - that we dedicate a full track to Thee African Drum. Where am I supposed to find a Thee African Drum, let alone a Thee African Drummer?

    You know how the boys are, they don't do anything small and spare no excess, I mean expense.


    View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705227435#705227435




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  • From nancygene.andjayme@nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (NancyGene) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 13:25:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Miguel Sucio wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    Miguel Sucio wrote:
    Fake Me Away

    Fake me awayrCa fake me away
    To where the talent doesnrCOt die on stage
    Out there past Columbus, GA
    Where every third guyrCOs a rCLpoetrCY
    And every bandrCOs rCLthe next big thingrCY
    Till you hear rCOem play three chords
    And murder everything

    Open the gates and let me run
    Far from Donkey and his bongos con
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I forget that open mic night

    Fake me awayrCa fake me today
    To where the crowds donrCOt clap from pure clich|-
    Where the old dreams havenrCOt turned to dust
    And every Facebook post
    IsnrCOt dripping self-love lust
    Ghosts of decent musicians whisper:
    rCLManrCa this town is rough.rCY

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Before Ducky posts again tonight

    Take me awayrCa take me at dawn
    Past riverwalk prophets carrying on
    Mesas bear the sky
    But Columbus bears bad art
    Every guy with a notebook
    Thinks herCOs Tennessee Williams at heart
    Meanwhile Ducky plays his guitar low
    Auditioning for Worst in Show

    Buy me a ticketrCa one way please
    Far from the Pillars of Mediocrity
    Where white ruins remember
    Better bands that came and went
    Alexandria cried unseen tears
    Columbus just posts compliments

    Open the gates and let me run
    From low-rent fame and everyone
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Out there the seabirds cry at night
    Back here they argue Facebook likes
    Songs of the sirens used to call
    Now itrCOs a hayseed bumping threads at 3 a.m. yrCOall

    Open the gates and let me run
    Past every rCLartistrCY under the sun
    Swing wide the gates and let me flee
    Before Columbus starts applauding poetry!



    Excellent and insightful poetry, Miguel! You should set that to music (with multiple chords).


    I spoke to the boys, who agreed to do it on one, and only one condition - that we dedicate a full track to Thee African Drum. Where am I supposed to find a Thee African Drum, let alone a Thee African Drummer?

    You know how the boys are, they don't do anything small and spare no excess, I mean expense.



    Are they all "clean-cut boys?" Thee African drum is located on Forestside Drive, thrown in thee yard with all thee other junk. Derundo seems to have taken leave of thee Donkey (and maybe HandySandy, since he beat her up). Does Ducky play thee African Drum? Shaun? Maybe thee Donkey is training thee dead Stinky G to play thee drum of thee dumb?


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 14:50:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly
    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance
    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Take me away..take me today
    To where the deserts haven't seen the rain
    Since the old ones became forgotten names
    Mesas bear the sky
    Like pillars old as time
    Wails of the warriors' ghosts,
    Feel the hoofbeats as they ride

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    Buy me a ticket..that only goes one way
    To where Atlantis hides her secrets
    Through the Pillars of Hercules
    White ruins remember
    They remember the flames
    Alexandria cried her unseen tears
    Forgotten years..forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why

    https://youtu.be/QipdnhEZXKQ?si=DDQT2Li0pSdYa1EG



    A Brian Mallard classic.

    '


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 14:53:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.



    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well?

    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 15:20:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    The True Melissa wrote:
    Verily, in article <bhednf6QzeN9Tpr3nZ2dnZfqnPudnZ2d>, did brian.mallard@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid deliver unto us this
    message:
    [snip of most]

    Nice. Thanks for posting.


    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why



    This was my favorite part. I see the gates reaching up to the stars themselves, maybe opening the heavens.

    --
    The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
    United States of America - North America - Earth
    Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
    Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos




    Again, agreed.


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  • From Bruce@Bruce@invalid.invalid to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 15:37:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    NancyGene wrote:
    [quote="Cujo
    DeSockpuppet"]nancygene.andjayme@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid
    (NancyGene) wrote in
    news:XbScnbt0qJ11bpf3nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com:



    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    NancyGene wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough
    as a song in your video.-a But as a poem, which is meant to be
    spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the
    different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening
    line.-a Just say it once.-a Then expand the thought by describing
    how the speaker wishes to travel.-a Since the poem is about
    daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the
    "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of
    syllables in the line). Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should
    be part of the same picture: Try: The creak of timbers to the
    ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling?-a You're literally saying that
    songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme.-a The common
    expression is "cuts through me like a knife."-a When you change
    the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a
    reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer).-a Otherwise,
    the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and
    changing the cutting action to a piercing one.-a Knives cut,
    lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly
    because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I
    can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo
    choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse
    race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star
    imagery of the preceding line and say: Fling wide the night and
    let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something
    more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2)
    because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for
    a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in
    detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that
    "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs
    song).-a FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots.-a Not two.-a "..." is
    correct.-a ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane
    porlock. Here's the-a finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me.
    It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only
    credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me
    With You" by - Kellie Sullivan.-a It's played over the opening
    credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be
    heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well.-a It's one of my
    all-time favorites.



    Could the bikinis have had any sway in the movie being one of your
    favorites?


    It's possible. ;)-a The crew includes Diane McBain and Edy Williams.

    But there's a lot to love about this film: sailboats, the tropical
    locations, the 60s soundtrack, the spirit of fun that runs through
    it, the comedy (Pat Buttram's monologue about the "hog-holders" of
    Pooler County never fails to break me up)... but mostly, if it were
    possible for one to live a movie, this would be the one I'd pick.

    My son, who's seen parts of it (I watch it at least twice a year),
    calls it an Elvis movie without Elvis.-a There's also no singing in
    it; but otherwise, it's a pretty good description.


    In your expert opinion, how much does Ducky resemble Gardner McKay?


    Different species.



    Homo guitar non-sapien?



    Anas platyrhynchos Ineptus.

    It pairs well with Douchimus Maximus Ineptus.



    Does Will Donkey spell that "anus?"-a Actually Will Donkey walks like a duck.



    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dockery&defid=1526359

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From michaelmaleficapendragon@michaelmaleficapendragon@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (HarryLime) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 15:52:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="Will-Dockery"]
    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well?

    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.




    Thank you.

    I wasn't changing it as a song -- just as a poem.

    He can sing his original version.

    If he's going to post it as a poem, the song form isn't going to work.

    It is possible to have 2 versions of the same work:

    One as a song lyric, and a second as printed verse.


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
    --
    Via JLA Forums web gateway for alt.arts.poetry.comments: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=655
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 16:40:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Will-Dockery wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well? >>
    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.



    Thank you.

    I wasn't changing it as a song -- just as a poem.

    He can sing his original version.

    If he's going to post it as a poem, the song form isn't going to work.

    It is possible to have 2 versions of the same work:

    One as a song lyric, and a second as printed verse.



    I was thinking about this a few minutes ago, what it would take to go a little deeper, and try to present the actual verse and lyrics intact.

    I think Leonard Cohen did this while perhaps, say, bib Dylan doesn't.

    I was looking at a version of a David Gates (Bread) song performed by Telly Sevalis that might be the way to accurately combine poetry and music.

    I'll have to find it again, and I'll post it here.


    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
    --
    Via JLA Forums web gateway for alt.arts.poetry.comments: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=655
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 16:49:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Will-Dockery wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo).

    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well? >>
    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.



    Thank you.

    I wasn't changing it as a song -- just as a poem.

    He can sing his original version.

    If he's going to post it as a poem, the song form isn't going to work.

    It is possible to have 2 versions of the same work:

    One as a song lyric, and a second as printed verse.



    I was thinking about this a few minutes ago, what it would take to go a little deeper, and try to present the actual verse and lyrics intact.

    I think Leonard Cohen did this while perhaps, say, bib Dylan doesn't.

    I was looking at a version of a David Gates (Bread) song performed by Telly Sevalas that might be the way to accurately combine poetry and music.

    I'll have to find it again, and I'll post it here.

    Here it is.

    "If" by Telly Sevalas:

    https://youtu.be/J94-_w9ARX0?si=SQhrfvcLynG1XY0z


    View the attachments for this post at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705235071#705235071




    This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=705123281#705123281
    --
    Via JLA Forums web gateway for alt.arts.poetry.comments: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=655
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From michaelmaleficapendragon@michaelmaleficapendragon@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (HarryLime) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Mon May 18 17:25:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="Will-Dockery"]
    HarryLime wrote:

    Will-Dockery wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well?

    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.



    Thank you.

    I wasn't changing it as a song -- just as a poem.

    He can sing his original version.

    If he's going to post it as a poem, the song form isn't going to work.

    It is possible to have 2 versions of the same work:

    One as a song lyric, and a second as printed verse.


    I was thinking about this a few minutes ago, what it would take to go a little deeper, and try to present the actual verse and lyrics intact.


    *Unless the lyrics were written as free verse, repurposing them as a poem won't end well.

    This is why most traditional poems can easily be adapted to song, but few songs can be successfully adapted to poetry form.

    Popular songs have end rhymes (sometimes randomly interspersed throughout the lyric) and uneven meters (as the melody is maintained by holding notes, or adding extra syllables to words; "you-oo-oo" as a three syllable rendering of "you"). This works well in song, but doesn't translate to paper.



    I think Leonard Cohen did this while perhaps, say, bib Dylan doesn't.



    *Cohen's poems (at least those that I'm familiar with) were written in free verse. They need little or no modification when being sung. One only has to create a loose melody to fit the words.

    Dylan's lyrics (again, that I'm familiar with) use rhyme and (to varying degrees) meter. When printed, they don't work, because they lack the depth, the metaphor, and the overall feeling of poetry. I'm not knocking Dylan -- song lyrics are generally written to be easily understood, and are intended to be simplistic and immediately comprehended.

    You'll recall that I've told you, many times, that your "poetry" works as a 3 AM song, but is utterly unreadable as printed verse. I've also advised you that if you stopped trying tell everyone that you're a poet, and just presented you work as song lyrics (preferably accompanied by a video), you'd receive much less derision.

    Of course, there would still be the problem of your flooding a poetry group with music videos, but if you could learn to pace yourself, you'd be fine.






    I was looking at a version of a David Gates (Bread) song performed by Telly Sevalas that might be the way to accurately combine poetry and music.

    I'll have to find it again, and I'll post it here.

    Here it is.

    "If" by Telly Sevalas:

    https://youtu.be/J94-_w9ARX0?si=SQhrfvcLynG1XY0z





    *The operative word here is "performed" by Telly Savalas. He's backed by an orchestra and a chorus and is simply speaking the lyrics. Walter Brennan, Lorne Greene, Jim Reeves, and many others have done spoken versions of songs as well. But they're regarded as songs, not poetry.


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  • From will.dockery@will.dockery@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (Will-Dockery) to alt.arts.poetry.comments on Tue May 19 01:34:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.arts.poetry.comments

    [quote="HarryLime"]
    Will-Dockery wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Will-Dockery wrote:

    HarryLime wrote:

    Freeagentprose wrote:
    Take Me Away

    I realize this is the lyric for a song, and it works well enough as a song in your video. But as a poem, which is meant to be spoken aloud or read, the lyrics need to be modified to fit the different medium.

    Take me away..take me away
    To where the sails billow against the sky
    Out there where the seabirds fly

    The repetition of "Take me away..." doesn't work as any opening line. Just say it once. Then expand the thought by describing how the speaker wishes to travel. Since the poem is about daydreaming, try "on wings of dream" or "wings of song," etc.

    Also drop the unnecessary initial "the" in line 2, and drop the "a" from "against" to improve the meter.

    "Out there where the" is filler (used to pad out the number of syllables in the line).
    Try adding another image instead.
    EXAMPLE: Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly

    The creak of the timbers, the ocean does its dance

    Splitting the line is awkward, separating the images which should be part of the same picture:
    Try: The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance

    Songs of the sirens call
    Cut through me like a lance

    Are the sirens singing or calling? You're literally saying that songs about the sirens' call cut through you like a lance.
    And "lance" is too obviously a forced rhyme. The common expression is "cuts through me like a knife." When you change the expected noun in a commonly used phrase, you need to have a reason (the speaker is a knight or a Bengal lancer). Otherwise, the reason is solely to keep the rhyme.

    This is easily corrected by dropping the unnecessary "call" and changing the cutting action to a piercing one. Knives cut, lances pierce.

    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    The opening stanza would thus be:

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.



    Open the gates and let me run

    The break from sailing to running is slightly jarring, mostly because "open" feels like a continuation of the first stanza, I can't think of a suitable replacement.

    Neath Cassiopeia and Orion

    There's no meter here -- which kills the poem dead.

    Try: Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train (as in gown, not choo choo). >>>>>
    Swing wide the gates and let me fly

    "Gates" works for running (as in the starting gate at a horse race), but what gates are airplanes or eagles kept behind?

    It's a tough call, but I'd follow through with the night/star imagery of the preceding line and say:
    Fling wide the night and let me fly

    Till I have long forgotten why

    I like the idea of this line, but it would be better if something more specific were noted -- "why" what?


    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    Yeah, I threw in the final line to 1) rhyme with "train" and 2) because the chorus, while okay for a song, feels a tad brief for a poem.

    I'm not going to explain the edits to the following stanza in detail -- it's too long (and time-consuming), except to note that "wails" cannot "feel hoofbeats."

    I'm only repeating the chorus once (again, poetic format vs song). FYI: Ellipses comprise three dots. Not two. "..." is correct. ".." is only correct if your name is rhonda-jane porlock.
    Here's the finished edit:

    TAKE ME AWAY

    Take me away on wings of song
    To where sails billow 'gainst the sky
    Where salt winds roar and seabirds fly,
    The creak of timbers to the ocean's dance
    The songs of sirens pierce me like a lance.

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.

    Take me away on Summer's breeze
    To where the deserts stretch across the plain,
    Before the Old Ones were forgotten names;
    Where sunburnt mesas bear the sky
    On pillars old as time,
    And wails from ancient warriors' ghosts
    Match hoofbeats as they ride

    Buy me a one-way ticket home
    To where Atlantis keeps her secrets hid,
    Or through the Pillars of Hercules
    Where whitened ruins remember the flames
    As Alexandria cried her unseen tears;
    Forgotten years...forgotten names

    Open the gates and let me run
    Neath Cassiopeia and her starry train,
    Fling wide the night and let me fly
    Till I have long forgotten why
    And cares have vanished with the morning rain.


    *If you use this edit, or any portions of it, do NOT credit me. It is not a collaboration, but an edit, and editors are only credited for books.

    As a song, no offense, I prefer the similarly themed "Take Me With You" by - Kellie Sullivan. It's played over the opening credits of "I Sailed to Tahiti With an All Girl Crew" and can be heard here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3n1Uku6YLI

    I highly recommend watching the movie as well. It's one of my all-time favorites.


    Good edit as poetry, Harry, I'm not sure if you followed the melody as well?

    Brian Mallard will still need to be able to sing it, bottom line.



    Thank you.

    I wasn't changing it as a song -- just as a poem.

    He can sing his original version.

    If he's going to post it as a poem, the song form isn't going to work.

    It is possible to have 2 versions of the same work:

    One as a song lyric, and a second as printed verse.


    I was thinking about this a few minutes ago, what it would take to go a little deeper, and try to present the actual verse and lyrics intact.


    *Unless the lyrics were written as free verse, repurposing them as a poem won't end well.

    This is why most traditional poems can easily be adapted to song, but few songs can be successfully adapted to poetry form.

    Popular songs have end rhymes (sometimes randomly interspersed throughout the lyric) and uneven meters (as the melody is maintained by holding notes, or adding extra syllables to words; "you-oo-oo" as a three syllable rendering of "you"). This works well in song, but doesn't translate to paper.



    I think Leonard Cohen did this while perhaps, say, bib Dylan doesn't.



    *Cohen's poems (at least those that I'm familiar with) were written in free verse. They need little or no modification when being sung. One only has to create a loose melody to fit the words.

    Dylan's lyrics (again, that I'm familiar with) use rhyme and (to varying degrees) meter. When printed, they don't work, because they lack the depth, the metaphor, and the overall feeling of poetry. I'm not knocking Dylan -- song lyrics are generally written to be easily understood, and are intended to be simplistic and immediately comprehended.

    You'll recall that I've told you, many times, that your "poetry" works as a 3 AM song, but is utterly unreadable as printed verse. I've also advised you that if you stopped trying tell everyone that you're a poet, and just presented you work as song lyrics (preferably accompanied by a video), you'd receive much less derision.

    Of course, there would still be the problem of your flooding a poetry group with music videos, but if you could learn to pace yourself, you'd be fine.






    I was looking at a version of a David Gates (Bread) song performed by Telly Sevalas that might be the way to accurately combine poetry and music.

    I'll have to find it again, and I'll post it here.

    Here it is.

    "If" by Telly Sevalas:

    https://youtu.be/J94-_w9ARX0?si=SQhrfvcLynG1XY0z




    *The operative word here is "performed" by Telly Savalas. He's backed by an orchestra and a chorus and is simply speaking the lyrics. Walter Brennan, Lorne Greene, Jim Reeves, and many others have done spoken versions of songs as well. But they're regarded as songs, not poetry.



    Rod McKuen was another poet who performed well with musical backing:

    A Cat Named Sloopy by Rid McKuen https://youtu.be/MUvXHigDz9M?si=CkL__qg5cSfmAN53


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