no country for old men (APOD 15 Mar 2008)

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080315.html

<<In 670 BC, the citizens of Byzantium made the crescent moon as their state symbol, after an important victory. Byzantium was the first governing state to use the crescent moon as its national symbol.>> - Wikipedia
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Sailing to Byzantium - William Butler Yeats

THAT is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations - at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,
And be the singing-masters of my soul.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

[neufer]

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___ "CONSTANTINOPLE"
______ {anagram}
___ "PLATONIC SONNET"
-------------------------------------------------
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) is the eighth (8th) song,
in live format, on the SeVERE Tire Damage album.

1953 Words by Jimmy Kennedy Music by Nat Simon

Lyrics:

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

EVERy gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks
.......................................................
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~yavuzcet/lyrics.htm

"It's Istanbul, not Constantinople now ...."

Leave it to TIN Pan Alley to turn centuries of ethnic & religious
struggles into a catchy ditty. This song, although copyrighted by
Kennedy and Simon, is a direct descendant of the humourous piece,

"Al-Bar the Bubul Emir"

that could be found in the pages of "Captain Billy's Whizbang,"
-------------------------------------------------

[emc]

Moody Blues wrote:

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watchlights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another days useless energies spent
Empassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and settles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young
Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

The cresent moon though obscure, really sets off this picture.

[apodman]

Safety first:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/opinion/04karbo.html

[emc]

Margaret Wise Brown was Awakened by the Moon

I'm being followed by a Moon Shadow...

[bystander]

• Morning Glory
  
  Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
  Removes the colours from our sight,
  Red is gray and yellow white,
  But we decide which is right.
  And which is an illusion?
  
  Pinprick holes in a colourless sky,
  Let insipid figures of light pass by,
  The mighty light of ten thousand suns,
  Challenges infinity and is soon gone.
  
  Night time, to some a brief interlude,
  To others the fear of solitude.
  Brave Helios wake up your steads,
  Bring the warmth the countryside needs.
  
  Graeme Edge, The Moody Blues