I Am
I am: yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost;
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host,
Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;
And yet I am! and live like shadows tossed
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dreams,
Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,
But the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems;
And e'en the dearest--that I loved the best--
Are strange--nay, rather stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod;
A place where woman never smil'd or wept;
There to abide with my creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept:
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie;
The grass below--above the vaulted sky.
poem by John Clare (1865)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Related quotes
Written in Northampton County Asylum
I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows?
My friends forsake me like a memory lost.
I am the self-consumer of my woes;
They rise and vanish, an oblivious host,
Shadows of life, whose very soul is lost.
And yet I am—I live—though I am toss’d
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
Into the living sea of waking dream,
Where there is neither sense of life, nor joys,
But the huge shipwreck of my own esteem
And all that’s dear. Even those I loved the best
Are strange—nay, they are stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod—
For scenes where woman never smiled or wept—
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie,—
The grass below; above, the vaulted sky.
poem by John Clare
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Who and what I am no one really knows
Who and what I am no one really knows
and the things in my mind
at times like a tornado blows
for a place of escape to find
into a world of bewildered noise
where my esteem and memories are lost
in a place without comfort or joys
where in shattered pieces my words are tossed
where even a whole religion spreads gossip and lies
while I try to walk with the creator God
they try to destroy my integrity, my humanity dies,
and friendless on uncharted ways I have to trod
while my own loved ones know me not,
do not even comprehend the thoughts that I have got.
[Reference: “I am – yet what I am none cares or knows” by John Clare.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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I am tossed into a wretched life
(after John Clare)
I am tossed into a wretched life
where all my friends have forsaken me
and you whom I loved are only found in memory
while senses and sensibility is all at strive
and yet in this nothingness I am still alive,
but from hardship I am never free
and its only darkness that around me I see
but once you were my beloved wife
and now all my aims and esteems
are shattered, broken to pieces,
even our love, our joy and happiness
are swept away like broken dreams
while the darkness, the destruction increases
and people treat me with a kind of aloofness.
[Reference: “I am – yet what I am none cares or knows” by John Clare.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Long Way Around
You say what you say
And you pray that one day
Youll be seen between the shadows
Now thats a waist of your pain
Living your life like a saint
When it dont...no
It dont even matter
Even saints make their mistakes
Letting their dreams fall and break
All it feels like
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
Now I want you to see
How good life can be
You can turn around
And better your life
With the good times found
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
Im not afraid of pride
When its for the right side
Dont betray what I believe in
Stand where you want to stand
And Ill believe when I can
cause Im telling you now
I been where youre living in
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
Will tomorrow keep its promise
No one here can say
The past is all behind us
And all we have is today
And all we have is today
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
People will always take the long way around
Before you know it youll be lost and found
Living in sunshine with the shades pulled down
People will always take the long way around
song performed by by Eagle Eye Cherry
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lost My Childhood
Yes i lost my childhood.
And it will never return.
I lost the innocient life
which i used to live.
I lost the fairy dreams
Which helped me for sound sleep.
Yes i lost toy car which i paddled for long.
i remember those fairy tales my mom told me.
I was a small school kid once,
Yes, I lost those moments.
With every day passing i am losing it
And i know it will never return.
Its true that i miss those days
But thats what i can only do.
I wanted to become big
But i was never aware of this hell.
I lost that laugh, i lost that joy.
I want that childhood again
I want to be a boy.
But all i got is a loss of childhood.
poem by James yardy
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Her Memories
NOT by her grave: thither I bid them take
Fresh garlands of the flowers that pleased her best,
And lay them by the headstone, for my sake,
My token and remembrance with the rest:
But here, where in the brightening of the west
I see her mountains grow into the sky,
Her native world, and mine because of her,
Here, where that low sigh of the pinewood's stir,
That was her dearest music, fills all sound
,I am with her;
And always, always, past comes passing by,
Lost in her grave, but here as if half found.
Not by her grave: it is too still, too cold,
And save my loss is nothing with me there.
What memories have I there of her of old?
They came not there, the dear lost days that were;
Not she lies there, but only my despair;
Not she, but death and all my loneliness.
What memories save all memories love must shun?
I would not think of death and her as one;
She shall be only life-ful in my mind,
With life's self one;
A name of glad remindings and old bliss,
So something of her presence left behind.
Not by her grave: some day will I return,
When sorrow keeps its wont unvexed by place,
And, sitting on the turf beside, will learn
To call before me there her waking face,
Not that white face that slept and took no trace
Of change because I kissed it, nor for tears.
Some day; for now I should forget her so,
Lose the fair happy woman and but know
The coldness and the silence when she died,
Lose her all so,
My love that was my life of all for years.
She loved this music when the pinewoods sighed.
poem by Augusta Davies Webster
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Three persons and a dog and loyalty
I, you, he, she, it…
three distinct views of the world
(though perhaps not to the Creator?)
which seem so different. Which
grammarians note, and writers write about.
A father who was all mine, I thought,
waiting for a boy one day after school
who was that younger me
with a small and lively bundle of love and energy and loyalty
straining to meet this stranger, as if I’d been a friend
already all its life - yet whom he’d not yet met -
straining at a brand-new brown leather leash…
how well you remember it…
he said he’d bought it for that son, who was me
but when, a childhood ago, he had to have it put away
it was he who cried for, so mother said
only the second time in his life.
I just felt betrayed. Again.
so when they gathered at his, that’s father’s, funeral
thinking of things to say
that would not hurt too much to say
they said, and he loved that dog so much he cried,
for the second time in his life, Dorothy says,
we never ever saw him cry…
and you remember that day and what they said
so clearly
and though I’ve moved from there
they may if they remember me
say much the same of other matters about that boy
who was me. For
memory doesn’t distinguish much in the past
between the living and the dead, in grammar,
why should it
and you wonder, well I do,
whether Sport in his unspoken dog-grammar
even with his eloquent tail
perhaps, sniffing at an interesting tree in the park
might not distinguish just as sharply with that wet, wise nose,
I-dog, you-dog, he, she, it-dog,
living with memory of some unspoken kind, yet
oblivious of death
or betrayal.
for Max if he likes it
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Home
Without dreams, there's mo reality,
I have no dreams, no reality,
Every lock has its key,
I have no locks, no keys,
I have a life,
I don't live,
I will see death,
Which cherish,
Every moment I belong,
To no one else but me,
Seeking stone filled paths all alone,
I lost the word WE,
I have a big place,
So I may sleep,
Not a single shoulder,
So I can weep,
I have people,
I have no friends,
I have a mailbox,
Nobody sends,
I stay here,
I don't live,
I have many questions,
No answers to give,
The place i stay, is it my home?
But I'm not living,
It's just a place,
It's not home.......
poem by Apurva Jain
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Lost In Love
Would you love me
When nights are cold
Would you love me
When I grow old
Would you care
Baby its not easy
Take me by surprise
And say youre there
Would you love me
Give me one more chance
Would you love me
Try and understand
Would you share a life
That is music
Show me in your eyes
That youll stay with me tonight
Im lost in love
I cant live without you
Im lost in love,
All my dreams around you
And Im lost in love
And its true
I cant live without you
Oh, no
Would you love me
When Im in doubt
Would you love me
Just to be around
Would you share my
Life that is music
Take me in your arms
And sing my melody
Im lost in love
I cant live without you
Im lost in love,
All my dreams around you
And Im lost in love
And its true
I cant live without you
Oh, no
And Im lost in love
Say you really want me
Love is a passion
Just cant hide
And Im lost in love
Time and again and it
Hurts me
Youll be my reason
For starting again, again
Im lost in love
I cant live without you
Im lost in love
And all my dreams around you
Im lost in love
I cant live without you
Im lost in love
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
Im lost in love
Baby I cant live without you
song performed by by New Edition
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Living Inside Myself
In my life
Ive felt so self assured
But suddenly its all changed
Shes a cloud
That hangs above my world
And I find myself wondring in the rain
And now I cant go on
cause I am lost
Living inside myself
Living inside this shell
Living outside your love
I am lost
Somewhere inside my own dreams
Afraid of what life really means
Living without your love
I need a guiding light
To shine on my darkest days
I was young, and time was on my side
But like a fool I let it slip away
And now those days are gone
And I am lost
Living inside myself
Living inside this shell
Living outside your love
I am lost
Somewhere inside my own dreams
Afraid of what life really means
Living without your love
In my life
Ive felt so self-assured
But oh how all the seasons change
And now Im not that strong
cause I am lost
Living inside myself
Living inside this hell
Living outside your love
I am lost
Somewhere inside my own dreams
Afraid of what life really means
Living without your love
I am lost
Living inside myself
Living inside this shell
Living outside your love
I am lost
song performed by by Gino Vanelli
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Invitation To Eternity
Say, wilt thou go with me, sweet maid,
Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me
Through the valley-depths of shade,
Of bright and dark obscurity;
Where the path has lost its way,
Where the sun forgets the day,
Where there's nor light nor life to see,
Sweet maiden, wilt thou go with me?
Where stones will turn to flooding streams,
Where plains will rise like ocean's waves,
Where life will fade like visioned dreams
And darkness darken into caves,
Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me
Through this sad non-identity
Where parents live and are forgot,
And sisters live and know us not?
Say, maiden, wilt thou go with me
In this strange death of life to be,
To live in death and be the same,
Without this life or home or name,
At once to be and not to be--
That was and is not--yet to see
Things pass like shadows, and the sky
Above, below, around us lie?
The land of shadows wilt thou trace,
Nor look nor know each other's face;
The present marred with reason gone,
And past and present both as one?
Say, maiden, can thy life be led
To join the living and the dead?
Then trace thy footsteps on with me:
We are wed to one eternity.
poem by John Clare
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I'll Sleep My Life Away
When dying tomorrow
is no worse than dying today,
I'll sleep my life away;
no hunger unbearable,
no pain so lacerating -
no lie to make up...
no human defamed.
The world shuts down,
the avenues sleep.
The body forgotten,
the heart stops to weep.
With clouds as my roof,
darkness, my covers...
I hover in nothingness
for nothingness is life.
Death is waking up in obscene streets
begging for food that could not satisfy -
for hunger, pain and sorrow meet
under that same old sky.
Death is waking up in misery
and remember you still breathe
the filthy air and you still see
everything obscure;
nowhere to avert to, everyone's averse.
When mirrors are horrible,
no brighter side to look upon...
when dream is but a worn-out lie,
when children's cries linger on
and there are no lullabies
but cars that hover on.
Death is waking up in agony
and remember you still breathe...
weak hands raised up, palms to the heavens
for coins to purchase bread.
Oh the cruel life you have to live,
with filthy water you just but drink -
I'll sleep my life away.
Life to me is when I close my eyes
and everything falls into place.
poem by Jessel Jane Tevar
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Lost To Find My Lot
Lost in a world, that scares me to death,
Lost in a crowd I’m losing my breath,
Lost as a kid, lost as an adult
I feel everything is falling apart and its my fault
Lost as a person, cant find my way
Lost in life every day, Lost in worry
Who am I?
I’ve lived a Lie
Lost to Kindness,
Lost to Love
Lost in the sky,
Like a lonely dove
Lost in thought which I shouldn’t do
It Winds me up,
I can’t get through
Lost to comfort all kind words
Lost to advice that isn’t heard
Lost to those who really care?
All these people always there
Lost in Me, I need a break
Lost in wonder which road should I take?
Lost in a place I don’t know well
Where are you now? There’s no one to tell
Lost here all alone To break these walls
Lost in mind
Lost in soul
Lost memories, there just a hole
Lost family, lost my place
Still yet I’m full of hate
Lost in boredom think I’ll leave
There’s a lot in life I need to achieve
poem by Olivia Braun
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Who Cares?
What ever happens when a love goes wrong
When a love goes wrong some morning,
Goes wrong like the singer of a blackbird song
That a blackbird's not been born in?
Lost like the flutter of a butterfly's flight
In the wild south wind's clash-clatter,
Or a heartbeat stopped as an oak tree's lopped;
Who cares?
Why? What does it matter?
What ever happens to a love-lost love
To a love-lost love, come Autumn,
Or a bare beech, birch, or a grey stone church
Or the leaves that the birch tree brought them;
To walk in the shelter of a shaded lane
With the last of the lost love's chatter,
Like the half of a whole, or a lonely soul,
Who cares?
Why? What does it matter?
What ever happens to the other one - you
To the other you, half a love lonely,
Do you care, do you weep, do you rest, do you sleep
When you love alone, loving me only?
Will you heave some sigh in your memory's eye
For the scenes of our springtime laughter,
Or burn some flame to erase my name...
Who cares?
Why? What does it matter?
11 December 1975
poem by David Lewis Paget
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Lost and Alone
Lost without love
Lost without family
Lost without friends
Lost without anyone
Lost without memories
Lost without thoughts
Lost without caring
Lost without a heart
Lost without a soul
Lost without feelings
Lost without dreams
Lost without life
Lost without the world
Lost without earth
Lost in my mind
Alone with the devil
Alone to burn in hell
Alone to be remembered
Alone on an island
Alone to be myself
Alone to love myself
Alone to love no one
Alone on earth
Alone in life
Alone with no thoughts
Alone with no love
Alone with no one
Alone with no memories
Alone to think
Alone to know oneself
Alone to find me
poem by Marilee Morley
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A Man Of Oblivion
Oblivion is my refuge and
It`s worth a life`s deductions.
From the day my life sprang up
From the mercy of the Creator
My oblivion has been my pal beloved.
Oblivion is my strength and
It`s nothing less than a grace.
Transferring my pains and woes
Into its inner chambers my entity triumphs
And my ego surges forward.
My oblivion has two phases-
One is of my life haunted by myself,
The other is of my life ravaged by time.
As the lilies fade out the former does and
As the islands in the Pacific submerge does the latter.
What is an oblivion of your kind?
Do you ever make such deductions?
As a new stream of new pathos rushes
To run along the abode of your oblivion,
Do you know the bliss you scale down?
poem by M.d Dinesh Nair
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Fascination
Death fascinates;
Life can be cruel.
Death is my morbid but most-loved obsession.
Life is hard-
I am out of control.
Death is my relationship to reality-
Life is not fair.
Death is an entity of beauty, though
Life is strange…
Death is veracity, although it can be
The facet of my delusions-
I live my life while
Thoughts of death are so often invasive.
Death is mysterious, and
Life is a river refracting light-
Death is dark but intriguing.
Life is amazing.
Death in turn- is amazing as it can be.
I live my life in a dream world.
Death is indeed mysterious, although-
Life
Is
Stranger…
poem by Claudia Krizay
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I'm Lost, I need change
I'm lost in a darkness as dark as the night
but lighter then the stars above
I'm lost in a memory that once were
but now is gone far away
I'm lost in the sadness after the dark
but live my life with laughter
I'm lost in this world, so beautiful it is
but it takes my life from me
I'm lost in myself and so confused
that my heart is broken in two
It's dark, it's light
it's noon, it's night
everything is changing but me
I'm lost in a life so still and slow
that my heart stops beating soon
I'm lost in a town where my heart isn't placed
and without my heart I can't live
I need my life back,
I need to change,
I need to get out of here
I'm lost in this place where i don't belong
And if I stay my breathing will stop
Therefore I go
out into the world
to a place greater then here
There I am lost in a big new world
But my heart will be with me again
poem by Maria Thalmann
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Dreams And Ghosts
the dreams
of the heart
the dreams
of the mind
change and pass
with time
throughout the span
of a lifetime
many dreams
will come and go
but some dream
like childhood
quality must be
kept and preserved
from childhood
for this is perpetual
renewal of creativity
this deep solace
sustains aspiring soul
with hope filled
love renewing life
with new dreams
to inspire to grasp
to share eternally
the hard hearted
are played out
lost broken upon
twisted memories
dreams long dead
life expired withered
dead to deep feeling
which sustains life
the dead of heart
live only in shadows
of yesterday’s hope
ghost haunting
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Have Faith In Thy Self
Do you ever feel lost and forlorn?
In a world that seems to be
For ever telling you who you are
And were you're from
Do you ever feel lost when?
Loved ones and friends
Live so close to your heart
But in reality so far apart
Do you ever feel lost?
When you think you have lost
The love of your life
Have you ever felt crushed?
At the thought that you will
No longer be with he that loves you
And only you from the heart
Smile at your inner strength
Take a stand for your beliefs
Accept in your heart who you are
And were you plan to go in life
If lost you will find
If loved left you will re-unite
No matter when or where
Love stands for all who believes
Shine for the moment
Live and breathe what you know
Is love for ever in your heart?
HAVE FAITH IN THY SELF
poem by Kaila George
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