Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Saddle Serenade and Dressage

Written by: Vaquero Waddie
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Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
when you're chomping at the bit
the Withers of a horse is used
to measure height
Straight from the horse's mouth
believe what he say's
don't fail to wear your Halter
in your certain disipline
find yourself a true lover
one you call your freind
Backing the wrong horse
will have ya'll airing out ya'll's lungs
I could have told you she didn't
want all that kissy stuff
tire of you before
it was over
cause she plumb had enough
a great relationship
has it all
walk trot and cantar
slow when you need it slow
fast when it needs ah-cantar
you'll know when it's right
a smooth steady pace
I reckon all things like this
it the same all over the place

English Expressions With Denotation In Brazil

E Do not hold your breath.
P take the horse out of the rain...

E Do not look a gift horse in the mouth.
P To the given horse do not look out the teeth...

E Piss off
P inflate the scrotum volume...

E Eating crow
P Swallowing the batrachy... 

 E Throw everything up in the air !
 P Pour water on the floor by kicking the bucket... 

 E Cock-and-bull- story !
 P Flaccid colloquy to nurse cattle !



 Os E english, P english of expression equivalent in Brazil

Work done with text of Paulo Miranda, translated and adapted by Alkas Poetry

Premium Member Always Look a Gift Horse In the Mouth

From China came a large packet of seeds
My garden bare;  it would see to my needs 
I put them all in the ground
And when they sprouted I found
I'd only planted Japanese knotweeds.

Written 8th August 2020. 

For "Mystery Seeds" "Poetry Contest 
Sponsored By Carolyn Devonshire.


Hans Haacke's Gift Horse

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth", I question.
Research on this ancient proverb, of course
finally brought me to this aged suggestion:
"the longer its teeth, the older the horse."

Remembering a blue-chip London bus trip
we took a journey to T-Square perforce.
There upon the fourth plinth, we dared not to skip
the stellar sculpture called Hans Haacke's "Gift Horse."

Borrowing from equine pictures drawn by George Stubbs,
Fulfillment for posterity, Hans' ace of clubs.

Readily, H. Haacke now spins a skeleton
which features a ribbon of ticker tape
from the London's Stock Exchange's latest run.
Money and power set in a new shape.

But recently, fate has behooved to remove
this sculpture to Chicago's latitutde.
Proverb's warning: Looking at its teeth for proof,
you slay a gift horse with ingratitude.

August 19, 2019
https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/8944/hans-haacke-gift-horse

Sponsor	Robert James Liguori
Contest Name	A Notable Horse

A Gift Horse

Bags and bags of rolls of
Wrapping paper sat in piles
By the curb as passersby
Revealed their New York guiles.

The store must not have had the room
To keep them for a year,
So why not spread the wealth around
And help them disappear?

Some people grabbed a handful
Which looked very Christmasy;
Three rolls with smiling snowmen
Seemed appropriate for me.

The takers grinned and marveled
At this unexpected gift.
I wonder, then, how many,
Once at home, were slightly miffed…

For close inspection showed each roll
Was slit from stem to stern,
Reminding me that nothing’s free, 
A lesson I should learn.

To look a gift horse in the mouth
Is never deemed correct,
But there are times that certain gifts
Are ones we should reject.

Don'T

DOn't bite the hand that feeds you
Don't burn your bridge behind you
Don't cast your pearls before swine
Don't change horses in midstream 
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
Don't cross the bridge till you to it 
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
Don't keep a dog and bite your self
Don't let the bastards grind you down 
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
Don't wash your dirty linen in public
Familiarity breeds comptempt
Feed a cold and starve a fever.
Don't upset the apple cart.
Don"t try to walk before you crawl 
Don"t teach grandma to suck eggs
Don't throw the baby out with the birth water.
Don't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar
Don't rock the boat 
Don't put the cart before the horse 
Don't meet troubles half way.
Don't put new wine into an old bottle
There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream 
There are none so deaf as those that would not hear.


Givers

It’s better to give than to receive,
Something my mom had taught.
Trust is something to be earned
And love just can’t be bought.
To look a gift horse in the mouth
Is like falling in a lion’s den.
My mom had said so many things,
But that was way back when.

Do all these apply still today?
I say they should, but many don’t.
It’s not because they weren’t taught,
Just, people are lazy and they won’t.
It’s a shame, the many who fail to do
The good deeds the world requires.
They’re the ones who start the wars
While we’re left to put out the fires.

I say, take action, all of you folks
That want to share all the good.
Forget the others who travel alone,
They’ll never do as they should.
But, should you see a glimmer of hope
Within one of those who are lost,
Take the time to help in their growth
And help them at any cost.

It is you, my friends, who are beacons of light
The givers, those who never receive.
But, you will get all your due rewards
And it’s all because you believe.

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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