Poem in Prose
This poem is for my wife.
I have made it plainly and honestly:
The mark is on it
Like the burl on the knife.
I have not made it for praise.
She has no more need for praise
Than summer has
Or the bright days.
In all that becomes a woman
Her words and her ways are beautiful:
Love's lovely duty,
the well-swept room.
Wherever she is there is sun
And time and a sweet air:
Peace is there,
Work done.
There are always curtains and flowers
And candles and baked bread
And a cloth spread
And a clean house.
Her voice when she sings is a voice
At dawn by a freshening spring
Where the wave leaps in the wind
And rejoices.
Wherever she is it is now.
It is here where the apples are:
Here in the stars,
In the quick hour.
The greatest and richest good,
My own life to live in,
This she has given me --
If giver could.
poem by Archibald MacLeish
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She Does Not Need Any Praise (Cavatina Sequence)
(after Archibald MacLeish)
The greatest happiness she have given
today to me,
in the ways that together our lives is,
tranquillity
is in each smile, like a hot summer day,
totally free
she does her duty in words and her ways,
she acts unhindered like the sun's rays.
Fresh loaves of bread, lovely food she spreads,
great joy she finds
in her selfless acts that brings happiness,
free like the winds
her feet run while she lights candles, sometimes sings;
one of her kind
my wife is, she does not need any praise
as she loves with an amazing true grace.
[Reference: 'Poem in Prose' by Archibald MacLeish.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Seven
If on water and sweet bread
Seven years I'll add to life,
For me will no blood be shed,
No lamb know the evil knife;
Excellently will I dine
On a crust and Adam's wine.
If a bed in monkish cell
Well mean old of age to me,
Let me in a convent dwell,
And from fellow men be free;
Let my mellow sunset days
Pass in piety and praise.
For I love each hour I live,
Wishing it were twice as long;
Dawn my gratitude I give,
Laud the Lord with evensong:
Now that moons are sadly few
How I grudge the grave its due!
Yet somehow I seem to know
Seven Springs are left to me;
Seven Mays may cherry tree
Will allume with sudden snow . . .
Then let seven candles shine
Silver peace above my shrine.
poem by Robert William Service
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Who I Am
You don't like my hair,
You don't like my dress.
You think I'm wrong;
That you know best.
Think you know better.
Think you got it all.
And right now,
My back's against the wall.
You say I should be here;
But I really should be there.
Come to think of it now,
I should be nowhere.
You say how I should live:
What, when, where, how.
But I'm telling you,
Back off right now.
I was made to praise God,
To live, love, and be free.
God made me:
He made me to be me.
Twasn't to be,
Chasing the stars.
Twasn't to be,
Who you are.
I was made to be me,
With none other alike.
So take a hint
And take a hike.
Made to praise,
Made to live,
Made to love,
Made to give.
Made like no other,
Made by the great I AM.
Just a unique worm,
That's who I am.
So take a deep breath and swallow...
This is who I am.
poem by Joses Tirtabudi
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St. Francis and the Birds
Little sisters, the birds:
We must praise God, you and I
You, with songs that fill the sky,
I, with halting words.
All things tell His praise,
Woods and waters thereof sing,
Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring,
And the night and days.
Yea, and cold and heat,
And the sun and stars and moon,
Sea with her monotonous tune,
Rain and hail and sleet,
And the winds of heaven,
And the solemn hills of blue,
And the brown earth and the dew,
And the thunder even,
And the flowers' sweet breath.
All things make one glorious voice;
Life with fleeting pains and joys,
And our brother, Death.
Little flowers of air,
With your feathers soft and sleek,
And your bright brown eyes and meek,
He hath made you fair.
He hath taught to you
Skill to weave in tree and thatch
Nests where happy mothers hatch
Speckled eggs of blue.
And hath children given:
When the soft heads overbrim
The brown nests, then thank ye Him
In the clouds of heaven.
Also in your lives
Live His laws Who loveth you.
Husbands, be ye kind and true;
Be home-keeping, wives:
Love not gossiping;
Stay at home and keep the nest;
Fly not here and there in quest
Of the newest thing.
Live as brethren live:
Love be in each heart and mouth;
Be not envious, be not wroth,
Be not slow to give.
When ye build the nest,
Quarrel not o'er straw or wool;
He who hath be bountiful
To the neediest.
Be not puffed nor vain
Of your beauty or your worth,
Of your children or your birth,
Or the praise ye gain.
Eat not greedily:
Sometimes for sweet mercy's sake,
Worm or insect spare to take;
Let it crawl or fly.
See ye sing not near
To our church on holy day,
Lest the human-folk should stray
From their prayers to hear.
Now depart in peace:
In God's name I bless each one;
May your days be long i' the sun
And your joys increase.
And remember me,
Your poor brother Francis, who
Loves you and gives thanks to you
For this courtesy.
Sometimes when ye sing,
Name my name, that He may take
Pity for the dear song's sake
On my shortcoming.
poem by Katharine Tynan
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Coleur de Rose
I want more lives in which to love
This world so full of beauty,
I want more days to use the ways
I know of doing duty;
I ask no greater joy than this
(So much I am life's lover,)
When I reach age to turn the page
And read the story over,
(Oh love stay near!)
Oh rapturous promise of the Spring!
Oh June fulfilling after!
If Autumns sigh, when Summers die,
'Tis drowned in Winter's laughter.
Oh maiden dawns, oh wifely noons,
Oh siren sweet, sweet nights,
I'd want no heaven could earth be given
Again with its delights,
(If love stayed near!)
There are such glories for the eye,
Such pleasures for the ear,
The senses reel with all they feel
And see and taste and hear;
There are such ways of doing good,
Such ways of being kind,
And bread that's cast on waters fast
Comes home again, I find.
(Oh love stay near.)
There are such royal souls to know,
There is so much to learn,
While secrets rest in Nature's breast
And unnamed stars still burn.
God toiled six days to make this earth,
I think the good folks say---
Six lives we need to give full meed
Of praise---one for each day,
(If love stay near.)
But oh! if love fled far away,
Or veiled his face from me,
One life too much, why then were such
A life as this would be.
With sullen May and blighted June
Blurred dawn and haggard night,
This dear old world in space were hurled
If love lent not his light.
(Oh love stay near.)
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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Psalm 150
v.1,2,6
C. M.
A song of praise.
In God's own house pronounce his praise,
His grace he there reveals;
To heav'n your joy and wonder raise,
For there his glory dwells.
Let all your sacred passions move,
While you rehearse his deeds;
But the great work of saving love
Your highest praise exceeds.
All that have motion, life, and breath,
Proclaim your Maker blest;
Yet, when my voice expires in death,
My soul shall praise him best.
poem by Isaac Watts
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Sing one of your songs
Darling, sing one of your songs
when we are together
and the candles burn romantic for a time
and play on the chords of your blue guitar
and let me hear your beautiful voice
and remind me
about the reasons for our love.
Take me along
with a lovely tune
and let your magic words
fold around me
and hug me with your sweet voice
and make me believe
that I cannot loose anything
of you forever.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Christmas Hymn
O CHRIST, born on the holy day,
I have no gift to give my King;
No flowers grow by my weary way;
I have no birthday song to sing.
How can I sing Thy name and praise,
Who never saw Thy face divine;
Who walk in darkness all my days,
And see no Eastern stars a-shine?
Yet, when their Christmas gifts they bring,
How can I leave Thy praise unsung?
How stay from homage to the King,
And hold a silent, grudging tongue?
Lord, I found many a song to sing,
And many a humble hymn of praise
For Thy great Miracle of Spring,
The wonder of the waxing days.
When I beheld Thy days and years,
Did I not sing Thy pleasant earth?
The moons of love, the years of tears,
The mysteries of death and birth?
Have I not sung with all my soul
While soul and song were mine to yield,
Thy lightning crown, Thy cloud-control,
The dewy clover of Thy field?
Have I not loved Thy birds and beasts,
Thy streams and woods, Thy sun and shade;
Have I not made me holy feasts
Of all the beauty Thou hast made?
What though my tear-tired eyes, alas!
Won never grace Thy face to see?
I heard Thy footstep on the grass,
Thy voice in every wind-blown tree.
No music now I make or win,
Yet, Lord, remember I have been
The lover of Thy world, wherein
I found nought common or unclean.
Grown old and blind, I sing no more,
Thy saints in heaven sing sweet and strong,
Yet take the songs I made of yore
For echoes to Thy birthday song.
poem by Edith Nesbit
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Praise Women
Praise them! Praise Women!
I read his words, then I cried, O these lies
How can a woman’s love lie only between her thighs?
Foremost I admired him, his work was set on another stage
Later I concluded his words of women were words of rage
Praise them! Praise Women!
For on the faces of all women you can trace
The elements of sacrificial suffering in their gaze
To hear him say women are libidinous
Is not hilarious, rather I deem it as outrageous
The women we all know have it tough
Every aspect of their life is embroiled with rough
Life cycle periodic pains and yet enough is not enough
Their agonising vaginal birth anguish isn’t a bluff
Praise them! Praise Women!
Why curse the women that raise thee
Wait for you blindly in love while you are at sea
Aid you in your visions of where you want to be!
They bring us joy, love and peace
Something I request no one to dismiss
If only he could see their potential essence
He may have appreciated their very presence
On earth, women’s love is the voltage of balance
The very reasoning of all kinds of romance
They give rise to our population
By endless copulation and multiplication
Which in turn gives rise to all the nations
Praise them! Praise Women!
We need them in our mist!
For without them we cannot exist
Praise them! Praise Women!
Praise onto the women that raise thee!
poem by Sylvia Chidi
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Sonnet- Life Has Both Joys And Sorrows
Men praise the Rose for exquisite beauty,
And praise the flower too for its great smell;
None care for thorns(changed leaves) doing duty,
Protecting flowers from wild beasts so well.
Men praise the River for quenching their thirst;
Who cares about the clouds that bring the Rain?
Much water comes from melting snows too first;
Most water comes from sea again, again.
Men praise their leaders for the great things done;
Who cares about the Almighty’s great role?
And men call God, the Moon, the Sky, the Sun!
Forgetting God who made earth, pole to pole.
All things God made have purpose good and bad;
Life’s woes alone should not make our hearts sad.
poem by John Celes
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Time, Perhaps
Time perhaps, for wonder –
to look around in awe
at how all that surrounds us
has somehow come about..
we who do not even know
how to grow a fingernail…
time perhaps, for gratitude –
for what we have already,
forgetting for a moment, our desires…
we who have forgotten
whom or how to thank..
time perhaps, for praise –
if not the Lawyer, praise the laws…
if not the lover, praise the love…
we who might become
praiseworthy through our praise…
time perhaps, for imagination –
to consider how things might be,
for then they might become…
we who have the world itself
inside us, just as much as that
great cosmos that’s out there…
time perhaps, for simplicity –
to pare life down to those things
which give us greatest joy –
and then, enjoy them all the more…
we who love complexity
when masquerading as the new…
time perhaps, for time –
to live a measured calm
of stillness, peace and rest
and find the joy there all the time …
we who ceaselessly invent
the labour-saving, and then find
ourselves a slave to these new toys…
time perhaps, to transcend time –
and live a timely life
of timeless joy; and know then,
all that’s not been mentioned here…
we who have yet to know
what human beings really are…
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Swing High, Sweet Child.
When you awake,
Do you smell the fresh air?
When you arise,
Do you rejoice your sacred life?
Nature's tree,
Standing tall, looking in a fixed stare,
Nature's wind,
Cutting away, sharp as an blood stained knife,
Swing high sweet child,
The Earth is here forever,
Swing low little darling,
Watch as the branchs sway,
Nature's sea,
Will seize to be drained,
Nature's Rock,
Rejoices in a sweet symphonic praise
When you die,
Will you miss the fresh air?
When you fall,
Will you forget the true beauty of life?
Nature's tree,
Will continue to stand and stare,
Nature's wind,
Will continue cutting, this time a clean knife.
poem by Nate Orvis
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Ballad of Joe and Satchong
There's a lady from the orient sea
Such winsome lady and lovely
With her voice so sweet to hear
Melodious within the wind zephyr
A sweet rhythmic sound like a song
A pleasing tune of such song
That enchanted this fellow
And made his heart glow
Ah - lovely voice, said Joe
That encourage him to go
Or search for that voice
That makes his heart rejoice
He followed the gentle breeze
Across Atlantic and Pacific seas
As the ocean waves and rolls
He goes on with the gentle breeze with goals
In the air is the song for Joe
That makes his heart glow
And search that voice
That makes his soul rejoice
So within the breeze is the song
Said Joe, Oh what a lovely song
And so melodious voice
That makes my heart rejoice
He continue to follow gentle breeze
Across Atlantic and Pacific seas
There in the orient sea he found that such song
is from the lovely lady named Satchong
With the little winged Cherubim
Coveted them and their love woven
Their love are like in the air
Life like the gentle wind zephyr
'til now their love so sweet like a song
With this couple Joe and Satchong
So blessed with bright lifetime
So solid maybe until the end of time
poem by Ency Bearis
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The Beautiful Azalea
The beautiful azalea is a woody shrub that never grows into a tree
But the pink flowers on the azalea are so beautiful to see
In the cool to warm days of October when Spring is in the air
And beautiful Mother Nature flowers on her green cloak wear,
How lovely the azalea in the cool shade of the trees
In her mass of pinkish flowers gently stirring in the breeze
Such a thing of natural beauty for to beautify the Spring
In the nice days of October when the nesting song birds sing,
In her tiny leaves of light green and her mass of bright pink flowers
The azalea she is blooming in the sunshine and Spring showers
But time it keeps on ticking and the years go quickly by
And how many more Octobers will i live for to enjoy?
The sight of the beautiful azalea in her pink flowers in the shade
A thing of such rare beauty by Nature only made.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Immortal Autumn
I speak this poem now with grave and level voice
In praise of autumn, of the far-horn-winding fall.
I praise the flower-barren fields, the clouds, the tall
Unanswering branches where the wind makes sullen noise.
I praise the fall: it is the human season.
Now
No more the foreign sun does meddle at our earth,
Enforce the green and bring the fallow land to birth,
Nor winter yet weigh all with silence the pine bough,
But now in autumn with the black and outcast crows
Share we the spacious world: the whispering year is gone:
There is more room to live now: the once secret dawn
Comes late by daylight and the dark unguarded goes.
Between the mutinous brave burning of the leaves
And winter’s covering of our hearts with his deep snow
We are alone: there are no evening birds: we know
The naked moon: the tame stars circle at our eaves.
It is the human season. On this sterile air
Do words outcarry breath: the sound goes on and on.
I hear a dead man’s cry from autumn long since gone.
I cry to you beyond upon this bitter air.
poem by Archibald MacLeish
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My Will
I've made my Will. I don't believe
In luxury and wealth;
And to those loving ones who grieve
My age and frailing health
I give the meed to soothe their ways
That they may happy be,
And pass serenely all their days
In snug security.
That duty done, I leave behind
The all I have to give
To crippled children and the blind
Who lamentably live;
Hoping my withered hand may freight
To happiness a few
Poor innocents whom cruel fate
Has cheated of their due.
A am no grey philanthropist,
Too humble is my lot
Yet how I'm glad to give the grist
My singing mill has brought.
For I have had such lyric days,
So rich, so full, so sweet,
That I with gratitude and praise
Would make my life complete.
I'VE MADE MY WILL: now near the end,
At peace with all mankind,
To children lame I would be friend,
And brother to the blind . . .
And if there be a God, I pray
He bless my last bequest,
And in His love and pity say:
"Good servant,--rest!"
poem by Robert William Service
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0398 The Blackbird's Song
Waking to the blackbird's song -
insisting, so it seems, on something close to joy and praise...
the sun's just breaking through the morning mist;
the smell of coffee and hot bread rolls,
the gentle stir of household come to life:
it's a good day, the best of days, right now.
Showered, with the inner glow of a man who's
just those few and precious minutes ahead of schedule
and thus with goodwill there to share -
and what?
Is goodwill quite enough, as you bounce into the office,
or (o hero) into the morning classroom, or
the matey pride of factory floor?
This is the tricky crux of this poem, and who am I...
now in this summer morning's glow of goodwill to all men
- and to all womankind, rejoicing themselves and you
in summer's clothes - is there a place
within this glow, for, go on say it, joy?
And if joy, is there, then, gratitude?
And if there's gratitude, is there, then, praise?
Meanwhile
the blackbird
just sings.
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Sing a New Song
O sing a new song, to our God above,
Avoid profane ones, 'tis for holy choir:
Let Israel sing song of holy love
To him that made them, with their hearts on fire:
Let Zion's sons life up their voice, and sing
Carols and anthems to their heavenly king.
Let not your voice alone his praise forth tell,
But move withal, and praise him in the dance;
Cymbals and harps, let them be tuned well,
'Tis he that doth the poor's estate advance:
Do this not only on the solemn days,
But on your secret beds you spirits raise.
O let the saints bear in their mouth his praise,
And a two-edged sword drawn in their hand,
Therewith for to revenge the former days,
Upon all nations, that their zeal withstand;
To bind their kings in chains of iron strong,
And manacle their nobles for their wrong.
Expect the time, for 'tis decreed in heaven,
Such honor shall unto his saints be given.
poem by Sir Francis Bacon
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This Lovely Day
Lattice gates of noble paradigms
Glance old stone fences of spring
Vivacious air amidst the able breeze
We stroll into eternal flowers
Ring the bells of summer love
Everything profound seems simple
Profound azure emanates beauty
Your dress of flowers temps me
Hills and glades alive with wind
Pedals of awesome love
Your laughter is ebullient praise
Praise for free solemn beauty
I have withered away in self
This fresh air brings frontiers
My darling you bring me joy
By the river we watch the geese
Clouds seem like breathing angels
Meadows like blankets of elves
You my love are a wondrous gift
This lovely day shall never wane
Let us take each step slowly
Count the butterflies as we go
Feel every hug and savor every kiss
Watch the flowers sigh in the wind
This lovely day is ours forever
poem by Joseph Narusiewicz
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Truly Great
My walls outside must have some flowers,
My walls within must have some books;
A house that's small; a garden large,
And in it leafy nooks.
A little gold that's sure each week;
That comes not from my living kind,
But from a dead man in his grave,
Who cannot change his mind.
A lovely wife, and gentle too;
Contented that no eyes but mine
Can see her many charms, nor voice
To call her beauty fine.
Where she would in that stone cage live,
A self-made prisoner, with me;
While many a wild bird sang around,
On gate, on bush, on tree.
And she sometimes to answer them,
In her far sweeter voice than all;
Till birds, that loved to look on leaves,
Will doat on a stone wall.
With this small house, this garden large,
This little gold, this lovely mate,
With health in body, peace in heart--
Show me a man more great.
poem by William Henry Davies
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