Thoughtless Cruelty
There, Robert, you have killed that fly,
And should you thousand ages try
The life you've taken to supply,
You could not do it.
You surely must have been devoid
Of thought and sense, to have destroyed
A thing which no way you annoyed-
You'll one day rue it.
'Twas but a fly perhaps you'll say,
That's born in April, dies in May;
That does but just learn to display
His wings one minute,
And in the next is vanished quite:
A bird devours it in his flight,
Or come a cold blast in the night,
There's no breath in it.
The bird but seeks his proper food;
And Providence, whose power endued
That fly with life, when it thinks good,
May justly take it.
But you have no excuses for't;
A life by Nature made so short,
Less reason is that you for sport
Should shorter make it.
A fly a little thing you rate,
But, Robert, do not estimate
A creature's pain by small or great;
The greatest being
Can have but fibres, nerves, and flesh,
And these the smallest ones possess,
Although their frame and structure less
Escape our seeing.
poem by Charles Lamb
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
The Exposed Nest
You were forever finding some new play.
So when I saw you down on hands and knees
I the meadow, busy with the new-cut hay,
Trying, I thought, to set it up on end,
I went to show you how to make it stay,
If that was your idea, against the breeze,
And, if you asked me, even help pretend
To make it root again and grow afresh.
But 'twas no make-believe with you today,
Nor was the grass itself your real concern,
Though I found your hand full of wilted fern,
Steel-bright June-grass, and blackening heads of clovers.
'Twas a nest full of young birds on the ground
The cutter-bar had just gone champing over
(Miraculously without tasking flesh)
And left defenseless to the heat and light.
You wanted to restore them to their right
Of something interposed between their sight
And too much world at once--could means be found.
The way the nest-full every time we stirred
Stood up to us as to a mother-bird
Whose coming home has been too long deferred,
Made me ask would the mother-bird return
And care for them in such a change of scene
And might out meddling make her more afraid.
That was a thing we could not wait to learn.
We saw the risk we took in doing good,
But dared not spare to do the best we could
Though harm should come of it; so built the screen
You had begun, and gave them back their shade.
All this to prove we cared. Why is there then
No more to tell? We turned to other things.
I haven't any memory--have you?--
Of ever coming to the place again
To see if the birds lived the first night through,
And so at last to learn to use their wings.
poem by Robert Frost
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I Always Have Loved Mother Nature
I always have loved Mother Nature ever since I was a boy
And a thing of Natural beauty is always a thing of joy
And the mysteries of Nature is a mysterious thing
There is far more to any bird than the song it does sing
I always have loved Nature though my wonderment of her grow
And the more I learn about her the less about her I know I know
From humankind Mother Nature her secrets she hides away
And from our walks in Nature we learn every day
The only true immortal of which we will ever know
Us people like her Seasons to life we come and from life we go
I always have loved Nature and in that I'm not alone
Her secrets hidden in every bush and tree and hedge and under every stone
Her mighty rivers from her hills to her great oceans flow
And she has been around long before plants on her first did grow
In her bosom with all other life forms I will also lay
And I will love Nature till my last living day.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I'd Like To Know More About Nature
I'd like to know more about Nature for of Nature so little i know
Though we see the beauty she creates and the beautiful things she does grow
Her rill that is born by the mountain flows downland by many a hedgerow
And it swells into a mighty river and on towards the ocean does flow.
I'd like to know more about Nature for Nature is an amazing thing
The song bird who sings in your garden sings the same song his father did sing
This is just one wonder of Nature how a small bird remembers a song
And passes it on through his genes to his offsprings a secret that to Nature belong.
I'd like to know more about Nature for of Nature i know little at all
Though i just like billions of others can recognize some birds and animals by their call
Great human minds have studied Nature but they only do learn to realize
That there is far more to our Earth Mother far more to her than meets our eyes.
I'd like to know more about Nature though i look at her every day
She guards her secrets with secrecy and from us she hides them away
And those who say they know all of Nature are those who do broadcast a lie
And Nature she lives on forever and we like all of her life forms must die.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Question
O bird with heart of wassail,
That toss the Bacchic branch,
And slip your shaken music,
An elfin avalanche;
Come tell me, O tell me,
My poet of the blue!
What's YOUR thought of me, Sweet?--
Here's MY thought of you.
A small thing, a wee thing,
A brown fleck of nought;
With winging and singing
That who could have thought?
A small thing, a wee thing,
A brown amaze withal,
That fly a pitch more azure
Because you're so small.
Bird, I'm a small thing--
My angel descries;
With winging and singing
That who could surmise?
Ah, small things, ah, wee things,
Are the poets all,
Whose tour's the more azure
Because they're so small.
The angels hang watching
The tiny men-things:-
'The dear speck of flesh, see,
With such daring wings!
'Come, tell us, O tell us,
Thou strange mortality!
What's THY thought of us, Dear?--
Here's OUR thought of thee.'
'Alack! you tall angels,
I can't think so high!
I can't think what it feels like
Not to be I.'
Come tell me, O tell me,
My poet of the blue!
What's YOUR thought of me, Sweet?--
Here's MY thought of you.
poem by Francis Thompson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Zen Archer
Pretty bird with feathers falling
Pretty as a lady calling
For her pink and midnight lover
As she stares into the water
And a yellow moon is rising
And there can't be no disguising
That the pretty bird is dying
With a silver arrow lying at its side
Rivers of blood,
Oceans of tears,
Life without death,
And death without reason
To the whole united nations,
To your greatest expectations
To the moment that you realize
As a dark figure slips from out of the shadow
Pretty bird closes its eyes, pretty bird dies
Another pretty thing dead on the end of the shaft
Of the zen archer
A man in parts forgotten
With an outlook that is rotten
And an attitude to match it
Finds relief inside a hatchet
And he halved someone in boulder
Justifiability is in the hands of the beholder
And you just don't know what people will do next
Mountains of pain,
Valleys of love,
Death without life,
And life without meaning
To the promise kept and broken
To the love that's never spoken
Just as surely as i'm in your ears
A dark figure slips from out of the shadow
song performed by by Todd Rundgren
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Zen Archer
Pretty bird with feathers falling
Pretty as a lady calling
For her pink and midnight lover
As she stares into the water
And a yellow moon is rising
And there can't be no disguising
That the pretty bird is dying
With a silver arrow lying at its side
Rivers of blood,
Oceans of tears,
Life without death,
And death without reason
To the whole united nations,
To your greatest expectations
To the moment that you realize
As a dark figure slips from out of the shadow
Pretty bird closes its eyes, pretty bird dies
Another pretty thing dead on the end of the shaft
Of the zen archer
A man in parts forgotten
With an outlook that is rotten
And an attitude to match it
Finds relief inside a hatchet
And he halved someone in boulder
Justifiability is in the hands of the beholder
And you just don't know what people will do next
Mountains of pain,
Valleys of love,
Death without life,
And life without meaning
To the promise kept and broken
To the love that's never spoken
Just as surely as i'm in your ears
A dark figure slips from out of the shadow
song performed by by Todd Rundgren
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
You Never Stop Learning Though You Are Old And Gray
You never stop learning though you are old and gray
From Life and Nature we learn something new every day
Though of Nature's ways little we do seem to know
And our wonder of her only does seem to grow
The migratory swallows are born to fly
Apart from nesting they do spend their days in the sky
In late Autumn they fly off to warms Lands afar
High above the oceans at the speed of a car
To where they were born they return to breed in the Spring
The workings of Nature are a marvellous thing
The mystery of bird migration never cease to amaze
And some never do tire of singing Nature's praise
I know I'm not one of the enlightened few
But each day from Life and Nature I learn something new.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
From Severe Sorrow He Almost Went Mad
(after Robert Ranke Graves)
From severe sorrow he almost went mad
when he suddenly saw some strange things
in nature and the universe
and maybe it came from to much sorrow;
he noticed small things like falling leaves,
the smallest white flower slowly opening,
the first tiny whistle of a small bird,
thunder hitting far in the distance
even rocks glistening with black metal,
he even saw wings of birds fluttering,
the movement of every small snake,
but between life and death he could not reach
and he could not look at his buried wife
or living go to that other kingdom.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A way to end
These sorrows I had thought forgotten
Now I feel my hope has rotten
So shortly lived and quick to die
Or perhaps it found its wings to fly
To another soul who thought to borrow
A way to end this pain and sorrow
A short-lived victor in happy times
Until he returns to write his lines
Of a life that seems so cold to him
For he's never to go home again
Now he feels that he is hollow
Left with only pain and sorrow
There is no escape for him he fears
Drowning himself in his tears
It seems an ocean that he's made
He shakes, he knows that he's afraid
Because he'll never see tommorrow
It's hard to live with pain and sorrow
poem by Robert Sierra
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
NEW Breath Of Life
I look has the sun rises to bring the end of a cold night
The breeze of the morning sun wakes up the world
But there are parts that don’t get touched by the sun
The dark figures rest in the shadows
The wait for the night to come alive
Blood thirsty with a moments notice
There are some people that can go into the shadows
They are outsiders of the mortal race
They want to learn about the magic that make up life
The dark figures tell the outsides about the way of the night
They ask an outsider to join their side
The outsider agrees without hesitation
He becomes a creature of both night and day
He gets a new breath of life
The power of love, hate and pain went thought his body
The day sun shined and hurt his eyes
He is becoming a werewolf
With blood boiling in his veins
He thinks what he did to his life
I am a creature of the night he yells to the moon
That this a sound he hears in his ears
He opens his eyes and finds that it was all a dream
Or was it
That night the full moon rise
And fur goes around him and he howls long and loud
Blood lust in his new eyes looking for a kill
He takes on a bear and eats until full
And runs away and wakes up to the sun again
Does not remember anything
Except a new breath of life
poem by Thomas Henderson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Wonders Of Mother Nature
Mother nature
Oh mother nature
How beautiful and lovely you are
With such a tender loving care
Mother Nature
Ohh! Mother Nature
Our dearest mother nature
Our amazing mother nature
Ohh! Mother Nature
If nature allows can I please ask you a question
As a mother
How come you killed your young?
How come you made your fellow mothers cry?
How come you took away their joy?
You took the only thing that made their lives blossom
You suppose to make life beautiful
Mother Nature you suppose build
But how come you destroyed homes
Mother Nature you suppose to make the world a good place to be in
Yet you have turned the world to be a horrible place
Mother Nature as a mother you suppose to warn your young when the go astray
Not to destroy them
Yet you destroyed and killed them
You suppose to symbolize new beginnings and that there’s always hope
Yet you came and shuttled people’s lives and dreams
poem by Vangile Mtyali
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Sea-Weeds.
The sunlight piercing through the blue wave feeds
The joyous growths that, clustered from the air,
Throw forth their fibres to the Power that breeds
Love in the lives above of all things fair —
The ever-living Sun, that through man's days
Is as the breath of all the thinks and says.
Light streams down to them in that watery mist,
E'en as thought's splendor in a human mood
Life-filling, like a glorious amethyst
Among the mountains in their solitude;
And the sea-things drink in at every pore
The nurture of the light till life is o'er.
Till life is o'er, and Death within the ooze
Then hides them from the joyous light and air;
E'en as, too, in the mind the flaming muse
Burns down to ashes in a world made bare
With want and woe, and the pain whose defeat
Must be by death — when death alone is sweet.
poem by Robert Crawford
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Of Life And Of Nature
I knew just as much about them fifty years ago
Of Life and of Nature as now I do know
Though from our dealings with people we learn every day
We learn as we live as some are known to say
But Nature of course is a different thing
And though the praises of Nature the Poets may sing
And though from living near Nature insights from her we do gain
Her secrets from us as great mysteries remain.
Even since the invention of the first motor car
Human kind in technology have gone so far
But the greatest are mere mortals just like you and I
And great minds are born and great minds must die.
The achievements of human kind doubtless are great
But Nature out of nothing something can create
And about Nature and Life today fifty years ago as much I knew
But each day from living we learn something new.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Our Bird In Your Cage
we have this bird
we both own it and love it and care for it
our bird
and you have this cage
that you only own
golden, new and strong and as you say it
so reliable
that when our bird is in that cage
it will be safe
and cannot escape
we feed this bird together
and give it water and birdseeds
and a place of twigs and swing
where the bird can play
and perch upon
like it is on a tree
days and years
we keep this bird in your cage
and we see it is dying
and wanting to be free
yet you say, this sickness is just temporary
time heals what has wounded it
and shall forget the power of its wings
days and more years
we keep this bird in your cage
and i have not listened at all
to the sad song of that bird
her waning chirps
her weakened wings
her way of losing hold to the dreams of its wings
today we see this bird is dead
but you have no sadness at all
you say, you will buy another bird
again to be kept in your cage
i could have told you
i am the bird in your cage and i too have forgotten the power of
my wings
i could have told you, i have long died
and have forgotten what freedom is, what love is, what i am
in the first place. How can i ever tell you?
you are my cage.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Life Is To Short, Ppl Please Don't Waste It!
Life is too short to worry about the little things in life.
Life is too precious to waste everyday mad or sad.
Life...One of the greatest gifts God has given us.
No One knows how may days, weeks, months, yrs...that we have on this Earth. We could be here next, in gone the next minute.
People who are reading this, Life is too short to waste. Live everyday like it's your last, and enjoy life as possible. It's too precious to throw away, to precious to lose
The reason why I wrote this is because a student in my school was killed yesterday her name was Danielle Stewart, and she was one of the sweetest girls I've ever known. She was killed a day before Homecoming. She will never go to Prom, never get to graduate with her friends, go to college, get married, and start a beautiful family. It kills me to know that it took a death to bring everybody an awakening. Before she was killed, I was being rowdy and especially of all keeping a secret from the father of my unborn child..but as this is going on It's made me realize that life is too short, to precious. Danielle didn't know she was going to die, she didn't know it was her last day on Earth. So ppl please let everyone you know that you love them, and always live life to the fullest!
Love,
Whitney Scott
poem by Whitney Scott
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Listen to The Song of Invisible Bird!
Listen to The Song of that invisible bird,
The Song of great singer several souls heard,
Sings sitting on tree of life, hidden under every leaf,
Its song go unheard by those pretend deaf,
Ever tuned to that great music,
Everytime it sings same song,
But with different lyrics and different words,
Autumn may come followed by spring,
Leaves may fall to make way to new,
Each leaf has that song, the bird flies under cover of green leaf,
When old yellow one fall,
Green leaves should learn from the fall of the old!
One can wait flowers to bloom,
Or can reap all fruits mature,
or remove immature buds or raw fruits,
The tree of life spread to several worlds,
One parallel to other,
Makes one world happy by another,
some may cross and intersect,
only to give or take life!
Come an sit near a flower,
Look at frog waiting for insects to come,
The invisible bird sings its song,
May it be heart of the flower,
It is flower for you,
source of nectar to insects,
place where frog gets its food!
It is cage for that bird ready to fly,
enters as nectar into insect,
and it enters frog as insects,
and moves along food chain,
It may be invisible to these eyes,
Yet it has its flight can be seen,
Look at your heart, the same bird sing,
Who knows when and where is its next flight?
poem by Ramdas Bhandarkar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
White Butterflies
Their beauty sad to say will not last long a few days to live that is all
The white butterflies in the garden on this warm day in the Fall
So little time in their bloom of beauty to mate and lay their eggs and to fly
Around the wildflowers and the flowering bushes when the sun shines bright in the sky
Of death they would not have a sense of but a few days in time to them must seem long
Their is so much to learn of Nature though Nature keeps proving us wrong
So innocent in their great beauty they are as natural as bird song
And so soon to return to Nature for to Nature they surely belong,
In the sky they seem to be dancing perhaps in a courtship display
Of butterfly life i am ignorant and my assumptions a guess anyway
As butterflies their's is a brief existence their life span is forty eight hours
They will be outlived by most insects and they will be outlived by the flowers
In a few days they will be with Nature as Nature takes back
what she does create
In the sunshine they flit through the garden seemingly quite unaware of their fate.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Each Creature Within Nature
From the great whales of the ocean to the garden snail in his shell
Each creature within Nature does serve it's purpose well
And the creatures we dismiss as vermin are not vermin at all
They contribute to Nature in some way though their contribution may seem small
What can be said of Nature that has not been said before
She is the one immortal she will live forever more
Many of her creatures gone to extinction but new life forms she create
The one the artists and the writers feel inspired to celebrate
The one who lives by her own law and does things in her own way
From our every walk in Nature we learn every day
'Tis not out of a sense of joy that the male bird sings his song
But to warn neighbour males of his own kind that this patch to him belong
The creatures us humans dismiss as vermin not so in Nature's eyes
And Nature's ways are far more complex than we even realize.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Bird in a Cage
How much I feel for the poor things
Unable to fly or spread their wings,
Each day with the same view
Sad and lonely nothing to do.
To the bird the world is that room
Confined to the cage, that's his tomb.
For life without freedom is nothing at all
No matter whether you're big or small.
Longing to fly on the breeze
Soaring high over the trees
Seeing new places every day
Flying and twirling in glorious play.
Never knowing freedom of the bird that fly's
Sitting on his perch ‘till he dies.
How can a bird that's born for joy
Sit in a cage and sing, like a stuffed toy.
© Hazel 2012
poem by Hazel Connelly
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Unable To Fly
I was once like a little bird
Caught by your hidden trap
Surrender unto you like a prey
Bleeding weakly with fright
Brought me to your home with pride
All day and night you cared
Healed those wounds beneath my wings
Built me a cage made of gold
Awaken me with the pat of love
Taught me how to sing of thanks
Many days have passed
I’ve been a joy in your life
And so you forgot who I was
Who I am and what I long outside
Forgotten that I’m prisoner of love
Though you treated me so kind
I want to be free, a bird of flight
I am eager to try if I can fly
Use my wings under the golden light
Soar into the blue sky, I will arise
And from my cage you let me free
But with claws so weak to grip
With wings unrehearsed to fly
I fainted in this frightful flight
So I find way back to your arms
I don’t know if I’ll be mad at you
Cease to sing to make you blue
‘Cause you deprived my right to fly
All my life I will be a parasite
For without you I cannot survive
poem by Rose de Ramar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!