human
Can you write me a poem about serbia, adam smith and bayazet?
assistant
Sure, here's a poem about serbia, adam smith and bayazet:
  _From a photograph by Underwood and Underwood_
_From a photograph by kind permission of Mr. Crawford Price_
_From a photograph by Topical Press Agency_
_Delivered for the first time in the Chapter House of Canterbury
illuminated brains and warm hearts. No, I never will finish if I
Still it might be asked: Has such a great body indeed an aim?
Short-sighted people, who are ready at once with a reply on any
question, will say: The only aim of this great Empire is the
_Third_: this Empire is an experiment in the realisation of human
I read the other day a German menacing song:
We are going, we are going to see
Who will henceforth govern the world--
A small strip of land with five million inhabitants and without
No: that is only a part of Serbia.
Shall I say that is Serbia?
No; that is only physical Serbia.
But there is a soul of Serbia.
Allow me to give you only a few examples of the
It is better not to be born than to misuse life.
If life does not mean work, then life is worth nothing.
Work and virtue are sisters, as well as idleness and vice.
Now I would like to indicate slightly what The English Political
victorious in the Balkans as well as in the Slav world.
transferred to Serbia.
The English political interest in the future Greater Serbia, or
Do persist and do not weary in this way,--it will bring your dear
represented almost throughout our history the model of the true
experiences or science.
A gipsy asked a king: Of how much value are your riches? The king
At the time when Cromwell fought in the name of the Bible for the
At the time when Adam Smith wrote his famous work, _The Wealth of
The Cross is mentioned first, and then Freedom. Why?
A Serbian proverb says:
Twelve poor apostles did more good to man than the twelve richest
It is better to die for the Cross than to live against the Cross.
To die for the Cross and Freedom means two lives and no death.
I was very sorry to see that Greece broke her pledged word and
Tamerlan. Stephen hated both the Asiatic monsters--Bayazet and
admiration and sympathy.
not for existence, not for sea, not for wealth, but for Cross and
exterminate, to suffocate, to enchain, the small creations of the
dreamed. Your statesmen--I will mention only a few of them: Pitt,
Now I will try to show you how the Serbian village
sentences are very like the Proverbs in the Bible, very like La
Here is just one saying:
everywhere, in the middle, or above or below.
ignorance make me equally unhappy."
"Better to die than" to live so and so, or than to do this or
that--hundreds of the Serbian proverbs begin with those words. In
Love? Love is better than justice.
Justice? Justice is better than injustice.
Injustice? It must be punished.
Suffering? It must be relieved.
Patience? That is the great virtue of the sufferers.
Honour? Better to die than to give up honour.
Dishonour? It means as much as death.
Mercifulness? It shines like the sun over the world.
A beggar? He puts your heart to the test.
Death? God is behind death and therefore death is no evil.
Humility? It is always rewarded by love.
Fearlessness? It is commended very strongly.
Cowardice? It is repudiated and despised to the utmost.
Chivalry? Always; towards friends and enemies.
Work? Without work prayer does not help.
Freedom? Man is man only in living in freedom and in fighting for
God? He is the Lord of the World and thy steady companion.
Again I must come back to the Serbian village. Prayer is there
"Marko got up early in the morning,
Washed his face and prayed to God."
And all the songs begin, I repeat it, with the verse:
"Dear God, we are thankful to Thee for all."
"I have lost, you have won this hazard yet perchance
My loss may shine yet goodlier than your gain
When time and God give judgement."
Delivered before the English Soldiers.
Serbia has been at war since 1912.
sufferings.
destructive deed has been praised with eloquent words in all the
We could reply to this German accusation: "Did not your greatest
The Bulgars even mocked the Serbs for allying themselves with the
We Serbs have nothing to reply to this Bulgar mockery, since they
shovelled at once on top of them." 
On hearing that the soldiers became cheerful.
It happened indeed that the officer was killed. The private asked
"I did what I was ordered and what I promised to do. Now you can
sentence me even to death; at least I will not be ashamed in the
other world meeting my commander."
In the offensive against the Austrians in December 1914 a Serbian
The man replied with astonishment:
"Marko of Prilep never killed a disarmed man"
"What are you digging for?"
He kept silent for a moment and then replied:
branches of a tree; a gipsy woman saw me and said:
"And now, whither?"
The mother smiled and said:
And she gave to the girls and she herself took--poison.
"You see after all you must yield Scutari to us."
_I_ dare not doubt it.
What is the first principle for humanity?
Some say to eat, others not to eat.
Some say to speak, others to remain silent.
Some say to hasten, others to go slowly.
Some say to work, others to idle.
Some say to pray, others not to pray.
Some say to destroy life, and others to preserve it.
What, then, is this first principle?
It is Life and Death, and God over both.
Sin is worse than failure.
Vice is worse than sin.
Obstinacy in evil is worse than vice.
Whether you go slowly or quickly,
Death keeps his appointment.
Scrutiny magnifies the enigma of life, prayer lessens it.
Whether righteous or unrighteous, you must die; but if you die
If I see your eyes, I know you a little.
If I hear your voice, I know you still more.
If I see your actions, I will know you altogether.
When St. Peter was asked why he would be crucified head down, he
There are two brotherhoods among men, that of purity and that of
impurity.
Both man and the air are purified by movement.
Life has silken wings, but Death uses iron scissors.
Happiness forgets many, Death nobody.
Life and Death are each other's heirs.
As many tears and sighs are caused by life as by death.
Although opposed, the pleasure and the pain lend strength to one
another.
In every humble superstition there is greater beauty than in any
vain-glorious wisdom.
If you are freezing on a winter night, it is a warm couch.
If you are hungry, it is a place where hunger is never felt.
If you are a slave, it is your liberty.
Too much light as well as too much darkness causes blindness.
When you kill a lion, you can say: "I sinned because I killed my
When the wind blows, the fool tries to compete by shouting.
Summer is most loved in winter, and winter in summer.
Ugliness moves slowly, but beauty is in great haste.
God speaks every language except the godless,
God grants everything except eternity,
God takes back everything but sins.
If you kill a solitary man, his kinsmen from the other world will
There is no real death except the death of the soul.
There is no real joy except the joy of a righteous man.
The joy of the sinner is half joy and half retribution.
What is the news?
There is no news but what is half old.
What is man? Something between God and clay.
What is clay? Something that God makes.
What is God? Something of which clay and man are the shadow.
A Turk asked a Serb why the Serbs reminded people of the field of
Men are unhappy when striving to know all truth, because truth is
A good custom hallows life and keeps men in brotherly unity.
Not God, but the prophets make division among men.
God is the spirit and form-maker; man is only the imitator of the
The man who fears customs fears the touch of dead and living.
Under every success lies a new enemy, the demon of pride.
Among all immoderate things the unrestrained tongue is the most
annoying.
Life without prayer--night without moonlight.
God is not hidden, but our eyes are too small to see Him.
It is better to go to bed hungry than with a stolen supper in the
The night rebuked the clouds because they were so black. The wolf
It is better to be as patient as God than as righteous as God.
"To grow old quickly and to see God," said the child.
"To become rich and to serve God," said the poor man.
The angel said:
Every murder means also partly a suicide.
The bonds of blood hold longer,
The bonds of love hold stronger.
Except his soul, there is nothing in man which can be saved from
corruption.
The words "Thank you" show that life is founded on injustice.
Death is the cleverest thief. He can steal a living man who is
surrounded by the most formidable guard.
Many people sing, but few are singers.
Many people write, but few are writers.
Many people speak, but few are orators.
Many people think, but few are thinkers.
Many people pray, but few are religious.
Many people smile, but few are happy.
Many people hope, but few are not disappointed.
Many people die, but few will survive.
Light and darkness are enemies, but both are necessary.
A man's life is not one man's life, but is the life of mankind so
Man grows old, but not the world. Man dies, but the world cannot.
Not everything is in touch with God, nor yet with the sun.
Giving is pleasanter than receiving.
That man is my friend who lives laboriously like the bee and dies
When wolves and sheep are brothers, what will the wolves eat?
The greatest pain should not be the subject of speech.
The headache is worse than a pain in the hand, a toothache than a
crucifixion.
Economise in speaking, but not in thinking.
Only an oath to do evil may you break with God's permission.
If you help a beggar, you wipe out the fault of your ancestors.
God and sinners wish to annihilate one another.
Hark! the moon is to the day-star calling:
"Morning star! say, where hast thou been wandering;
Tell me where thou hast so long been lingering;
Where hast white days three so wasted,--tell me?"
To the moon, anon, the day-star answer'd:
"I have wander'd, moon! and I have linger'd,
Lingered o'er Belgrad's white towers, and wondered
At the marvellous things which I have witnessed:
How two brothers have their wealth partitioned,
They had thus arranged the shares allotted,
Well their father's substance had divided:
Dmitar took Wallachia for his portion,
Took Wallachia and entire Moldavia;
Banat also, to the river Danube.
Bogdan took the level plains of Sermia,
And the even country of the Sava;
Servia, too, as far as Ujitz's fortress.
Dmitar took the lower fortress'd cities,
And Neboisha's tower upon the Danube;
Bogdan took the upper fortress'd cities,
And the church-possessing town, Rujitza.
Then a strife arose about a trifle,--
Such a trifle; but a feud soon follow'd,--
A black courser and a grey-wing'd falcon!
Dmitar claims the steed, as elder brother
Claims the steed, and claims the grey-wing'd falcon.
Bogdan will not yield or horse or falcon.
When the morning of the morrow waken'd,
Dmitar flung him on the sable courser,
Took upon his hand the grey-wing'd falcon,
Went to hunt into the mountain forest;
And he called his wife, fair Angelia:
'Angelia! thou my faithful lady!
Kill with poison thou my brother Bogdan;
But if thou refuse to kill my brother,
Tarry thou in my white court no longer."
When the lady heard her lord's commandments,
Down she sat all sorrowful and gloomy;
To herself she thought, and said in silence,
--'And shall I attempt it?--I, poor cuckoo!
Shall I kill my brother--kill with poison!--
'Twere a monstrous crime before high heaven,
'Twere a sin and shame before my people.
Great and small would point their fingers at me,
Saying,--'That is the unhappy woman,
That is she who kill'd her husband's brother!'
But if I refuse to poison Bogdan,
Never will my husband come to bless me!'
Thus she thought, until a thought relieved her;
She descended to the castle's cavern,
Took the consecrated cup of blessing.
'Twas a cup of beaten gold her father
Had bestow'd upon his daughter's nuptials;
Full of golden wine she fill'd the vessel,
And she bore it to her brother Bogdan.
Low to earth she bow'd herself before him,
And she kiss'd his hands and garments meekly.
'Lo! I bring to thee this cup, my brother!
This gold cup, with golden wine o'erflowing.
Give me for my cup a horse and falcon.'
Bogdan heard the lady speak complacent,
And most cheerfully gave steed and falcon.
Meanwhile through the day was Dmitar wandering
In the mountain-forest; nought he found there;
But chance brought him at the fall of evening
To a green lake far within the forest,
Where a golden-pinion'd duck was swimming.
Dmitar loosen'd then his grey-wing'd falcon,
Bade him seize the golden-pinion'd swimmer.
Faster than the hunter's eye could follow,
Lo! the duck had seized the grey-wing'd falcon,
And against his sides had crush'd his pinion.
Soon as Dmitar Jakshich saw, he stripp'd him,
Stripp'd him swiftly of his hunting garments;--
Speedily into the lake he plung'd him,
And he bore his falcon from its waters.
Then with pitying voice he ask'd his falcon:
'Hast thou courage yet, my faithful falcon!
Now thy wings are from thy body riven?'
Whispering, said the falcon to his master:
'I without my pinions nought resemble,
But a brother riven from a brother.'
Then the thought pierced through the breast of Dmitar,
That his wife was charged to kill his brother.
Swift he threw him on his mighty courser--
Swift he hurried to Bijögrad's fortress,
Praying that his brother had not perish'd.
He had hardly reached the bridge of Chekmel,
When he spurr'd his raven steed so fiercely
That the impetuous courser's feet sank under,
And were crushed and broken on the pavement.
In his deep perplexity and trouble,
Dmitar took the saddle off his courser,
Flung it on the courser's nether haunches,
And he fled alone to Belgrad's fortress.
First he sought, impatient, for his lady--
'Angelia! thou my bride all faithful!
Tell me, tell me, hast thou kill'd my brother?'
Sweet indeed was Angelia's answer:
'No! indeed I have not killed thy brother;
To thy brother have I reconciled thee.'"
Nine fair sons possessed a happy mother;
And the tenth, the loveliest and the latest,
Was Jelitza,--a beloved daughter.
They had grown together up to manhood,
Till the sons were ripe for bridal altars,
And the maid was ready for betrothing.
Many a lover asked the maid in marriage;
First a Ban; a chieftain was the other;
And the third, a neighbour from her village.
So her mother for the neighbour pleaded;
For the far-off dwelling ban her brothers.
Thus they urged it to their lovely sister:
"Go, we pray thee, our beloved sister,
With the ban across the distant waters:
Go! thy brothers oft will hasten to thee;
Every month of every year will seek thee;
Every week of every month will seek thee."
So the maiden listened to her brothers,
With the ban she crossed the distant waters:
But, behold! O melancholy marvel!
God sent down the plague, and all the brothers.
All the nine, were swept away, and lonely
Stood their miserable sonless mother.
Three long years had pass'd away unheeded;
Often had Jelitza sighed in silence:
"Heaven of mercy! 'tis indeed a marvel!
Have I sinn'd against them?--that my brothers,
Spite of all their vows, come never near me."
Then did her stepsisters scorn and jeer her:
"Cast away! thy brothers must despise thee!
Never have they come to greet their sister."
Bitter was the sorrow of Jelitza,
Bitter from the morning to the evening,
Till the God of heaven took pity on her,
And he summon'd two celestial angels:
"Hasten down to earth," he said, "my angels!
To the white grave, where Jovan is sleeping,--
Young Jovan, the maiden's youngest brother.
Breathe your spirit into him; and fashion
From the white grave-stone a steed to bear him:
From the mouldering earth his food prepare him:
Let him take his grave shroud for a present!
Then equip and send him to his sister."
Swiftly hasten'd God's celestial angels
To the white grave where Jovan was sleeping.
From the white grave-stone a steed they fashion'd;
Into his dead corpse they breathed their spirit;
From the ready earth the bread they moulded;
For a present his grave-shroud they folded;
And equipp'd, and bade him seek his sister.
Swiftly rode Jovan to greet his sister.
Long before he had approach'd her dwelling,
Far, far off his sister saw and hail'd him;
Hastened to him--threw her on his bosom,
Loosed his vest, and stamp'd his cheeks with kisses.
Then she sobb'd with bitterness and anguish,
Then she wept, and thus address'd her brother:
"O! Jovan! to me--to me, a maiden,
Thou, and all my brothers, all, ye promised
Oft and oft to seek your distant sister:
Every month in every year to seek her,--
Every week in every month to seek her.
Three long years have sped away unheeded,
And ye have not sought me"--For a moment
She was silent; and then said, "My brother!
Thou art deadly pale! why look so deadly
Pale, as if in death thou hadst been sleeping?"
But Jovan thus check'd his sister: "Silence,
Silence, sister! as in God thou trustest;
For a heavy sorrow has o'erta'en me.
When eight brothers had prepared their nuptials,
Eight stepsisters ready to espouse them,
Hardly was the marriage service ended
Ere we built us eight white dwellings, sister!
Therefore do I look so dark, Jelitza."
Three white days had pass'd away unheeded,
And the maid equipp'd her for a journey.
Many a costly present she provided
For her brothers and her bridal sisters:
For her brothers, fairest silken vestments;
But Jovan would fain detain her--"Go not,
Go not now, I pray thee--my Jelitza!
Wait until thy brothers come and greet thee."
But she would not listen to her brother:
She prepared the costliest, fairest presents.
So the young Jovan began his journey,
And his sister travell'd patient by him.
So as they approach'd their mother's dwelling,
Near the house a tall white church was standing,
Young Jovan he whispered to his sister--
"Stop, I pray thee, my beloved sister!
Let me enter the white church an instant.
When my middle brother here was married,
Lo! I lost a golden ring, my sister!
Let me go an instant--I shall find it."
Jovan went--into his grave he glided--
And Jelitza stood--she stood impatient--
Wondering--wondering--but in vain she waited.
Then she left the spot to seek her brother.
Many and many a grave was in the churchyard
Newly made--Jovan was nowhere--Sighing,
On she hasten'd--hasten'd to the city,
Saw her mother's dwelling, and press'd forward
Eager to that old white dwelling.
To that cuckoo's cry within the dwelling!
Lo! it was not the gray cuckoo's crying--
'Twas her aged, her gray-headed mother.
To the door Jelitza press'd--outstretching
Her white neck, she call'd--"Make ope, my mother!
Hasten to make ope the door, my mother!"
But her mother to her cry made answer:
"Plague of God! avaunt! my sons have perish'd--
All--all nine have perish'd--Wilt thou also,
Take their aged mother!" Then Jelitza
Shriek'd, "O open--open, dearest mother!
I am not God's plague--I am thy daughter.
Thine own daughter--thy Jelitza, mother!"
Then the mother push'd the door wide open,
And she scream'd aloud, and groan'd, and flung her
Old arms round her daughter--All was silent--
Stiff and dead they fell to earth together.
God of mercy! what a wond'rous wonder!
Such a wonder ne'er before was witness'd.
In Saint Paul's--within the holy cloister,
Gather'd round a golden table, seated
In three ranks, the saints are all collected;
O'er them sits the thunderer Elias;
In the midst are Sava and Maria;
At the ends are Petka and Nedelia;
And their health the holy Nicholas pledges.
Pledges them their health to Jesus' glory.
But behold, behold the saint!--he slumbers;
From his hand the cup of wine has fallen,
Fallen from it on the golden table:
Yet the wine's unspilt,--the cup unbroken.
Then laughed out the thunderer Elias:
"O my brother! O thou holy Nicholas:
Often drank we cooling wine together;
But it was our duty not to slumber.
Not to drop the cup--And tell me, brother,
Why to-day does slumber's power subdue thee?"
Him thus answer'd Nicholas the holy:
"Jest not thus with me, thou sainted thunderer!
For I fell asleep, and dreamt three hundred,
Dreamt three hundred friars had embark'd them
In one vessel on the azure ocean;
Bearing offerings to the holy mountain,
Offerings,--golden wax, and snowy incense.
From the clouds there broke a furious tempest,
Lash'd the blue waves of the trembling ocean,
Scooping watery graves for all the friars.
Then I heard their blended voices call me,
'Help, O God! and help, O holy Nicholas!
Would that thou, where'er thou art, wert with us!'
So I hurried down to help the suppliants--
So I saved the whole three hundred friars
So I shipped them full of joy and courage;
Brought their offerings to the holy mountain,
Brought their golden wax, their snowy incense;--
And meanwhile I seem'd in gentle slumber,
And my cup fell on the golden table."
A maiden proudly thus the sun accosted:
"Sun! I am fairer than thou,--far fairer;
Fairer than is thy sister or thy brethren,--
Fairer than yon bright moon at midnight shining,
Fairer than yon gay star in heav'n's arch twinkling,
That star, all other stars preceding proudly,
As walks before his sheep the careful shepherd."
The sun complain'd to God of such an insult:
"What shall be done with this presumptuous maiden?"
And to the sun God gave a speedy answer:
"Thou glorious Sun! thou my beloved daughter!
Be joyous yet! say, why art thou dejected?
Wilt thou reward the maiden for her folly--
Shine on, and burn the maiden's snowy forehead.
But I a gloomier dowry yet will give her;
Evil to her shall be her husband's brother;
Evil to her shall be her husband's father.
Then shall she think upon the affront she gave thee."
Thick fell the snow upon St. George's day;
The little birds all left their cloudy bed;
The maiden wander'd bare-foot on her way;
Her brother bore her sandals, and he said:
"O sister mine! cold, cold thy feet must be."
"No! not my feet, sweet brother! not my feet--
But my poor heart is cold with misery.
There's nought to chill me in the snowy sleet:
My mother--'tis my mother who hath chill'd me,
Bound me to one who with disgust hath fill'd me."
Nightingale sings sweetly
In the verdant forest:
In the verdant forest,
On the slender branches.
Thither came three sportsmen,
Nightingale to shoot at.
She implored the sportsmen,
"Shoot me not, ye sportsmen!
"Shoot me not, ye sportsmen!
I will give you music,
In the verdant garden,
On the crimson rose-tree."
But the sportsmen seize her;
They deceive the songster,
In a cage confine her,
Give her to their loved one.
Nightingale will sing not--
Hangs its head in silence:
Then the sportsmen bear her
To the verdant forests.
Soon her song is waken'd;
Woe! woe! woe betide us,
Friend from friend divided,
Bird from forest banish'd!
Two solitary sisters, who
A brother's fondness never knew,
Agreed, poor girls, with one another,
That they would make themselves a brother:
They cut them silk, as snow-drops white;
And silk, as richest rubies bright;
They carved his body from a bough
Of box-tree from the mountain's brow;
For eyebrows, from the ocean's wave
They took two leeches; and for teeth
Fix'd pearls above, and pearls beneath;
For food they gave him honey sweet,
And said, "Now live, and speak, and eat."
_From photograph by kind permission of Mr. Crawford Price._]