Immortal
Life is like a beauteous flower,
Closing to the world at even,—
Closing for a dreamless hour,
To unfold, with dawn, on heaven.
Life is like a bird that nests
Close to earth, no shelter scorning,
Yet, upmounting from her breast,
Fills the skies with song at morning.
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Poems (1898)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
A Soldier Uniform
There lay the young soldier, see, from his side,
Flows swiftly the current whose dark pulsing tide
Is bearing away the bright sands of life,
And closing forever this wild dream of strife.
Farewell! life is o'er, earth fades from his sight,
Around him is closing death's long dreamless night.
Then softly as star-light melts into day,
On pinions of Angels his soul passed away.
And who was he? A young soldier boy,
Of his home the pride and joy;
The pet and darling of every heart,
That in his young life has shared a part.
His fond Mother blessed him and looked up above,
Commending to Heaven the child of her love.
Then parting the flowers they laid him to rest,
And heaped the green sod o'er the young soldier breast.
Fold it up carefully, lay it aside,
Gently touch it and look upon it with pride.
For close it be to his Mother heart for evermore
The uniform her son had wore.
poem by Othel Cowan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
At Each Closing Day
At the closing of each closing day
When all songs sung
The singer stands alone
When words make silence speak
After words
When each moment outlives the last
When all futures are futures past
I count the hour and the day
The colour of your hair
And when first we loved
Your eyes a world within a world
Your heart a heart within a heart
With each closing day
I count the hour we first loved
Knowing only time in timelessness is found
When every grain of sand within a hour glass,
Has fallen to the ground
The seed that's sewn will blossom in it's hour
And after time, after time
Will grow into a heavenly flower
yvette m smith 7.10.08
T
poem by Yvette Smith
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Live... From The Funeral Of God
Live from the funeral of God
Live from the funeral of God
This is the day you've awaited
Sponsored and celebrated
He has answered your prayers
Corpses have piled up with your riches
They have spilled over onto the Earth
We spit and wear our fear like masks
Everything is locked into form
(Interrupt the feed)
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
Are men no worse than demons?
Are armies not thirsty for bleed?
The desire of their hearts has been met
Eons and eons
Decades of liars
Drink with power atop the mountains of corpses
Their arms and legs fail and they crawl like serpents
To address those who are mourning
Live from the funeral of God
Of God
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
(It's closing in, its closing in) The skys so dark
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
There is no reason to be afraid
Everything is under control
song performed by by Zao
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Nurse
Such innocent companionship
Is hers, whether she wake or sleep,
'Tis scarcely strange her face should wear
The young child's grave and innocent air.
All the night long she hath by her
The quiet breathing, the soft stir,
Nor knows how in that tender place
The children's angels veil the face.
She wakes at dawn with bird and child
To earth new-washed and reconciled,
The hour of silence and of dew,
When God hath made His world anew.
She sleeps at eve, about the hour
Of bedtime for the bird and flower,
When daisies, evening primroses,
Know that the hour of closing is.
Her daylight thoughts are all on toys
And games for darling girls and boys,
Lest they should fret, lest they should weep,
Strayed from their heavenly fellowship.
She is as pretty and as brown
As the wood's children far from town,
As bright-eyed, glancing, shy of men,
As any squirrel, any wren.
Tender she is to beast and bird,
As in her breast some memory stirred
Of days when those were kin of hers
Who go in feathers and in furs.
A child, yet is the children's law,
And rules by love and rules by awe.
And, stern at times, is kind withal
As a girl-baby with her doll.
Outside the nursery door there lies
The world with all its griefs and sighs,
Its needs, its sins, its stains of sense:
Within is only innocence.
poem by Katharine Tynan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Drifting Along
Nowhere to go
But I'll still be cruising
I live this life long
Long long time
You know I'm drifting along (drifting along)
Can't see where I am going
I will get to my destination
I'm feeling the pressure (pressure)
All around me crumble (man now)
But I won't be put down this time
I'm shifting along
Though I sing a sweet song (sweet song)
We'll murder in the streets where I be livin'
I'm closing my eyes (closing my eyes)
Don't want to see killin'
Gentle giants will roam forever
I'm cruising the street
Wondering who I will meet
Oh love has got to reign in our world
La la la la
La la la la la la
I don't know where I am going to (I don't know where I am going to)
La la la la
La la la la la la
I don't know where I am going to
Drifting along
Drifting along
Closing up my ears to the sound
I don't want to hear
song performed by by Jamiroquai
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Death Touching Me
Death is so close,
yet so far away
looking around
i see life.
Closing my eyes
only seeing death,
no future i see,
only despair.
Death touching
my shoulder
so many times
in my life.
So much heartache
have i seen
death closing in
so near is it now.
(4-18-07)
The Only Flower You Are
A sunbeam caress the only flower from my garden,
What a nice feeling, what a pleasure,
Than to admire the beauty of a flower,
And closing eyes to dream about it.
It's a sweet flower,
Which opened its petals,
To get the joyful morning dew,
And with its fragrance to stun me,
To bring into my heart its magic.
But the most beautiful flower,
That sit next to me,
It's you my love,
You are just a flower bud,
You are all i ever want to hold, ,
You are my dream transposed into reality,
You are my life, my joy.
poem by Cristina Teodor
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Chirping Birds
the morning here
is always the sound of chirping birds
because the trees
have been their homes at night
when the sun rises
the birds fly away again
and when the sun fades
they come back
to their nests
and home
the night hums the song of silence
bird's eyes closing again
to the golden sheen
of the bright moon
the white owl flaps its wings
on a nocturnal adventure
in harmony with the bats
friends of the night
some shadows lurk in the night
in the pursuit of happiness
some souls are restless
on dreams unfulfilled
some wake up dwindling at dawn
opening the fridge for a glass of cold water
switches on the computer
and begin again
anew to another poem
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Closing the night never to come back
Closing the night never to come back
The morning likes to keep
The twilight peaceful flame
The bird on the wing asleep
Or the light that dies the same
It's a death burnt on a piece of black
Closing the night never to come back
poem by Miroslava Odalovic
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Bird and flower upon the tree
A bird and flower upon the tree,
Sweet peony and oriole,
Each of them a perfect soul,
Song and sweetness manifest
The bird and flower we love the best
Side by side on the tall tree.
'Flower who art sunlight and fire, flower who art perfume and joy,
Sweetest of sweet,
Ah for the gift withheld!
Ah for the given gift's alloy!
Why must thy spirit exhale only in beauty and breath?
Ah for the voice thou hast not! I by thy side on the tree,
Telling the world of love, pain, and all raptures that be,
Raptures of laughter and life, raptures of tears and death,
Singing my heart to heaven, singing to earth at my feet;
Silence in thee.'
'Bird who art dew-drops and flame, bird who art rapture and song,
Sweetest of sweet,
Lo there's a voice part mine, songs that to me too belong,
Songs that grew of my growth, voice that has breathed my breath.
Bird that while I sit mute singest beside on the tree,
Hast thou ever a song taking no perfume of me?
Give forth my sweetness in song; bird, thou art singing for both,
Singing our hearts to heaven, singing to earth at our feet;
My voice in thee.'
On the tree-top side by side,
Sweet oriole and peony;
Music rings through earth and sky,
Sweet and sweet in sweetness lost
The flower and bird we love the most,
On the tree-top side by side.
poem by Augusta Davies Webster
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Depression
Depression makes you question life
Makes you wonder of who to have faith
It fills your chest with painful fear
It chokes your heart with mindless agony
You feel like the world is closing in
You feel like there’s no place left to hide
Your protective shell was shattered like glass
Torn from your arms with a sudden blast
Now it’s open for the whole world to see
How much life costs you, Morning to eve.
And if they could feel the pain you go through
They’d see why depression for you, is a tomb
poem by Wendy Moravec
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Closing the Doors
Closing the doors
I am shutting all the doors
Will be walking totally alone since not even a friend will get the entry
In my life, nobody can ever again sneak
I am closing the doors and do not ask me why?
You let go of my friendship
Sadly, you will never find a friend like me
I am closing the doors and I am not expressing this due to any hate
I was scared of letting in even a friend in my life
However, I did let in
Although, at the end even this friendship proved as wrong
Will never let anybody, sneak in.
poem by Rohit Sapra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Abide With Me
Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. -- Luke xxiv.29
Abide with me! Fast falls the Eventide;
The darkness thickens. Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me!
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away:
Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou who changest not, abide with me!
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwellst with thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free, --
Come, not to sojourn, but abide with me.
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea.
Come, Friend of sinners and thus bide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth did smile,
And though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee.
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me!
I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the Tempter's power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me!
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death's sting? where grave thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold then thy cross before my closing eyes;
Speak through the gloom, and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and Earth's vain shadows flee!
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!
poem by Henry Francis Lyte
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Fairy Bridal-Hymn
[This is the hymn to Eleanor, daughter of Mab and a golden drone, sung by the Locust choir when the fairy child marries her God, the yellow rose]
This is a song to the white-armed one
Cold in the breast as the frost-wrapped Spring,
Whose feet are slow on the hills of life,
Whose round mouth rules by whispering.
This is a song to the white-armed one
Whose breast shall burn as a Summer field,
Whose wings shall rise to the doors of gold,
Whose poppy lips to the God shall yield.
This is a song to the white-armed one
When the closing rose shall bind her fast,
And a song of the song their blood shall sing,
When the Rose-God drinks her soul at last.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Beyond The End
Jimmy buffet/marshall chapman/will jennings
1985 roy sings backing vocals
Mayan moon was burning
We saw visions of the past returning
On the shore the band was playing
We all heard what the moon was saying
The world keeps closing in
It has before, it will again
A voice beyond the wind
Says we must go beyond the end
So follow beyond the end
A sea of friends are singing
Vaya con dios mis amigos
We take their hopes and feelings
To some new world well be revealing
Old worlds keep closing in
They have before they will again
Voices call beyond the wind
Say we must go beyond the end
And follow beyond the end
Old worlds keep closing in
They have before they will again
Voices call beyond the wind
Say we must go beyond the end
Old worlds keep closing in
They have before they will again
Voices call beyond the wind
Say we must go beyond the end
And follow beyond the end....
song performed by by Roy Orbison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Mild is the Parting Year
Mild is the parting year, and sweet
The odour of the falling spray;
Life passes on more rudely fleet,
And balmless is its closing day.
I wait its close, I court its gloom,
But mourn that never must there fall
Or on my breast or on my tomb
The tear that would have soothed it all.
poem by Walter Savage Landor
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Safe Ground
In my darkest hour
Reaching for the light
Wounded little bird
You caught me in mid flight
Thought I'd found a shelter
Midst life's stormy seas
But instead a place of dread
And once again I flee
To safer ground below me
I am standing on the earth
Others may demean me
But I know my true worth
This little bird has wings
The world can't hold her down
I think I'll skip another trip
Down the road to crazy town.
poem by Lynne FincherSpringarden
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
To Cry You A Song
Flying so high, trying to remember
How many cigarettes did I bring along?
When I get down Ill jump in a taxi cab
Driving through london town
To cry you a song.
Its been a long time --
Still shaking my wings.
Well, Im a glad bird
I got changes to ring.
Closing my dream inside its paper-bag.
Thought I saw angels
But I could have been wrong.
Search in my case,
Cant find what theyre looking for.
Waving me through
To cry you a song.
Its been a long time --
Still shaking my wings.
Well Im a glad bird
I got changes to ring.
Lights in the street,
Peeping through curtains drawn.
Rattling of safety chain taking too long.
The smile in your eyes was never so sweet before --
Came down from the skies
To cry you a song.
song performed by by Jethro Tull
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Song of Derivations
I come from nothing; but from where
Come the undying thoughts I bear?
Down, through the long links of death and birth,
From the past poets of the earth,
My immortality is there.
I am like the blossom of an hour.
But long, long vanished sun and shower
Awoke my breath i' the young world's air;
I track the past back everywhere
Through seed and flower and seed and flower.
Or I am like a stream that flows
Full of the cold springs that arose
In morning lands, in distant hills;
And down the plain my channel fills
With melting of forgotten snows.
Voices, I have not heard, possessed
My own fresh songs; my thoughts are blessed
With relics of the far unknown.
And mixed with memories not my own
The sweet streams throng in my breast.
Before this life began to be,
The happy songs that wake in me
Woke long ago and far apart.
Heavily on this little heart
Presses this immortality.
poem by Alice Meynell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
At Dawn and Dusk
At Dawn and Dusk
Love-Laurel
IN MEMORY OF HENRY KENDALL
AH! that God once would touch my lips with song
To pierce, as prayer doth heaven, earth’s breast of iron,
So that with sweet mouth I might sing to thee,
O sweet dead singer buried by the sea,
A song, to woo thee, as a wooing siren,
Out of that silent sleep which seals too long
Thy mouth of melody.
For, if live lips might speak awhile to dead,
Or any speech could reach the sad world under
This world of ours, song surely should awake
Thee who didst dwell in shadow for song’s sake!
Alas! thou canst not hear the voice of thunder,
Nor low dirge over thy low-lying head
The winds of morning make.
Down through the clay there comes no sound of these;
Down in the grave there is no sign of Summer,
Nor any knowledge of the soft-eyed Spring;
But Death sits there, with outspread ebon wing,
Closing with dust the mouth of each new-comer
To that mute land, where never sound of seas
Is heard, and no birds sing.
Now thou hast found the end of all thy days
Hast thou found any heart a vigil keeping
For thee among the dead—some heart that heard
Thy singing when thou wert a brown, sweet bird
Gray Æons gone, in some old forest sleeping
Beneath the seas long since? in Death’s dim ways
Has thy heart any word?
For surely those in whom the deathless spark
Of song is kindled, sang from the beginning
If life were always? But the old desires—
Do they exist when sad-eyed Hope expires?
How live the dead? what crowns have they for winning?
Have they, to warm them in the dreamless dark,
For sun earth’s central fires?
Are the dead dead indeed whom we call dead?
Has God no life but this of ours for giving?—
When that they took thee by each well-known place,
Stark in thy coffin with a cold white face,
What thought, O Brother, hadst thou of the living?
What of the sun that round thee glory shed?
What of the fair day’s grace?
Is thy new life made up of memories
Or dreams that lull the dead, bright visions bringing
Of Spring above! Are thy days short or long?
Thou who wert master of our singing throng
Mayhap in death thou hast not lost thy singing,
But chauntst unheard, beside the moaning sea,
A solitary song.
The chance spade turns up skulls. God help the dead
And thee whose singing days have all passed over—
Thee, whom the gold-haired Spring shall seek in vain
When at the glad year’s doors she stands again,
Remembering the song-garlands thou hast wove her
In years gone by: but all these years have fled
With all their joy and pain.
. . . . .
My soul laughed out to hear my heart speak so,
And sprang forth skyward, as an eagle, hoping
To look upon thy soul with living eyes,
Until it came to where our dim life dies,
And dead suns darkly for a grave are groping
Through cycles of immeasurable woe,
Stone-blind in the blind skies.
The stars walk shuddering on that awful verge
From which my soul, with swift and fearless motion,
Clove the black depths, and sought for God and thee;
But God dwells where nor stars nor suns there be—
No shore there is to His Eternal Ocean;
A thousand systems are a fringe of surge
On that great starless sea.
And thou wert not. So that, with weary plumes,
My soul through the great void its way came winging
To earth again. “What hope for him who sings
Is there?” it sighed. “Death ends all sweetest things.”
When lo! there came a swell of mighty singing,
Flooding all space, and swift athwart the glooms
A flash of sudden wings.
. . . . .
Dreamer of dreams, thy songs and dreams are done.
Down where thou sleepest in earth’s secret bosom
There is no sorrow and no joy for thee,
Who canst not see what stars at eve there be,
Nor evermore at morn the green dawn blossom
Into the golden king-flower of the sun
Across the golden sea.
But haply there shall come in days to be
One who shall hear his own heart beating faster,
Plucking a rose sprung from thy heart beneath,
And from his soul, as sword from out its sheath,
Song shall leap forth where now, O silent master,
On thy lone grave beside the sounding sea,
I lay this laurel-wreath.
poem by Victor James Daley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!