
We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dear-brought experience.
quote by George Washington

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.
quote by George Washington

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Try 2 (Plus & Minus)
Implant a positive thought
dive, worth a shot, try
way of the will
a will, a way, sacrifice, endure pain
if to gain, heartaches rivers
through the storm to obtain
experience, knowledge
mistakes, lessons
steps back, steps forward
listen, observe
follow, lead
knowledge is the key
the mind is the door way
to know, to learn, one must try
open the mind
allow more then positives to sink in
life's lessons derive
from hardships and mistakes
welcome the negatives
collect lessons, discard the rest
negatives lie dormant in positives
positives lie dormant in negatives
poem by Kelvin Owusu

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Errors
there will be always errors
my errors
not yours, even your errors
shall be mine
for there will always be errors
that is too normal
for our lifetime
too short to be erroneous
but always real
too real to be touched
too exciting
to be always noticed
and too numb to be affected
by their
hypocrisies
you too? oh my, why?
don't you like to be the most normal
bird with only two wings
to fly?
how can you use a third wing?
to see with the third eye
aren't you funny to see
on this third
excess?
come, let us feast on these errors
drink these glasses of errors
be filled and vomit with errors
defecate these errors
and be empty again
after having learned so much
to become the
newest genius in this town
of errors.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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I Backdown
Gently my soul seek you no more
I backdown into the darkness
called your past
Where I will not be there to experience
all that will befall you
I backdwon into my loneself
where I will derive joy
In whatever and whoever I choose to be
And so I say goodbye
never or maybe you will look back
and see my burning heart for you
with joy will I watch over the window
and pray; you find peace, love and joy
poem by Abisoye Sejoro

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The Wish
Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,
“Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the start,
But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,
Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy heart.’
This were my wish! from my life’s dim beginning
Let be what has been! wisdom planned the whole;
My want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,
All, all were needed lessons for my soul.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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To My Wives
You may believe, my ladies dear,
I took away your sun,
To cloak you in my darkness
While our time was left to run;
You may believe I took your youth
And brought you to despair,
But that was not my purpose;
It was life that took us there.
The old recriminations
That have saddened all my years,
As each and every one of you
Went off, in search of tears,
The old recriminations, using
Truths I can’t retract,
Come back to haunt me, every one:
‘Was I as bad as that? ’
The life that is behind us now
Is locked in some old hearse,
You’ve moved along, and like the song
You sing another verse,
But I sit in the dark, and hear
Each word you brought undone,
And swear before the living God:
‘I loved you, every one! ’
poem by David Lewis Paget

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Success It Does Not Matter?
it does not matter
to me
if I do not succeed
fly free
to try and not triumph succeed
is not to purpose fail
hope is joy ever undaunted freed
a maze convoluted tail
simple lessons of faith
do matter
lessons of vital experience
teach faster
God will upon this world not wait
silent forever
angels last souls do gather late
judgement nearer
each human soul chooses its fate
heaven or hell each soul will discover
sentenced not to years a thousand
patrol release earned forbidden forever
poem by Terence George Craddock

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Taking Mental Notes
Offering life's lessons,
Free of lip upoin delivering it
As if one has seen it all,
Is not the action of one wise
Who has gone through personal,
And lip biting experiences.
To advise others,
As to what they 'should' do
And how to do it to resolve their issues,
Only proves one thing.
What one has experienced,
May not be the lessons
Another has to be be taught,
And may not be those lessons
Given at the time,
One paying attention should avoid.
Many must experience the same situations.
But when the time comes,
For that testing to be done!
Taking mental notes,
Is suggested.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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So it allows me to travel, I'll be doing that and running these great rivers and doing what I've done in the past without much purpose other than for the experience.
quote by Richard Dean Anderson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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No more grief
It is humane to cry over split milk
Can not afford for cotton still long for silk
Exactly opposite to the God’s will
No happiness and contentment still
No dead can be brought to life
Same can happen with your dearest wife
One departed means once for all
No use of crying over it and wishing for recall
It is nature’s cycle and inevitable
Even though we may be strong and capable
So many things we can do or attain
But the past events are difficult to maintain
Many might have glorious past
The life would have been easy and spent very fast
They might have lived with colorful situation
They would have wished too for its permanent continuation
It is not easy to forget passed events
They might have passed as fast movement
No one can reel back the time
It has gone off and not remained as prime
It should not have any bearing on future
As no one is confident and very much sure
The past can be buried and present can be pushed
Careful planning for future and not to be rushed
The past is hunting you like grave wound
The is not with you or can never be found
It keeps you restless and does not allow you to rest
There will be no use shedding tears and not trying best
As the cloak can not be pushed back
So the time and fortune can not be brought back too
The lesson must be taken from it to go ahead
Certainly the uncertainty must be over and fears must be allayed
It is advised not to worry so much
Things can not be brought back as such
It is thing of past and must be treated
As by gone is by gone and purpose is defeated
It will be futile attempt to live under fallacy
You will be helpless and live under mercy
You must come out of past shock
As the time go on ticking in clock
It is natural to be alert on your part
It is normal way and no body can depart
It you cling to old things and do not forgo
There won’t be any place left to go
So try to be flexible and possibly adjust
It is very much essential and must
One should remain vigilant all the time and be careful
It is going to be very much useful
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal

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God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them.
quote by Stanley Lindquist

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Purposeful Lesson, From A Painful Past
I lament the fact that I do not miss my dearly-departed Dad,
Nor may I see as real, the relationship that we once had:
My Father was not the man he purported to be;
It is only now, long after his demise, that I am able to see
The man I thought I knew, for who he truly was.
What is past is prologue, yet not for me, because
Though many years have past, I still wonder what was real.
My heart aches for what this association was allowed to steal,
Both from me and those I hold in the highest esteem.
Oh, how I wish that it were only a bad dream,
But I am not so fortuitous as to see its end-
My present is not one my past could portend.
I am not my Father's keeper, nor am I to blame
For anything that he once did-so, why then the shame! ?
He was but a fiend with which I share a last name,
Yet, it is not my purpose, nor surely my aim,
To cast aspersions at the man from whence I came,
Merely to markedly point out that we are not one and the same.
I can no more help my connection to him as I can my logical mind,
Yet this diaspora spreads and I may never leave it behind!
I have ardently prayed for refuge from this horrible curse,
Yet my prayers have gone unanswered, and the guilt, gotten worse!
I only wish to awaken to a world where ignorance is no longer-
A world where time heals all, and I am allowed to become stronger
For all that I have had to endure, for all I have overcome,
Yet my mind will not allow riddance to be paid to these cumbersome
Burdens I feel deep in my soul because of who my Father was.
I should not be made to suffer for what my Father does,
Just as no man should be held to account for acts of another,
I should not be made to recompense for those of a Father
I never really knew-whose shameful ruse was hidden from me.
This exorcision is needed, to ensure this curse is ridden, from me
And all those that I hold dear, for they have suffered too!
The world must see not only what I have suffered through,
But that my suffering was not in vain-it was surely not His intention
To inflict such pain without purpose; His Intervention
Is rife with lessons for all the world to see.
Lessons in the way He intends for the world to be:
Where His children demonstrate love, understanding, and compassion
For each other-without bias and prejudice-and without ration!
This must be the lesson that He wished to be taught to me
And the way He believes the world ought to be-
Otherwise my penance was all in vain,
And the world truly is insane!
-Maurice Harris,19 June 2012
poem by Maurice Harris

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Time and Experience
I found the past in my present
I built the future on my past
I found the gift of today
When I thought about what
The future has to offer
Where is the wisdom in experience
If there is no folly in wisdom
What's the real meaning of death
If our spirits live forever
Times never change
But circumstances do
I'll let mystery play with the future
Surprises couple with the present
And experience mourn the past
Because sun always rises from the east
And each day always comes to an end
Experience is not chained to wisdom
Nor is folly tied to bad results
But to the circumstances that burden
Our past, present and future because
Time is always anxious for the future
Experience loves the present
And wisdom never divorces the past
poem by Benaiah Sondashi

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Value Of It All
When does the teaching process end?
And the learning of lessons begin...
Starting the arrival of experience?
And not far behind is a common sense,
Waiting to be triggered without a nudge?
It is there connecting all of this,
Without a budge!
Ready when needed.
However...
If a mind relies too much on books,
To lead to a life reflecting what is written...
As common as it may seem,
A sense expected is missing.
And if a mind begins to lose sight
Of experience, lessons taught
AND common sense...
There will be problems.
Big time ego ones!
Who pays?
And at what cost?
Especially...
If the value of it all is lost!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Not Reversible
Not all memories are happy ones
when they come to call.
Some are seeped in sadness
with things we wish we’d done.
Some errors are not reversible
as they are locked in the past
where we are not allowed to go
and surface every so often
to haunt us now and then.
Mistakes we made in love and life
with scars we claimed from them.
Some errors are not reversible
no matter how hard we try.
31 March 2009
poem by David Harris

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Of Fog And Dawn And Boys And Men And Greatness
As fog clears
fog of dogma
of self-centeredness
of disallusions
of triviality. of excess
daylight emerges
Brightness comes across the face of a young man
a boy, really
the rays illuminate his features
not of the jaw or brow or bicep
but what his fathers bestoed to him
At day-break
his lessons learned
are all he posses
are his meaning
are his purpose
are his intentions
are his potential
A father may impart into son
lessons of kindness
of justice
of respect
of humility
of virtue
These lessons aren't truely known
cannot be truely known
until following the dawn
a man practices them
in positive action
to do good
to be become great.
poem by Erik Christiansen

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The Attributes of Planets in Our Solar System
Do not aspire to achieve heights of greatness,
And be prone to make typographical errors...
Of words used,
Without knowing definitions.
Or content of a purpose meant,
That may not produce the expected outcome...
Desired.
For example...
A name affixed to the planet Uranus,
May imply for some...
That you refer to manure.
And the use of it...
To encourage organic growth.
Some are not so sure,
If the usage of manure for this endures.
Especially,
When you are actually telling them where on a map to lick,
To help them to remember...
The attributes of planets in our solar system.
Learning is done by the application of tricks,
Sometimes.
When some minds decline behind the times.
Although there may be a few,
Who would rather kiss these aspirations.
And with them,
When they do...
The purpose meant and intent has more meaning.
'THIS has 'nothing' to do with typographical errors.'
I know.
As you can see...
I've done my best to correct any,
One may be inclined to find.
'And...
What about the attributes of planets in our solar system? '
That's not my interest.
Although Uranus is.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Infestation
From birth to achieve one's purpose,
Is that what it is one's life should be?
Or are we given this experience...
To exist to witness others succeed?
Are we to take life as an expected gift?
To sit in anticipation...
As life should come to us,
To breeze through easily.
From birth to achieve one's purpose,
Like steps come in increments.
First there is a crawling done.
To stand up tall to fall.
Ignoring to stall these as minor incidents.
Is not this life to live with such a preference?
No flying from a leap...
Some believe taken in clean sweeps,
To not repeat...
Incompleted lessons.
From birth to achieve one's purpose,
In sessions God dictates.
Although some prefer to stay whining like babies.
Hoping an empathy negates their impatient wait.
And some are often praised,
When they leave implusive scars...
To leave marks condone!
By others shown...
They too were raised to be just as crazed!
With the effects of this to go unquestioned.
Since their beliefs are released...
For a complete infestation for others to reap.
As reality takes a backseat...
While continuing to be depleted.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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A Scratching Done Under The Surface
It is foolish for anyone to perceive,
And believe...
They can approach others,
With the notion they can teach lessons...
Without knowing the experience,
Or a past history just by observing one's 'cover'.
A scratching done under the surface.
Or at least some knowledge of what one knows,
Will save another from embarrassment.
And a cold shoulder one unintentionally...
Shows without a doubt,
Can and will be exposed
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Without Thee, No Cause For Me
Its not that you have lost, but that we have won!
Built and sustained have we- many into one!
Correction of errors made in past-
Fixes that are most sure to last!
Better for having to be privy to this-
So sure of such am I, as if I knew this!
God's plan it is for our future to be assured,
Fast, yet slowly has it proceeded, to be most blurred!
Lonely you feel at current, surely though, you are not!
Accept your love back, rapidiously you ought!
Much more together, than possible apart-
Hold me near, my dear, always, to my heart!
Without thee, no cause for me- oppositely, dichotomously, for thee!
Remembering always is love- always with you, ever with me!
Maurice Harris,25 December 2007
poem by Maurice Harris

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