All things of great beauty —from works of art to sacred objects— suffer the unstoppable effects of the passage of time, just as we do. Their life begins the moment their human creator, aware or not of being in harmony with the infinite, puts the finishing touches on them and surrenders them to the world. Over the centuries, life also brings them closer to old age and death.
Matilde Asensi in The Last Cato (2001), translated by Pamela Carmell
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Life Or Death?
Every day we live, we always face death
We get closer to it, every time we take a breath
Life is special but death brings peace
Life brings reality and things you believe
Death is hard for everyone around
Death is quiet, no more bad sounds
Life is also hard, all the things we go through
Life can never be easy, no matter what you do
Death is sad, for those who cry
Death is meaningful, for those who die
Life is a work of art, it's nice to look
Life is full of teachings, like an open book
Death is the new life, might as well be dead
Death is a lot more, for what's up ahead
Life brings new things, always something new
Life brings surprises, something out the blue
Death is scary, nothing we want to see
Death is negative, a place we don't want to be
Life is full of love, with the ones close to you
Life is full of money, for those who sue
Death is empty, nothing compared to this
Death is a lot of things, too long of a list
But life is everything; don't wait till there's nothing left
Death can wait, so don't waste your last breath
So just pick your choice, which one? Life or death?
poem by Triauna Hall
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God Is The Light
God is the Light
How great the wonders of the heavens
And the timeless beauty of the night
How great then how great the Creator?
And its stars like priceless jewels
Far beyond the reach of kings
Bow down for the shepherd guiding him home.
But how many eyes are closed
To the wonder of this night?
Like pearls, hidden, deep beneath a dark
Stream of desires.
But like dreams vanish with the call to prayer
And the dawn extinguishes night here too are signs.
God is the Light - God is the Light
How great the beauty of the Earth and the creatures
Who dwell on her.
How great then how great the Creator?
As it's mountains pierce the clouds
High about the lives of men
Weeping rivers for thousands of years.
But how many hearts are closed
To the wonders of this sight?
Like birds on a cage, asleep with closed wings
But as work stops with the call to prayer
And the birds recite here too are signs
God is the Light God is the Light
How great the works of man and the things he makes
How great then how great the Creator?
Though he strives to reach the heavens
He can barely survive
The wars of the world he lives in.
Yet, how many times he's tried,
Himself to immortalise?
Like his parents before him in the Garden of Eden
But like the sun sets with the call to prayer
And surrenders to the night here too are signs
God is the Light Everlasting
God is the Light Everlasting
song performed by by Cat Stevens
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Who Created This Beautiful World?
Who created this beautiful world?
What a harmony and perfection!
Who thought this beauty, who brought it out?
Who is he that perfected it?
What matching patterns spawn the wonder?
What concinnous rhythms create this charm?
What is that grand invisible hand
That weaves this beauty with rhythms and patterns
That makes beauty, beauty; a divine music?
What a match of place, time and form
That makes this world a joyous feeling!
Beauty infuses life to the world,
Beauty makes the world to speak and sing,
To awaken soul to the creator’s skills
Who gave his rare gifts in abundance.
What brings those hues to youthful glows,
What brings those shapes to enchanting slopes,
What brings gentleness to graceful love,
What brings those grace to ripening age,
What brings brooding beauty to day-break’s freshness,
What brings that beauty to the width of the sky,
To the height of hills and depth of seas,
To the shapes of clouds, to the moods of men
In liquid ease and endless abundance
That no more the world is what it is made of,
But a celestial charm of unknown depth.
A subtle music in joyous rhythms,
A pregnant pattern in brilliant colours,
In human forms, in nature’s moods,
In fast changing life’s variegated hues,
In tides of sea, in tides of life,
Surface to those inner ears and eyes
That keep itself wide open always;
A living rhythm is at work in womb
In hide and seek of light and shadow,
In fall and rise of hills and vales,
In love and hate, in war and peace;
The twinkles of eyes, the gentle smiles,
The blue of the sky, the warm sunshine,
Each is a rich work of a master craftsman.
Day is beauty, night is beauty;
Youth is beauty, old age is beauty;
Desire is beauty, contentment, beauty;
Heart-break is beauty, fulfilment, beauty;
Perfection is beauty, ugliness, beauty;
All are beautiful deep ’neath bones
Like sunrise and sunset or sunshine or rain,
In the magical hands of the master craftsman.
Is this world his own image,
A reflection of his model perfection
Like the pleasures of pleasure and the pleasures of pain
Make the world a divine charm;
Work and leisure, pain and pleasure,
Penury and wealth, life and death
Hand in hand bring harmony to the world;
Mongoose kills snakes; snake, rats,
In living rhythms of life and death;
Beauty, the world breathes, is beyond cause,
Beyond source, beyond course,
That surfaces itself to the joy of all
On the will of the great divine artist.
A speck of dirt, dark spots on the moon
Have the same charm and perfect rhythms;
Tears of pain and tears of pleasure
Have the same simple grace hidden in them;
Like silk-worms that weave soft sheath around,
He builds the world with his own inner charm,
It be a mole or a mountain;
And this we have,
The wonderous world of perfect beauty;
Beauty within and beauty outside,
Beauty between and beauty a’where,
In gentle flesh and youthful forms,
In fall and rise, in rage and patience,
In nature’s arts and man’s crafts,
In old and new or foul garbage;
For, the creator sits in all of them
And builds a bridge to all hearts and souls.
poem by Praveen Kumar
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Invisible Inner Power
Chronic pain is unstoppable, the doctor said,
I remember a time I was pain-free, a time of
joyous being, I wrote line upon line of new
delight in the belief great effort would make
the world different; then the challenges set
before me kept growing without respite
I learnt that the way of the believer is steep,
life took its toll and my body gave up - time
to turn my eyes to the invisible inner power
diffusing physical life, fighting chronic pain
for so long means only meditation is left
and I should stay in the eye of the storm
The book I wrote is the life I have led, challenges
faced and overcome and the things I discarded
after trying them out in my mind and finding that
harmony and beauty led somewhere else…
19 June 2012
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Out of Pompeii
1 She lay, face downward, on her beaded arm,
2 In this her new, sweet dream of human bliss,
3 Her heart within her fearful, fluttering, warm,
4 Her lips yet pained with love's first timorous kiss.
5 She did not note the darkening afternoon,
6 She did not mark the lowering of the sky
7 O'er that great city. Earth had given its boon
8 Unto her lips, love touched her and passed by.
9 In one dread moment all the sky grew dark,
10 The hideous rain, the panic, the red rout,
11 Where love lost love, and all the world might mark
12 The city overwhelmed, blotted out
13 Without one cry, so quick oblivion came,
14 And life passed to the black where all forget;
15 But she,—we know not of her house or name,—
16 In love's sweet musings doth lie dreaming yet.
17 The dread hell passed, the ruined world grew still,
18 And the great city passed to nothingness:
19 The ages went and mankind worked its will.
20 Then men stood still amid the centuries' press,
21 And in the ash-hid ruins opened bare,
22 As she lay down in her shamed loveliness,
23 Sculptured and frozen, late they found her there,
24 Image of love 'mid all that hideousness.
25 Her head, face downward, on her bended arm,
26 Her single robe that showed her shapely form,
27 Her wondrous fate love keeps divinely warm
28 Over the centuries, past the slaying storm,
29 The heart can read in writings time hath left,
30 That linger still through death's oblivion;
31 And in this waste of life and light bereft,
32 She brings again a beauty that had gone.
33 And if there be a day when all shall wake,
34 As dreams the hoping, doubting human heart,
35 The dim forgetfulness of death will break
36 For her as one who sleeps with lips apart;
37 And did God call her suddenly, I know
38 She'd wake as morning wakened by the thrush,
39 Feel that red kiss across the centuries glow,
40 And make all heaven rosier by her blush.
poem by William Wilfred Campbell
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The Way The World Works
the world works with trageties and happieness to bad the children don't know it or care for it but that one incodent can change a childs life the world works in a mist of war ad peace death and life the world works with everyone this is how it works our world moves from one shooting to a bombing what is going on with our people why must we act like dip shyts over nothing without war we have peace and without peace we have war but our world runs off both if you understand what is going on in the world can someone please tell our president he has no idea about how the world works to him it all war death and money
poem by Ian Singer
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Thanks for Photographing me
thanks for photographing me
because it puts a perspective to me
my sense of things, my face, my smile
and i love the black and white because
they give that extra dimension colours
could never do, a dimension the world
could actually sink into to help our mind
focus on the realities of things, a hand,
a diamond, a lip, a cluster of tears and love
your mind helps define the relationships
they become so much closer to you
thanks for photographing me
because it puts a perspective into me
perspectives that otherwise are eaten up
by the passage of time, and the nonchalance
of the world and my own senses of myself
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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True Prayer In Worship
I have prayed to Allah,
but not in ritual,
bending knee five times a day.
In Istanbul,
I learned,
from a Greek Christian...
that a Christian
can pray in centuries
old Islamic mosque
God is also there
God in divinity said
‘I am everywhere’...
Out of respect
we did not pray
in call to prayer time
we prayed in quiet time
between call to prayer
in message of peace Allah is there
we prayed in cities heart
heart of classical Greek origins
in stone masonry built mosque
How I loved space
between ancient mosques
during time of call to prayer
human voice
echoing forth
centuries old chant
human voice
raised up in worship
is exhilarating
pull upon heart
tribute to God
practiced in many lands
be the call
Hebrew Christian Islamic
purity of heart
is judgment call
Adonai Jehovah Allah alone
has authority to judge
Prayer can be spontaneous,
as need arises,
to appreciate a moment,
a moment to appreciate,
gift of sacred live,
given by divine creator,
a moment to appreciate,
renewal of life,
birth of love ever renewed,
a moment to appreciate,
the greatest law,
is to love life giving God,
with your whole heart,
with your whole soul,
with your whole mind,
there is no law,
greater than this,
this is the greatest law, ...
the second, [Law] like it,
you must love thy neighbour,
as you would love yourself...
who therefore,
is your neighbor?
you are commanded to love...
your neighbor,
is the whole world,
the whole of humanity...
it is written
love thy neighbor
love covers a multitude of sins...
On these two commandments
the whole Law hangs
All Torah and the Prophets dependent on them...
Law not to be blown away falsely,
in act of hatred,
Murder is not pleasing to All Powerful God.
Matthew 22: 34-40
poem by Terence George Craddock
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My Woman Part 2
My woman in the morning brings me joy
In the winter she brings me springtime
In the darkness she is my illumination
The morning sunshine she is
Betray her for another? Never
The world to me she means
On cloudy days she brings me hope
No more for she is all I need
Flowing over my cup that she fills
The North Star she is that glow that guilds me home
She never surrenders under insurmountable odds
She pulls it all together for she is the one
The feelings she gives me words could never spark
Princess and my queen she is my all and all
To the bowels of hell and back I would fallow her
For her satisfaction I would do anything
More love than I can handle She gives me
For me as well she cares deeply
An eternity has passed by each moment we are apart it seems as if
I would spend it with her if I had only one moment left
Light as a feather her steps are
Graceful and neat her ways are
Beyond her years she has wisdom
I will follow her if she chooses to lead me
She is my woman and I her man
We are a pair I own her not
My better half she is
To do great things she gives me the will
Her heart I will break never
More every day She gives me
In the summer of my life she is the flower that blooms
Without seeing her face may my eyes never close
The day we met God blessed
You ever more I shall love
Without your love the world would not turn
For more no man could ever ask
poem by Wilfred Mellers
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I Love You
How many times I said I love you
I can’t remember, you forgot too
What we remember is the fragrance of love
How much we get never seems enough
Every time we get closer, embrace each other
Benevolence of love grows further ‘n’ further
Every touch of kiss writes a whole new story
Love poignantly glorifies, puts aside the worry
No matter how much time we’ve spent together
Never mind how many words said to each other
One moment of love is like an entire eternity
Love is the gospel; love is our sacred divinity
So worship the love, keep building love’s temple
As it can conquer everything and ample
Love me beyond the life and death’s hue
And once again, I’m saying I love you
poem by Sourav RCY
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And All These Beautiful Things
AND ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL THINGS
And all these beautiful things,
And all these great people,
Are too our world and our life
And all this beauty,
So so much beauty
Is too our life and our world.
So in the pain and in the doubt and in the suffering and in the worry and in the fear and in the great great sadness and difficulty,
We should also know the Beauty
And the Love
And the Goodness
Of our world
Is too our life
And never give up
Never never never give up.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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In This Moment
In life there comes a moment when all things are made clear, and my clarity is in this moment.
In this moment I know that I want to live the rest of my life beside you.
In this moment I know I want to start my own branch on my family tree with you.
In this moment I know that I love you.
So as I take your hand and gaze into your eyes I know that this moment is the right moment to ask you to be my wife.
Now, before you say yes think because if you do our life together forever begins
in this moment.
Death Is The Infinite Sadness In Life
DEATH IS THE INFINITE SADNESS IN LIFE
Death is the infinite sadness in life
All the great the good the small-
The beautiful-
The loved and the unloved-
The kind and the less kind-
All-
Death - the infinite sadness of life.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls
It is a matter of life and death.
We sense our mortality in the destiny of another.
This isn't easy for us to confront.
We seek ignorance of such final thoughts.
Only those who have been made aware,
Can truly face death.
We look at its empty eyes and see nothing.
At first, we are afraid.
This is our human existence at stake.
If we were merely mortals, then this would be normal.
However, humans are not merely mortals.
Every single word within us cries out against the waste.
I am unique. So are you.
There is an expression,
'We will never see his like again.'
Even so, Easter has taught us
That God preserves the life force beyond death.
It is the hope of resurrection
That sustains us in this life.
Those that have this faith in God,
Believe in the past, the present AND the future
And we therefore spend our lives
In prayer and good works.
No matter where we are,
While there is a single thought left within us,
We can still pray.
This is life.
Not the striving for more and more things,
While others starve to death.
Let's be more sympathetic
In regard to complete strangers,
Men, women and children
Facing terrifying squalor, disease and persecution.
It's easy to feel sorry
For the good old Georges of this world,
Because they are the good ones we don't want to lose.
But what about the tiny babies
Who haven't the strength to lift a finger
To do any good works?
They are more deserving if left to live a full life
Than the ones who have already lived for decades...
Many of these have never seen a shoe...
And they don't even know that each one of them
Has an eternal soul...
poem by Denis Martindale
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Because I do not wish to hope again
I
Because I do not wish to hope again,
to like an eagle spread my wings,
because I do not wish to gain
experience and to learn new things
and do not wish to soar up against the blue sky,
wondering what lies
beyond the scope of the vision of an eye
and with time in me all hope dies
why should I be afraid
when the darkness closes in,
when destiny has knotted my life in its braid
and I do not know what comes with the new morning?
II
Because am not the man I used to be
and the things of my youth now is of no interest
with age taking effect of my body
drawing me closer to the place of eternal rest
and on the other side of the beyond
there’s only darkness that I see
and to this ageing body I am bound with life’s bond
that is slowly leaving me
when the reality of life in death makes me aware
that life is only transitory,
that destiny has its impact everywhere
then as a tired man I still lift my eye to God in His glory.
III
Because the moments of tranquillity
have left me as if they have never been
and I am now enfolded in fragility
as if my eyes have never seen
the greatness beaconing on the other side of the beyond
as if no word or deed from me will last into eternity
as if no beauty, greatness I have found
or left a mark of my integrity or sincerity
I wonder what the reason for living is,
have difficulty to comprehend
what life holds
what pain, fear, joy and bliss
brings before the last of my life is spent?
IV
Because I know that time is running out,
that even a newborn child is bound to destiny
and it feels as if it’s no use to beg, pray or shout
as every single human being is covered in iniquity
I am left to pray to God for His mercy
and ask Him to let me forget the dreams, the plans and hope
that was once mine, and every single fallacy
that as a human being once did envelop
my mind, my heart and when His righteous judgement falls
may it be lenient as there is no way to live again
and deeds and words well meant become spent when death calls
as every human being is destined to walk the darkening plain
l’Envoi
to at an allotted time expected or unexpected depart from life
and even from the time of birth
the seeds of disaster and strive
are build into every human being living on this earth
and therefore I pray to meet You Lord
to experience the depth of your love
as is promised in Your eternal word
lifting my eyes to You who reign from above.
[Reference: Ash-Wednesday: I. “Because I do not hope to turn again” by T. S. Eliot.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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I am told that we are just animals
I am told that we are just animals
and like all other species
perform the tasks
and eat, live and die
and that this life is all that we have.
Still this humanoid sees
the grandeur of the sunrise
and how it burst through the clouds
in different colours
and there’s something utterly great in it.
I am told that subconsciously apes may equate
the sunrise with the colour
of some ripe fruit,
but I see a master creator’s hand there
and no hunger stirs in me.
I am told that we are just animals
and still I am aware of myself
and my place in this life
and how infinite small
I am against the Supreme God
and of the values and laws
that protects me
and of the education
that set my career on its way.
I am told that we are just animals
and yet I have the capacity
to reason, to comprehend,
to speak, to calculate
and to plan
and believe that I am rather
a human being called man.
poem by Gert Strydom
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This Creation
The whole goal of this world
Enters the mind of columns;
A universe has begun to resume,
So time is tempting us when we are old.
The telling of a statement by the creator
Of the universe is entering the soul
So that life begins to unfold,
Beauty is entering fully in our lives.
The sport of the stars in this creation
Sorts our southern and northern roofs;
The seas of the moon enter once again,
Rivers from the creator entice me.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Could this be it.....?
Could this be it
Could this be the moment
I've run from
Or is it just another terrifying one
Like the ones I've left behind
On the trail of life
Things that people don't teach you
The circumstances do
So could this be the moment
Even its thoughts brings me shivers
Because this cold bloody sight
Is exactly what I've run from
But it's haunting me
Just waiting to eat me
It's worse than death
Or maybe death is easier
So maybe this is the moment
I've run from all these years
poem by Kiara Davar
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SONNET: God Watches us all
You can do just few things in life, may be;
The things you do is like the ice-berg’s tip;
The rest seem unattainable, spooky;
How much can you from Fountain of Life, sip?
The truly great remain very quiet;
Some ones who do a little, boast so much;
This world suits men with dishonesty, yet;
For righteous ones, the Creator doth vouch.
This world’s a stage with God as Host and guest;
How well we play our roles, He will decide;
Nevertheless, we ought to show our best;
By rules He hath put forth, we must abide.
Not all can be yet successful in life;
But God’s with us no matter how great strife!
poem by John Celes
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Gone
She told him shed rather fix her makeup
Than try to fix whats going on
But the problem keeps on calling
Even with the cellphone gone
She told him that she believes in living
Bigger than shes living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards
And upsidedown
Dont say so long in the cellphone
Dont spend today away
Cuz today will soon be
Gone, like yesterday is gone,
Like history is
Gone, just trying to prove me wrong
And pretend like your immortal
She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every day we borrow
Brings us one step closer to the edge (infinity)
Where your treasure, wheres your hope
Forget the world and lose your soul
She pretends like she pretends like shes immortal
Dont say so long
Your not that far gone
This could be your big chance to makeup
Today till soon be
Gone, like yeterday is gone,
Like history is gone,
The world keeps spinning on,
Your going going gone,
Like sumemr break is gone,
Like saturday is gone
Just trying to prove me wrong
You pretend like your immortal your immortal
We are not infinite
We are not permanate
Nothing is immediate
Were so confident
In our accomplishments
Look at how dark it is
Gone, like frank sinatra
Like elvis and his mom
Like al pichinos cash nothing lasts in this life
My highschool dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesnt last for long
Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash,
Life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills
And oh the town fills
Life more than fame and rock and roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings
And up in wills we got information in the information age
But do we know what life is
Outside of our conveinent lexus cages
She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow
Brings us closer to the God whos not short of cash
Hey bono Im glad you asked
Life is still worth living, life is still worth living
song performed by by Switchfoot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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