Things of great worth shall come to pass...
Things of great worth shall come to pass
By true foreknowledge and in fact,—
Names worthier than mine in fame
And words which earned me men's esteem.
Here breakers roar across the bay;
Wave follows wave unchangeably,
Their tracks, like letters traced in sand,
Erased by ebbing lines of foam.
So yet you're here at this resort.
I should have found you in this hall
At five, instead of vain small talk
I shared and wagging of my tongue.
I would have warned you, one so fair,
Mature, a woman brave and calm,
About the death in life-and bounds
No higher than the ant's low life.
Great poets, through experience,
Find words so simple and restrained
That in the end they can't do more
Than wait in silence and in awe.
In faith and kinship with real life
And with the future knit as one,
We're bound to find immortal words
Of unbelievable simplicity.
Yet keep them holy in your hearts
Or we shall not be spared at all.
Men quickly grasp the complex schemes
When simplicity's their greater need.
poem by Boris Pasternak
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Related quotes
I can not wait for two o’clock to come
I cannot wait for two o’clock to come
to climb on my motorbike
and to ride to the place
where the words of other poets
get life and energy
and bring bliss and burning beauty
and sometimes sincerity
or stark reality
as magic to me.
I cannot wait for two o’clock to come
to hear the words
of a master and to find something
in his thoughts that I can make mine,
as if it was buried in my soul
just waiting for the sun and rain
and interaction to sprout
growing green like a living thing.
I cannot wait for two o’clock to come
to read my own poetry
and to see what other
people make of it
and to know
if my words are truly
hitting their mark.
I cannot wait for two o’clock to come
and to experience something great
that makes life worth living
and perhaps for some time
to sit near the presence
of the Immortal One
that gives man the ability
to turn words into the magic
that life aught to be.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Tangible
How do I explain something tangible
Like the breeze against my skin
Just there
Tossing strands of hair
Here and there
How do I explain something so grand
It has no words
Do I stand in the Parthenon
Asking your patron for the right words
When I cant find them
Just so you know
Do I tell you that despite our human nature
Sometimes the gift of thought
Transcends when the stars align
And the future
Big or small
Is in your smile
But how do I tell you
How do I tell you
Without epic confusion
Without fear
You in my life
Is something I never expected
Friends or more
The decision was always yours
How do I put into words
Something most never find
Something very few know
Something cherished
In any aspect it's granted
How do I explain
Floating on a cloud
When you're around
Simplicity
Was never this complex in words
But this pull
Feels like satin
Feels like steel
And out of every girl
Only you challenge me
To see what' s just head
Only you make me feel
Like something tangible
Only you make me feel
Real
poem by Alejandro Torres
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Salt Is.... Just Salty
There's so much in this world I cannot explain
The greatest scholars try in vain
Not because the knowledge is so loft
Not because we're growing soft
Nor because it's abstract
But in fact
Quite the opposite
Because some words there's just not a definition that can fit
The problem doesn't come from the objects
It's the simplicity that does perplex
Even the wisest of us all
Our logic does fall
Because it is so far below
How do we define the? What about slow
There's salt, and memory, and even know
What do we know if we don't know such words
People complain of jargon, taxonomic names for birds
But they can't even define what's simple
With that problem, man we got our hands full
We just cop out
Said that salt is salty, the is the, we live without
A real definition, but I think it's those words that are most profound
Belief, God Truth the list goes on, but this is where true wisdom is found
There's the trivial we can seek define
Or there's the words that matter most which will define
Us, it's those words I think that we should not just verbalize
But instead simply realize
That the definition is known by experience
It's indescribable because they're just that amazing
Our inexperience
Of what's unimportant is as tragic as not knowing
Our own Father, and the pursuit of other things to define us
Is as trivial as looking for a definition of truth.
poem by David Knox
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What You Lack Is The Simplicity Of Reality
my hands on the keyboard
on ten fingers
my eyes do not look for the letters
the letters find
me, i am amazed by this kind
of arrangement
on the simplicity of reality having
a life of its own
letters like bees having a cell
of its own
syllables having a mouth
speaking about what they can do
in a poem
i take this matter lightly
there is no rush
this is not a matter of life and death
but merely a way of letting time pass
beyond our
boundaries
i give in to what is beyond me
i empty myself of its contents
the mouth of my bottle
sings of emptiness
this is the simplicity of reality
it speaks
about nothing.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Tracks Of My Life
The tracks I leave behind are hidden
for future generations to find.
Hidden within a facade of words
that sprout up like new shoots
from this mind of mine.
My life is there for all to see,
the triumphs and the failures
against adversity.
The happiness and sadness
that plagues our daily lives,
the joyful tears and the sorrows pain.
They are all spelt out
within the words I write.
A little bit of me
inherits everything I do.
Therefore, if you read between the lines
you will find them there
all the tracks I leave behind.
poem by David Harris
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A word imagery
It is nice to translate imagery
It is fine blend of summary
It may come In the form of words
It may be fine flow to take it forward
Is it pure means to praise some one?
Or simple oratory or words for none?
It is likely to bring some one to the core
To draw the inference and come closer
It is likely to raise the status
There is great feeling and new impetus
Some one has occupied your mind
You are trying to woo but no means to find
It may ease the life for all times to come
The change is all of sudden and welcome
It is regarding the holy union for future
The words fulfill it and make doubly sure
How to explain it when it is specially a woman?
It has always proved difficult for simple man
He may try to prove it as much as he can
He may try all means so not to miss the train
It is intelligent way of approaching
It may bring new hope each morning
There may still be and look different
It may matter less as it is transparent
Each word may speak of high volume
There is no scope for doubts to assume
One has to grasp it correctly and go ahead
Life may look easy and worthwhile to lead
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal
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The Place Between
Where and how to find immortal soul;
or self; eternal witness; eye of God;
or place, or space, within the eager heart
where All, or One, may hide – or may await?
So where to find first clue; or some frayed end
of golden thread that leads to golden light?
Not in the wrinkled brow… but in the simplest things
the greatest secrets wait, as we are told;
in the magic land that’s called Between:
Between the end of one thought, and the next,
as it is formed within the mind – the briefest space
where nothing but the witness of our self
rests, perfect, pure, complete, within itself;
inviting us to join that rest for just as long
as we enjoy this satisfaction
of the presence of ourself;
And if that taste of presence pleases -
then, between each word we hear or speak,
we’ll find the silence of ourself; and find
how each word comes from silence, and returns;
and as we relish and besport in that great space,
from greater silence, greater words may come..
There is no limit to that world, Between:
we’ll find it more and more, within all things,
beyond all things; it is the music of our life
which sings its song through thought and speech and act;
a music in a boundless space, so vast
that we may meet our greater self – at last!
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Boring Internet Literary Forums
Like me do you find Internet Poetry Forums a bit of a bore
A five minute browse there seems seems enough little more
For me one who is not known to be bright
I do like more humor and less complex subject matter than those who delight
In discussing poets who took life so seriously such as Eliot and Poe
Their legends in death even does seem to grow
And though their poems quite great it does seem fair to say
That their words will not have you laughing all day.
They seldom mention Burns the poet who laughed at life
The children he fathered not all to Jean Armour his wife
Yet he loved all of his offsprings and none of them did disown
'Tis from such a person a true legend has grown.
And they seldom do mention the great Oscar Wilde
For his sexuality by snobbish rednecks reviled
Reading Jail's most famous inmate people like him so rare
As a humorist and writer one beyond compare.
I've just mentioned two great literary names here yet there are many more
Marvellous writers in their works humor to the fore
On internet literary forums their names seldom mentioned if ever at all
Though their humor and pathos worthy of recall.
Though many with what I say here will choose to disagree
The internet literary forums seem boring to me
And though my opinion on them as on many things may seem quite wrong
Five minutes in there for me does seem quite long.
poem by Francis Duggan
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A Poet Tried To Shackle My Words
A poet tried to shackle my words,
as if from every poem
the message was stripped,
as if nowhere there was any mastery
of rhythm and sound to be found
as if I had sold my soul
to masses of people reading my verses,
as if I live in disrespect
to the expertise that a great poet
displays in his work
as if every line of mine
was just a wild cacophony
that I had flung together
in a utter hurry
to shower down on crowds of people.
Yet I while I swam against a tempest sea,
sticking to the truth and integrity,
trying to find answers to life’s mysteries
and problems
trying to expose injustice and oppression
there was boasting about a elitis clique
that totally excludes me
but they were going along the path
of political correctness and maybe indifference,
being far too scared to ruffle some feathers,
writing verses sixty times over and over
before they were becoming poems somehow,
before their words were catching some magic
believing that a great poem,
is like a jigsaw puzzle,
that you have got to unravel
with a dictionary,
where simple words can fuse together
with a own type of magic,
lacking in the ability
to find poetry in ordinary things,
to create poetry in lines
that by themselves fuses together
to create something great
but my words kept on coming,
falling into lines,
as if designed by a divine presence
and by themselves fused
into much deeper meaning
than I could find with my own abilities.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Small Talk & Pride
(john farrar)
We never really had the chance to let each other know
We never really had the time to let our feelings show
Small talk kept us going
When the only words to say
Were how I long to hold you
Pride locked the words away
I never had the confidence to think that you could care
I never looked into your eyes to see if love was there
I talked it over with myself and silently agreed
Your heart was in a high place unreachable to me
I waited too long for a sign from you
Reached for a line that you never threw
Small talk and pride kept us from getting together
Now theres never a day youre not on my mind
Saying the words we could never find
Small talk and pride took you from my life forever
Ill never hold the cards again
To win a love so real
I know Id gamble everything
But mistress fate wont deal
I just have to be content to learn by my mistakes
Our hearts were just a breath away
Now theyre far enough to break
I waited too long for a sign from you
Reached for a line that you never threw
Small talk and pride kept us from getting together
Now theres never a day youre not on my mind
Saying the words we could never find
Small talk and pride took you from my life forever
song performed by by Olivia Newton-John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Greater Lines Of Others
THE GREATER LINES OF OTHERS
The greater lines of others
Shadow my own.
I hear them within myself
Making mockery of the lines
I now write down.
The great poets own poetry
And we with the little words
And the big dreams
Might be wiser
To let only our silence
Speak for us.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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12
what appears is what it is
that is how simple it is
and how beautiful can it be
a petal of a flower is nothing
but a petal of a flower
falling to the ground on a
windless day
caused by no other than
this pull of gravity
we watch a world unfolding
we only use words because there is a need to write
what beautiful thing we have seen
but there is more to the simplicity of all these things
those that we have seen and felt and
cannot completely tell you
even in the most simple words of our poetry
the experience of beauty is so personal
like how i experience the poetry of the heart
it is like this, no, it is like this... words fail now
(........)
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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8
what appears is what it is
that is how simple it is
and how beautiful can it be
a petal of a flower is nothing
but a petal of a flower
falling to the ground on a
windless day
caused by no other than
this pull of gravity
we watch a world unfolding
we only use words because there is a need to write
what beautiful thing we have seen
but there is more to the simplicity of all these things
those that we have seen and felt and
cannot completely tell you
even in the most simple words of our poetry
the experience of beauty is so personal
like how i experience the poetry of the heart
it is like this, no, it is like this... words fail now
(........)
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Life
MID A HOARD OF PARADOXES INDEED,
ENTWINED IN A SERIES OF CONTRADICTIONS,
BE CAREFUL TO TAKE UTMOST HEED.
AVOID ONE OF LIFE’S GREAT AFFLICTIONS.
NEVER NURTURE IMAGES OF SIMPLICITY’S LIE.
DON’T BATTLE CONTRADICTIONS THAT ARE REAL.
ESPOUSE THE CHANCE TO UNDERSTAND WHY
OR ACCEPT THEM ON FAITH AND WITH ZEAL.
PEOPLE AREN’T ALL GOOD NOR ARE THEY ALL BAD;
AS THE SUN THAT GIVES LIFE AND TAKES IT AWAY.
DON’T LET PARADOXES OR CONTRADITIONS BE SAD.
THEN HAPPINESS WILL RULE YOUR DAY.
BUT IF YOU DRINK FROM THE CUP OF SIMPLICITY,
REFUSING TO ACCEPT LIFE’S CONTRADICTIONS,
MOST SURELY YOU’LL BE ANGRY, SAD AND LONLEY,
PARADOXICALLY ONE OF LIFE’S GREAT AFFLICTIONS.
poem by Gregory Huyette
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Lost For Words
If I can't find the words...
Waiting for this feeling
That I'm drowning in to subside
You make me swim like a beginner
Like I'm new at life
All these words don't come easy
No they always seem to stop
There is awkward silence yeah
Anytime we talk
Oh but I wanna let it in
I wanna ease all your doubts
I keep trying to get it out
But if I can't find the words
To tell you what I'm feeling
Baby that don't mean
It don't mean that I don't feel it
I'm trying to tell you girl
But if you don't believe just look and see
My face says what you mean to me
When I can't find the words
I know I can send you flowers
To try to make my feelings clear
And girl I could hold you tight for hours
I wanna tell you what you're trying to hear
Oh and I wanna let it in
I wanna ease all your doubts
I keep trying to get it out
But if I can't find the words
To tell you what I'm feeling
Baby that don't mean
It don't mean that I don't feel it
I'm trying to tell you girl
But if you don't believe just look and see
My face says what you mean to me
When I can't find the words
But I know sometimes I leave you so upset
Cos I got all these bits and pieces in my head
I know because I let you struggle with the things I haven't said
When I can't find the words
When I can't find the words
When I, when I, when I can't find the words
I wanna ease all your doubts (ease all your doubts)
I keep trying to get it out
But if I can't find the words
To tell you what I'm feeling
But baby that don't mean
It don't mean that I don't feel it
I'm trying to tell you girl
But if you don't believe just look and see
My smile says what you mean to me
When I can't find the words
If I can't find the words
song performed by by Ronan Keating
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When God And I Sang Love Songs
In the beginning was the word and the word wanted me
words many words haunted my days haunted my nights
sleepless nights so tired so tired yet the word wanted me
wanting needing to sleep yet words drove me would not let me be
words lines of verse filling filling my mind time after absorbent time
poems born in the night night visions night words wanting born life
no choice no choice the word commands commanded servant soul writes
hot summer nights sped youth hair dusty blond skin beach burnt brown
wind kissed bronze naked skin sea carried surging soul safe in wave water
salt spray wave spray sea foam wave burst white foam birth born surging
sea surge ocean surge wind wide sea beach breaking over wild soul free
swimming beach sand river tides water pulse washing over through soul
riding out hard fast with death wave laughing life rhythms tide fast run
words nights of words stone dropping given in love to God life codes
biorhythms still life lost thirty minutes hours blink in deep meditations
diving into quest states mind soaring soaring
through vast layered sea deep meaning
poems freeborn so many poems written intermixing
together rhythm worship never ending
poems life love wave vibrant harmonic ad hoc fusing
soul carried I sang our life songs of life
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Words
Yeats so simply stated
' Words alone are certain good. '
And to the great poet
So highly rated
I try to listen, as I should; Yet
Being an untrained novice
Such as me
With verdant hopes of much improvement
- oh that I would -
I beg to slightly differ with W. B.
And offer here my humble opinion
- if I could -
Good certainly is not words alone,
For without humanity
To read and to write
How would they ever become known?
- For without the good of people
Who of these words would care
Ever to be heard, or even shared?
No, the good does not alone from words arise,
Rather from human beings
Whose entire story
Such words do attempt to comprise.......
- Words written in this time
May even the way
To a distant future find,
But not on their own
And never alone.
For it takes people's
- hand's to write
- eye's to read
- heart and soul to understand
The purpose, and the need.
Let it here be shown
Words alone
Are not the only good,
They need human beings
To give goodness and life
To their reason and meaning
For they are merely the vehicle
By which man's true good
Is found and understood.
poem by Smoky Hoss
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Just Passing Time
She was grasping for a way to tell us all
The hurt she felt inside
Were all too happy she says
Lets have a war
And the night digs deeper in
Theyre just some words to pass the time
Some words to pass the time
Now when the silence gets to be too much
I can feel the soul searching
Where do I go when Ive lost my cause
We are the stories
Even the good ones let me down
There all just words to pass the time
I used to be so sincere
And maybe I still am
And all this small talk Ive been reeling off
Is slowly getting out of hand
I mix real feelings
With the ones I wish I had
And I catch the most important ones
In between them all
Sometimes it seems like theyre all just words
To pass the time
And then weve lost our time
And weve wasted out words
And all the strain is gone
Sometimes its too unreal to believe
Just dont give it all away
Get a grip
Causes sometimes there are just words to pass the time
I said Im too high Im too high
And Im scared of falling down
Ive just been grasping for words
To make you want to stay
To make it worthwhile
I dont want spend the rest of my life
Just passing time
I dont want to spend the rest of my life here
Just passing time
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Twenty Lines
I just read this poem about using just twenty lines,
and it brought these words to my mind.
Who are they to tell us how many lines we should use to speak?
This is America where we have a law known as freedom of speech.
Just twenty lines tell you something about my life in words.
To me that seem completely absurd.
My life is much more than just twenty lines.
Hell I am thirty nine.
And if they except me to sum up thirty nine years in twenty lines
They are complete outside their minds.
How am I suppose to tell you how I nearly died when I was child?
Or how my mother harsh words took away my smile:
In just twenty lines?
Like I said they must be out of their minds.
I guest I can do if I shorten my life.
I don't have to talk about how much I love my future wife.
But her love is the inspiration for a lot of my poems.
So to not talk about her would be wrong.
I have a lot more to say but I'm out of time.
I reach my limit of my twenty lines.
Bottled Message 1717
From shore to shore
I brave wild waves
with winds unsure
'bove mermaid cave,
in shine or pour
with message grave
within I store,
from water save.
While currents flow
from East to West
I onwards go
and do my best
to bring words so
they find fair guest
whose heart may know
shared joy unguessed.
Thus bottle green
upon sea blue
will float unseen
by blue sky too,
until the scene
is set for two
to find love keen
which years renew.
As bottle sent
one April day
I'd spring event
life-changing, May
no sooner spent
saw June display
as covenant
where interplay
would represent
Joy's present, way
to taste sweet scent
as roundelay
was surely meant
all fears to lay
at rest, prevent
guilt complex grey.
Upon time's stream
the message came
as true dream's beam
to help two claim
tomorrow's team
free from all blame
could bloom, esteem
helps heart pure flame
complete life's scheme
while spurning shame
as groundless, deem
tomorrow's fame
would show shared gleam.
From bridge of sighs
flow onwards: face,
once shed disguise
and self-disgrace,
joy love supplies
to interface
with wisdom wise
as time and place
dissolve, while cries
one can replace
and recognize
as two embrace
the future lies
ahead! Displace
forgotten lies
past tears might trace.
One could write on
till cows come home,
unreel tale long
on how to roam
at sea in song,
words honeycomb
in plaits sweet, strong,
neath starry dome.
But this might bore
the reader who
could stop before
end comes on cue,
paint stormy roar
and calm - but few
can cope with more
than this so you
must know to woo
was message sent
on Chance's tide
to represent
love none should hide.
Tale ends. Fate meant
two bona fide
to find shared tent,
and there abide.
(9 January 2008)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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