A Dampened Ardor
The Chinatown at Bakersfield
Was blazing bright and high;
The flames to water would not yield,
Though torrents drenched the sky
And drowned the ground for miles around
The houses were so dry.
Then rose an aged preacher man
Whom all did much admire,
Who said: 'To force on you my plan
I truly don't aspire,
But streams, it seems, might quench these beams
If turned upon the fire.'
The fireman said: 'This hoary wight
His folly dares to thrust
On _us_! 'Twere well he felt our might
Nay, he shall feel our must!'
With jet of wet and small regret
They laid that old man's dust.
poem by Ambrose Bierce
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Siren Of Fire
Fire:
When the water turns to mist
And the flames are rising high
I'll appear to you my darling
To wipe the tears from your eyes
I'll dance around the fire pit
Running wild with the flames
But as soon as the fire is out
I'll leave you without so much as my name
Water:
When water extinguishes the flame
It will also extinguish me
I will leave you to yourself
To soak in memory
When the land is watered down
And you stand beside the sea
Look for the bonfires
For that is where you'll find me
Burned:
Don't play with fire dearest
You know you will be burned
Leave the flames to me my love
They remind me of how I've yearned
For the sensation of my fire
That keeps our passions hot
I'll stay with you until the tide comes in
But after, I cannot
Drowned:
They douse the flames with water
Putting out the light
I drown with the flames
That ensnared you all night
I cannot stay with you now
My flames have been drowned out
But remember whenever you need me
Fire will bring me about
poem by Tatianna Rei Moonshadow
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The Fireman
They call me the fireman
Thats my name
Makin my rounds all over town
Puttin out old flames
Well everybodyd like to have what Ive got
I can cool em down while theyre smolderin hot
Im the fireman
Thats my name
Last night they had a bad one a mile or two down the road
Well my buddy walked out and left this woman burnin out of control
Well I was down there in bout an hour or so
With a little mouth to mouth she was ready to go
Im the fireman thats my name
They call me the fireman
Thats my name
Makin my rounds all over town puttin out all flames
Well everybodyd like to have what Ive got
I can cool em down while theyre smolderin hot
Im the fireman thats my name...burn em up
Ive got fire-engine red t-bird automobile
In a minute or less I can be dressed fit to kill
I work twenty-four on and twenty-four off
When they get too hot, they just give me a call
Im the fireman, thats my name
They call me the fireman, thats my name
Makin my rounds all over town puttin out old flames
Well everybodyd like to have what Ive got
I can cool em down while theyre smolderin hot
Im the fireman, thats my name
They call me the fireman
Thats my name.
song performed by by George Strait
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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From Dust To Dust
This body will perish must
From air to air, from dust to dust
Or Water to water...
Yet we fight!
For our right to win the Flesh, The Buck, the Power..
But Nothing will remain.
Neighbor will laugh at my folly,
In my absence,
Because I was silly
Committing the same mistake.
Knowing nothing remains....
Everybody will go from ash to ashes,
From dust to dust...
From fire we come,
Remain in Water,
Stay in Fire and go to Dust!
poem by Nilakshi Das
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EMBERS n a FIRE ABLAZE
MEMORIZING, how the embers are flickering
each flame seems to be dancing
wood thats crackiling 4m the heat
and both it and the fire are bickering
as to the charcoal we added, now is turning 4m black to grey
and the wood starts to burn slowly, as it withers away
ashes...flying all around...up high in the air
pieces fallen upon us, as they fall to the ground
ashes that now have turned to dust
as the fire flames leap high, and the fire is so alive
each spark has spoke, with the words made out of smoke
speaking the words....of my love and lust
as each wind gust
reinforces it over n again
the truth that lay on the tip of my tongue
i wish i knew, what to say..what ive been waiting
to say to you...but everytime i try to....
i freeze, and begin the hesitation
as each flame reaches high, headin 2wards the moonlit sky
and as ember begins anew, as the wind and ash have flew
i catch the flickering shadows at play..streaming along your handsome face
then a small wind blew...a small circle around me n you
the forces of nature freeze the time
and across the fires, that slowly dim
then sets a bright blaze...i whisper into the wind
practicing what i want to say to him
my heart stands still as i take in the fill
of the handsome glow of your face
the only sounds...are of the wood crackiling on the ground
the very sound, of my heart that grew a bit
LOUD, as i recaptured the shadows across your face
over the fire pit....my heart skipping in place
in this frozen moment of time..as you come near, closer to my side
now the space was yours and mine...just for a moment in time
all that i could hear, was the echoes of the fire, and the fast beat
of my heart thats jumped with a start, as the 2 sounds seemed to just coincide
each phase of the burning fire, filled me with so much desire
turned the heat up within me
from the top of my head to the tip of my feet
hotter then the fire...ablaze..was my desire dancing in the flames
caught the out; ike, contour, and shadows of your georgeous face
embers that flew, around unto the ground
all around in the air..as the wind slightly blew
as it surrounded us 2
whispers of my love, lust, as the embers have all now turned to dust
as now would ever compare, not the fire, nor it blaze
but as you stood there
bit by bit......in the smoldering glaze..of the fire pit
as it n i caught the handsome shadows that played across your gorgeous face.........................
poem by Krissi B'williams
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The Hoary Memories In Winter
a day in january
in winter with hoary and grey clouds
the hoary thistles in the garden up over there
the hoary thistles with hoary poppies
the hoary frost on them
the hoary mist up and down
no finches, no birds of any kind
except the black crows and ravens
crowing up and there
hoaring covered everywhere
a hoary man strolles on them
with unsteady steps and paces
what is he after
what is he looking for
what is he searching
look at the ancient houses there
some tumbling down
some with plasters all gone
what the hoary man looks for
what is he after
his childhood may be
his memories may be
and his lost..gone mother..he tries to see
in this hoary mist
he has so missed
and longed for
he stopped in the hoary mist as if hearing a voice
calling
oh son..come on..come now the meal is ready
he felt himself playing in the hoary garden
this must be his mother call
addressing and calling him from above
calling him to her new home
cause she has missed him too
oh the hoary grasses
oh the hoary houses
oh the hoary man
oh the hoary woman
oh the hoary world
oh the hoary graves
oh the hoary memories
are we not approaching hoariness
why did we live so quickly
how did our lives finished and faded suddenly
metin sahin
poem by Metin Sahin
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Fire Field
The fire crackled
Then exploded
Flames circled
Close around me
The new light
So close to me
The shield of heat
Captured the cool
Smoke clouds rose
Dissolving the air
As well as my hope
That I could ever win
I closed my eyes
Felt the heat
Then a rush
Of hope
I took the water that was there now
Spilled it all around
Flames melted into dust
Smoke transformed into air
My hope returned
I just won
The fire was gone
And everything was fine
Don't stand too close to the fire
Everyone says
But I have to
Or I'll never know
How to put it out
When it comes again
poem by Bunny Crunch
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A Road Is Just A Road
He pulled out in a cloud of dust
Layin' rubber and spewin' rust
And on any road he'd take
He'd have his foot on the pedal but my heart on the brake
Underneath the smooth tar curves
A road is only dust and dirt
On a lonely interchange
The signs all look the same
'Cause a road is just a road and a feelin's just a feelin'
No matter where you go
From Bakersfield to San Antone
A road is just a road when the one you love is leavin' on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago
He pulled out of sight of me
Believin' that I'd set him free
But I'd heard the voice of the prisoner
Sayin' he couldn't get enough of her
You can go by land, you can go by air
Go by sea, hell I don't care
You can go anyway you choose
Wearin' out the soles of your travelin' shoes
'Cause a road is just a road and a feelin's just a feelin'
No matter where you go
From Bakersfield to San Antone
A road is just a road when the one you love is leavin' on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago
(Bangor Maine to El Paso)
And every sleepless night I see him screamin' by the scenery
Not noticing another mile that's rolled on between him and me
'Cause a road is just a road and a feelin's just a feelin'
No matter where you go
From Bakersfield to San Antone
A road is just a road when the one you love is leavin' on
And midnight's another dawn a hundred miles ago
(Waterloo to San Bernardino)
(Washington to Amarillo
song performed by by Dixie Chicks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
A hungry man
Can hold out a long time
For some soul food
Good food, whole food
I know I was that man
Maybe sometimes hold out a little too long
I took a right
Then I took a wrong turn
Someone asked me for a quarter
It didnt seem to fit
He didnt look too much like a chinaman
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
An old black man
Pushing a shopping trolley
Filled with tin cans
Avoided his glance
Im nervous and Im lost
And I dont see too many restaurants
A guy laid out
With a knife in his back
A cop came along
Told him, move on
Go home and sleep it off
I didnt know if I should get involved
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
song performed by by Joe Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Princess And The Black Horse-III(Dragons' Isle)
Blackberry soared high, high, h-i-g-h above the sky.
Through the clouds, they were passing though,
they didn't get the scorching heat of sun!
He tried tirelessly to flap his wings so,
they could not be scanned by their enemy below!
The princess fell fast asleep and slept all the way!
He spotted a silver brook, running pertly as lass,
along the sandy land, around the part of the bay.
He felt thirsty and wanted to quench his thirst.
He darted down and gave a gentle shake to her.
Princess rose from that happy-happy sleep and
asked, 'Have we reached the place crossing our bar? '
'No, no, princess, we have to go miles miles more,
quench your thirst, as we won't find on our path
no more water, you know dark night snatches away the
power of wand, we don't know if it will have its worth! '
Then the princess kept rosy feet on that very land.
With two soft hands she drank water, at her own sweet will.
Suddenly, she got appalled to see imprints of toes on sand.
She shrieked and said, 'Oh! Blackberry, 'and ran thru the hill.
Blackberry was there eating grass and drops of heaven's dew.
In search of him, she rushed frightened but couldn't see,
as he behind a Filigree Tree, taking meal didn't know,
that the shrilled cry, of the princess's could be!
poem by Nilakshi Das
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Dancing with the flames
Dancing with the flames
a fiery gypsy’s dance –
Fire in our hearts, fire in the trees,
fire on the sky…
Touched with fire
we want to catch the flames....
Dancing with the flames
we feel the rainbow fire,
we feel the fire’s warmth,
we see the fiery lady
dancing with the gypsys
so magical, so dangerous…
We feel the breath of fire’s world,
we feel the spirit of the fire,
we hear the rhapsody
of the fire’s wild flames…
poem by KrystynaMaria Postawa
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from Anderson's Piano: Cruachan: derailed train
A rare red rose bloomed for a week in June.
Perhaps it saved the lives of those
who came unharmed from the rock-tripped train
high above deep water in Argyll
where the long loch is death's wake deep
and the wild rose blooms in a canyon,
the rare red wild June rose.
Late light of June, lasting almost
all night, they file at evening's end
in a forced trudge to Cruachan,
tracks empty and safe as houses,
this desolate dedicated railroad
five miles or more from all houses
but how lucky, here's Cruachan,
power station under the mountain
of caves and a visitor centre,
bread and soup and a small first aid box,
a flare of yellow light in the dusk,
sweet tea for the shaken driver.
Causeway, from Anderson's Piano
poem by Sally Evans
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Withered Rose
A rose I used to hold so dearly
cherishing it where ever I see
but why didn't I see it clearly?
How soon the rose did bloom
A rose I grew on such occasion
and gave it to her
As beautiful as any painting
she accepted it without hesitation
A rose that was blossoming
do you want to reminisce with me?
I nourished this rose every day
but it was too much for her to see
A rose that was slowly dying
but I ran out of water
I can't seem to get it off the ground
is this how it will decay?
A rose that turned black
just like the ground beneath it
Withered and torn
forever in the hole it deserves
poem by Zayne Venilos
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Makin' A Plan
Out in the land where my dreams flew around
I bulldozed the trees and set my feet on the ground
Put a day in and a week would come out
I didn't have time for doubt
Then when the whole thing went down the drain
I learned that the future don't always obey
Now I'm afraid to get back in the pool
Somehow I'd feel like a fool
Makin' a Plan
Makin' a Plan
High in the morning with climbing to do
High in the turrets I'm thinking of you
Everybody says it's all for the best
Somehow I wouldn't have guessed
Little dominions turn into dust
Schemes blow away on a breeze of mistrust
I'm not feeling sorry for little ol' me
But I'm not about to be
Makin' a Plan
Makin' a Plan
Stop
song performed by by Semisonic
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hot Burning Flames
She left me almost burned out
I couldn't feel a thin'
A walkin' talkin' statue
Afraid to love again
She did everything to kill a flame
But a little spark got through
If she'd a got her way I'd be gone today
If it hadn't been for you
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burning flames
I'm alive with love because of you
When you came to light the fire you knew just what to bring
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burning flames
--- Instrumental ---
She thought she had me down and out
But at the count of nine
A livin' lovin' angel showed up just in time
She thought that I would surely die
Sometimes I wanted to
She had no doubt the fire was out
But she didn't count on you
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burning flames
I'm alive with love because of you
When you came to light the fire you knew just what to bring
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burning flames
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burning flames
I'm alive with love because of you
When you came to light the fire you knew just what to bring
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burnin' flames
You turned cold gray ashes into hot burnin' flames...
song performed by by George Strait
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Apples And Water
Dust in a cloud, blinding weather,
Drums that rattle and roar!
A mother and daughter stood together
Beside their cottage door.
'Mother, the heavens are bright like brass,
The dust is shaken high,
With labouring breath the soldiers pass,
Their lips are cracked and dry.'
'Mother, I'll throw them apples down,
I'll bring them pails of water.'
The mother turned with an angry frown
Holding back her daughter.
'But mother, see, they faint with thirst,
They march away to die,'
'Ah, sweet, had I but known at first
Their throats are always dry.'
'There is no water can supply them
In western streams that flow,
There is no fruit can satisfy them
On orchard trees that grow.'
'Once in my youth I gave, poor fool,
A soldier apples and water,
So may I die before you cool
Your father's drouth, my daughter.'
poem by Robert Graves
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Empty Old Houses
Empty Old Houses
Empty old houses can talk…
But one must know how to listen…
to hear them
Empty old houses have stories…
But one must be eager to listen…
to hear them
Empty old houses can suffer..
But one must have empathy …
To feel it
Empty old houses can feel pain
But one must be able to bear it …
To feel it
Empty old houses have memories
But one must believe … that they have…
To share them
Empty old houses contain people’s lives
But one must believe…that they do…
To share them
Empty old houses can seem dead and deserted
But one must know that they’re not..
To know them
Empty old houses can teem with life’s pleasures
But one must walk through
to sense the aura of life
Empty old houses abound in life’s treasures
But one cannot help but…
To admire them
poem by David Whalen
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The Fire Alarm
Fire-fire-fire! Nigher still and nigher
Seem the tones of the 'Alarum bell' borne on the air!
Awaking with a start, what a sinking of the heart
Even the strong are apt to feel, ere they are well aware!
Fire-fire-fire! Higher now and higher
Leaps the madly raging flames as the cry goes round!
In the darkness of the night what a truly awful sight
Is the burning up of homes, while we listen to the sound.
Fire-fire-fire! Behold the havoc dire!
When the black, wreathing smoke a moment clears away-
The flames both hiss and roar as the brave firemen pour
Constantly the crystal streams from Engines in full play.
Fire-fire-fire! Fresh force it does acquire!
The rising wind has sent the blaze unto the other side!
Yet men are standing round in torpor most profound;
Rouse ye up! now fall to work, and let your strength be tried!
Fire-fire-fire! Two blocks seem one vast pyre.
Oh, pity the poor houseless ones-fleeing now away!
Screen them from Winter's blast, for they are on you cast-
That sympathy in measure their losses may repay.
Fire-fire-fire! Thank God, the flames expire!
For a cold, but drenching rain most opportunely comes.
Now honor that Brigade which has such efforts made,
And don't forget your neighbors who have just lost their homes.
poem by Thomas Cowherd
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Schizophrenia
And so I closed my eyes, my soul shielded
They'll never find me through the smoke.
by the darkness. Protected by the warmth
Like a blanket. I should rest here.
of the wildfire that lay before me.
The flames smell of Blood and Hope
The ashes blanketed the ground:
and the ashes float with my footsteps
a ground made from layers of dust
The dust will swallow me.
left by countless fires of the past.
I must find Home.
By flames only quenched by suffocation.
Suffocation! My suffocation!
And I felt the heat of those flames, too.
But Home is hiding from me.
They licked at my fingers, but I ran.
My fingers were frozen. Red and frostbitten
And no matter how fast I ran, they ran
Home will be gone soon. I must find it.
faster. A Labyrinth of flames.
I am lost,
Where my thread was burned and the Minotaur
never to be found:
would never be found, just as I was.
Home destroyed by the flames with me.
poem by Zoe Guillory
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Life vibrates five elements
The Sky vibrates with the Sound
And the Air, with the Touch in addition.
The Fire beams with the Form as third
And the Water, with the Taste as fourth.
It's the Earth that has all the five,
With the Smell as its fifth Guna.
The five elements make a body,
Which houses the five sense organs.
Life force vibrates the body
And experiences five senses.
26.06.2012
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Chinatown
Living and dying
In chinatown
Yes theyre living and dying down in old chinatown
You better look around
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
Laughing and crying you know its a fact
Theyre not laughing they are crying
'cause they wont be back
Oh no you dont come back
Not from chinatown
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
Chinatown, its a different scene
There are people there, they are so obscene
If you see what I mean
Then theyve sold you the dream
Down in chinatown
What goes up it must come down
Living and dying
There is no release
Living and dying
There is no relief
There is no beliefs
Not in chinatown
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
Man, you dont stand a chance if you go down in chinatown
song performed by by Thin Lizzy
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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