"The Daniel Jazz"

By Vachel Lindsay from "The Daniel Jazz and Other Poems" (1920) Darius the Mede was a king and a wonder. His eye was proud, and his voice was thunder. He kept bad lions in a monstrous den. He fed up the lions on Christian men. Daniel was the chief hired man of the land. He stirred up the jazz in the palace band. He whitewashed the cellar. He shovelled in the coal. And Daniel kept a-praying:--"Lord save my soul." Daniel was the butler, swagger and swell. He ran up stairs. He answered the bell. And he would let in whoever came a-calling:-Saints so holy, scamps so appalling. "Old man Ahab leaves his card. Elisha and the bears are a-waiting in the yard. Here comes Pharaoh and his snakes a-calling. Here comes Cain and his wife a-calling. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for tea. Here comes Jonah and the whale, And the Sea! Here comes St. Peter and his fishing pole. Here comes Judas and his silver a-calling. Here comes old Beelzebub a-calling." And Daniel kept a-praying:--"Lord save my soul." Daniel kept a-praying:--"Lord save my soul." Daniel kept a-praying:--"Lord save my soul." His sweetheart and his mother were Christian and meek. They washed and ironed for Darius every week. One Thursdy he met them at the door:-Paid them as usual, but acted sore. He said:--"Your Daniel is a dead little pigeon. He's a good hard worker, but he talks religion." And he showed them Daniel in the lions' cage. His good old mother cried:-"Lord save him." And Daniel's tender sweetheart cried:-"Lord save him." And she was a golden lily in the dew. And she was as sweet as an apple on the tree And she was as fine as a melon in the corn-field, Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea, Gliding and lovely as a ship on the sea.

And she prayed to the Lord:-"Send Gabriel. Send Gabriel." King Darius said to the lions:-"Bite Daniel. Bite Daniel. Bite him. Bite him. Bite him!" Thus roared the lions:-"We want Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, Wewant Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" Here the audience roars Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr And Daniel did not frown, Daniel did not cry. He kept on looking at the sky. And the Lord said to Gabriel:-The audience sings this with the leader, in the old negro tune. "Go chain the lions down, Go chain the lions down. Go chain the lions down." And Gabriel chained the lions, And Gabriel chained the lions, And Gabriel chained the lions, And Daniel got out of the den, And Daniel got out of the den, And Daniel got out of the den. And Darius said:--"You're a Chrisitian child," Darius said:--"You're a Chrisitian child," Darius said:--"You're a Chrisitian child," And gave him his job again, And gave him his job again, And gave him his job again.

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Mark Antony: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones, So let it be with Caesar The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, (For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men) Come I to speak in Caesars funeral He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.