Everything was black in the harbor, but there were still some fires burning on the ships.
quote by Barney Ross

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Fire Night
I wore the fire night
fires sorrounded and covered İ STANBUL
I was alone...I was poison..I was poisonous
and all my bridges were blown up
ı sank my ships with my own bare hands
İ stanbul was burning
suffocating and suffocating
you were in blazes
you were burning
your screams
ı could never forget
your hair was in blazes..burning
fire reached to my lips
noone saw the fires
noone afforded a dropp of water to estinguish
you were a hell burning
istanbul was a hell..burning
and me an old hell...burning
my poems began to scream
let the smoke not suffocate me and make me blind
let me see you.. let me see your guilty eyes
let me see you lost in this fire night
let not the stones fall on my head
let me not fall down
let the ships not burn
if istanbul did not burn
and if you did not
ı could burn myself lonely and alone
ı t was a fire night
ı could never forget
İ stanbul was burning
Atilla İ LHAN
Translation Metin Ş AHİ N
poem by Metin Sahin

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Maritime Poem
In the blue harbor of your eyes
Blow rains of melodious lights,
Dizzy suns and sails
Painting their voyage to endlessness.
In the blue harbor of your eyes
Is an open sea window,
And birds appear in the distance
Searching for islands still unborn.
In the blue harbor of your eyes
Snow falls in July.
Ships laden with turquoise
Spill over the sea and are not drowned.
In the blue harbor of your eyes
I run on the scattered rocks like a child
Breathing the fragrance of the sea
And return an exhausted bird.
In the blue harbor of your eyes
Stones sing in the night.
Who has hidden a thousand poems
In the closed book of your eyes?
If only, if only I were a sailor,
If only somebody'd give me a boat,
I would furl my sails each evening
In the blue harbor of your eyes.
poem by Nizar Qabbani

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Big Ships Sail Out To Sea
Big ships sail out to sea
But they can't hold my heart
Or harbor my soul
Since you traveled away…
The sky is as black as ink
But it can't hurt or feel
As much as I feel for you
Now you've sailed away…
Oh I'm bleeding in waves
And nothing can stem
Or staunch this pain
I'm feeling over and over again…
Babe I'm taking this breath
But I don't want to breathe
I just want to drown
In your arms again…
Oh big ships are sailing
Sailing away with you
And the world is a conch shell
And all I hear is you…
When you was willing to give
All I hear is a moment with you
Let the mermen wail
This is all I can say or feel
Oh I can't pretend I'm not
Drowning without you…
poem by Mark Heathcote

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The ship according to the gospel of Arsenio
A ship in the harbor is safe
But that is not the reason why ships are built
That is not what ships are
They are made to sail
To go not to stay
They are designed
To float
“Safety, security and survival
Are not the goals of our lives”
“Life is an adventure
Not maintenance”
At its end
The ship is always for
Sinking.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Docks
Strolling along
By the teeming docks,
I watch the ships put out.
Black ships that heave and lunge
And move like mastodons
Arising from lethargic sleep.
The fathomed harbor
Calls them not nor dares
Them to a strain of action,
But outward, on and outward,
Sounding low-reverberating calls,
Shaggy in the half-lit distance,
They pass the pointed headland,
View the wide, far-lifting wilderness
And leap with cumulative speed
To test the challenge of the sea.
Plunging,
Doggedly onward plunging,
Into salt and mist and foam and sun.
poem by Carl Sandburg

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Both Ends Burning
(ferry)
Please dont ever let me down
cause you know Im not so sure
Do I have the speed to carry on
Burn you out of my mind, I know
Youre a flame that never fades
Jungle reds a deadly shade
Both ends burning, will the fires keep
Somewhere deep in my soul tonight
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Now my course is plain as day
Running bold across to play
Both ends burning with a strange desire
That feeds the fire in my soul tonight
I will dance the night away
Living only for today
Both ends burning while youre counting sheep
Hell-- who can sleep in this heat this night?
Tell me will I ever learn?
Its too late, the rush is on
Both ends burning and I cant control
The fires raging in my soul tonight
Oh will it never end?
Put your foot around the bend
Drive me crazy to an early grave
Tell me what is there to save tonight
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Keep on burning till the end, until the end
Keep on burning till the end, the very end
song performed by by Roxy Music

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Are On My Mind
You are on my mind
The echo of your laughter flowing through me
Sitting by a mountain fire
And wishing you were in my arms
And loving me completely
Rocky mountain highs are very nice
But you are gone and nothings quite the same
L.a. is so far away and I cant
Stand another day
Without you by my side
Though Ive tried, tried, tried
You are on my mind
You are everything a woman could be
Consequently I believe that no one
Else could take your place if you
Should ever leave me
Ill be coming home again to you
And look upon the woman that I love
There is nothing I can say that celebrates
The special way you keep me satisfied
Pretty girl
(break)
Feeling just a little lonely
Wishing you were in my arms
Yeah...
You are on my mind
The echo of your laughter flowing through me
Sitting by a mountain fire
And wishing you were in my arms
And loving me completely
Rocky mountain highs are very nice
But you are gone and nothings quite the same
L.a. is so far away and I cant
Stand another day
Without you by my side
Keep the fires burning
Keep the fires burning on
Keep the fires burning on
Keep the fires burning on
Keep the fires burning on
song performed by by Chicago

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are for.
quote by John A. Shedd

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A ship in harbor is safe--- but that is not what ships are for.
quote by John A. Shedd

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Greeks planned for war
The Greeks planned for war
On the delightful island of Salamis.
From the harbor of Athens, you could see it
Seized by the enemy's hand.
And now our friends the islanders
Are fitting out our ships.
Earlier the English didn't love
The sweet European soil.
O, Europe, new Hellas,
Save the Acropolis and Pireus.
We do not need the island's gifts,
A forest of uninvited ships.
poem by Osip Emilevich Mandelstam

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The Black Ships Were Low Laden
The black ships were low laden
And to portugal home bound
They rose with that deep ocean swell
Slowed by the riches they had found.
Those black ships were a portent
Of a far more deadly trade
Of human traffic taken
And transported as mere slaves.
Deep within those black ships' hulls
And flaming on their sails
A thousand souls were crying
Like a chorus in those gales.
The winds were blowing backward
Each venomous black boat
The weight inside each one of them
Fought against them being afloat.
God he blew storms of madness
And sought to turn them back
The sea churned like a mystery
With the sky a vicious black.
The captain stood amongst them
Standing firm upon his deck
He made a pact with Lucifer
With the devil and with death.
The cargo was a sacrifice
The holds were emptied till
The ships could sail full forward
And then the sea did still.
So fill your ships with slavery
But of our pact you must not tell
My mission on this earthly place
Is to create as many hells
As i can find by seeking
The weakness in men's souls
And the emptying of principles
Lies in man's keen quest for gold.
poem by David Keig

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Keep The Fires Burning
(j.p. maunick/r. hayden)
(we got to keep the fire)
(we got to keep the fires burning)
When you find
Youre all alone
And the walls come closing in
No place to run
And no one there to turn to
Now your options running thin
Dont be afraid to step into the darkness
Reach out for the flame within
From ancient times
A lesson given to you
Never give up until you win (hey)
Chorus:
(we got to keep the fires burning)
Burnin
(a flame so bright to show the way)
Oh, come on people sing
We got to keep the fires burnin
That/god? leads us to a better day (yeah)
Look to the light
Children of the future
Well guide you through the stormy sea
But keep an eye for hiding in the shadows
Are those who stopped you bein free
Chorus
Repeat (fade)
song performed by by Incognito

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Ships
If all the ships I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
From sunny lands, and lands of cold,
Ah well! the harbor could not hold
So many sails as there would be
If all my ships came in from sea.
If half my ships came home from sea,
And brought their precious freight to me,
Ah, well! I should have wealth as great
As any king who sits in state,
So rich the treasures that would be
In half my ships now at sea.
If just one ship I have at sea
Should come a-sailing home to me,
Ah well! the storm clouds then might frown,
For if the others all went down
Still rich and proud and glad I’d be,
If that one ship came back to me.
If that one ship were down at sea,
And all the others came to me,
Weighed down with gems and wealth untold,
With glory, honor, riches, gold,
The poorest soul on earth I’d be
If that one ship came not to me.
O skies be calm! O winds blow free--
Blow all my ships safe home to me.
But if thou sendest some awrack
To never more come sailing back,
Send any--all that skim the sea--
But bring my love-ship home to me.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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History Of Ages Burns On Minds Eye
Soul cry hear blood soak earth
fires burning in ghost phantom dark
images burned into victim retina.
All sacred homes lost burning fires
raids plunder cruel famine wars
burning through rage pages history.
Screams across fury dark demon ages
slaves taken beat broken enchained
civilizations burning collapsing dying
waxing falling death conquest repetition.
Age of aspiring mind man
slave to stalking brutality
beats drumbeats inside skull
angels call chosen souls home.
poem by Terence George Craddock

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The Ocean Liner
They went down to the sea in ships,
In ships they went down to the sea.
In boats hewn of oak-tree strips,
In galleys with skin-sewn sails,
In triremes, caravels, brigs—
Frail, flimsily rolling rigs—
They went down where the huge wave rips,
Where the black storm lashes and hales.
They went down to the sea in ships,
To the sounding, sorrowing sea.
They go down to the sea—O me !—
What ships that outbrave the sea,
What ships that outrun the gale,
With a feather of steam for a sail
And a whirling shaft for an oar,
Are the ships that my brothers build
To carry me over the sea,
That my hand with treasures filled
May knock at the morrow's door !
Steel hulls impenetrable
To the waves that tease and pull,
Bright engines that answer the beat
Of their foam-slippered dancing feet,
Hot fires that shudder and drive,
Close-tended, untiring, sure—
Like queen-bees deep in the hive
Who labor and serve and endure:
All these are down below
Far under the slippery water,
While the babe sleeps soft in his bed,
And the banquet table is spread,
And my neighbor's laughing daughter
Trims her hair with a rose-red bow.
They went down to the sea in ships,
In ships they went down to the sea.
And the sea had a million lips
And she laughed in her throat for glee.
And. the floor of the sea was strewn
With tempest trophies dread,
And the deep-sea currents croon
As they wash through the bones of the dead.
But the ships that my brothers build—
Ah, they mock at the storm's mad rage;
And their burning hearts are thrilled
When he throws them his battle gauge.
On the sea-foam they lean for a pillow,
They drive without paddle or sail
Straight over the mountainous billow,
Straight on through the blustering gale !
Oh they shake out gay flags as they run,
Flags that flutter and gleam in the sun!
From the tip of their turrets above
They send news of the storm to the shore;
And they hear from afar through the roar,
Down the cloud-built aisles of the sky,
Some land-bound lady's cry
To her ocean-wandering love.
They go down to the sea in ships,
In ships they go down to the sea.
And my brothers, the masterful, free,
Fear no more the white foam of her lips,
They have won her, she harks to their wooing,
The love of ten thousand years,
The suing, the wild undoing,
The faith unto death, the tears.
Oh, their glory her song shall be;
Soft, soft is the kiss of her lips!
They go down to the sea in ships,
In ships they go down to the sea.
poem by Harriet Monroe

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Harbor Lights
(words & music by h. williams - j. kennedy)
I saw the harbor lights
They only told me we were parting
Those same old harbor lights
That once brought you to me.
I watched the harbor lights
How could I help it?
Tears were starting.
Good-bye to golden nights
Beside the silvery seas.
I long to hold you dear,
And kiss you just once more.
But you were on the ship,
And I was on the shore.
Now I know lonely nights
For all the while my heart keeps praying
That someday harbor lights
Will bring you back to me.
song performed by by Elvis Presley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Burning Embers
Fly through the glass of a window pane
fall through the sky feeling the rain
Walk on broken glass your tell-tale heart
Look through the bars of a dirty jail cell
soar to heaven dive to hell
Listen to your tell-tale heart
Setting fires in the ghost twilight
we see you dress we bolt with fright
You see an apparition disappear
Jump to the table, jump up the stairs
stand on the rooftop, looking out through the air
Walk on broken glass your tell-tale heart
Lenore, am I dreaming
How can death keep us apart, mmmm..
Lenore, I see you burning
And I'd walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
Heart
heart
Heart
heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
your tell-tale heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
Walk on burning embers
walk on burning embers
Walk on burning embers your tell-tale heart
song performed by by Lou Reed

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Some Bar By The Harbor
Salin' can save me
Or I drown evermore
But I'm on the waves
With you on the shore
Never mind
One find day
In some bar
By the harbor
I'll find you
There you'll be
As you where
Corner stool
By the jukebox
Watin' for me
I can remember
Sweet child
Gone a mile
Swayin' your head
To the crazy ragtime
Sayin' "hey you got a quater?
Hey you look familiar
Hey you got a quater?
Let's dance to the ragtime"
Slow down
Don't time fly
Chased your smile
To some cold dingy attic
Now memories of
A room we shared
Heaven and home to me longer
And longer ago
I can remember
Time's up
Callin' ships all of the sounds
Of a restless harbor
You said "hey you look familiar
Come on you remember
Hey you got a quater?
Let's dance to the ragtime
Sailin' has saved me
From drownin' evermore
But I'm on the waves
And you on the shore
Never mind
One find day
In some bar by the harbor
I'll find you
Boozy, scared
Breakin' down
Tellin' the bouncer be cool
'cause you're waitin' for me
Like I been dreamin'
That's you
Swingin' 'round
Pushin' your way like
A star to the jukebox
Sayin' hey ya' got a quater?
Hey don't you remember?
Let's dance to the ragtime!
Hey ya' got a quater?
Hey don't you remember?"
Why must I remember?
Never mind
One find day
In some bar by the harbor
I'll find you
I'll find you
I'll find you
And will dance to the
song performed by by Barry Manilow

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Large Bad Picture
Remembering the Strait of Belle Isle or
some northerly harbor of Labrador,
before he became a schoolteacher
a great-uncle painted a big picture.
Receding for miles on either side
into a flushed, still sky
are overhanging pale blue cliffs
hundreds of feet high,
their bases fretted by little arches,
the entrances to caves
running in along the level of a bay
masked by perfect waves.
On the middle of that quiet floor
sits a fleet of small black ships,
square-rigged, sails furled, motionless,
their spars like burnt match-sticks.
And high above them, over the tall cliffs'
semi-translucent ranks,
are scribbled hundreds of fine black birds
hanging in n's in banks.
One can hear their crying, crying,
the only sound there is
except for occasional sizhine
as a large aquatic animal breathes.
In the pink light
the small red sun goes rolling, rolling,
round and round and round at the same height
in perpetual sunset, comprehensive, consoling,
while the ships consider it.
Apparently they have reached their destination.
It would be hard to say what brought them there,
commerce or contemplation.
poem by Elizabeth Bishop

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Smoking
Burning desires,
Burning face,
Burning eyes,
Burning lungs,
Burning heart,
Burning existence,
Burning world,
Everything is burning and burning.
Fire can never soothe a burning mind,
It will burn more and more
And reduce to ashes
Thy wishes,
Thy ambitions,
Thy vivacity,
And even thy life
Thy ruin is imminent.
poem by Mohammad Akmal Nazir

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