A Study In Gray
I step from the door with a shiver
(This fog is uncommonly cold)
And ask myself: What did I give her?
The maiden a trifle gone-old,
With the head of gray hair that was gold.
Ah, well, I suppose 'twas a dollar,
And doubtless the change is correct,
Though it's odd that it seems so much smaller
Than what I'd a right to expect.
But you pay when you dine, I reflect.
So I walk up the street-'twas a saunter
A score of years back, when I strolled
From this door; and our talk was all banter
Those days when her hair was of gold,
And the sea-fog less searching and cold.
I button my coat (for I'm shaken,
And fevered a trifle, and flushed
With the wine that I ought to have taken,)
Time was, at this coat I'd have blushed,
Though truly, 'tis cleverly brushed.
A score? Why, that isn't so very
Much time to have lost from a life.
There's reason enough to be merry:
I've not fallen down in the strife,
But marched with the drum and the fife.
If Hope, when she lured me and beckoned,
Had pushed at my shoulders instead,
And Fame, on whose favors I reckoned,
Had laureled the worthiest head,
I could garland the years that are dead.
Believe me, I've held my own, mostly
Through all of this wild masquerade;
But somehow the fog is more ghostly
To-night, and the skies are more grayed,
Like the locks of the restaurant maid.
If ever I'd fainted and faltered
I'd fancy this did but appear;
But the climate, I'm certain, has altered
Grown colder and more austere
Than it was in that earlier year.
The lights, too, are strangely unsteady,
That lead from the street to the quay.
I think they'll go out-and I'm ready
To follow. Out there in the sea
The fog-bell is calling to me.
poem by Ambrose Bierce
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Lonely Street
Sometimes when I'm walking down this lonely street,
Well, it sure don't seem like twenty years,
Since I went walking down this lonely street
And the smell of perfumed ladies filled the air
This street ain't got no name, dead end is in the river,
And I lived where I hated life day by day,
There wasn't nothing I could do to shake a cold night shiver,
'Cause to move up Lonely Street you had to have some say
Gambling is bad luck down on Lonely Street
And it sure ain't no place to be when a man gets sore
You know I killed a man and I paid all I can,
With twenty years on a chain gang,
For the flesh and the blood on that jailhouse floor
Sometimes when I'm walking down this lonely street
I get caught up in a dream that won't let me go
And as the bright lights flash up and down this lonely street
My mind rolls back the years long time ago
I see my baby stumblin' around with tears in her eyes
And as I reach out for her she falls on the floor
She mumbles through bloody lips about a bad man, robber, raper,
And in my gut I know I got one to score
The word was comin' down, down on Lonely Street
That the bad man was a dead man if he crossed my trail
Every night I'd walk up and down this Lonely Street
I get stinkin' drunk, and always in jail,
One night they threw me in with a man they called the mangler
He was caught on the street makin' some old whore,
I remember he was quite proud of that,
So half-crazed I shot him,
And I cried in the blood on that jailhouse floor
song performed by by Kansas
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Trick or treat?
It's that time of the year again
when things go bump in the night
when children wander the streets
trying hard to give us a fright.
Wearing long black coats
and witches hat's upon their head
they dress up like scary monsters
and zombies who've risen from the dead.
But last year was a spooky Halloween
when at midnight I heard scratching at my door
nervously I opened it to see who was there
it was a Werewolf blood dripping from it's jaw.
I laughed and said that's a really good disguise
but fancy calling round so late at night
the Werewolf then let out a mighty roar
and grabbed my neck and gave it a bite.
This hideous thing wasn't a child after all
and it then just vanished into thin air
since that night I've never been the same
I bark at the Moon, have claws and long hair.
So let this be a warning to you all
as you don't know what lurks in your street
just be careful before opening your door
on this years Halloween and trick or treat!
poem by Kevin Halls
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Wild Night
As you brush your shoes
And stand before the mirror
And you comb your hair
And grab your coat and hat
And you walk, wet streets
Tryin to remember
All the wild breezes
In your memry ever.
And evrything looks so complete
When youre walkin out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flyin, cryin
Ooh-wee!
The wild night is calling.
And all the girls walk by
Dressed up for each other
And the boys do the boogie-woogie
On the corner of the street
And the people passin by
Just stare in wild wonder
And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder.
And everything looks so complete...
The wild night is calling
The wild night is calling
Come on out and dance
Come on out and make romance....
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I came to live in Sophia Street
I came to live in Sophia Street,
In a little house in Sophia Street
With an inch of floor
Between door and door
And a yard you'd measure in children's feet.
When I'd been ten days in Sophia Street
I remembered its name was Wisdom Street;
For I'd learned much more
Than in all the score
Of years I clamoured for books to eat.
poem by Lesbia Harford
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Sell Me A Coat
La la la la la la la la la la la la la
A winters day, a bitter snowflake on my face
My summer girl takes little backward steps away
Jack frost took her hand and left me, jack frost aint so cool
Sell me a coat with buttons of silver
Sell me a coat thats red or gold
Sell me a coat with little patch pockets
Sell me a coat cause I feel cold
And when she smiles, the ice forgets to melt away
Not like before, her smile was warming yesterday
See the trees like silver candy, feel my icy hand
Sell me a coat with buttons of silver
Sell me a coat thats red or gold
Sell me a coat with little patch pockets
Sell me a coat cause I feel cold
See my eyes, my window pane
See my tears like gentle rain
Thats the memory of a summer day
Sell me a coat with buttons of silver
Sell me a coat thats red or gold
Sell me a coat with little patch pockets
Sell me a coat cause I feel cold
Sell me a coat with buttons of silver
Sell me a coat thats red or gold
Sell me a coat with little patch pockets
Sell me a coat cause I feel cold
La la la la la la
song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Do You Believe In Him?
(vocals by lance diamond)
twas the night before christmas
And all through the house
By the color tv
Here asleep on the couch
All cozy and warm
With a dream for the light
Inside its safe
On a cold christmas night
Do you believe in him?
I dont know how long its been
Do you believe in him?
All you got to do is let him in
All you got to do is let him in
twas the night before christmas
And out on the street
Through the window the snow such a holiday treat
Outside the trees and the cars in the back
Are perfectly dressed for a wine when its time
Do you believe in him?
I dont know how long its been
Do you believe in him?
All you got to do is let him in
All you got to do is let him in
twas the night before xmas
A man sleeps alone
Out in the cold cause he aint got a home
Give him a hand, give him a share
Lets give him a smile
Instead of a stare
Do you believe in him?
I dont know how long its been
Do you believe in him?
All you got to do is let him in
All you got to do is let him in
song performed by by Goo Goo Dolls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Monsieur Qui Passe
A purple blot against the dead white door
In my friend's rooms, bathed in their vile pink light,
I had not noticed her before
She snatched my eyes and threw them back to me:
She did not speak till we came out into the night,
Paused at this bench beside the klosk on the quay.
God knows precisely what she said--
I left to her the twisted skein,
Though here and there I caught a thread,--
Something, at first, about "the lamps along the Seine,
And Paris, with that witching card of Spring
Kept up her sleeve,--why you could see
The trick done on these freezing winter nights!
While half the kisses of the Quay--
Youth, hope,-the whole enchanted string
Of dreams hung on the Seine's long line of lights."
Then suddenly she stripped, the very skin
Came off her soul,-a mere girl clings
Longer to some last rag, however thin,
When she has shown you-well-all sorts of things:
"If it were daylight-oh! one keeps one's head--
But fourteen years!--No one has ever guessed--
The whole thing starts when one gets to bed--
Death?-If the dead would tell us they had rest!
But your eyes held it as I stood there by the door--
One speaks to Christ-one tries to catch His garment's hem--
One hardly says as much to Him--no more:
It was not you, it was your eyes--I spoke to them."
She stopped like a shot bird that flutters still,
And drops, and tries to run again, and swerves.
The tale should end in some walled house upon a hill.
My eyes, at least, won't play such havoc there,--
Or hers--But she had hair!--blood dipped in gold;
And there she left me throwing back the first odd stare.
Some sort of beauty once, but turning yellow, getting old.
Pouah! These women and their nerves!
God! but the night is cold!
poem by Charlotte Mary Mew
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Silvio
Stake my future on a hell of a past
Looks like tomorrow is coming on fast
Aint complaining bout what I got
Seen better times, but who has not?
Silvio
Silver and gold
Wont buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio
I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know
Honest as the next jade rolling that stone
When I come knocking dont throw me no bone
Im an old boll weevil looking for a home
If you dont like it you can leave me alone
I can snap my fingers and require the rain
From a clear blue sky and turn it off again
I can stroke your body and relieve your pain
And charm the whistle off an evening train
I give what I got until I got no more
I take what I get until I even the score
You know I love you and furthermore
When its time to go you got an open door
I can tell you fancy, I can tell you plain
You give something up for everything you gain
Since every pleasures got an edge of pain
Pay for your ticket and dont complain
One of these days and it wont be long
Going down in the valley and sing my song
I will sing it loud and sing it strong
Let the echo decide if I was right or wrong
Silvio
Silver and gold
Wont buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio
I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know
song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Ballad of Autumn
DOWN harvest headlands the fairy host
Of the poppy banners have flashed and fled,
The lilies have faded like ghost and ghost,
The ripe rose rots in the garden bed.
The grain is garnered, the blooms are shed,
Convolvulus springs on the snowdrop’s bier,
In her stranded gold is the silver thread
Of the first grey hair i’ the head o’ the year.
Like an arrant knave from a bootless boast,
The fire-wind back to his North has sped
To harry the manes of a haunted coast
On a far sea-rim where the stars are dead.
Wistful the welkin with wordless dread,
Mournful the uplands, all ashen sere—
Sad for the snow on a beauteous head—
For the first grey hair i’ the head o’ the year.
Time trysts with Death at the finger-post,
Where the broken issues of life are wed—
Intone no dirges, fill up the toast
To the troops that trip it with silent tread,
Merry we’ll make it tho’ skies be lead,
And March-wind’s moan be a minstrel drear—
A truce to trouble!—we’ll drink instead
To the first grey hair i’ the head o’ the year.
South Esk sings on where the furze-fires spread,
But we’ll mourn no more as of old, my dear,
When gorse flames golden and briars flush red
With the first grey hair i’ the head o’ the year.
poem by Marie E J Pitt
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Dead Before Death
Ah! changed and cold, how changed and very cold,
With stiffened smiling lips and cold calm eyes:
Changed, yet the same; much knowing, little wise;
This was the promise of the days of old!
Grown hard and stubborn in the ancient mould,
Grown rigid in the sham of lifelong lies:
We hoped for better things as years would rise,
But it is over as a tale once told.
All fallen the blossom that no fruitage bore,
All lost the present and the future time,
All lost, all lost, the lapse that went before:
So lost till death shut-to the opened door,
So lost from chime to everlasting chime,
So cold and lost for ever evermore.
poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Jackie
(Sinead O'connor cover )
Jackie left on a cold, dark night
Telling me he'd be home
Sailed the seas for a hundred years
And left me all alone
Now I've been dead for twenty years
I've been washing the sand with my ghostly tears
Searching the shores for my Jackie-oh
And I remember the day that the young man came
Said, your Jackie's gone, he is lost in the rain
And I ran to the beach
And laid me down
You're all wrong, I said
And they stared to the sand
That man knows the sea like the back of his hand
He'll be back some time
Laughing at you
And I've been waiting all this time
For my man to come, take his hand in mine
And lead me away
To unsailed shores
I've been washing the sand with my salty tears
Searching the shore these long years
And I'll walk the sea forever more
'til I find my Jackie-oh
Jackie-oh
Jackie-oh
Jackie-oh
song performed by by Placebo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
My Beautiful Reward
Well I sought gold and diamond rings
My own drug to ease the pain that living brings
Walked from the mountain to the valley floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
From a house on a hill a sacred light shines
I walk through these rooms but none of them are mine
Down empty hallways I went from door to door
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
Well your hair shone in the sun
I was so high I was the lucky one
Then I came crashing down like a drunk on a barroom floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
Tonight I can feel the cold wind at my back
Im flyin high over gray fields my feathers long and black
Down along the rivers silent edge I soar
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Wild Night
As you brush your shoes and stand before your mirror
And you comb your hair and grab your coat and hat
And you walk the streets trying to remember
All those wild nights breeze through your mind
And everything looks so complete
When youre walking out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flying, crying
Oooh, oo-ooh wee the wild night is calling
All the girls walked by dressed up for each other
And the boys do the boogie woogie on the corner of the street
And the people passing by just stare with the wild wonder
And the inside jukebox roars just like thunder
And everything looks so complete
When youre walking out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flying, crying
Oooh, oo-ooh wee the wild night is calling
The wild --------- night is calling
Come on out and dance
Come on out and make romance
Come on out and dance
Come on out and make romance
And everything looks so complete
When youre walking out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flying, crying
Oooh, oo-ooh wee the wild night is calling
Oooh, oo-ooh wee the wild night is calling
song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Hot Night In A Cold Town
Sonnys out strolling, ambling slowly
Washed in amber street lights
A mexican wind blows in
Takin ahold of angelinas hair
And her halo
Motors running, muffling the sound
Of the street talk
A big deals goin down
In another hot night
In a cold town
Got yourself a hot night
In a cold town
Johnnys got spare change
In his pocket
A ring and a watch
To hock for a sweet ride
A one way ticket
Hidden in his shoe
These last few hours
He says hell spend with you
Hes leavin home without a trace
No forwarding address
Hell never have to face another
Hot night
In a cold town
Got yourself a hot night
In a cold town
Well, the losers and the groovers
And the corner boys
Are hangin around
Runnin in and out of doorways
Up and down the stairways
Stray dogs headed for the pound
In another
Hot night in a cold town
Got you, got yourself a
Hot night in a cold, cold town
Cold town
Its just another hot night
In a cold town
Such a cold town
song performed by by Uriah Heep
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Twenty Days
Twenty days are barely gone,
I was merry all the day.
Folly was my butt of scorn.
Now the fool myself I play.
Wit and learning ruled my head,
Logic and economy.
All the books I ever read
Taught me only vanity.
Most of all it moved my mirth
Womankind the world should rule.
Man, the lord of all the Earth!
He, forsooth, a woman's tool!
Cherry lip and glancing eye!
What were rosy cheeks to me?
Beauty's truth was but a lie--
Witness tomes of history!
Twenty days had barely run.
Twenty years they well might be.
All my wisdom was undone,
Reason bade good--night to me.
Her hair was of the red red gold,
Her blue eyes looked me through and through.
She was twenty--three years old,
I was twenty years and two.
Fortune, fame, I freely give,
Honour's self, if so she please,
Sweetly in her smile to live
Other twenty days like these.
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Out In The Street
Put on your best dress baby
And darlin, fix your hair up right
Cause theres a party, honey
Way down beneath the neon lights
All day youve been working that hard line
Now tonight youre gonna have a good time
I work five days a week girl
Loading crates down on the dock
I take my hard earned money
And meet my girl down on the block
And monday when the foreman calls time
Ive already got friday on my mind
When that whistle blows
Girl, Im down the street
Im home, Im out of my work clothes
When Im out in the street
I walk the way I wanna walk
When Im out in the street
I talk the way I wanna talk
When Im out in the street
When Im out in the street
When Im out in the street, girl
Well, I never feel alone
When Im out in the street, girl
In the crowd I feel at home
The black and whites they cruise by
And they watch us from the corner of their eye
But there aint no doubt girl, down here
We aint gonna take what theyre handing out
When Im out in the street
I walk the way I wanna walk
When Im out in the street
I talk the way I wanna talk
Baby, out in the street I dont feel sad or blue
Baby, out in the street Ill be waiting for you
When the whistle blows
Girl, Im down the street
Im home, Im out of my work clothes
When Im out in the street
I walk the way I wanna walk
When Im out in the street
I talk the way I wanna talk
When Im out in the street
Pretty girls, theyre all passing by
When Im out in the street
From the corner, we give them the eye
Baby, out in the street I just feel all right
Meet me out in the street, little girl, tonight
Meet me out in the street
Meet me out in the street
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The New Recruit
The lads were once my comrades,
They stay at home content.
And now's the time of cricket,
They count the days well spent.
They walk with girls o' Sundays,
All in their Sunday clothes;
And of a Sunday evening
Go where good liquor flows.
Their way's no longer my way,
For I must follow now
The drum-tap and the bugle,
While they're for shop and plough.
Good-bye, good-bye, kind people,
And all I leave behind,
To girls that used to kiss me,
To one was never kind.
Good-bye, my girl unwilling,
I shall not vex you sore,
For I have taken the shilling
And I come home no more.
I heard the drums a-drumming,
And I ran out to see;
The soldiers and the fighting,
They mattered nought to me.
Good-bye, my girl that grieved me.
The bugles whistled, Come.
And I, -- stepped in the roadway
And marched beside the drum.
Lord, I was proud, uplifted.
I held my head so high;
And all the girls were doating
With love as we went by!
The boys who stood and jeered me
May live to three-score-ten,
While I'm cut down at morning
Among the fighting men.
But Lord, the people shouting!
The glory tasted sweet,
And the eyes of the girls all doating
As we marched down the street.
poem by Katharine Tynan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Survival Of Love
On a mid-winter's night
when the stars were bright
a stranger came into town.
As he looked around
it was then that he found
that all of the ground was white.
It was beautiful to see
and he wondered if she
would be looking out at the snow?
All the time he'd been gone
as he approached the front lawn,
he prayed that there she would be.
His hands were so cold.
They were wrinkled and old
but they remembered the feel of her face.
So much time had passed by.
Many tears they did cry,
not knowing what their future did hold,
In between all the years
there'd been so many tears
not knowing where he did go?
He'd been hit on the head
robbed and then left for dead.
but survived and as his head clears
He cannot recall
who he is at all.
No memories of whom he had been.
What was his name?
Was he insane?
Amnesia had created a wall.
He had a wife
who prayed for his life,
never giving up hope he'd return.
Every day she would go
and look out at the snow
as the years had brought nothing but strife.
Not knowing at all that his amnesia's wall
came suddenly crumbling down.
He remembered his past.
He traveled there fast
and he came to the town of snowfall.
As he approached in the snow
she was at the window,
looking at what she thought was a ghost.
Trembling to see
Was it really he?
She opened the door very slow.
She felt his hand.
His hand held a strand
of her hair that was white like the snow.
They couldn't let go
for they both did know
that their lives ended just as God planned.
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Narrow bed
When last I lay with you my Love-
lay with you in your narrow bed
in your room, off campus, near the mall.
in your last semester of Pre- Med.
That day I’d helped you move your things
And after our feast of pie and beer
You were loathe to let me go
In your narrow bed you held me near.
Your hair was then a fiery red
Your milk white breasts had known no sun
I kept eye contact as I inclined
to worship Venus with my tongue.
Later as our climax neared
Your ankles locked around my back
You gasped as we, together, came
A delightful little death was that.
Sweating in a chilly room
Your landlord didn’t give much heat
I held you then for the last time
Both knowing and not knowing that.
We grew apart, you moved away
I met the girl who’d be my wife
You had your practice in Atlanta
We both got along with life.
Thirty winters passed us by
I heard that you were back in town
I hurried out to visit you.
To see your face for one last time.
Your brother met me at the door-
The one who used to be a priest
He led me to the open casket
Where your body lay at peace
Streaks of grey were in your hair
The strain of cancer marred you face
But though the battle had been lost
Were you not now in a better place?
Laid out in a pale blue dress
A rosary wrapped around your hands
But if they were warm and capable-
Could they make me feel young again?
I left you, Ellen, one last time
Feeling overcome by tears
I clutched my coat against the cold
That reached for me across the years.
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
White Hat White Coat
To the late doug whalan.... from your daughter.....
White hat white coat and greying in hair
he would dance around the dance floor with plenty of flair
White hat white coat black pants to boot
the men would all say 'silly old coot'
Whitehat white coat and a big friendly smile
when he went to a dance he'd dress in style
White hat white coat and a beat in his feet
it's of to the dance and people to meet
White hat white coat and a scotch on the rocks he'd love to dance
and the men would all mock
White hat white coat asleep at the wheel
he's danced all night 'boy i know how he feels'
White hat white coat have been put to the test
it's time to go home for a well earned rest
White hat white coat clean shirt and socks too
he's all geard up and ready for round two
White hat white coat so tired and run down
close your eyes and dream of your nights on the town
White hat white coat you've seen better days
your torn around the edges and your starting to fray
White hat white coat the time's come for us to part
but always remember ' i love you with all my heart '
poem by Debbie Gregory
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!