Riddles
 

How about we all write some riddles?

I'll start us off with a very short one. I won't post the solution to start, but maybe I'll edit it in later (possibly in white text you need to highlight to see).

By the way, I've made this a "no index" thread, so fear not Google.

Riddle

On earth, it's almost everywhere.
Its first is found midway through death.
Its second is the name we share.
Its third is heard in every breath.

PS (with hint)--
For those who don't read many riddles, there's a long tradition in riddles of using "first" and "second, " etc., to refer to the letters spelling the solution to the riddle. This is the first riddle I ever wrote using that convention, since I generally prefer riddles geared toward the Thing itself rather than to the spelling of the Thing.

Good one, Roger. Some riddles are extremely devious and almost impossible to solve but you played very fair.

Here's a really easy one which I adapted from an ancient riddle I found in The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes:

What's my name?
I'm a check-out girl,
I've loads of men,
there's Grant an' Earl,
there's Stig an' Sven,
there's Jess an' Jake an' Joe an' James.
Now I've told you all their names
an' told you mine - again an' again,
so what's my name?
Ann

A Riddle
 

Consider the ends of Oriental verse:
lines specific, resonant, and terse.

Beyond the printed page, the fancy fonts,
they frame the thing that every poet wants.

Now add, when doctors speak and you obey,
the alpha and omega of what you say.

If you put these together, you will see
my answer and announce your victory.


Consider the ends of Oriental verse:
lines specific, resonant, and terse.

HaikU

Beyond the printed page, the fancy fonts,
they frame the thing that every poet wants.

ReadeR

Now add, when doctors speak and you obey,
the alpha and omega of what you say.

AaaahhH

When you put these together, you will see
my answer and announce your victory.

HU + RR + AH = hurrah

Those who have me are assured
of sanity and heyday;
those who don't are unsecured
by mastery or payday.


[I'm saving some other riddles to sub to your Bumbershoot, RS.]

Answer: A sense of humor

Thanks, Terese. I wouldn't rule out riddles posted here, though. That's part of the reason I made this a Google-free Zone. I'm hoping this thread will be fun for everyone and riddle making will prove contagious. We've already received some remarkable contributions, and I have a feeling there are many more to come.

Probably too easy for this erudite crowd:


Playful Words

Weighed down by doubt, I can’t attack.
I must unpack
the heavy metaphors that hurt
my heart,
replacing arrows, slings, and swords
with words
that will outwit my uncle’s wards,
trap the mouse—my mother’s dear
defiler of her husband’s ear:
I must unpack my heart with words.

Okey dokey. I'm still working on them, will post something when it's ready.

Roger...I think I've got the answer. I'll put it in white text below in case others are still working on it:

Is it: "air"?

I start within both thick and thin
And after carry on
To spell the end of rancor; sin
Runs rampant when I'm gone.


Answer: "Honor".

It's been a long time since Ralph posted his, so I'll give the answer: Hamlet, of course.

Here's one more from me. Is anyone working on answers? :(

It’s said I am unchangeable but shifting,
that I have captured souls, but am uncaught;
no one knows the eons I’ve been drifting
through time—unknown, unseen, but not unsought.

Answer: karma