You must make up your mind; either a tree or a woodcutter be.
aphorism by Valeriu Butulescu from Immensity of the Point, translated by Eva A. Ziem
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The woodcutter's axe begged for its handle from the tree. The tree gave it.
aphorism by Rabindranath Tagore from Stray Birds (1916), translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Woman’s Death Bell
Woman is a tree with bearing;
Men throng her like birds and cattle
Towards the tree for fruits and shade.
The woodcutter is the bridegroom.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The tree casts its shade upon all, even upon the woodcutter.
The tree casts its shadow on everything, even upon the woodcutter.
Hill slope
Down on the hill slope a tree was there with flowers on it,
Season came and season goes,
it remain there with shade and fruits to give,
Small wood pecker or big owl,
all were there as it was there home to live,
One day a wood cutter found it useful to him,
he thought it to cut and takes its wood to sell in city,
birds and squirrel on tree helplessly saw the tree,
they tried to make noise,
but it didn't affected the woodcutter in the need
he cut down the tree to take the wood,
the tree on hiill slope became log of wood,
weak protest of bird and animals,
on it was not enough,
to save the tree.
tree full of life became silent as saying what was my fault,
is it only there right to live,
but yes its true only humans here,
are powerfull and can do anything to live and win,
hill slope became barren and dry like desert
poor tree however it was home for many
didn't found the place on to live on earth.
the reason it don't understand
why it is weak and meek.not able to
survive and get its right to stay alive to give shade and life to others.
poem by Hemu Gupta
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Grow and grow
When a seed, a hen will peck,
When a sprout, a snail will nib,
When a plant, a goat will bite,
And when a tree, a woodcutter will fell.
I must grow and grow till I'm spared.
23.07.2004
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Song of the Little White Girl
Cabbage tree, cabbage tree, what is the matter?
Why are you shaking so? Why do you chatter?
Because it is just a white baby you see,
And it's the black ones you like, cabbage tree?
Cabbage tree, cabbage tree, you're a strange fellow
With your green hair and your legs browny-yellow.
Wouldn't you like to have curls, dear, like me?
What! No one to make them? O poor cabbage tree!
Never mind, cabbage tree, when I am taller,
And if you grow, please, a little bit smaller,
I shall be able by that time, bay be,
To make you the loveliest curls, cabbage tree.
poem by Katherine Mansfield
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When I was only three I planted a tree
When I was three I planted a tree. This was my tree and together we would always be. I gave it love and it to me, and so we were happy, me and my tree.
Then one day they came to see me and my tree. Men with no faces, and they said to me, you must go, and leave this tree.
Buy why I ask. For we've done no harm. Me and my tree, please let us be.
So they left us alone, me and my tree, but only for a while but I could not see.
Then one day they came and took me away. My tree was needed to save the day. Goods it will make it makes perfect sense. So we will take this tree, for wood we need. And so it was done, they took my tree.
And now I look around, my tree I no longer see. Taken from, this tree I planted when I was three.
poem by Brad Milner
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Mind results in more output
Body build up is no way proportional
To the quantum of in put.
But it is much more proportional
To the efforts done with the mind set.
An hour a day in a year in gymnasium
Brings you good shape in body build
That a woodcutter life long fails to get.
Exercise unlike chopping, involves mind.
23.11.2000, Berhampur.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I'm Just An Ordinary Tree
My existence
start from a little piece of seed...
First, I was bury on the ground...
Then, I showed my two cute leaves up in to world...
But it didn't end just like that...
I grow... more and more...
With love, hope and care,
I became a tree...
Tree with many leaves,
if you need some shady circumstance...
Tree with a strong wood,
if you need me to make a good wardrobe...
Tree with a tight root,
if you want to make a solid foundation...
Tree with a sincerely pray,
if you need a support...
Tree with an everlasting presence,
if you need a friend beside you forever...
Tree with a dry branch,
if you want to share your tears...
Tree with a pure dew,
if you feel thirsty...
Tree with a warm wind,
if you get cold and alone...
Tree with a full color's flowers,
if you feel your life so black and white...
Tree with many hopes,
if you lost your dreams away...
But... after all,
I'm just an ordinary Tree...
By: Tree
22 May 2007,7: 02 PM
Make Up Mind
I cant seem to make up my mind
I cant tell the colors
That will fit this room
I cant tell a thing about you make up my mind
I cant seem to make up my mind
Are you laughing at me
Or telling a joke, the cigarette on the sheet
Begins to smoke, make up your mind
Right or left, up or down
In or out, straight or round
Love or lust, rain or shine
I cant seem to make up my poor mind
I cant seem to make up my mind
I cant tell the difference between wrong and right
Are you laughing at me in your sleep tonight
Leaving me behind
Leaving me behind
Why dont you make up your mind
(I cant seem to make up my mind)
About leaving me, baby
(I cant seem to make up my mind)
(I cant seem to make up my mind)
(I cant seem to make up my mind)
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He who stands near the woodcutter is likely to be hit by a splinter.
You're On Your Own
Well try and make up your mind
Well try to make up your mind
Well try to make up your mind
Well try to make up your mind, yeah
Now you're on you're own, yeah yeah baby
Now you're on you're own, yeah
There's a new moon rising on the other side
The other side of you
Talk to yourself and someone else
What you tryin' to do
You maybe will, you maybe won't
It's all for you to say
You say you do, and then you don't
It's only you in the way, yeah yeah yeah
Baby, now you're on you're own, yeah yeah yeah baby
Hey, now you're on you're own, yeah
When the light is gone that left your eyes
I haven't spoke too soon
And now we know your pretty words
Is just another tune
You spoke your mind, you've been quite kind
It's all according to you
Well go inside, keep your pride
I can't get through to you, no no
Now you're on you're own
Now you're on you're own
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
Well try and make up your mind
song performed by by Journey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tree makes
Tree makes life free
Do not cut tree
It is lifes industry
Life is in forestry.
Tree's talk listen
Silently tree given us
Best education
And we survive for
Tree only and tree make us
Enjoy our vacation.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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0011 How Rilke might have translated Bashó on poetry
Be solitary.
Love solitude, and don’t look for poetry;
don’t seek what former poets sought;
see what is still and changeless;
see also what is changing;
be filled with the true nature of things – mountains, rivers, trees, grasses, falling blossoms, the scattering leaves,
and, yes, humanity too, its true nature –
and the universe will become your companion.
So your solitude will be full of the universe;
and you will watch, unmoved, the reality
and the vacuity of the world.
Concentrate your thoughts, in solitude,
on an object, on each object;
in this concentration,
the space between oneself and the object will disappear,
and the essential nature of the object can be perceived.
Then be quick to express it, while it lives for you;
say quickly what is in your mind;
as a woodcutter fells a tree, or
a swordsman leaps at his enemy, or
as you cut a ripe watermelon with a sharp knife,
or take a large bite at a pear;
this immediacy will be the life of your poem,
for nature will write the poem for you.
The language may be untrue;
but it will live with the truth.
You may feel that writing so quickly,
you may always fail; but pay no attention;
know no other thing than writing poetry;
let it make you penniless, if that is
what it needs, to speak itself.
Then, in your solitude,
which is so full of everything,
the poetic spirit will lead you wherever you must go,
make you a friend of nature,
and every form of existence will reveal
its individual feelings to you –
which are similar to those of men;
and all things, you will know, have their fulfilment.
In this solitude, your mind will be undistracted;
and then, enlightened by nature itself,
you may return to the world,
with a lightness of being, and poems
as light as looking
at the sandy bed of a shallow river;
as a tree untouched by the axe,
seemingly useless,
vulnerable to wind and rain,
at ease in itself.
Like a poet.
(This text is Bashó's advice to a poet. But the medieval Japanese poet and the modern European poet seem to be so close in their search for essence, for being, that some of Bashó's phrases have the same ring as Rilke's own advice to a young poet. I have tried to bring this out discreetly..)
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tree Of Dreams
My mind is a tree of growing dreams
It seems like it produces more each day
But with every day that passes
There is also a forgotten one
When you add all the forgotten ones
you get a tree that is dry
A tree with many rings
but with one leaf
One green leaf that appears
every day but also dries up
when the next day comes
When a tree only has one leaf
no one really looks at it
It is a tree with no ambition
A tree with only one dream
No one wants a tree with one dream
especially if it is never fulfilled
poem by Cokbod Lodwogo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Imodium
[Early version of "Breed"]
I don't care, I don't care, I care,
I care, I care, I care if I'm old
I don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind,
I mind, I mind, a mind of my own
Get away, get away, away, away, away, away from your home
I don't mind, I don't mind, I mind,
I mind, I mind, yeah...
If you have, even if you need
I don't even care, we could have a tree
We could plant a house, we could build a tree
I don't even care, we could have a tree
She said, she said, she said, she said
she said, she said, she said, she said
I'm away, I'm away, away, away, away, away from your home
I don't mind, I don't mind, I mind, I mind, I mind, a mind of my own
Get away, get away, away, away, away, away from your home
I don't mind, I don't mind, I mind, I mind, I mind, yeah...
Even if you have, even if you need
I don't even care, we could have a tree
We could plant a house, we could build a tree
I don't even care, we could build a tree
She said, she said, she said, she said
she said, she said, she said, she said
Even if you have, even if you need
I don't even care, we could have a tree
We could plant a house, we could build a tree
I don't even care, we could build a tree
She said, she said, she said, she said
She said, she said, she said, she said
She said, she said, she said, she said
song performed by by Nirvana
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Make Up My Mind
I can't seem to make up my mind
I can't tell the colors, that will fit this room
I can't tell a thing about you
Make up my mind
I can't seem to make up my mind
Are you laughing at me or telling a joke
The cigarette on the sheet begins to smoke
Make up your mind
Right or left, up or down, in or out
Straight or round, love or lust, rain or shine
I can't seem to make up my poor mind
I can't seem to make up my mind
I can't tell the difference between wrong and right
Are you laughing at me in your sleep tonight
Leaving me behind, leaving me behind
Why don't you make up your mind
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Say There's A Tree, A Horizon
Big tree
right outside my room
tell me when your flowers will bloom
big tree
a wars'a comin soon
this war'll bring you alotta doom
big tree
spread your leaves and fly
cuz you dont wanna be here when your flowers die
big tree
uproot yourself and run
run from the bullets and run from the guns
war
from the oceans to the land
no more water to fill your hands
flowers
I'll try to water you
but theres salt in my tears and that jus' wont do
big tree
they dont understand
that what they do effects your land
big tree
by you I've made a bed
and I ask you how this war moves us ahead
big tree
my friend whats the cost
if only they could see the faces of the lost
pinecone
shaped like a grenade
the grass where you lay is all I could save
big tree
where have your sisters gone?
to make more boxes to lay flags on?
big tree
where have your brothers gone?
to make more boxes to carve names on?
poem by Chris Osterbrock
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Marula tree trunk
Strong winds blow against the Marula tree trunk,
They come with miscellaneous objects,
Light and heavy,
And use them to break the Marula tree trunk,
But nothing happens to the Marula tree trunk,
Light and heavy rains come,
The Marula tree smiles,
For the plentiful rain water will make
It stronger and taller,
Animals come and sleep under and on top
Of the Marula tree,
Lean and rub their itching bodies
Against the Marula tree trunk,
Relieve themselves against it,
But nothing happens to the Marula tree trunk,
The human race use the Marula tree for shade
Against the merciless summer heat of the Limpopo sun,
And eat or make beer with Marula,
But, alas! One vicious human being returned,
And chopped it,
Off goes the faithless Marula tree trunk,
To be scorched by the everlasting home burning fires.
poem by Niki Nicholas Nkuna
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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