http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=242982

Again in honor to the inspiration for my nickname, here's the last verse of one of W.B. Yeats' best known poems. It's one of those 'translate into Perl' poems - as such it compiles and runs (though not under strict).
# Twenty centuries of stony sleep # were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. # And what rough beast, its hour come round at last # slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? # # The Second Coming # W.B. Yeats use constant { CENTURY => 3153600000 }; package stone; sub sleep (;$) { &CORE::sleep(shift); } package Cradle::Rocking; sub vex {}; package Yeats; Cradle::Rocking::vex( dest => 'Nightmare', subject => sub { stone::sleep CENTURY for (0 .. 19) } ); my %beasts; $beasts{'rough'} = [{ dest => 'Eire', mode => 'course', hour => 1 }, { dest => 'Innisfree', mode => 'amble', hour => 2} +, { dest => 'Bethlehem', mode => 'slouch', hour => 3 +}, ]; (my $beast) = grep { $_->{dest} eq 'Bethlehem' && $_->{mode} eq 'slouch' } @{$beasts{'rough'}}; while ('Eternity') { last if (((localtime(time))[2] == $beast->{hour})); } bless $beast, 'Life';

CU
Robartes-

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Yeats - The Second Coming
by Mr_Person (Hermit) on Mar 14, 2003 at 20:51 UTC
    That's really great. I especially like how the correct beast is selected and then "blessed" with life at just the right hour :-).