The Sultan's Palace
My spirit only lived to look on Beauty's face,
As only when they clasp the arms seem served aright;
As in their flesh inheres the impulse to embrace,
To gaze on Loveliness was my soul's appetite.
I have roamed far in search; white road and plunging bow
Were keys in the blue doors where my desire was set;
Obedient to their lure, my lips and laughing brow
The hill-showers and the spray of many seas have wet.
Hot are enamored hands, the fragrant zone unbound,
To leave no dear delight unfelt, unfondled o'er,
The will possessed my heart to girdle Earth around
With their insatiate need to wonder and adore.
The flowers in the fields, the surf upon the sands,
The sunset and the clouds it turned to blood and wine,
Were shreds of the thin veil behind whose beaded strands
A radiant visage rose, serene, august, divine.
A noise of summer wind astir in starlit trees,
A song where sensual love's delirium rose and fell,
Were rites that moved my soul more than the devotee's
When from the blazing choir rings out the altar bell.
I woke amid the pomp of a proud palace; writ
In tinted arabesque on walls that gems o'erlay,
The names of caliphs were who once held court in it,
Their baths and bowers were mine to dwell in for a day.
Their robes and rings were mine to draw from shimmering trays---
Brocades and broidered silks, topaz and tourmaline--
Their turban-cloths to wind in proud capricious ways,
And fasten plumes and pearls and pendent sapphires in.
I rose; far music drew my steps in fond pursuit
Down tessellated floors and towering peristyles:
Through groves of colonnades fair lamps were blushing fruit,
On seas of green mosaic soft rugs were flowery isles.
And there were verdurous courts that scalloped arches wreathed,
Where fountains plashed in bowls of lapis lazuli.
Through enigmatic doors voluptuous accents breathed,
And having Youth I had their Open Sesame.
I paused where shadowy walls were hung with cloths of gold,
And tinted twilight streamed through storied panes above.
In lamplit alcoves deep as flowers when they unfold
Soft cushions called to rest and fragrant fumes to love.
I hungered; at my hand delicious dainties teemed---
Fair pyramids of fruit; pastry in sugared piles.
I thirsted; in cool cups inviting vintage beamed---
Sweet syrups from the South; brown muscat from the isles.
I yearned for passionate Love; faint gauzes fell away.
Pillowed in rosy light I found my heart's desire.
Over the silks and down her florid beauty lay,
As over orient clouds the sunset's coral fire.
Joys that had smiled afar, a visionary form,
Behind the ranges hid, remote and rainbow-dyed,
Drew near unto my heart, a wonder soft and warm,
To touch, to stroke, to clasp, to sleep and wake beside.
Joy, that where summer seas and hot horizons shone
Had been the outspread arms I gave my youth to seek,
Drew near; awhile its pulse strove sweetly with my own,
Awhile I felt its breath astir upon my cheek.
I was so happy there; so fleeting was my stay,
What wonder if, assailed with vistas so divine,
I only lived to search and sample them the day
When between dawn and dusk the sultan's courts were mine !
Speak not of other worlds of happiness to be,
As though in any fond imaginary sphere
Lay more to tempt man's soul to immortality
Than ripens for his bliss abundant now and here!
Flowerlike I hope to die as flowerlike was my birth.
Rooted in Nature's just benignant law like them,
I want no better joys than those that from green Earth
My spirit's blossom drew through the sweet body's stem.
I see no dread in death, no horror to abhor.
I never thought it else than but to cease to dwell
Spectator, and resolve most naturally once more
Into the dearly loved eternal spectacle.
Unto the fields and flowers this flesh I found so fair
I yield; do you, dear friend, over your rose-crowned wine,
Murmur my name some day as though my lips were there,
And frame your mouth as though its blushing kiss were mine.
Yea, where the banquet-hall is brilliant with young men,
You whose bright youth it might have thrilled my breast to know,
Drink . . . and perhaps my lips, insatiate even then
Of lips to hang upon, may find their loved ones so.
Unto the flush of dawn and evening I commend
This immaterial self and flamelike part of me,---
Unto the azure haze that hangs at the world's end,
The sunshine on the hills, the starlight on the sea,---
Unto angelic Earth, whereof the lives of those
Who love and dream great dreams and deeply feel may be
The elemental cells and nervules that compose
Its divine consciousness and joy and harmony.
poem by Alan Seeger
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Waves of Time
Arise again, beloved, out of the waves of time
With your long golden tresses and marble arms sublime;
Your face that now transparent and pale as wax is pale
Is shaded by the shadow of sorrow's clinging veil!
Your timid smile caressing does rest within my eyes,
O star amidst fair women, o queen of starry skies;
Your head upon your shoulder its wealth of beauty lays
And in your eyes of wonder I'm lost and weeping gaze.
Out of the void's dark vapours may you once more uprear,
That to my heart I clasp you, beloved angel dear,
That I in nameless weeping above your face may bend
And on your lips forever my burning kisses spend.
While your cold hand unheeding I clasp against my breast,
Closer, yet still closer, against my bosom pressed.
Alas, not thus the darkness gives back its own again;
Now through its icy vapours I see your shadow wane.
With hanging arms and helpless once more I am alone
Before a dream unending of hours that have gone;
In vain with arms outstretching my soul your shadow craves,
Dear one, I cannot reach you amidst time's rolling waves.
poem by Mihai Eminescu
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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My Maggie
She isn't beautiful as Nefertiti was.
And, unlike Helen,
her face will never launch a thousand ships.
No, her beauty is more open, than entrancing
more welcoming, than enthralling,
more giving, than demanding,
more durable, than perfect.
Perfection inspires no passion,
no lust.
Nefertiti over her?
Her, with her woman's body?
Her, with flesh where woman should have flesh?
Her, with fullness where love and longing
would have nought else?
And her face has beauty in it.
The tender beauty in her gaze
that holds and softens and moulds
a better man within me
than the one that she first knew.
And the bold, brave beauty of her crooked smile.
A smile that tells me who she is,
and who she does not care to be.
Her smile may never softly kill a single soul,
but it warms me, softly warms me,
as I hold her spent and gentle body close to mine.
It warms me from within,
so warms me that it has me dream beyond my worth
and aspire beyond my dreams.
poem by Red O'Mara
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This is my body
This is my body that you see
It is beautiful carved by God’s hands
Smoothened by His breaths
You will love it and want to have it
To touch and caress
To be feasted upon by the hunger
Of your eyes and thirst of your lips
To be rubbed by the coldness of your body
Seeking the warmth of my flesh
This is my body that you will first see
But there is more in me than my body
This soul that seeks your soul
This beautiful soul that seeks the beauty of your soul
The hands of my spirit reaching out to your invisible hands
They have all for years been longing to clasp
My soul longing to be with your soul
So they can be together
To be fused with each other as one
To be happy and calm and perfect
To that final place where this body
Shies away because something more beautiful
Inside it shines and glows and becomes
So beautiful in all eternity
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Open Arms
If love is what you want
Baby here I am
If tenderness is what you need
Ive got that to give
If you need some affection
Baby these are open arms
Open arms open arms open arms open arms
You come hem youve had a hard day
Every door you tried to open
Was closing in your face
Im right here Ill be right here
Ill embrace you
Ill be open with my heart
Ill let you in
Ill be open with my thoughts
Ill be your best friend
If you need some attention
Baby these are open arms
Open arms open arms open arms open arms
Every corner you turn
Trouble come your way
But when you get home
Ill try to be there
And Ill embrace you
These are
These are
These are
Open arms
If time is what you need
Baby Ill stop the clocks
If youre looking for something
Maybe Ive got what you want
If theres one thing to remember
Dont forget that these are open arms
Open arms open arms open arms open arms
These are
These are
These are
Open arms
song performed by by Tracy Chapman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Spiritual Love
Could you but give me all that I desire,
I should be richer, and you no more poor,
Companionship beside the household fire,
And common cares that train one to endure.
'Tis not your senses, but your self, I want,
Kinship of vision, sympathy of mind,
That so the bond be based on adamant,
And Love made fast by sanctities that bind.
Yet do not think insensible my gaze
To delicate loveliness of form and face,
But that I covet in the same embrace
The Spirit's yearnings with the body's grace.
Give me all these, and add, with lengthening years,
The sweet sad smile, and piety of tears.
poem by Alfred Austin
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I Love You
I love your lips when they're wet with wine
And red with a wild desire;
I love your eyes when the lovelight lies
Lit with a passionate fire.
I love your arms when the warm white flesh
Touches mine in a fond embrace;
I love your hair when the strands enmesh
Your kisses against my face.
Not for me the cold calm kiss
Of a virgin's bloodless love;
Not for me the saint's white bliss,
Nor the heart of a spotless dove.
But give me the love that so freely gives
And laughs at the whole world's blame,
With your body so young and warm in my arms,
It sets my poor heart aflame.
So kiss me sweet with your warm wet mouth,
Still fragrant with ruby wine,
And say with a fervor born of the South
That your body and soul are mine.
Clasp me close in your warm young arms,
While the pale stars shine above,
And we'll live our whole young lives away
In the joys of a living love.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sonnet: Beauty
The flesh gets beauty, when draped by its skin;
The soul loses beauty, when filled by sin;
The beauty of things is seen when revealed;
The beauty of unseen things is concealed.
Woman! Thy beauty is in concealment;
Nature, thy beauty is the Firmament;
O Man! Thy beauty is by revealing;
Heart, Thy beauty is in deep feeling.
The Grace of God is the dress of the soul!
The Stars, Sun and Moon- the dress of the ‘bowl’! ’
Just as how skin protects the body’s flesh,
Good deeds make a soul beautiful and fresh.
Doing good in life is most important;
Avoiding harm is more significant.
3-1-2000
poem by John Celes
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Thought Waves
Thought waves flow
and transmute
as they transform
across the cosmic continuum.
The beauty of the thought
transforms everything;
from the beauty
of the crystalline thought;
seasoned souls shine
forth radiantly.
Through the beauty of the thought
flows the beauty of the soul
from the beauty of the thought
from the beauty of the soul.
From flesh that was receptive
to flesh or form that was adored;
as the beauty of love grows
instinctively naturally;
thus love complimented
guides throughout eternity.
poem by Terence George Craddock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Blouse Machinist
Miss Murphy has blue eyes and blue-black hair,
Her machine's opposite mine
So I can stare
At her pale face and shining blue-black hair.
I'm sure that other people think her plain
But I could look at her
And look again
Although I see why people think her plain.
She's nice to watch when her machine-belt breaks.
She has such delicate hands
And arms, it takes
Ages for her to mend it when it breaks.
Oh, beauty's still elusive and she's fine.
Though all the moulding
Of her face, the line
Of nose, mouth, chin is Mongol, yet she's fine.
Of course things would be different in Japan.
They'd see her beauty.
On a silken fan
They'd paint her for a princess in Japan.
But still her loveliness eludes the blind.
They never use their eyes
But just their mind.
So must much loveliness elude the blind.
poem by Lesbia Harford
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Distant Friend
- Distant friend, calling me
From afar,
Your written voice I hear
In the endless echoes of beauty, within your shinning star.
Through your gifted, and wonderfully wandering pen
You alight my deep, dark sky,
You release my tired and torn soul,
With those words of yours, that so freely fly.
Though never having meet
Face to face,
I seem to know you from forever...
And so easily feel your spirits embrace.
Through your flowing and flowering words
Laid along my souls journey,
I've been quietly invited
Into your hearts domain of beauty, and mystery.
You have helped me learn
And made me to grow,
You've expanded my mind
And greatly enlivened my soul.
I have a pen
All my own...
But, no longer do I need
To write all alone.
For even though in the present
We're at such distant ends,
You and I shall forever be
In spirit, the closest of friends.
poem by Smoky Hoss
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Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms
Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Live fairy-gifts fading away,
Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,
That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turned when he rose!
poem by Thomas Moore
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Why are you Silent, Oh Cold Beauty?
Why are you silent, Oh cold beauty?
Your attire is simplicity...
Your beauty expressive like eyes of a dancer with a divine spirit...
Call I your muteness your wisdom's speech?
Or fear of a frail soul?
Should I make you divine or meek?
Innocent or ingenious?
Glory of a shrine or a dust of its pavement?
What name I give to your silence?
For u shall be beautiful still!
For a poet night is as beautiful as day…
Wisdom or fear...
Divine or meek
Innocence or ingenuity
Shrines dust or shrines glory...
All rise from heart of beauty taking different courser to meet again in the spirit of love...! !
To sail with d current of devotion with no oppression of tides...! !
With no fear of being exiled to unknown dark showers...
With buried skulls and serpents...
Born in dark...
Rose from dark…
Slept in radiance wide awake...
Speak oh beauty...
For beauty is boundless...
For it sleeps in death's arms to awake in eternities embrace...
poem by Lama Abbas
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Hold Me Close
Take me in your arms again.
Hold me close once more.
Take me in your arms again
like you've done before.
There's no other feeling dear
like your warm embrace.
You can tell how I feel
from the smile on my face.
Where can I get this feeling
when your arms are gone?
Only the memories of their touch
is what I must rely on.
They say my memories will fade away
as time moves ahead.
But what do they know of my memory?
These are just words that are said.
So take me in your arms again.
Hold me close once more.
Embrace me so I'll never forget
just like you've done before.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Soul Calls
Soul calls
Heart cries
Arms long
for you
Eyes gaze
upon your
beauty and
your love
I adore
and
respect
you
poem by Heather Schroer
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Beauty On The Tv-screen
She she is the appetite my appetite for love
And I know that she is comin that she is comin from above
Everytime I see her I just cant get enough
She is cute she is pretty and sometimes she is tough
She is my beauty
She is my beauty on the tv-screen yeah she is !
And when you see her you would know what I really mean
Yes she got legs that reach the skies
And she has eyes that are open wide
So please could you jump out that damn tv
And put those little arms all around me
There is nothin yeah there is nothin
Like that little butt
Planned out designed and coproduced by god
Yeah when I see you I just cant get enough
cause she is cute and pretty and sometimes she is tough
She is my beauty
She is my beauty on the tv-screen yeah she is !
And when you see her you would know what I really mean
She will never dissapoint me she will never make me cry
She will never ever play me but her lovin lets me die
She will never dissapoint me she will never make me cry
She will never ever play me but her lovin lets me die
She is my beauty
She is my beauty on the tv-screen yeah she is !
And when you see her you would know what I really mean
song performed by by Lou Bega
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love Sonnet 62 Was it my fortune, that you passed this way,
Was it my fortune, that you passed this way,
Where your very gaze stung me to alertness,
Never felt before, not over beauty,
So unlike your face in its loveliness;
Call it destiny, or blind chance perhaps,
That when lost, you did come back to be found,
While lured and lulled in sea of dreamy traps,
You escaped victorious, to solid ground;
Let Time heave up some more layers of sand,
To hide every trace of that happenstance,
But this meeting lasts and assumes its stand,
Among the monuments, our love made once;
..…For posterity, therein to remain,
…..With all the love and beauty to retain.
poem by Reyvrex Questor Reyes
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Impromptu
Tell me your race, your name,
O Lady limned as dead, yet as when living fair!
That within this faded frame
An unfading beauty wear.
Were you ever known to fame,
Or, more wisely, chose to be
Lost in love's obscurity?
We may question, gaze, and guess,
You will never answer ``yes,''
For your sweet lips are closed by Death's relentlessness.
Yes, you were chill before
Some thoughtful hand to us your loveliness bequeathed.
You already then no more
Moved, or spoke, or felt, or breathed,
But an eternal silence wore.
Dank and limp your ample hair,
And your eyelids kept the stare
Of a face that cannot speak;
And, where lived the rose's streak,
There only lingered then the lily in your cheek.
Was it your own strange prayer
That you, in death, should be in living garb arrayed,
And your aspect seem as fair,
Fanciful and undecayed,
As when life and love were there?
No! it was no idle whim:
Death was in love with you, and you in love with Him.
And when you, with tender dread,
All to Him surrenderëd,
He took care you should retain
All of life except its pain,
And with unabated charms
Lie fast asleep in your unsleeping lover's arms.
poem by Alfred Austin
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Soul Sanctuary
Loving u in silence, knowing that its right
Under your gaze I ponder this love 2night
Unbothered by the chaos swirling round outside
In your arms is where I want 2 live and die
Someplace where your face is all that I see
Where the love we make intoxicates intensively
In a mirror where your sweet reflection used 2 be
There is hope, there is joy, my soul sanctuary
My soul sanctuary
Loving u in silence, neverending kiss
Under your gaze I can peacefully exist
Sanctuary, baby, nothing compares 2 this
In my darkest hour u can be my bliss (bliss)
All of me I give 2 thee down at your feet
The reassurance in your rhythm speaks 2 me
Over and over your screams are like a prayer
In the dark, u are there (u are there), my soul sanctuary
Ooh, my soul sanctuary
Loving u in passion unmolested in this garden
Mango and nectarine, sweet honeydew, I beg your pardon
My mouth runneth over from ecstasy
Its true (its true), baby, I love the taste of u
Loving u in silence, knowing that its right
Under your gaze I ponder this love 2night
Unbothered by the chaos swirling around outside
In your arms is where I wanna live and die
Someplace (someplace) where your face is all that I see (all that I see)
Where the love we make intoxicates intensively (intensively)
In a mirror (mirror) where your sweet (sweet) reflections used 2 be
There is hope, there is joy, my soul sanctuary
My soul sanctuary
(my, my, my, my, my soul) my soul sanctuary
Oh, my soul sanctuary
Soul sanctuary
song performed by by Prince
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Barter
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
poem by Sara Teasdale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Untapped...
I see beauty in the night
Graceful is the sight
As the moon floats
Amidst oceans of stars
In see beauty in nature
In the sun masculine embrace
So much beauty in the clouds
Even seas confess in rousing waves
I see beauty in the day
In the reflection of your face
So much beauty in may
As it ushers the new rain
There is beauty in your eyes
The curl of your hair...
So much beauty in your heart
And the joy that comes with your smile.
(TJ 19/01/10)
poem by Jubril Balogun
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