The melon seller does not announce, ""Bitter melons."" Distant water does not put out a nearby fire.
Related quotes
No melon-peddler cries: Bitter melons! No wine-dealer says: Sour wine!
No melon-peddler cries: Bitter melons. No wine-dealer says: Sour wine.
No melon peddler cries, ""Bitter melons."" No wine dealer says, ""Sour wine.""
The Harvest
A severe drought but water melons expanded
in the back yard of the farmhouse.
There was no hunt the whole night
and the hunter returns home
with his rusty shot gun.
Farm lassie counts the melons
for the week-end market
and they smiled each other
While he was passing the fence.
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga

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Everyone's Tasting Fire
Catching fire in my throat
As I leave this place
The bitter taste of it stings my words
But then everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher we go
We learn as we go
The bitter taste of it stings our words
Everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher we go
We learn as we go
The bitter taste of it stings our words
Everyone’s tasting fire
And there’s no sympathy
Cause we’re all
In the same place
Same place
Everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher we go
We learn as we go
Everyone’s tasting fire
No water
Coming to save our lives
Like it was
Almost perfect
Before
Everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher we go
We learn as we go
Everyone was tasting fire
And higher
And higher we went
We learned as we went
That everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher we go
We learn as we go
But if everyone’s tasting fire
Then who’s gonna get the water?
Everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
Who’s gonna get the water?
Everyone’s tasting fire
And higher
And higher
And everyone’s tasting fire
But if everyone’s tasting fire
Then who’s gonna get the water?
A Force Powerful!
Drenched in rain while walking in the beach
I decided not to take shelter nearby anywhere
Because the rain would not stop so soon then!
I used to be careful about my shoes at rain time;
I have lost many canvas shoes due to rain water!
Otherwise I enjoyed walking in rain seeing sea
And the water running in floods along the road!
Which is most powerful - fire or water? I brood!
Fire and water are counter forces and dangerous,
In which man cannot survive long by anyway!
Water contains fire and most powerful of the two!
But rain cools down body and creates jollity
That makes children and elders enjoy in dance,
A natural urge nobody can refuse to accept!
poem by Ramesh T A

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Whether the knife falls on the melon or the melon on the knife, the melon suffers.
Beyond The Distant Hills
The sun is shining for me,
beyond the distant hills.
Where my love is waiting,
for my return.
The water is sweet to drink,
beyond the distant hills,
where a warm fire is waiting,
for my return.
The grass bends in the breeze,
beyond the distant hills.
Where my love’s heart yearns
for my return.
A candle lights a window,
beyond the distant hills.
Where someone keeps a watchful eye,
for my return.
Beyond the distant hills,
where no clouds gather,
and no storms darken the sky.
Beyond the distant hills,
bright eyes wait for my return.
Beyond the distant hills,
my dreams will come true,
and I promised myself one day I will get there.
25 April 1988
poem by David Harris

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Fire and Water
Fire and water.
Fire and water, closer than we think.
We always think of fire
The destroyer, the demolisher.
We always think water
The life-bringer, the rebuilder
But, what about flash floods?
Rushing, raging taking all.
What about forest fires?
Spreading nutrients,
And maintaining habitats?
Also, without fire there is no passion
No love, no drive
But, without water no serenity,
no restraint, or peace
we need to keep balance in our lives
fire and water duality
kindness in our hearts
passion in our work
Fire and water.
poem by Matt Daffern

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Step On
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you
Youre twistin my melon man, you know you talk so hip man
Youre twistin my melon man
Hey rainmaker, come away from that man
You know hes gonna take away your promised land
Hey good lady he just wants what you got you know
Hell never stop until hes taken the lot
(hey hey he hey hey)
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre a man
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre the man
Youre a man
Youre twistin my melon man, you speak so hip
Hey rainmaker he got golden plans I tell you
Youll make a stranger in your own land
Hey good lady hes got God on his side he got a double
Tongue you never think he would lie
(oh he lied, oooh hes twistin my melon man
(oh he lied, oooh hes twistin my melon man)
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre a man
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre the man
Youre the man
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you
Hey rainmaker, come away from that man
You know hes gonna take away your promised land
Hey good lady hes got God on his side he got a double
Tongue you never think he would lie
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre a man
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Dont you know he can make you forget youre the man
Youre the man
Youre twistin my melon man, you know you talk so hip man
Youre twistin my melon man
(hey hey he hey hey)
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you again
Hes gonna step on you again, hes gonna step on you again
song performed by by Happy Mondays

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Heinlein never had a best-seller. Even, I think, with Stranger in a Strange Land, I don't think it was actually on the New York Times best seller list.
quote by Jerry Pournelle

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chuang Tzu And The Butterfly
Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking.
Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
The water that flows into the depth of the distant sea
Returns anon to the shallows of a transparent stream.
The man, raising melons outside the green gate of the city,
Was once the Prince of the East Hill.
So must rank and riches vanish.
You know it, still you toil and toil,—what for?
Distant Light
Distant light flickers an invitation of hope.
In reaching it, there will be sanctification.
Dimness that surrounds the eyes
will be forgotten.
Black holes that open the heart
will be discarded.
Let the distant light come closer.
Let the distant light be a friend.
Shallow water cannot drown soul.
It can only hinder the passage.
Dampening the spirit as it frolics
like a moonbeam across the mind.
Distance lends unhappiness.
Let the distant light shine bright.
Let the distant light be a guide.
In closets of blackness the hands
seek an opening in the shadows.
They find nothing, but the eyes
focus on a distant light that
calls like a radio in the night.
Let the distant light embrace.
Let the distant light be closer.
In an emptiness of broken glass
there is a pattern to salvation.
Frame the light like fire in the glance,
walk towards it. Find escape.
Let the distant light be strong.
Let the distant light shine forever.
What is the distant light that shines?
What is its meaning in a journey?
This is an answer not easily explained.
This is a hope not readily known.
Let the distant light continue.
Let the distant light always shine.
poem by Chris G. Vaillancourt

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Another Poetic Sigh
how can
slicing a melon
be a poem?
but the two faces
of that melon
are poems
one face was
a haiku
the other is a
sonnet
and the monk
who lives alone
on the top of the
tree
laughs
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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An Afternoon Poem
it is all coffee without cream
no sugar, you say please, no sugar no cream
it is all about cold bread
nothing electrifying
unlike the softness of the arms of the beloved
it is about the coldness of bread
and the hotness of coffee
less the cream and the sugar
nothing sweet really
you guess it: there is something bitter
not from the water (for why should water be bitter?)
not from the cup (is there such a cup which has a bitter taste?)
guess further: you are wrong.
it is bitter, it is really bitter.
it comes from the heart. Not from the saucer
or the spoon.
it is the heart that is bitter. do not attempt
tasting it.
it can be toxic because it is mine.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Black will take no other hue
Bitter gourd is bitter in taste
Coating of sugar is of no use
Bitter gourd is always bitter.
Put some alum
In to the dirty water
And see what is here.
It is different
How far it is useful
It is not different
How far we are
To play the fool.
poem by Gajanan Mishra

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An Evening
In the evening the sky was overcast.
And through the grove full of silence and grief
A dark-golden shower went.
Distant evening bells faded away.
The earth has drunk icy water,
At the forest's edge a fire lay glowing,
The wind quietly sang with angel's voices
And shivering I have gone to the knee,
In the heather, in bitter cresses.
Far outside clouds swam in silver puddles,
Desolate guards of love.
The heath was lonesome and unmeasured.
poem by Georg Trakl

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A horse and an ass
A buyer had a seller in a deal.
Each did it as that was the best.
To the buyer it was like a horse
And to the seller it was like an ass.
30.06.2005
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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Fire! Fire!
A fire is lit, gleaming backs
Drums beat, in ecstasy dancers
Hop around the night fire
He dipped, to be baptized,
In water and said
‘ he will come for water
His time will change to fire’
Fire! Fire!
Lit in my heart, this fire
That heals, in ecstasy, in holiness
Universe enjoined, fire in your eyes
Melted my heart!
poem by Charles Jagongo Ogola

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