PLAGIARIZED POETRY?

Some examples of the “unacknowledged borrowing” alleged against Pierre DesRuisseaux

SOMETIMES I CRY (BY TUPAC)

Sometimes when I’m alone

I cry because I’m on my own

The tears I cry are bitter and warm

They flow with life but take no form

WHEN I’M ALONE (DESRUISSEAUX)

Sometimes when I’m alone I cry

Because I’m alone.

The tears I cry are bitter and burning.

They flow with life, they do not need reason.

IN THE BEGINNING (DYLAN THOMAS)

In the beginning was the three-pointed star,

One smile of light across the empty face,

One bough of bone across the rooting air,

IN THE BEGINNING (DESRUISSEAUX)

In the beginning there was the three-pointed star

A bright smile on an empty face

A branch of bone in the rooting air

PRAYER BEFORE BIRTH (LOUIS MACNEICE)

I am not yet born; O hear me.

Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the

club-footed ghoul come near me.

PRAYER BEFORE BIRTH (DESRUISSEAUX)

I am not yet born but hear me.

Don’t let the vampire or the rat approach.