“
The nine pounds Gretchen had gained must’ve come from her new brass balls.
”
”
Jeaniene Frost (Bound by Flames (Night Prince, #3))
“
Love is a goddamn scary thing. Facing it takes brass balls, and we all know you have a pair.
”
”
Jay Crownover (Rome (Marked Men, #3))
“
Jet and Clay are just two different sides of my personality. No, I don’t have a split personality, but the sides are sometimes distinctive. Clay? That’s me, the real me, who I am at the core. Jet is Clay on coke. He’s got brass balls and doesn’t take shit from anyone. He’s the only guy you’ll ever see onstage
”
”
Jade C. Jamison (Feverish (Bullet, #3; Feverish, #1))
“
Religion is like this; a prayer, a song, a flower, a white sugar ball, a chime of the brass bell, the rendering of mantra, closing one's eyes; Meditation.
”
”
Aporva Kala (Life... Love... Kumbh...)
“
As the syringe was filled, Butch stepped up into the surgeon’s grille. Even as incapacitated as the cop was from the inhaling, he was straight-up deadly as he spoke. “I don’t need to tell you not to f*ck my buddy. Right.”
The surgeon looked around his little-glass-bottle-and-needle routine. “I’m not thinking about sex at the moment, thank you very much. But if I was, it sure as shit wouldn’t be with him. So instead of worrying about who I’m tapping, how’d you like to do us all a favor and have a shower. You stink.”
Butch blinked. Then smiled a little. “You have balls.”
“And they’re made of brass. Big as church bells, too.
”
”
J.R. Ward (Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #9))
“
Five balls! Five bright brass balls!
To juggle with, my love, when the sky falls.
”
”
Sylvia Plath (Plath: Poems)
“
The British and the Western Europeans in general, as well as the North Americans, waste the space of their homes with these rooms for ludicrously vast sleeping-machines--some with four pillars and a roof, some with iron fences at each end, topped with brass balls, and some with mahogany headboards whose function I have never yet understood. I would rather follow the Turkish proverb that "he who sleeps on the floor will not fall out of bed." In sum, I despise all furniture as monstrous, heavy, space-greedy, expensive, and pretentious.
”
”
Alan W. Watts
“
I always knew you were tough, but you're about to try to take on the wolves, the Arrows, the Forgotten, and God knows who else, all at once. Forget brass balls. Those things are goddamn titanium!
”
”
Nalini Singh (Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling, #15))
“
Men like to share outrageous stories with one another - embellishing the keenness of our instincts and exaggerating the metallic compounds that make up our genitalia, or "brass balls" as they say.
”
”
Noah Fregger (Gabriel's Watch (The Scrapman Trilogy, #1))
“
That’s what makes us special,” she continues. “This isn’t just a courtship of boy meets girl. They fall in love, yadda, yadda. This is a lifelong commitment to men who aren’t satisfied living ordinary lives. It sometimes seems more of an obsession than a mission. One that can test a woman to her absolute limits.” She grins over at me, “But for him, for that man, I’ll do it. I’ll be there when he fucks up so badly he can’t celebrate how good he is or what he’s done. I’ll be there whenever he doubts himself and our relationship suffers because of those doubts. I’ll be there with my hair done, and my lipstick on, in my best heels, with my head held high on his darkest days, because that’s what he needs. And I don’t want him changing. I don’t want him to stop being who he is, not ever, not for me, and not for any baby we make.” She turns her gaze to me. “But I will use the tips of these heels to pierce and pin his brass balls down if he ever stops giving me what I need.
”
”
Kate Stewart (The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3))
“
From within he produced a crumpled piece of paper, and old-fashioned brass key, a peg of wood with a ball of string attached to it, and three rusty old disks of metal.
”
”
Arthur Conan Doyle (The Complete Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes)
“
You don’t sound too excited about this,” Tucker comments twenty minutes later. He holds the door to the community center open for me.
“And you are?” A yellow sign decorated with balloons greets us. “This process is so hard that I have to learn how to breathe? That’s not normal.”
“You watch any of those YouTube videos?”
“God no. I didn’t want to psych myself out. Did you?”
“A few.”
“And?”
He gives me a thumbs-down. “I don’t recommend them. I’m wondering why we use brass balls to describe someone who’s really strong, because after the second video, my balls tried to climb inside my body. Plus, my YouTube history is officially fucked.”
“Ha. Exactly why I didn’t watch any.” I wag a warning finger at him. “Stay by my head during the birth or you’ll never want to have sex with me again.
”
”
Elle Kennedy (The Goal (Off-Campus, #4))
“
The inside of the house – with its shallow door-panels, lozenge door-knobs, polished brass ball on the end of the banisters, stuffy red matt paper with stripes to artfully shadowed as to appear bars – was more than simply novel to Henrietta, it was antagonistic, as though it had been invented to put her out. She felt the house was acting, nothing seemed to be natural; objects did not wait to be seen but came crowding in on her, each with what amounted to its aggressive cry.
”
”
Elizabeth Bowen (The House in Paris)
“
Neutrinos, they are very small.
They have no charge and have no mass
And do not interact at all.
The earth is just a silly ball
To them, through which they simply pass,
Like dustmaids down a drafty hall
Or photons through a sheet of glass.
They snub the most exquisite gas,
Ignore the most substantial wall,
Cold shoulder steel and sounding brass,
Insult the stallion in his stall,
And, scorning barriers of class,
Infiltrate you and me. Like tall
And painless guillotines they fall
Down through our heads into the grass.
At night, they enter at Nepal
And pierce the lover and his lass
From underneath the bed—you call
It wonderful; I call it crass.
”
”
John Updike
“
The phrase “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” is often said to refer to a metallic grid with circular holes in it, set under a pyramid of cannonballs on a ship’s deck to keep it stable. When this “brass monkey” got cold enough, the metal contracted and the cannonballs all popped out. In fact, the phrase means exactly what it says; the fake nautical euphemism is an attempt to make its rude humor more acceptable.
”
”
John Lloyd (QI: The Second Book of General Ignorance)
“
The brass ball spun furiously round his pole. "Ooh, I'll bet you scribble in the margins, don't you? You fiend! You devil! I can see it in your beady little non-spectacled eyes! You're just the type of monster who uses an innocent book to prop open a door or straighten a table with a wobbly leg. Or maybe you only read magazines? Savage!"
"Oh, get off yourself," barked Blunderbuss. "I've eaten more books than you've shelved in your whole weird pinball life and I enjoyed every last one, thanks very much."
"EATEN?!" screeched the brass ball.
”
”
Catherynne M. Valente (The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home (Fairyland, #5))
“
Kavanagh continued his walk in the direction of Mr. Churchill's residence. This, at least, was unchanged,—quite unchanged. The same white front, the same brass knocker, the same old wooden gate, with its chain and ball, the same damask roses under the windows, the same sunshine without and within. The outer door and study door were both open, as usual in the warm weather, and at the table sat Mr. Churchill, writing. Over each ear was a black and inky stump of a pen, which, like the two ravens perched on Odin's shoulders, seemed to whisper to him all that passed in heaven and on earth. On this occasion, their revelations were of the earth. He was correcting school exercises.
”
”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Kavanagh)
“
It was a horse-world, that’s what it was. When I think of him sitting beside me up there on the cart I don’t think of scrap metal, brass, copper, lead, cast-iron. I think of Duke. I think of the life of carters and pedlars. I see him lean forward, elbows on knees, after I’ve taken up the reins, and start to look around him as if he hadn’t noticed the world passing by. I see him scratch his neck and reset his cap. I see him light up a snout, dicky chest or no dicky chest, and breathe out the first drag, bottom lip jutting, then rub his chin with the tip of his thumb, cigarette between his fingers, then run the ball of his thumb across his forehead, and I know I do all those things, without helping it, the same gestures, the same motions.
”
”
Graham Swift (Last Orders)
“
The front door is locked—what’s up with that?”
“Logan fixed the lock,” I tell her.
Her bright red, heart-shaped mouth smiles. “Good job, Kevin Costner. You should staple the key to Ellie’s forehead, though, or she’ll lose it.”
She has names for the other guys too and when her favorite guard, Tommy Sullivan, walks in a few minutes later, Marlow uses his. “Hello, Delicious.” She twirls her honey-colored, bouncy hair around her finger, cocking her hip and tilting her head like a vintage pinup girl.
Tommy, the fun-loving super-flirt, winks. “Hello, pretty, underage lass.” Then he nods to Logan and smiles at me. “Lo . . . Good morning, Miss Ellie.”
“Hey, Tommy.”
Marlow struts forward. “Three months, Tommy. Three months until I’m a legal adult—then I’m going to use you, abuse you and throw you away.”
The dark-haired devil grins. “That’s my idea of a good date.” Then he gestures toward the back door. “Now, are we ready for a fun day of learning?”
One of the security guys has been walking me to school ever since the public and press lost their minds over Nicholas and Olivia’s still-technically-unconfirmed relationship. They make sure no one messes with me and they drive me in the tinted, bulletproof SUV when it rains—it’s a pretty sweet deal.
I grab my ten-thousand-pound messenger bag from the corner.
“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. Elle—you should have a huge banger here tonight!” says Marlow.
Tommy and Logan couldn’t have synced up better if they’d practiced:
“No fucking way.”
Marlow holds up her hands, palms out. “Did I say banger?”
“Huge banger,” Tommy corrects.
“No—no fucking way. I meant, we should have a few friends over to . . . hang out. Very few. Very mature. Like . . . almost a study group.”
I toy with my necklace and say, “That actually sounds like a good idea.”
Throwing a party when your parents are away is a rite-of-high-school passage. And after this summer, Liv will most likely never be away again. It’s now or never.
“It’s a terrible idea.” Logan scowls.
He looks kinda scary when he scowls. But still hot. Possibly, hotter.
Marlow steps forward, her brass balls hanging out and proud. “You can’t stop her—that’s not your job. It’s like when the Bush twins got busted in that bar with fake IDs or Malia was snapped smoking pot at Coachella. Secret Service couldn’t stop them; they just had to make sure they didn’t get killed.”
Tommy slips his hands in his pockets, laid back even when he’s being a hardass. “We could call her sister. Even from an ocean away, I’d bet she’d stop her.”
“No!” I jump a little. “No, don’t bother Liv. I don’t want her worrying.”
“We could board up the fucking doors and windows,” Logan suggests.
’Cause that’s not overkill or anything.
I move in front of the two security guards and plead my case. “I get why you’re concerned, okay? But I have this thing—it’s like my motto. I want to suck the lemon.”
Tommy’s eyes bulge. “Suck what?”
I laugh, shaking my head. Boys are stupid.
“You know that saying, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’?—well, I want to suck the lemon dry.”
Neither of them seems particularly impressed.
“I want to live every bit of life, experience everything it has to offer, good and bad.” I lift my jeans to show my ankle—and the little lemon I’ve drawn there. “See? When I’m eighteen, I’m going to get this tattooed on for real. As a reminder to live as much and as hard and as awesome as I can—to not take anything for granted. And having my friends over tonight is part of that.”
I look back and forth between them. Tommy’s weakening—I can feel it. Logan’s still a brick wall.
“It’ll be small. And quiet—I swear. Totally controlled. And besides, you guys will be here with me. What could go wrong?”
Everything.
Everything goes fucking wrong.
”
”
Emma Chase (Royally Endowed (Royally, #3))
“
The threat pissed me off more than anything. I wasn’t scared at all. That may or may not have been due to the distance between us. I’m guessing it was, but nonetheless, I had brass balls and I was using them.
”
”
Jettie Woodruff (Slut (The Twin Duo, #2))
“
I don’t know how to swim,” I said as we walked onto the back deck where the pool awaited.
“I’ll teach you,” Bailey said, smiling over her shoulder. “First, I need to clean out some of the gunk from the storm.”
After scooping up dead leaves and bugs until the pool looked pristine, Bailey jumped into the pool. “There’s a secret to swimming,” she said, giving me a wink.
Tossing off my shirt, I didn’t think about how much I hated to go shirtless outside of the cage. I just walked into the water and returned her bright smile. “What’s the secret?”
“Friction.”
Before I could ask, Bailey slid her wet body against mine. “Lots of friction,” she murmured, grinning wildly.
The moment my hands went to her ass, her legs wrapped around my waist. “I feel like I might drown. More friction might be necessary.”
When I nibbled at her shoulder, she went soft in my arms. Getting cocky, I tugged at the strap of her bikini with my teeth.
“Shit,” she muttered and I knew we had company. Glancing back, I found Kirk watching us while Sawyer gnawed at an ice cream.
“Screwing my daughter in the pool,” he said, exhaling cigarette smoke. “I like a man with balls.”
Bailey frowned. “We’re not screwing.”
To ensure the moment was truly awkward, Bailey slid her hands up and down my chest. Nothing made a guy piss his pants like having his nutty girlfriend feel him up in front of her scary dad.
“We’re going out to Longhorn’s for dinner tomorrow night. Brass Balls can come with us.”
“Thanks, Pop,” Bailey said, grinning like her hands weren’t on my ass.
“We’re grilling and your brothers are here.”
Sawyer grinned at me then Bailey. “A man should die with a full stomach.”
Snorting at his kid’s comment, Kirk took her hand then walked away.
Bailey watched them leave then looked at me. “I was going to fuck you in the pool,” she whispered.
“You’re going to get me killed.
”
”
Bijou Hunter (Damaged and the Dragon (Damaged, #5))
“
Time for a showdown with her mutinous brewmaster. She'd tried nice. She'd tried all business. She'd tried cajoling. Now, it was time to try bitch with big brass balls.
”
”
Avery Flynn (Enemies on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery, #1))
“
The orrery stood on an oak dais in the middle of a room that had been the study of probably eight generations of Mrs. Hale’s forefathers. Four brass legs supported two horizontal brass dials connected by vertical posts, in between which was a series of coaxial shafts, stacked with telescoping gears, and a long brass hand crank with a wooden handle. A kettle-sized brass sphere, set above the middle of the upper dial, represented the sun. Its surface was so polished and reflective it not only threw the room’s light back out, as if generating the glow itself, but also seemed to possess depth, as if one might be able to plunge into its fish-eyed fathoms, into another brassy room. The planets and their moons were made of proportionally sized ivory balls. Each was fixed at the end of a brass arm. My grandfather and I stood looking at the marvelous machine in silence.
”
”
Paul Harding (Enon)
“
Gleska! Some day when I'm in the key for't I'll mak a song aboot her. Here the triumphs o civilisation meet ye at the stair fit, and three bawbee mornin rolls can be had after six o'clock at nicht for a penny.
There's libraries scattered a ower the place; I ken, for I've seen them often, and the brass plate at the door tellin ye whit they are.
Art's a the go in Gleska too; there's something aboot it every ither nicht in the papers, when Lord Somebody-or-ither's no divorcin his wife, and takin up the space; and I hear there's hunders o pictures oot in yon place at Kelvingrove.
Theatres, concerts, balls, swarees, lectures - ony mortal thing ye like that'll keep ye oot o yer bed, ye'll get in Gleska if ye have the money to pay for't.
”
”
Neil Munro (Erchie, My Droll Friend)
“
Do you have a library card?" the ball hissed down.
"N-no?" September called up.
"Then you are not allowed! Intruder! Brigand! Tourist! Begone or I shall set the book bears on you! Vandal! Hoodlum! Critic!" The brass ball spun furiously round his pole. "Ooh, I'll bet you scribble in the margins, don't you? You fiend! You devil! I can see it in your beady little non-spectacled eyes! You're just the type of monster who uses an innocent book to prop open a door or straighten a table with a wobbly leg.
Or maybe you only read magazines? Savage!"
"Oh, get off yourself," barked Blunderbuss. "I've eaten more books than you've shelved in your whole weird pinball life and I enjoyed every last one, thanks very much."
"EATEN?!" screeched the brass ball.
”
”
Catherynne M. Valente
“
But that’s what makes us special,” she continues. “This isn’t just a courtship of boy meets girl. They fall in love, yadda, yadda. This is a lifelong commitment to men who aren’t satisfied living ordinary lives. It sometimes seems more of an obsession than a mission. One that can test a woman to her absolute limits.” She grins over at me, “But for him, for that man, I’ll do it. I’ll be there when he fucks up so badly he can’t celebrate how good he is or what he’s done. I’ll be there whenever he doubts himself and our relationship suffers because of those doubts. I’ll be there with my hair done, and my lipstick on, in my best heels, with my head held high on his darkest days, because that’s what he needs. And I don’t want him changing. I don’t want him to stop being who he is, not ever, not for me, and not for any baby we make.” She turns her gaze to me. “But I will use the tips of these heels to pierce and pin his brass balls down if he ever stops giving me what I need.
”
”
Kate Stewart (The Finish Line (The Ravenhood, #3))
“
An invisible inquisition stands armed with canons outside the house gates of every person awakening to their destiny. Yet God is a playful guard pup, a magnificent constellation with a massive pair of brass balls called the Sun and the Moon. Visibly excited and panting at the game, this gigantic guard pup wags a tail of stars back and forth then lifts his hind leg like a radiant sequoia tree uprooted from the earth. After blinding them and spraying them with bright yellow doggie urination, he towers over the marked territory of tiny toy soldier figurines, barking, panting, kicking up dust, and doing all those playful doggie things. Hosed down with blinding misfortune, and standing there dripping with dishonor, the army finally begins to discover the depths of the unbreakable bond between a person and their pup. However, at daybreak, the big-eyed and floppy-eared puppy happily scurries back through the gate slides on the loose gravel at the corner of the house, darts through the doggie door, up the stairs, and leaps into the bed of his awakening master or mistress, jumping upon them and licking them all over, with the warmth of puppy love.
”
”
Curtis Tyrone Jones (Giants At Play: Finding Wisdom, Courage, And Acceptance To Encounter Your Destiny)
“
In the village where I was born, most people were quite simple folk, as were my parents. There were only a few prominent residents: the mayor, the doctor, the notary and some members of the aristocracy who lived in manor houses on the edge of the village. The children of these prominent citizens were different. They didn’t run; they walked upright and bashed their knees in falls a lot less frequently. They had different toys as well. We had spinning tops, balls and elastic. They had a diabolo, walked with books on their heads and later they were given a horse.
Our kind of children played from the age of ten in the brass band; they were given piano lessons at home and on Sundays they would listen to Peter and the Wolf. There were differences: you could see that instantly. But ours was the majority and from belonging to the majority we derived our pride and strength.
Looking back, this strikes me as odd.
At university, all the prominent children of the country had come together and now they formed the majority. They had walked about with books on their heads and they all knew >Peter and the Wolf backwards. Theirs were tales about the decline of the aristocracy – some of these were quite hilarious. It’s the way you tell ‘em.
”
”
Connie Palmen (De wetten)
“
Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys’ front door; it crept into their living-room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a roundabout at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.
”
”
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1))
“
You?” Jane fixed her with a furious glare. “You came here to apologise? For what?” Winter shifted uncomfortably. “For feeling the way I did… I guess.” Jane paused then ran one hand back through her hair tugging at the spiky tufts. “Fuck! Brass balls of the fucking Beast! Carice the Saviours cock with bells tied around the tip.” Having apparently run out of profanity she put one hand over her mouth and shook her head. “You were going to apologise.” Jane crossed the room in two quick steps and sat cross legged at Winters feet. “You thought you had to apologize to me?
”
”
Django Wexler (The Shadow Throne (The Shadow Campaigns, #2))
“
COCK-A-DOODLE . . . AAACK-KACK-KACK-KACK!” Way down in Hoot Holler, Hatchet the Rooster is ruling the roost. It’s tough to rule the roost when all of your cock-a-doodles sputter out like you’re gagging on a crossways caterpillar, but Hatchet’s ego is twice the size of his multicolored mop of a tail, and I guarantee you by the time that last kack! echoes off Skullduggery Ridge he’s already fluffing his feathers and strutting around like that’s exactly what he meant to say. “Cock-a-doodle . . . aaack-kack-kack-kack!” Hatchet belongs to our neighbors Toad and Arlinda Hopper. They live a half-hour hike away, down the western side of Skullduggery Ridge, but even though we can’t see their farm from here the crowing comes through loud and clear. That rooster has brass lungs. And once he gets started, he doesn’t stop. He’ll crow at noon, he’ll crow at the moon, he’ll crow any which way the wind blows. Most of all, he’ll crow whenever he feels the need to remind the world that he is a rooster, which is about every six minutes. That bird is as loopy as a ball of snarled yarn. “Cock-a-doodle . . . aaack-kack-kack-kack!” Guess
”
”
Michael Perry (The Scavengers)
“
The sun was already coming up, Richards thought, casting a critical glance toward the eastern horizon as he strode toward the line of waiting vehicles, his Mk 14 EBR in one hand—adjusting the straps of his plate carrier as he moved. The brim of his Texas Longhorns ball cap keeping the glare out of his eyes.
This reminded him far too much of his time in Afghanistan—heading out from the FOB to track down Taliban insurgents. Working with the locals.
His gaze fell on the up-armored Egyptian Army HMMVs outside the gate—on the young corporal standing in the open roof turret, feeding a long, glistening brass belt of ammunition into the loading port of the mounted M60. Some things never changed.
”
”
Stephen England (Quicksand (Shadow Warriors #4))
“
All us good citizens in Jersey got attitude. We got pride. We got brass balls the size of watermelons. We got rude hand gestures and loaded guns... most of us. It's not like we're a pushover state like California. If you want to make points and get extra virgins when you blow yourself up, clearly Jersey is the place to accomplish that, you see what I'm saying? It's not like we're easy.
”
”
Janet Evanovich (Look Alive Twenty-Five (Stephanie Plum, #25))
“
In the village where I was born, most people were quite simple folk, as were my parents. There were only a few prominent residents: the mayor, the doctor, the notary and some members of the aristocracy who lived in manor houses on the edge of the village. the children of these prominent citizens were different. They didn’t run; they walked upright and bashed their knees in falls a lot less frequently. They had different toys as well. We had spinning tops, balls and elastic. They had a diabolo, walked with books on their heads and later they were given a horse.
Our kind of children played from the age of ten in the brass band; they were given piano lessons at home and on Sundays they would listen to Peter and the Wolf. There were differences: you could see that instantly. But ours was the majority and from belonging to the majority we derived our pride and strength.
Looking back, this strikes me as odd.
At university, all the prominent children of the country had come together and now they formed the majority. They had walked about with books on their heads and they all knew Peter and the Wolf backwards. Theirs were tales about the decline of the aristocracy – some of these were quite hilarious. It’s the way you tell ‘em.
”
”
Connie Palmen (De wetten)
“
Then I understood: The brass ball was still stuck in his empty eye socket.
”
”
Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner)
“
Mombasa, too, furnished with such
Palaces and sumptuous houses,
Will be laid waste with iron and fire
In payment for its former treachery.
Along the Indian coast, swarming
With enemy ships plotting Portugal's
Downfall, Lourenço with sail and with oar
Will give his uttermost, and then give more.
Though the powerful Samorin's giant ships
Choke the entire sea, his cannon-shot
Thundering from hot brass
Will pulverize rudder, mast, and sail;
Then, daring to grapple the enemy
Flagship, watch him leap
On deck, armed only with lance and sword,
To drive four hundred Muslims overboard.
But God's inscrutable wisdom (He knows
Best what is best for his servants)
Will place him where neither strength nor wisdom
Can avail in preserving his life.
In Chaul, the very seas will churn
With blood, fire, and iron resistance,
As the combined fleets of Egypt and Cambay
Confront him with his destiny that day.
The united power of many enemies
(Might was defeated only by might),
Faltering winds and a swelling sea
Will all be ranged against him.
Here, let ancient heroes rise
To learn from this scion of courage
This second Scaeva who, however maimed,
Knows no surrender and will not be tamed.
With one thighbone completely shattered
By a wayward cannon-ball, still
He battles on with his forearms alone
And a heart not to be daunted,
Until another ball snaps the ties
Binding flesh and spirit together:
The leaping soul slips its body's prison
To claim the greater prize of the arisen.
Go in peace, O soul! After war's
Turbulence, you have earned supreme peace!
As for that scattered, broken body,
He who fathered it plans vengeance.
Already, I hear their hot perdition
Looming in a thunderous barrage
On Mameluke and cruel Cambayan
From catapult, from ordnance and cannon.
Here comes the father, magnified
By his anger and grief, his heart
On fire, his eyes swimming, his soul
Transfixed by paternal love.
He has taken an oath his noble rage
Will make blood run knee-high
In the enemy ships; the Nile will mourn,
The Indus witness, the Ganges be forlorn.
”
”
Luís de Camões (The Lusiads)
“
You have some brass balls, you little shit.
”
”
Katee Robert (Neon Gods (Dark Olympus, #1))