En.Citatepedia^®.ro

The Night Of The Lion

'_And that a reply be received before midnight._'
_British Ultimatum_.

Their Day was at twelve of the night,
When the graves give up their dead.
And still, from the City, no light
Yellows the clouds overhead.
Where the Admiral stands there's a star,
But his column is lost in the gloom;
For the brazen doors are ajar,
And the Lion awakes, and the doom.

_He is not of a chosen race.
His strength is the strength of the skies,
In whose glory all nations have place,
In whose downfall Liberty dies.
He is mighty, but he is just.
He shall live to the end of years.
He shall bring the proud to the dust.
He shall raise the weak to the spheres._

It is night on the world's great mart,
But the brooding hush is awake
With the march of a steady heart
That calls like the drum of Drake,
_Come!_ And a muttering deep
As the pulse of the distant guns,
Or the thunder before the leap
Thro' the rolling thoroughfare runs.

And the wounded men go by
Like thoughts in the Lion's brain.
And the clouds lift on high
Like the slow waves of his mane
And the narrowing lids conceal
The furnaces of his eyes.
Their gold is gone out. They reveal
Only two search-lights of steel
Steadily sweeping the skies.

And we hoped he had peace in his lair
Where the bones of old tyrannies lay,
And the skulls that his cubs have stripped bare,
The old skulls they still toss in their play.
But the tyrants are risen again,
And the last light dies from their path;
For the midnight of his mane
Lifts to the stars with his wrath.

From the East to the West he is crouching.
He snuffs at the North-East wind.
His breast upon Britain is couching.
His haunches quiver on Ind.
It is night, black night, where he lies;
But a kingdom and a fleet
Shall burn in his terrible eyes
When he leaps, and the darkness dies
With the War-gods under his feet.

_Till the day when a little child,
Shall lay but a hand on his mane,
And his eyes grow golden and mild
And he stands in the heavens again;
Till the day of the seventh seal,
Which the Lion alone shall rend,
When the stars from their courses reel,
His Freedom shall not end._

poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

The Call

I hear an Army!
Millions of men coming up from the edge of the world,
The ring of unnumbered feet ever louder and louder
Comes on and an like a mighty untameable tide,
Steady, implacable, out of the North and the South,
Out of the East, and the West, they answer the call
Of her who stands, her eyes towards God and the stars,
Liberty, daughter of God, calling her men.

What manner of men are these? Like the desert sands
Uncounted, many as locusts, darkening the sky?
White men, black men, men of the tawny gold,
Golden-eyed like the lion, sons of the sun,
Men from the snow, their eyes like frost or a sword:
They have but one heart, one desire, they run one way.
Hurrying, hurrying to the shrill trumpet call.

Men from the ice-floes, men from the jungles come;
This from the arms of his bride, that from his dead.
Men from the plough, the mart, the mill and the street
They run: they are heroes: the fire fuses them all.
Head uplifted and proud, like heroes they step,
Singing their battle song in the troubled dawn
Of the day of Liberty, flaming torch of the world.
I hear an Army!

poem by Katharine Tynan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Roaring Lion

On a bright sunny day, amidst the African brush-
Playing in the sand, two tiny lion cubs.
Filled with potential, though they be yet small,
Furry balls of terror unaware of the dangers about them all.
They play, in their little sand pit, preparing for what is ahead.
Unaware of it, yet preparing for it.
But lo, as they play, come clouds, a storm is gathering.
As now they cower, suddenly aware that safety is faltering.
The glowing eyes of hideous predators lurk in the dark,
They loom up, watching and waiting, for the moment to strike.
The cubs cower up against the sand, no use to run.
They cringe as darkness veils the sun.
Jaws snap at them, fangs bare. Snarls penetrate their ears.
They wince as their antagonists stand above them, their greatest fear.
No screaming, no yelling. Just a quiet call, so quiet, that you'd barely hear it at all.
Facing their imminent fate, with nothing more than a faint SOS call.
They whimper as the teeth nip their hinds, as their enemies pin them down.
Horror encapsulates them. No way out can be found.
The killer blow comes rushing in - they close their eyes
But something lights up their world - a dazzling white light
For a split second, the world is frozen in eternity
Then all the creatures stop dead in their tracks and look earnestly.
For from behind a near push, comes a terrible roar and before it flees the night,
No longer unseen, rises a champion, like one never seen.
His mane flows down his neck, thick and heavy, none there is like him.
Muscles bulge through his skin, a battletank prowling the wilderness.
Though not the biggest or best, he is the boldest and completely fearless.
His coat, though thick and fine, bears the marks of many scars.
Battles won and lost, some where he almost died - a lion of many scars.
He lets loose yet another bone-chilling roar - his huge canines glisten in the sun-
The enemies turn tail and flee, one by one.
The ground quakes with the sound of his voice - turning their insides to water
To the north, east, south, and west, both the weak and the strong scatter.
From his nostrils come vapours of the tempest inside.
Who will, the king of the jungle defy?
None, none will defy. None have the fire to match this kind of power.
For this lion has an unstoppable strength once he is set on fire.
The clouds roll back; the young lions lift their heads- fear dispersed.
To get to them, their enemies will have to go through the roaring lion first.

poem by Joses Tirtabudi
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Lion's Roar

In the jungle, a lion's roar,
Loud rumbling from it's core.
Magnificent mane of golden brown,
He is a king but wears no crown.

Predator and enemy they have two,
Human hunters, Hyenas too.
The lion and his lioness pride,
If you cross them, run, don't hide.

The roar of a Lion,
The rolling sound of thunder,
The chase of a Lion,
His prey runs asunder.

The Lion's roar is his symbol,
Of Strength, Of Leadership, Of pride,
The raw Roar sound is tribal,
His pride, so true, abide.

poem by Philo Yan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

There She Stands

When the night
Seems to say
All hope is lost
Gone away
But I know
I'm not alone
By the light
She stands
There she waves
Faithful friend
Shimmering stars
Westward wind
Show the way
Carry me
To the place
She stands
Just when you think it might be over
Just when you think the fight is gone
Someone will risk his life to raise her
There she stands
There she flies
Clear blue skies
Reminds us with red
Of those that died
Washed in white
By the grave
In their strength
She stands
When evil calls itself a martyr
When all your hopes come crashing down
Someone will pull her from the rubble
There she stands
We've seen her flying torn and tattered
We've seen her stand the test of time
And through it all the fools have fallen
There she stands
By the dawn's
Early light
And through the fight
She stands

song performed by by Michael W. Smith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Serendipity in the Serengeti

Embattled heart
In the trappings of melancholy
Searching for a light
Steadfast, looming large
Like a Lion's mane glistening in the twilight
Searching for a trapdoor of fate
To be written in the manuscripts of time
As a survivor, wounded yet gallant
The heart of a lion tugged by the vines of destiny
To hunt in the path of hope's glimmer
Shining forth like the Sun's rays scattering
To the grottoes of a den of bleeding lions
For the mane to be one with her destiny, the looming sun
To hunt in the prosperity of an untamed heart
As the lion in you re-awakes to hunt like his ancestors
To rekindle the fires of his hearth
To transcend caverns of melancholy
To the eternal sunshine of an endless savannah
Serendipity in the Serengeti

poem by Dilantha Gunawardana
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Edge Of The Night

The lion lurks as daylight dims
Still draped with golden mane,
Subservient now to hunter's whims
From which he won't refrain.
For hunger grows from deep within,
His life is on the line
And so his hunting must begin,
With cold skills to refine...

His eyes adjust to black night views,
His ears hear near and far...
No tiny meal could he refuse,
No creature could he bar...
The darkness hangs there like a shroud,
Engulfing all below...
The only light God has allowed
Is moonlight still aglow...

Its moonshine lends night victims hope,
The chance to run and hide,
The chance to flee, survive and cope
With fear, eyes open wide...
The lion's strong, the lion's fast,
Determined to succeed,
That's why before this night has passed,
He'll feast through stealth and speed...

Denis Martindale, copyright, February 2011.

The poem is based on the magnificent painting
by Stephen Gayford called 'Edge Of The Night'.

More Stephen Gayford poems here:
denis-martindale-dot-blogspot-dot-com

poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

The Little Girl Found

All the night in woe
Lyca’s parents go
Over valleys deep,
While the deserts weep.

Tired and woe-begone,
Hoarse with making moan,
Arm in arm, seven days
They traced the desert ways.

Seven nights they sleep
Among shadows deep,
And dream they see their child
Starved in desert wild.

Pale through pathless ways
The fancied image strays,
Famished, weeping, weak,
With hollow piteous shriek.

Rising from unrest,
The trembling woman pressed
With feet of weary woe;
She could no further go.

In his arms he bore
Her, armed with sorrow sore;
Till before their way
A couching lion lay.

Turning back was vain:
Soon his heavy mane
Bore them to the ground,
Then he stalked around,

Smelling to his prey;
But their fears allay
When he licks their hands,
And silent by them stands.

They look upon his eyes,
Filled with deep surprise;
And wondering behold
A spirit armed in gold.

On his head a crown,
On his shoulders down
Flowed his golden hair.
Gone was all their care.

‘Follow me,’ he said;
‘Weep not for the maid;
In my palace deep,
Lyca lies asleep.’

Then they followed
Where the vision led,
And saw their sleeping child
Among tigers wild.

To this day they dwell
In a lonely dell,
Nor fear the wolvish howl
Nor the lion’s growl.

poem by William Blake from Songs of Experience (1794)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!

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
Vote! | Copy!

God’s Lights

Morning’s painting on the sky above, covers this earth like a glove,
Clouds covered by the sun’s rays, filling earth with abundant praise.
With yet another day to unfold, of God’s wonderful Glory to behold,
The beauty fills hearts and minds, with awe for God’s grand design.

Before the sun is overhead, God paints the clouds a gorgeous red,
This as He moves earth out of night, into the brightness of daylight.
At times the sunlight He shrouds, hiding the sun behind the clouds,
Clouds God paints upon the sky, as wide and vast as they are high.

Although the sun is hid from sight, God keeps it there till fall of night,
Then it’s truly veiled from all eyes, by the ever darker evening skies.
When God shows us another side, as He allows the daylight to hide,
As night’s ushered in by Heaven, God’s lesser light starts to descend.

Now under an ever darker canopy, with lights far as the eye can see,
And the moon above phase by phase, to count both nights and days,
God starts with a new moon friend, with the full moon at month’s end.
This is how God lights the skies, above a world that is filled with eyes.

Lights placed above for all to see, by the hand of The God of Eternity.
The Greatest Light we cannot see; The One who died for you and me.
The Light of Christ soon will shine, from the Eternal City for all of time,
No more need of the moon or sun, for the only Light will be God’s Son.

poem by Bob Gotti
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Lion In An Iron Cage

Look at the lion in the iron cage,
look deep into his eyes:
like two naked steel daggers
they sparkle with anger.
But he never loses his dignity
although his anger
comes and goes
goes and comes.

You couldn't find a place for a collar
round his thick, furry mane.
Although the scars of a whip
still burn on his yellow back
his long legs
stretch and end
in the shape of two copper claws.
The hairs on his mane rise one by one
around his proud head.
His hatred
comes and goes
goes and comes ...

The shadow of my brother on the wall of the dungeon
moves
up and down
up and down.

poem by Nazim Hikmet
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Paint The Sky With Stars

Suddenly before my eyes
Hues of indigo rise
With them how my spirit sighs
Paint the sky with stars

Only night will ever know
Why the heavens never show
All the dreams there are to know
Paint the sky with stars

Who has paced the mightnight sky
So a spirit has to fly
As the heavens seem so far
Now who will paint the midnight star?

Night has brought to those who sleep
Only dreams they cannot keep
I have legends in the deep
Paint the sky with stars

Who has paced the midnight sky
So a spirit has to fly
As the heaven seem so far
Now who will paint the midnight star?

Place a name upon the night
One to set your heart alight
And to make the darkness bright
Paint the sky with stars

song performed by by Enya
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Exhortation: Summer 1919

Through the pregnant universe rumbles life's terrific thunder,
And Earth's bowels quake with terror; strange and terrible storms break,
Lightning-torches flame the heavens, kindling souls of men, thereunder:
Africa! long ages sleeping, O my motherland, awake!

In the East the clouds glow crimson with the new dawn that is breaking,
And its golden glory fills the western skies.
O my brothers and my sisters, wake! arise!
For the new birth rends the old earth and the very dead are waking,
Ghosts are turned flesh, throwing off the grave's disguise,
And the foolish, even children, are made wise;
For the big earth groans in travail for the strong, new world in making--
O my brothers, dreaming for dim centuries,
Wake from sleeping; to the East turn, turn your eyes!

Oh the night is sweet for sleeping, but the shining day's for working;
Sons of the seductive night, for your children's children's sake,
From the deep primeval forests where the crouching leopard's lurking,
Lift your heavy-lidded eyes, Ethiopia! awake!

In the East the clouds glow crimson with the new dawn that is breaking,
And its golden glory fills the western skies.
O my brothers and my sisters, wake! arise!
For the new birth rends the old earth and the very dead are waking,
Ghosts have turned flesh, throwing off the grave's disguise,
And the foolish, even children, are made wise;
For the big earth groans in travail for the strong, new world in making--
O my brothers, dreaming for long centuries,
Wake from sleeping; to the East turn, turn your eyes!

poem by Claude McKay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Republic And Motherland

(Written after entering New York Harbor at Daybreak)

Up the vast harbor with the morning sun
The ship swept in from sea;
Gigantic towers arose, the night was done,
And--there stood Liberty.

Silent, the great torch lifted in one hand,
The dawn in her proud eyes,
Silent, for all the shouts that vex her land,
Silent, hailing the skies;

Hailing that mightier Kingdom of the Blest
Our seamen sought of old,
The dream that lured the nations through the West,
The city of sunset gold.

Saxon and Norman in one wedded soul
Shook out one flag like fire;
But westward, westward, moved the gleaming goal,
Westward, the vast desire.

Westward and ever westward ran the call,
They followed the pilgrim sun,
Seeking that land which should enfold them all,
And weld all hearts in one.

Here on this mightier continent apart,
Here on these rolling plains,
Swells the first throb of that immortal heart,
The pulse of those huge veins.

Still, at these towers, our Old-World cities jest,
And neither hear nor see
The brood of gods at that gigantic breast,
The conquering race to be.

Chosen from many--for no sluggard soul
Confronts that night of stars--
The trumpets of the last Republic roll
Far off, an end to wars;

An end, an end to that wild blood-red age,
That made and keeps us blind;
A mightier realm shall be her heritage,
The kingdom of mankind.

Chosen from many nations, and made one;
But first, O Mother, from thee,
When, following, following on that Pilgrim sun,
Thy Mayflower crossed the sea.

poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

La Sagrada Familia

(lead vocal - john miles)
Who knows where the read may lead us, only a fool would say
Who knows if well meet along the way
Follow the brightest star as far as the brave may dare
What will we find when we get there
La sagrada familia we pray the storm will soon be over
La sagrada familia for the lion and the lamb
Who knows where the winds will blow us, only a fool would say
Who knows if well ever reach the shore
Follow a rising sun with eyes that may only stare
What kind of fire will burn us there? what kind of fire?
Only a fool would say
La sagrada falilia the wind has changed the storm is over
La sagrada familia for the lion and the lamb
La sagrada familia we thank the lord the dangers over
La sagrada familia theres peace throughout the land
Under clear blue skies our voices rise in songs of glory
And for all those years our eyes and ears were filled with tears
Who knows where the world may turn us, only a fool would say
Who knows what the fates may have in store
Follow the light of truth as far as our eyes can see
How should we know where that may be? how should we know?
Then the angry skies, the battle cries, the sounds of glory
And for all those years our eyes and ears were filled with tears
Who knows where the road may lead us, only a fool would say
Who knows whas been lost along the way
Look for the promised land in all of the dreams we share
How will we know when we are there? how will we know?
Only a fool would say
La sagrada falilia the war is won the battles over
La sagrada familia for the lion and the lamb
La sagrada familia we thank the lord the dangers over
La sagrada familia behold the mighty hand
La sagrada familia the night is gone the waitings over
La sagrada familia theres peace throughout the land
Until the next time
Until the next time
La sagrada familia

song performed by by Alan Parsons Project
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

The Phantom Fleet

The sunset lingered in the pale green West:
In rosy wastes the low soft evening star
Woke; while the last white sea-mew sought for rest;
And tawny sails came stealing o'er the bar.

But, in the hillside cottage, through the panes
The light streamed like a thin far trumpet-call,
And quickened, as with quivering battle-stains,
The printed ships that decked the parlour wall.

From oaken frames old admirals looked down:
They saw the lonely slumberer at their feet:
They saw the paper, headed _Talk from Town;
Our rusting trident, and our phantom fleet_:

And from a neighbouring tavern surged a song
Of England laughing in the face of war,
With eyes unconquerably proud and strong,
And lips triumphant from her Trafalgar.

But he, the slumberer in that glimmering room,
Saw distant waters glide and heave and gleam;
Around him in the softly coloured gloom
The pictures clustered slowly to a dream.

He saw how England, resting on her past,
Among the faded garlands of her dead,
Woke; for a whisper reached her heart at last,
And once again she raised her steel-clad head.

Her eyes were filled with sudden strange alarms;
She heard the westering waters change and chime;
She heard the distant tumult of her arms
Defeated, not by courage, but by Time.

Knowledge had made a deadlier pact with death,
Nor strength nor steel availed against that bond:
Slowly approached--and Britain held her breath--
The battle booming from the deeps beyond.

O, then what darkness rolled upon the wind,
Threatening the torch that Britain held on high?
Where all her navies, baffled, broken, blind,
Slunk backward, snarling in their agony!
_Who guards the gates of Freedom now?_ The cry
Stabbed heaven! _England, the shattered ramparts fall!_
Then, like a trumpet shivering through the sky
O, like white lightning rending the black pall
Of heaven, an answer pealed: _Her dead shall hear that call._

Then came a distant light of great waves breaking
That brought the sunset on each crumbling crest,
A rumour as of buried ages waking,
And mighty spirits rising from their rest;
Then ghostly clouds arose, with billowing breast,
White clouds that turned to sails upon their way,
Red clouds that burned like flags against the West,
Till even the conquering fleet in silence lay
Dazed with that strange old light, and night grew bright as day.

_We come to fight for Freedom!_ The great East
Heard, and was rent asunder like a veil.
Host upon host out of the night increased
Its towering clouds and crowded zones of sail:
_England, our England, canst thou faint or fail?
We come to fight for Freedom yet once more!_
This, this is ours at least! Count the great tale
Of all these dead that rise to guard thy shore
By right of the red life they never feared to pour.

_We come to fight for Freedom!_ On they came,
One cloud of beauty sweeping the wild sea;
And there, through all their thousands, flashed like flame
That star-born signal of the Victory:
_Duty_, that deathless lantern of the free;
_Duty_, that makes a god of every man.
And there was Nelson, watching silently
As through the phantom fleet the message ran;
And his tall frigate rushed before the stormy van.

Nelson, our Nelson, frail and maimed and blind,
Stretched out his dead cold face against the foe:
And England's Raleigh followed hard behind,
With all his eager fighting heart aglow;
Glad, glad for England's sake once more to know
The old joy of battle and contempt of pain;
Glad, glad to die, if England willed it so,
The traitor's and the coward's death again;
But hurl the world back now as once he hurled back Spain.

And there were all those others, Drake and Blake,
Rodney and Howard, Byron, Collingwood;
With deathless eyes aflame for England's sake,
As on their ancient decks they proudly stood,--
Decks washed of old with England's purplest blood;
And there, once more, each rushing oaken side
Bared its dark-throated, thirsty, gleaming brood
Of cannon, watched by laughing lads who died
Long, long ago for England and her ancient pride.

_We come to fight for England!_ The great sea
In a wild light of song began to break
Round that tall phantom of the Victory
And all the foam was music in her wake:
Ship after phantom ship, with guns a-rake
And shot-rent flags a-stream from every mast
Moved in a deepening splendour, not to make
A shield for England of her own dead past;
But, with a living dream to arm her soul at last.

_We come to die for England_: through the hush
Of gathered nations rose that regal cry,
From naked oaken walls one word could crush
If those vast armoured throats dared to reply:
But there the most implacable enemy
Felt his eyes fill with gladder, prouder tears,
As Nelson's calm eternal face went by,
Gazing beyond all perishable fears
To some diviner goal above the waste of years.

Through the hushed fleets the vision streamed away,
Then slowly turned once more to that deep West,
While voices cried, O, England, the new day
Is dawning, but thy soul can take no rest.

Thy freedom and thy peace are only thine
By right of toil on every land and sea
And by that crimson sacrificial wine
Of thine own heart and thine own agony.

Peace is not slumber. Peace, in every hour,
Throbs like the heart of music. This alone
Can save thy heritage and confirm that power
Whereof the past is but the cushioned throne.

Look to the fleet! Again and yet again,
Hear us who storm thy heart with this one cry.
Hear us, who cannot help, though fair and fain,
To hold thy seas before thee, and to die.

Look to the fleet! Thy fleet, the first, last line:
The sword of Liberty, her strength, her shield,
Her food, her life-blood! Britain, it is thine,
Here, now, to hold that birth-right, or to yield.

So, through the dark, those phantom ships of old
Faded, it seemed, through mists of blood and tears.
Sails turned to clouds, and slowly westward rolled
The sad returning pageant of the years.
On tides of light, where all our tumults cease,
Through that rich West, the Victory returned;
And all the waves around her whispered 'peace,'
And from her mast no battle-message burned.

Like clouds, like fragments of those fading skies,
The pageant passed, with all its misty spars,
While the hushed nations raised their dreaming eyes
To that great light which brings the end of wars.

Ship after ship, in some strange glory drowned,
Cloud after cloud, was lost in that deep light
Each with a sovran stillness haloed round.
Then--that high fleet of stars led on the night.

poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

The Vindictive

How should we praise those lads of the old
Vindictive

Who looked Death straight in the eyes,
Till his gaze fell,
In those red gates of hell?

England, in her proud history, proudly enrolls them,
And the deep night in her remembering skies
With purer glory
Shall blazon their grim story.

There were no throngs to applaud that hushed adventure.
They were one to a thousand on that fierce emprise.
The shores they sought
Were armoured, past all thought.

O, they knew fear, be assured, as the brave must know it,
With youth and its happiness bidding their last good-byes;
Till thoughts, more dear
Than life, cast out all fear.

For if, as we think, they remembered the brown-roofed homesteads,
And the scent of the hawthorn hedges when daylight dies,
Old happy places,
Young eyes and fading faces;

One dream was dearer that night than the best of their boyhood,
One hope more radiant than any their hearts could prize.
The touch of your hand,
The light of your face, England!

So, age to age shall tell how they sailed through the darkness
Where, under those high, austere, implacable stars,
Not one in ten
Might look for a dawn again.

They saw the ferry-boats,
Iris
and
Daffodil
, creeping
Darkly as clouds to the shimmering mine-strewn bars,
Flash into light!
Then thunder reddened the night.

The wild white swords of the search-lights blinded and stabbed them,
The sharp black shadows fought in fantastic wars.
Black waves leapt whitening,
Red decks were washed with lightning.

But, under the twelve-inch guns of the black land-batteries
The hacked bright hulk, in a glory of crackling spars,
Moved to her goal
Like an immortal soul;

That, while the raw rent flesh in a furnace is tortured,
Reigns by a law no agony ever can shake,
And shines in power
Above all shocks of the hour.

O, there, while the decks ran blood, and the star-shells lightened
The old broken ship that the enemy never could break,
Swept through the fire
And grappled her heart's desire.

There, on a wreck that blazed with the soul of England,
The lads that died in the dark for England's sake
Knew, as they died,
Nelson was at their side;

Nelson, and all the ghostly fleets of his island,
Fighting beside them there, and the soul of Drake!-
Dreams, as we knew,
Till these lads made them true.

_How should we praise you, lads of the old Vindictive,
Who looked death straight in the eyes,
Till his gaze fell
In those red gates of hell?_

poem by Alfred Noyes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Prayer At Sunrise

O mighty, powerful, dark-dispelling sun,
Now thou art risen, and thy day begun.
How shrink the shrouding mists before thy face,
As up thou spring'st to thy diurnal race!
How darkness chases darkness to the west,
As shades of light on light rise radiant from thy crest!
For thee, great source of strength, emblem of might,
In hours of darkest gloom there is no night.
Thou shinest on though clouds hide thee from sight,
And through each break thou sendest down thy light.

O greater Maker of this Thy great sun,
Give me the strength this one day's race to run,
Fill me with light, fill me with sun-like strength,
Fill me with joy to rob the day its length.
Light from within, light that will outward shine,
Strength to make strong some weaker heart than mine,
Joy to make glad each soul that feels its touch;
Great Father of the sun, I ask this much.

poem by James Weldon Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

Blood, Milk, Sky

The siren sings a lonely song - of all the wants and hungers
[of all the wants and hungers]
The lust of love a brute desire - the ledge of life goes under
[the ledge of life goes under]
Divide the dream into the flesh - kaleidoscope and candle eyes
[kaleidoscope and candle eyes]
Empty winds scrape on the soul - but never stop to realize
[but never stop to realize]
Animal whisperings - intoxicate the night
[intoxicate the night]
Hypnotize the deperate - slow motion light
[slow motion light]
Wash away into the rain - blood, milk and sky
[blood, milk and sky]
Hollow moons illuminate - and beauty never dies
[and beauty never dies]
Running wild, running blind
[running wild, running blind]
I breathe the body deep
[i breathe the body deep]
1,000 years beside myself
[1,000 years beside myself]
I do not sleep
[i do not sleep]
Seduce the world it never screams
[seduce the world it never screams]
Dead water lies
[dead water lies]
Ride the only one who knows
[ride the only one who knows]
Beauty never dies
[beauty never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies,]

song performed by by White Zombie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Blood, Milk, & Sky

The siren sings a lonely song - of all the wants and hungers
[of all the wants and hungers]
The lust of love a brute desire - the ledge of life goes under
[the ledge of life goes under]
Divide the dream into the flesh - kaleidoscope and candle eyes
[kaleidoscope and candle eyes]
Empty winds scrape on the soul - but never stop to realize
[but never stop to realize]
Animal whisperings - intoxicate the night
[intoxicate the night]
Hypnotize the deperate - slow motion light
[slow motion light]
Wash away into the rain - blood, milk and sky
[blood, milk and sky]
Hollow moons illuminate - and beauty never dies
[and beauty never dies]
Running wild, running blind
[Running wild, running blind]
I breathe the body deep
[I breathe the body deep]
1,000 years beside myself
[1,000 years beside myself]
I do not sleep
[I do not sleep]
Seduce the world it never screams
[Seduce the world it never screams]
Dead water lies
[Dead water lies]
Ride the only one who knows
[Ride the only one who knows]
Beauty never dies
[Beauty never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies, never dies,]

song performed by by White Zombie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Stars In The Night

Look, look at the stars
How brilliant they are
How can they be shining now?
When hope is so far
Look, look how they shine
These cruelest of stars
What fire inspires them,
What faith is it fires them?
Darkness grows,the world turns cold
And still, there glows the light
Heaven knows what hope they hold tonight
Look,look how they shine
These stars in the night
The darker the night becomes
The brighter their light becomes
Chill winds wail
The tempest blues
and clouds asail the sky
Through the veil,
The stars refuse to die
In this world of darkest night
Where hope is hurled away
There they are
And still, there's light
Oh,so far, but will they
There they lift our hearts
As we lift our eyes
Are we fools to see
The harmony that fills the sky
Look,there's the light
Stars In The Night
The Stars In The Night

song performed by by Barry Manilow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!