water in the well
with my palm I skim the pail
to catch stars one by one—
when in the night you visit
I scatter them before you
tanka by Vasile Smărăndescu from Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart (2006), translated by Dana Dima
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Related quotes
The Trumpet
Rise up, rise up,
And, as the trumpet blowing
Chases the dreams of men,
As the dawn glowing
The stars that left unlit
The land and water,
Rise up and scatter
The dew that covers
The print of last night's lovers -
Scatter it, scatter it!
While you are listening
To the clear horn,
Forget, men, everything
On this earth newborn,
Except that it is lovelier
Than any mysteries.
Open your eyes to the air
That has washed the eyes of the stars
Through all the dewy night:
Up with the light,
To the old wars;
Arise, arise!
poem by Edward Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fetching Water
Come on now; let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Down the hill, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll climb back up the hill with that water!
Everyone today has forgotten
what it’s like to haul water in a pail.
Every house must have a Jacuzzi,
and a big swimming pool, as well.
Come on now; let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Down the hill, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll climb back up the hill with that water!
And our homes must have a green lawn
to keep it looking really good!
The water we waste on that green grass
could be used by the farmer to grow food.
Come on now; let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Down the hill, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll climb back up the hill with that water!
Don’t waste all of that precious water.
We have worked too hard to bring it here.
We can’t live without that precious water
let’s be thankful that it is so near.
Come on now; let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Down the hill, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll climb back up the hill with that water!
Don’t be taking the water from the farmer
without it his crops will never grow.
All of life depends upon the water
Don’t take it for granted anymore.
Come on now; let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Down the hill, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll climb back up the hill with that water!
poem by Emma Beverage
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Travail
Travail, tail, pail, ail, it, at, tar, rail, rat, train, vat, rain;
And like the sun, the moon and the stars! !
But there is a little man around you who has no companion;
And it is better to eat in peace what you can hold in your palm than,
What is very far away from you!
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stars On The Water
By: rodney crowell
1981
Down in louisiana, bayous by and by
Pirogue pole or your natural soul
Keeps you tied to a tree high tide
Beer joint lights come on
And then the crowd starts rollin in
Chorus:
Pretty soon you got stars on the water
You got stars on the water
Its like stars on the water, let it rain
Beaumont to biloxi
Sea breeze at your door
Gypsy rains, dang hurricanes
White silver sandy shore
Blue light lounge is shinin
Way out on the view
Chorus:
It looks just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water, let it rain
(guitar instrumental)
When its midnight down in mobile
Moonbeams on the bay
They come from miles around to dance the jukebox down
And dig the good time sounds they play
All across the harbour
Night lights shinin in
Chorus:
It looks just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water, let it rain
Chorus:
Pretty soon ya got stars on the water
You got stars on the water
Its like stars on the water, let it rain
- notes:
Background vocals: timothy b. schmit
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Veneta Marina
The masts rise white to the stars,
White on the night of the sky,
Out of the water's night,
And the stars lean down to them white.
Ah! how the stars seem nigh;
How far away are the stars!
And I too under the stars,
Alone with the night again,
And the water's monotone;
I and the night alone,
And the world and the ways of men
Farther from me than the stars.
poem by Arthur Symons
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stars On The Water
(Rodney Crowell)
Down in Louisiana bayous by and by
A peirot pole or your natural soul
Keeps you tied to a tree high tide
Beer joint lights come on
And then crowd starts rollin' in
Pretty soon you got stars on the water
You got stars on the water
You got stars on the water
When it rains
Beaumont to Biloxi sea breeze at your door
Gypsy rains dang hurricanes
White silver sandy shores
Blue light lounge is shinin'
Why out on the pier
Makes it look just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
When it rains
When it's midnight down in Mobile
Shining moon beams on the bay
They come from miles around
To dance the jukebox down
Th hear the good time sounds they play
And all across the harbor night life shinin' on
Makes you feel just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
Just like stars on the water
When it rains
song performed by by George Strait
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ticket Of Dreams
Would you like visit the stars
What about mercury
Or even mars
There is not that much space between us
If i took a long jump could i land on venus
Then hitch a ride to jupiter or saturn
Then we could maybe catch a bus
To neptune and uranus
Come on lets go
We will even visit pluto
Then get a one way ticket back to earth
Imagine how much this trip would be worth
Maybe i have spoken to soon
But we have been to space
And even the moon
Way to hot to visit the sun
Lets keep dreaming for now but it would be fun
A homeless whisper
Teeth stammering an outstreched hand
It’s the hand of the night the palm so lineless blue
A discourse patterned upon the hooks
Form sky to sky stretching
Remember the time when the night simply pushed me away
Fell down in a homeless whisper amberless flame burning
Verse dived I plunged no pebble no water
Could contain the drop
Endlessly down depths vacuum called
‘The stars are down here’
They shine equally proud of their sky mirrored friends
Shattered in a moon reflection
Knew I went too far
Merely a miracle taken performed
That I ever managed to come back
But here I am to sing
The palm of the hand and the lineless night
The fears burned down within the urns of the past
The plunge the pebble and the water
Sing them all and much much more
To be a dreamed of heaven to a cloud
poem by Miroslava Odalovic
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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His Depth
when the rope with a pail was lowered
to get some water
there was none, and the
rope was only about two meters long
what was loud was the
echo of the pail banging
the muddy bottom
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sea Canaries
The small white whales in packs of pods
keep their pacts with us, the fated beasts.
They wail their songs and the water wavers,
and we who signed them waive our rights
to have them. Here is where they belong,
all right, and here is where I leave them:
their pale, bountiful bodies to the sea.
I see a pail of fish and I would rather
feed on palm wood than palm one up
to shed it to those seabirds. To bate the brink
of bygone beauty, I bring no bait. A thatch shed
on the shore would keep me closer. O idol
of the gulls and wingèd seagirls and idle guitar
players, paddle deep and far off from my kind
who peddle our wares like love-me-kindly petals.
Since childhood the night scares you
Since childhood the night scares you
as if here in Africa dark things do sneak about
and when the stars appear you start to long
for tomorrows when the sun hangs bright in the blue sky
and it feels as if something almost touchable sneaks up on you.
Since childhood the night scares you
as if even the wind hisses at times like a deadly snake,
as if something dangerous is drinking water from the dog's bowl
and when the stars appear you start to long
do want to replace your fears with my presence,
and you want to baste in the passion of our love.
Since childhood the night scares you
and it feels as if something evil wants to catch you
when you sometimes find shelter in the bath
and when the stars appear you start to long
while I dry the tears from your rosy cheek,
and hold on to you through the night.
Since childhood the night scares you
and when the stars appear you start to long.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Lost In The Stars
(kurt weill/maxwell anderson)
Before lord God made the sea and the land
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand
And one little star fall alone
Then the lord God hunted through the wild night air
For the little dark star in the wind down there
And he stated and promised hed take special care
So it wouldnt get lost again
Now, man dont mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him
So long as the lord gods watching over him
Keeping track how it all goes on
But Ive been walking through the night and the day
Till my eyes get weary and my hair turns grey
And sometimes it seems maybe gods gone away
Forgetting the promise that we heard him say
And were lost out here in the stars
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night
And were lost out here in the stars
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night
And were lost out here in the stars
song performed by by Elvis Costello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Escape at Bedtime
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.
poem by Robert Louis Stevenson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Poems Scatter Themselves
THE POEMS SCATTER THEMSELVES
The poems scatter themselves
Like stars through the distance-
No one can understand the vast emptinesses in between
The darknesses which will forever surround them.
They too within themselves are burning and unstable
Expanding and exploding before
Contracting into their own ash-dark demise.
The poems scatter themselves
Like stars through the inner emptiness of a long life-
Who knows where they will end up
And what their ultimate destination will be?
Intimate fires? little lights? great darknesses?
Shapes of kindly beauty?
What will you mean
When the Lights go out forever?
poem by Shalom Freedman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Well That Becomes Dry
your rope and pail
shall find no use now
for the well that used to give you water
has gone dry
utter a word to it
and what you hear is nothing but an echo
dropp a coin
there will be no ripples anymore
a fish lives there
now dead buried on the cracks of the soil
inside is the emptiness
that it will keep till the next rain
the rope shall accumulate
dust
the pail shall have its own
rust.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heart turn to Tilapia
Joh gave Mou small
roasted tilapia fish
Small as it’s
Mou rejected tilapia in greed
And threw it in to river
fat and savoury soaked Mou palm
Mou looked and smelled his palm
He licked his palm
‘’why you throw fish away
And you lick your hand’’
Joh asked
‘’I am not licking but washing ‘’
‘’why don’t you use water’’
‘’my tongue can clean better than water’’
Mou said
What irony
poem by David Aoloch Bion
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Louisa
Louisa, make it a point to visit Ghana;
For the nature is there for you to admire.
Of the Bobiri Forest and Betterfly Sanctuary to visit,
Of the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary to visit,
Of the Xavi Bird Watching Sanctuary to visit,
Of the Kakum National Park to visit,
Of the Aburi Botanical Gardens to visit,
Of the Bui National Park to visit,
Of the Ankasa Nature Park to visit,
Of the Bonsu Arboretum Park to visit,
Of the Digya National Park to visit,
And to sit under a broom tree with us;
Like a reed shaking in the water of love.
Louisa, make a trip to Ghana and see this lovely place;
For the nature is there for you to admire.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heart Beating In Time
Each day without fail
the road would visit the house
(it was the only house the road knew)
and the house too
would look forward to
the road’s visit.
Over the years they became
good friends.
Then one day the house died
from lack of people
and was torn down
until it was only
memory and rubble.
The road continued to visit it
but could only stare into empty space
at the place where the house
had been.
The road was lonely.
At night it talked to
the landscape and the stars
but life was never the same
again.
One day the road just up and died
from lack of use.
Now only the dream
of a memory exists
and the landscape and stars
talk to themselves
and try to remember
what it is...they have
forgot.
poem by Dónall Dempsey
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Dark. Lake
The water is deep,
The water is scary,
The water is everything-
I don't know about the world.
The night sky is bright but,
stars are gone,
an old letter from one who died.
Water gives life.
Night is comfort, not a care in the world.
Weird?
poem by Woden Byers
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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United We Rise
Old man cried- let’s go fetch some water
grab a pail in each hand and let’s go.
Very far, to the pond in the holler,
then we’ll quench our thirst with that water!
Everyone today has forgotten
what it’s like to haul water in a pail.
Every farmer now has a pride,
that he has a watery pool, as well.
Oh City Riders! -You must have a green lawn
to keep it looking really good!
The water you waste on that green grass
could be used by the farmer to grow food.
Don’t waste all of that precious water.
We have worked too hard to harness here.
We can’t live without that precious water
let’s be thankful that it is so near.
Don’t be taking the water from the farmer
without it his crops will never grow.
All of life depends upon the water
Don’t take it for granted anymore.
You live on our labour on land,
Can’t you spare your comfort
With a pure and just thought
That’ll yield a greenery band.
The committee today we did shape
And resolved not to be parted with,
The little drops of water that came
From the earth beneath.
United we rise, Divided we fall,
Water- must we conserve
Before it is let go diverge
Lest anything may befall.
We vowed to rotation of crop
Mother earth can sleep quite,
And remain fertile and sharp
Keeping the rest happy and delight.
Revolutions after Revolutions
White, Blue and Green,
The Rainbow we started
Has garlanded all that’ll ever shine.
poem by Pradeep Mohanty
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