At the Foresters
The shadows of the gaslit wings
Come softly crawling down our way;
Before the curtain someone sings,
The music sounds from far away;
I lounge beside you in the wings.
Prying and indiscreet, the lights
Illumine, if you haply move,
The prince's dress, the yellow tights,
That fit your figure like a glove:
You shrink a little from the lights.
Divinely rosy rouged, your face
Smiles, with its painted little mouth,
Half tearfully, a quaint grimace;
The charm and pathos of your youth
Mock the mock roses of your face.
And there is something in your look
(Ambiguous, independent Flo!)
As teasing as a half-shut book;
It lures me till I long to know
The many meanings of your look:
The tired defiance of the eyes,
Pathetically whimsical,
Childish and whimsical and wise;
And now, relenting after all,
The softer welcome of your eyes.
poem by Arthur Symons
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Wings
That Love has wings the poets say;
White wings where lights and shadows play,
Swift wings, that sail from shore to shore,
From sea to sea, or lightly soar
To happy Edens far away.
Where'er they gleam the world grows gay,
December smiles, and rosy May
With fluttering transport feels once more
That Love has wings.
But Youth is fond, and hearts are clay,
And faults deceive, and doubts betray,
And some forget the winning lore
That drew the blessing to their door,
And learn too late—ah, well-a-day!—
That Love has wings.
poem by Florence Earle Coates from Poems (1898)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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La Mélinite: Moulin Rouge
Olivier Metra's Waltz of Roses
Sheds in a rhythmic shower
The very petals of the flower;
And all is roses,
The rouge of petals in a shower.
Down the long hall the dance returning
Rounds the full circle, rounds
The perfect rose of lights and sounds,
The rose returning
Into the circle of its rounds.
Alone, apart, one dancer watches
Her mirrored, morbid grace;
Before the mirror, face to face,
Alone she watches
Her morbid, vague, ambiguous grace.
Before the mirror's dance of shadows
She dances in a dream,
And she and they together seem
A dance of shadows;
Alike the shadows of a dream.
The orange-rosy lamps are trembling
Between the robes that turn;
In ruddy flowers of flame that burn
The lights are trembling:
The shadows and the dancers turn.
And, enigmatically smiling,
In the mysterious night,
She dances for her own delight,
A shadow smiling
Back to a shadow in the night.
poem by Arthur Symons
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On the Stage
Lights, in a multi-coloured mist,
From indigo to amethyst,
A whirling mist of multi-coloured lights;
And after, wigs and tights,
Then faces, then a glimpse of profiles, then
Eyes, and a mist again;
And rouge, and always tights, and wigs, and tights.
You see the ballet so, and so,
From amethyst to indigo;
You see a dance of phantoms, but I see
A girl, who smiles to me;
Her cheeks, across the rouge, and in her eyes
I know what memories,
What memories and messages for me.
poem by Arthur Symons
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Crawling Back To You
Waiting by the side of the road
For day to break so we could go
Down into los angeles
With dirty hands and worn out knees
I keep crawling back to you
I keep crawling back t o you
The ranger came with burning eyes
The chambermaid awoke surprised
Thought shed seen the last of him
She shook her head and let him in
Hey baby, theres something in your eyes
Tryin to say to me
That Im gonna be alright if I believe in you
Its all I want to do
It was me and my sidekick
He was drunk and I was sick
We were caught up in a barroom fight
Till an indian shot out the lights
Im so tired of being tired
Sure as ni ght will follow day
Most things I worry about
Never happen anyway
I keep crawling back to you
I keep crawling back to you
song performed by by Tom Petty
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My half
Oh my half
i know your name bether than mine
i know your face bether than my face
i meet your eyes
in the shadow of dark
and they give me light
with you; magnetic love
if you are with me
my lungs breath
my heart beat
my wings fly
my feets high
oh you my half
you meanin more
than my love
you are my life
my lair my hope
that what
you are now
and then
you are my love
baby..
you are my half
let say my whole.
poem by Sallam Yassin
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How Many Lights Do You See?
How many lights do you see?
How many lights do you see?
There's one to say that night has come
And there's one that guards this jagged shore
And there's one to call the children home
And there's one to light the path they take
How many lights do you see?
How many lights do you see?
There's one to keep the shadows off
And there's one that tells me she got home
And there's one to read his novel by
And there's one that warms this dreary room
And there's one to watch the baby sleep
And there's one to count the blinking stars
And there's one that I just can't forget
And there's one that I remember too
How many lights do you see?
How many lights do you see?
There's one that waits for closing time
And there's one that gets left on all night
And there's one that marks the western sky
And it shines down on the quiet street
And there's one that floods the darker parts
And there's one that hurts my tired eyes
And there's one that says she's not asleep
And there's one that waits for her to wake
How many lights do you see?
How many lights do you see?
There is one that spills out on the beach
And it sparkles on the jetting rocks
And there is one that waits for tired ships
That sleep within this tired port
song performed by by Bright Eyes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At The Abbey Theatre
DEAR Craoibhin Aoibhin, look into our case.
When we are high and airy hundreds say
That if we hold that flight they'll leave the place,
While those same hundreds mock another day
Because we have made our art of common things,
So bitterly, you'd dream they longed to look
All their lives through into some drift of wings.
You've dandled them and fed them from the book
And know them to the bone; impart to us --
We'll keep the secret -- a new trick to please.
Is there a bridle for this Proteus
That turns and changes like his draughty seas?
Or is there none, most popular of men,
But when they mock us, that we mock again?
poem by William Butler Yeats
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On the Garden Wall
Oh, once I walked a garden
In dreams. 'Twas yellow grass.
And many orange-trees grew there
In sand as white as glass.
The curving, wide wall-border
Was marble, like the snow.
I walked that wall a fairy-prince
And, pacing quaint and slow,
Beside me were my pages,
Two giant, friendly birds.
Half swan they were, half peacock.
They spake in courtier-words.
Their inner wings a charriot,
Their outer wings for flight,
They lifted me from dreamland.
We bade those trees good-night.
Swiftly above the stars we rode.
I looked below me soon.
The white-walled garden I had ruled
Was one lone flower--the moon.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
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See The Light
Well I came down here from manhattan
to see the lights on the mall
but when I got here early this morning
well I couldn't see any at all
so I walked a little further
and much to my surprise
there was a hot cool woman
in a chevy staring into my eyes
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
Alright
She said now don't walk any further
Just jump into my car
And we can head on down the highway
But you'd better not go too far
'Cos my daddy he's big business
So we've gotta be back by tonight
But we can still have some fun now
If we head on downtown to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
Well, we ended up in this cafe
'Bout twenty-five minutes to one
See, she took me to this nightclub
And the music went on and on
Well we were set down to get coffee
When in walked her old man
No matter how we tried to explain it well
We couldn't make him understand
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
I've just got to see the lights
song performed by by Def Leppard
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Skyward With Embarrassment
The face goes beetroot red,
skyward goes the eyes
when someone says.
“You flies are flying half-mast.”
That someone who says it
is always someone of the opposite sex.
It is never a nudge and a wink
from one of your friends
so you can hide yourself to do up your zip.
It has to be a member of the opposite sex.
They must stand outside the toilet
just waiting for someone to appear,
then in a voice that could be heard
across the Atlantic just so everyone can hear.
“Hey mister your flying half-mast.”
A quick glance,
face goes a beetroot red,
hands fumble for the zip
as big smiles come from all around
and the voice box is now long gone.
You shrink away to hide
until the beetroot red face
returns to normal again,
then continue on your way,
but stop and look around
as the voice box has caught another one
who looks skyward with embarrassment.
3 April 2010
poem by David Harris
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Venetian Night
Her eyes in the darkness shone, in the twilight shed
By the gondola bent like the darkness over her head.
Softly the gondola rocked, lights came and went;
A white glove shone as her black fan lifted and leant
Where the silk of her dress, the blue of a bittern's wing,
Rustled against my knee, and, murmuring
The sweet slow hesitant English of a child,
Her voice was articulate laughter, her soul smiled.
Softly the gondola rocked, lights came and went;
From the sleeping houses a shadow of slumber leant
Over our heads like a wing, and the dim lagoon,
Rustling with silence, slumbered under the moon.
Softly the gondola rocked, and a pale light came
Over the waters, mild as a silver flame;
She lay back, thrilling with smiles, in the twilight shed
By the gondola bend like the darkness over her head;
I saw her eyes shine subtly, then close awhile:
I remember her silence, and, in the night, her smile.
poem by Arthur Symons
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Till I Go Down
Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
Im not gonna shut my eyes
Till I go down
Im not gonna shut my eyes
Ive already seen the lies
On the faces of the men of war
Leading people to the killing floor
Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
Im not gonna shut my eyes
No no
Till I go down
Till the world stops spinning around
Till Im six feet under the ground
Till theres no sound
Till theres no pain
Im gonna swing this chain
Till I go down
Im not gonna shut my mouth
Im for the truth to come out
About the leader with the iron will
And his allegiance to the dollar bill
Till I go down
Till I go down
Till I go down
Im not gonna shut my eyes
Till I go down
song performed by by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mean Disposition
I'm getting wise to you
You're going to see
I'm going to work on you
The way you worked on me
I got a sharper aim
And you're in my sights
And if I'm going to go
I'm going in a blaze of lights
And in this crazy world of hit and run
There are no laws here
Just a loaded gun
She's got a mean disposition
She's got a big shooter too
She's got a mean disposition
Really make a mess
Really make a mess out of you
I never close my eyes
I never sleep
I'm staying on my guard
Waiting for my flesh to creep
And I never trusted you
You never trusted me
I'll do a deal with you
If you'll do a deal with me
For me the nightmare's only just begun
There is no law here
Just a loaded gun
She's got a mean disposition
Got a big shooter too
She's got a mean disposition
Got a bad attitude
She's got a mean disposition
Going to cut your half
Going to cut your half in two
I'm going have to stand my ground
Like Crockett at the Alamo
I'm going to draw the line
One of us has got to go
She's got a mean disposition
Got a big shooter too
She's got a mean disposition
Got a bad attitude
She's got a mean disposition
Going to make a mess out of you
She's got a mean disposition
Going to cut your half
Going to cut your half in two
song performed by by Rolling Stones from Voodoo Lounge
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Awaiting On You All (Alan Freeman Show 1974)
You don't need no love, man
You don't need no bedpan
You don't need a heartened message to mess with your end
If you open up your heart
If you know what I mean
And you waited here so long
Well, that's a way for you to get me
Live, share in the wings of the Lord and you'll be free
The Lord lights the way and you know that you'll soon see
Share in the wings of the Lord and you'll be free
The Lord lights the way with all the glory to see
You don't need no passport
You don't need no visa
You don't need a daisy chain or anything before you can see Jesus
If you open up your heart
You can 'see' it right there
But if it opens too wide
Then you'll find your own hell
Live, share in the wings of the Lord and you'll be free
The Lord lights the way and you know that you'll soon see
Share in the wings of the Lord and you'll be free
The Lord lights the way with all the glory to see
You don't need no church house
You don't need no temple
You don't need no rosary beads or books if you wanna go there
If you open up your heart
If you know what I mean
Then you'll soon long to find that out that we're all free
Oh we're on bible number fifty one said the general order
And a stronger piece of english is the only thing that's followed by the
quota
The Lord lights the way with all the glory to see
But share in the wings of the Lord and you'll be free
song performed by by George Harrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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9 Miles On A Dirty Futon
I spent nine miles with her.
in a cheap apartment.
Boxed wine and cheeses with exotic sounding names.
Eaten on a blanket on the floor as we had no table.
we had no couch,
we had no television.
But we had music.
At night we would lay on a futon matress
that layed on the floor.
The streetlight outside the bedroom window playing shadows across sections of her.
First her eyes were lit, the rest of her awash in shadows,
then,
when she turned,
her mouth was visible,
but her eyes were shadowed.
A breast, a thigh, her hair all illuminated
then darkened
according to her movments.
Sometimes she would lie on her back and light a cigarette.
Her whole face would light with the flash of the lighter,
like hand held lightining,
then darken again.
We would talk for hours on that futon,
I don't remember what was said...
I remember her in pieces of light and shadow.
When she smoked the light would turn the smoke in to a slow
languid serpent
escaping from her body through her mouth and nose.
I have never seen anyone smoke like that before or since.
Her face half lit by the streetlight.
She would speak and the words would drift out of her
entwined with the smoke.
She smoked like Garbo.
slow and seductive.
9 years with her and all my memories are of shadows, soft sodium streetlights, and orange cigarette glow.
9 years with her and all I remember are the lights and shadows
across her body.
On that futon matress
on the floor.
poem by Brevet Wilson
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White Picket Fence
i've cut off the curls
I shaved half my face
Became half the man you asked to replace.
I'm willing to save you
You said you're worth saving
But half of my appetite's lost half it's craving
Stand in the mirror
That's me beside you
The one with the smile, the one who abides you.
Don't mind the madman
The killer, the lover
He's slowly fading one into the other.
Where is that white picket fence
That i painted myself in the late days of april?
Where are the daffodil mountians?
I know that they're somewhere around here by the garden.
You say that you're happy
Well you should know better
I see that you've sewn up that rip in your sweater
That some lover tore off you
That left you both shaking
That bled deep inside you the wound you'd forsaken
Where is that white picket fence
That i painted myself in the late days of april?
Where are the daffodil mountians?
I know that they're somewhere around here by the garden.
Don't fear i will save you
Don't shout you'll awaken
The corpse in the desert staked out beside you
I cut off his wing
And shaved half his face
But i thought that i saw his eyes...move
song performed by by Five For Fighting
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Just A Woman
YOU ask me why I love her;
Not a charm can you discover!
Would you see
The heart that a shut rose is,
And whose beauty ne'er uncloses
Save for me?
She is not rich or clever,
But her speeches thrill me ever,
And with bliss
My heart her whisper flutters,
Though the wisest word she utters
Is a kiss.
All evil things have shunned her,
And with a wide-eyed wonder
Is she tasked,
What lavish god has given
In her earth so much of heaven
All unasked?
She has no gifts or graces,
But the gladness in her face is
Sought of kings;
She cannot chant a measure,
But her heart with a grave pleasure
Ever sings.
Her gown is of the whitest
But the hem is soiled the slightest:
Little worth,
She has no wings to fly with,
And she prefers to hie with
Me on earth.
There is no hint of heaven
Or glimpse of deep thought even
In her eyes;
She is warm and she is human,
Just a weak and wilful woman—
Not too wise.
Her thousand beauties singing,
I have not said how clinging
Are her arms;
But, not loved and not the lover
Dare you ever hope discover
Half her charms?
poem by Arthur Henry Adams
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Charles Carville's Eyes
A melanholy face Charles Carville had,
But not so melancholy as it seemed,
When once you knew him, for his mouth redeemed
His insufficient eyes, forever sad:
In them there was no life-glimpse, good or bad,
Nor joy nor passion in them ever gleamed;
His mouth was all of him that ever beamed,
His eyes were sorry, but his mouth was glad.
He never was a fellow that said much,
And half of what he did say was not heard
By many of us: we were out of touch
With all his whims and all his theories
Till he was dead, so those blank eyes of his
Might speak them. Then we heard them, every word.
poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
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Lights And Shadows
One night she cam, in from the cold
Like a long lost friend, someone to hold
She said, don't ask me now
Cause what's in a name
But when I'm gone you'll never be the same
So won't you hold me now
Can't you see what I came here for
Save me now, cause I now
We'll keep on headin' through
Lights and shadows
We're talkin' lights and shadows
She came from far, with so much to tell
Cause when you're lookin' for love
You can walk through hell
Just like a ricochet, she might come and go
And one look can say more than you'll ever know
So won't you hold me now...
Oh lights and shadows
We're talkin' lights and shadows
So won't you hold me now...
Oh lights and shadows...
We keep on headin' through
Lights and shadows
song performed by by Europe
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rose and Murray
After the movie, when the lights come up,
He takes her powdered hand behind the wings;
She, all in yellow, like a buttercup,
Lifts her white face, yearns up to him, and clings;
And with a silent, gliding step they move
Over the footlights, in familiar glare,
Panther-like in the Tango whirl of love,
He fawning close on her with idiot stare.
Swiftly they cross the stage. O lyric ease!
The drunken music follows the sure feet,
The swaying elbows, intergliding knees,
Moving with slow precision on the beat.
She was a waitress in a restaurant,
He picked her up and taught her how to dance.
She feels his arms, lifts an appealing glance,
But knows he spent last evening with Zudora;
And knows that certain changes are before her.
The brilliant spotlight circles them around,
Flashing the spangles on her weighted dress.
He mimics wooing her, without a sound,
Flatters her with a smoothly smiled caress.
He fears that she will someday queer his act;
Feeling his anger. He will quit her soon.
He nods for faster music. He will contract
Another partner, under another moon.
Meanwhile, 'smooth stuff.' He lets his dry eyes flit
Over the yellow faces there below;
Maybe he'll cut down on his drinks a bit,
Not to annoy her, and spoil the show. . .
Zudora, waiting for her turn to come,
Watches them from the wings and fatly leers
At the girl's younger face, so white and dumb,
And the fixed, anguished eyes, ready for tears.
She lies beside him, with a false wedding-ring,
In a cheap room, with moonlight on the floor;
The moonlit curtains remind her much of spring,
Of a spring evening on the Coney shore.
And while he sleeps, knowing she ought to hate,
She still clings to the lover that she knew,-
The one that, with a pencil on a plate,
Drew a heart and wrote, 'I'd die for you.'
poem by Conrad Potter Aiken
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