Poem fractal

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0.022 apart. A smaller distance means the lines are built more alike.

This number is read from the build of the lines. The bright edge is that number, carried outward until the pattern repeats.

The Widow at Windsor

by Rudyard Kipling

−0.0985 + 0.5931i

Drawing the boundary…

To the Shade of Burns

by Charlotte Smith

−0.1083 + 0.5734i

Drawing the boundary…

The poems

Each poem scrolls on its own, so the two texts stay beside each other.

The Widow at Windsor

by Rudyard Kipling

'Ave you 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor
 With a hairy gold crown on 'er 'ead?
She 'as ships on the foam—she 'as millions at 'ome,
 An' she pays us poor beggars in red.
 (Ow, poor beggars in red!)
There's 'er nick on the cavalry 'orses,
 There's 'er mark on the medical stores—
An' 'er troopers you'll find with a fair wind be'ind
 That takes us to various wars.
 (Poor beggars!—barbarious wars!)
 Then 'ere's to the Widow at Windsor,
  An' 'ere's to the stores an' the guns,
 The men an' the 'orses what makes up the forces
  O' Missis Victorier's sons.
 (Poor beggars! Victorier's sons!)

Walk wide o' the Widow at Windsor,
 For 'alf o' Creation she owns:
We 'ave bought 'er the same with the sword an' the flame,
 An' we've salted it down with our bones.
 (Poor beggars!—it's blue with our bones!)
Hands off o' the sons o' the Widow,
 Hands off o' the goods in 'er shop,
For the Kings must come down an' the Emperors frown
 When the Widow at Windsor says "Stop"!
 (Poor beggars!—we're sent to say "Stop"!)
 Then 'ere's to the Lodge o' the Widow,
  From the Pole to the Tropics it runs—
 To the Lodge that we tile with the rank an' the file,
  An' open in form with the guns.
 (Poor beggars!—it's always they guns!)

We 'ave 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor,
 It's safest to let 'er alone:
For 'er sentries we stand by the sea an' the land
 Wherever the bugles are blown.
 (Poor beggars!—an' don't we get blown!)
Take 'old o' the Wings o' the Mornin',
 An' flop round the earth till you're dead;
But you won't get away from the tune that they play
 To the bloomin' old rag over'ead.
 (Poor beggars!—it's 'ot over'ead!)
 Then 'ere's to the sons o' the Widow,
  Wherever, 'owever they roam.
 'Ere's all they desire, an' if they require
  A speedy return to their 'ome.
 (Poor beggars!—they'll never see 'ome!)

To the Shade of Burns

by Charlotte Smith

Mute is thy wild harp, now, O Bard sublime!
   Who, amid Scotia’s mountain solitude,
Great Nature taught to “build the lofty rhyme,”
   And even beneath the daily pressure, rude,
Of laboring Poverty, thy generous blood,
Fired with the love of freedom—Not subdued
   Wert thou by thy low fortune: But a time
   Like this we live in, when the abject chime
Of echoing Parasite is best approved,
   Was not for thee—Indignantly is fled
Thy noble Spirit; and no longer moved
   By all the ills o’er which thine heart has bled,
   Associate worthy of the illustrious dead,
Enjoys with them “the Liberty it loved.”

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