An Epitaph
I've lived a rather careless life,
And many a fault have I;
But I'd have you not stress the strife
What time I come to die.
I'd rather have you talk about
My qualities humane;
As one who cut the rough stuff out,
And has not lived in vain.
So, when you seek to laud my worth,
Write this - let truth prevail:
'He lived for many years on earth,
Yet never killed a whale.'
poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Vain And Careless
Lady, lovely lady,
Careless and gay!
Once when a beggar called
She gave her child away.
The beggar took the baby,
Wrapped it in a shawl,
'Bring her back,' the lady said,
'Next time you call.'
Hard by lived a vain man,
So vain and so proud,
He walked on stilts
To be seen by the crowd.
Up above the chimney pots,
Tall as a mast,
And all the people ran about
Shouting till he passed.
'A splendid match surely,'
Neighbours saw it plain,
'Although she is so careless,
Although he is so vain.'
But the lady played bobcherry,
Did not see or care,
As the vain man went by her
Aloft in the air.
This gentle-born couple
Lived and died apart.
Water will not mix with oil,
Nor vain with careless heart.
poem by Robert Graves
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I lived rough, by my wits, was homeless, lived on the streets, lived on friends' floors, was happy, was miserable.
Life
CHILDREN, ye have not lived, to you it seems
Life is a lovely stalactite of dreams,
Or carnival of careless joys that leap
About your hearts like billows on the deep
In flames of amber and of amethyst.
Children, ye have not lived, ye but exist
Till some resistless hour shall rise and move
Your hearts to wake and hunger after love,
And thirst with passionate longing for the things
That burn your brows with blood-red sufferings.
Till ye have battled with great grief and fears,
And borne the conflict of dream-shattering years,
Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife,
Children, ye have not lived: for this is life.
poem by Sarojini Naidu
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It Aint Necessarily So
Sportin life:
It aint necessarily so,
All:
It aint necessarily so.
Sportin life:
De tings dat yo lible
To read in de Bible -
It aint necessarily so.
Lil david was small, but oh my!
All:
Lil david was small, but oh my!
Sportin life:
He fought big goliath
Who lay down and dieth -
Lil david was small, but oh my!
Wadoo!
Ensemble:
Wadoo!
Sportin life:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Ensemble:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Sportin life:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Ensemble:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Sportin life:
Scatty way!
Ensemble:
Scatty wah!
Sportin life:
Yeah!
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale
All:
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale.
Sportin life:
Fo he made his home in
Dat fishs abdomen -
Oh jonah, he lived in de whale.
Lil moses was found in a stream
All:
Lil moses was found in a stream
Sportin life:
He floated on water
till ole pharaohs daughter
She fished him, she says from dat stream.
Wadoo!
Ensemble:
Wadoo!
Sportin life:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Ensemble:
Zim bam boddle-oo!
Sportin life:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Ensemble:
Hoodle ah da waah da!
Sportin life:
Scatty way!
Ensemble:
Scatty wah!
Sportin life:
Yeah!
It aint necessarily so
All:
It aint necessarily so
Sportin life:
Dey tell all you chillun
De debbles a villun
But taint necessarily so.
To get into hebbben
Dont snap fo a sebben -
Live clean! don have no fault!
Oh, I takes dat gospel
Whenever its posple -
But wid a grain of salt!
Methuslah lived nine hundred years,
All:
Methuslah lived nine hundred years,
Sportin life:
But who calls dat livin
When no galll give in
To no man whats nine hundred years?
Im preachin dis sermon to show
It aint nessa, aint nessa,
Aint nessa, aint nessa -
All:
It aint necessarily so!
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.
quote by Michel de Montaigne
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Life Alone
How does one justify a life lived alone
How does one love if they have never been shown
A life lived alone is a life lived in vain
A life lived alone has very little to gain
Why would anyone choose to live this way
Why would anyone choose to be alone everyday
Is it living alone a shy reality to blame
Is it living alone yet another of societys shame
I stand here alone with a tear in my eye
I stand here alone and wish to understand why.
'closing thought'
A singles life can have its moments of pleasure
But a family life is filled with memories to treasure
poem by Gordon Jerome
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The King [ I ]
AMONG the sons of Englishmen
Full many feel like real tears,
For, though he reigned but scarcely ten,
He bore the burden many years.
He lived the dead past doubly down,
He shamed, by manliness and truth,
The lies that beat about a crown,
And round a known man in his youth.
For he had lived as men have done
Since Adam’s time, to prove them true.
He proved it in his manhood’s prime,
And to the end, as strong men do.
And so he died, and, ever since,
And on through years the words shall ring:
“He lived a man, he lived a prince,
And died a gentleman and King.”
Unto the friends of his hot youth,
In his wise age, he still was true.
He showed, by steadfastness and truth,
What kings as well as men can do;
Till all was manlike or forgot,
Long years ere he found his release;
He made them loyal who were not,
He won respect, and kept the peace.
poem by Henry Lawson
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I Walked Last Night In A District I Lived In For Almost Twenty Years
I WALKED LAST NIGHT IN A DISTRICT I LIVED IN FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS
I walked last night in a district I lived in for almost twenty years
I came back after being away for a time
To visit an old and ailing friend
The streets were empty and lonely as they often were then-
I thought for the first time I understood how lonely the district itself is-
‘A lonely district’
I wondered how I managed to live there all those years
And how anyone still manages to live there-
I looked up at the sky and wrote in my mind a small poem of a kind I wrote many of in my years there
I remembered teachers and friends who had lived there
No longer of this district or any district on earth
I wondered how life goes and how from so many years so much life has been lived without having any place in my memory
I felt as empty inside as the district without
I did not have to wait long for the bus
And relieved inside it I put my heart to home
So many years had been lived there
I remembered taking my small children to the playground there
Now they thank G-d have children of their own
Oh the years go by and the life we have lived in them largely dies
Forever to be unknown again-
I put my heart and mind in a different direction
And began to do what I always do – not think of the district again
Life is this mystery and question we live through and never wholly possess even as we are experiencing it
How long before all will be gone for me
Including the district I live in now?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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A Poem About Earth
I'm what's called a human being
and I've been one since my birth
I've lived here for many years
on this place that we call Earth.
Never lived anywhere else
as Earth's the place for me
other human beings live here too
and animals like Dogs and Chimpanzee.
Earth is called a Planet
but it's not like Mars
no humans live up there
so they'd be no Buses or cars.
There's lots of stuff on Earth
like Rivers, Mountains, and Trees,
and people grow stuff on Allotments
like Radish, Cabbage, and Peas.
The best things here on Earth?
has to be Football, Women, and Beer,
and because you won't find them on Mars
I say thank you Lord for putting them here!
poem by Kevin Halls
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If I Lived One More LIfe... I Would
If I lived one more life
I would melt by the gentle sight of you
I would believe that your love is true
I would erase my fake intention
I would hold back all my foolish emotion
If I lived one more life
I would read all yr colorful envelopes
I would never burn your words of hopes
I would cherish your banner on the wall
I would make sure it will never fall
If I lived one more life
I would pick up your call night & days
I would guarantee your mind not decays
I would let my door open at all time
I would safe your sanity to prevent any crime
If I lived one more life
I would stand before you on my knee
I would beg your family to forgive me
I would plead to share your torture
I would fight to bring back your future
If I lived one more life
I would endure all your hate
I would accept you as my fate
I would strive to give you the best of me
I would die in your arms and be happy
If I lived one more life … I would
Dedicated to D.N.R – It’s been 14 years… This is my apology, I mean every word.
poem by Niken Kusuma Wardani
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A Life Is Lived The Way It Is Lived
A LIFE IS LIVED THE WAY IT IS LIVED
A life is lived the way it is lived
I did what I did
And made mistakes
Maybe most of it was a mistake
I don’t know.
I told myself always
The one thing I would never do
Is regret.
Regrets I don’t have
But the tone of regret now touches all I do
And some deep sadness says
‘I should not have failed so much.’
G-d who gave me this one life
And so much time
And so much opportunity
G-d who gave me my chance truly.
Can I blame You,
If I did not make it?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Thieves Like Us
Ive watched your face for a long time
Its always the same
Ive studied the cracks and the wrinkles
You were always so vain
Well, now you live your life like a shadow
In the pouring rain
Oh, its called love
Yes, its called love
Oh, its called love
And it belongs to us
Oh, it dies so quickly
It grows so slowly
But when it dies, it dies for good
Its called love
And it belongs to everyone but us
Ive lived my life in the valleys
Ive lived my life on the hills
Ive lived my life on alcohol
Ive lived my life on pills
But its called love
And it belongs to us
Its called love
And its the only thing thats worth living for
Its called love
And it belongs to us
Its called love
Yes its called love
Oh, love is found in the east and west
But when love is at home, its the best
Love is the cure for every evil
Love is the air that supports the eagle
Its called love
And its so un-cool
Its called love
And somehow its become unmentionable
Its called love
And it belongs to every one of us
Its called love
And it cuts your life like a broken knife
song performed by by New Order
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Working At The Factory
All my life I've been a workin' man
When I was at school they said that's all you'll ever understand
No profession. I didn't figure in their plans
So they sent me down factory to be a workin' man
All I lived for, All I lived for
All I lived for was to get out of the factory
Now I'm here seemingly free, but working at the factory.
The music came along and gave new life to me
And gave me hope back in 1983
The music came and set me free
From working at the factory
All I lived for, All I lived for
All I lived for was to get out of the factory
All I lived for, All I lived for
All I lived for was to get out of the factory
Never wanted to be like everybody else
But now there are so many like me sitting on the shelf
They sold us a dream but in reality
It was just another factory
I made the music , thought that was mine
It made me free , but that was in another time
But then the corporations and the big combines
Turned musicians into factory workers on assembly lines.
All I lived for, All I lived for
All I lived for was to get out of the factory
We made the music to set ourselves free
From working at the factory.
All my life I've put in a working day
Now it's sign the contract. Get production on the way
Take the money, make the music pay
Working at the factory
All I lived for was to get out of the factory.
Never wanted to be like everybody else
But now there are so many like me sitting on the shelf
They sold us a dream but in reality
Was just another factory
Working at the factory.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Go to See the World
I long to see the world
Where should I go first?
There's a song called
Go to See GuiLin When You Graduate
A song I loved
When I was still a high school student
For many years the song was unheard
So much time has passed
'It is a lovely place', he said
I could not respond with my heart pounding so fast
Oh my dear friend
I wish there's more I could say at that moment
But what was lived was lived
I wonder if only Jack Welch's life can be lived with no regret
To explore the big world
One should make no haste
As long as one is on the road
There'll always be another rhyme to write
poem by Cathy Shao
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Two thousand years ago there was One here on this earth who lived the grandest life that ever has been lived yet - a life that every thinking man, with deeper or shallower meaning, has agreed to call divine.
quote by Frederick William Robertson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I've Lived My Life
I've lived my life and I'm only eighteen
I left the country for the city thought I was smart but I was silly
I should have known I'd get in trouble being so green
I've lived my life and I'm only eighteen
I met a boy and learned to love him I would have done anything for him
I've loved him more than anything I've ever seen
I've lived my life and I'm only eighteen
Only eighteen but it's all over I ruined my life to please my lover
I made him happy he made me cry then said goodbye
I've lived my life and I'm only eighteen
Only eighteen but it's all over...
I've lived my life and I'm only eighteen
song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I have lived
I have lived through being
Neruda's mermaid, feeling
Every cigarette burn.
I have lived through being
The African Princess,
Where the Prince turned
Back into a Lion.
I have lived through being
A ballerina, dancing gracefully
Upon the stage.
I have lived through trying
To be a poet, but frosted
Out not knowing rules.
I have travelled places
So beautiful, I still go
Back for more, no fool.
But best of all, I can say
I have lived,
Because of you.
poem by Harriet James
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So Much Life Longing For More Life
SO MUCH LIFE LONGING FOR MORE LIFE
So much life longing for more life
Wanting to live so much
To feel to experience to know to enjoy to love.
So much life
Others have lived
So much life
I would have lived.
And the life I have lived?
More than I can know or understand
So much of it gone forever.
And all the longing and all the memories
And all the love,
Where is it now?
I have lived so much
And never lived enough
And want to live too much more
And know I will never live enough
And know I have lived so much much more
Than I will ever know again.
Life and more life,
Longing and more longing,
Life- Please God-
Not Death.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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To Die In Vain
When they lie me in my grave
Will I had done a lot of living
Or will the people just look and say
That I had done a lot of grieving.
And on my tomb what will be wrote
Will it just be a name,
With words that many had spoke
Saying that I had died in vain.
Through a graveyard as I stroll
I read many a lonesome name
That's all I see that's all that is wrote
I guess too, they died in vain.
No living for them had they done
No feats of greatness have they achieved
So now they are hid beneath the sun
As though they never had lived.
A name on marble a heart with no soul
It equals to about the same
For one does die, the other survives
And they both just lived in vain.
A tarnished tomb I do see
Forgotten by the years gone by
So beside it I will kneel and pray
For is that how I will die.
Then the graveyard I do leave
Mournful, bitter and shamed
Now no longer will I sit and grieve
For I WILL NOT! , die in vain.
So when they lay me in the ground
I now know what the people will say
They all will make a joyful sound
While saying, I lived and enjoyed everyday.
poem by Randy McClave
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There You were
There you were
You’re always laughing at me
Is that how life’s supposed to be?
Each night I cry
Don’t tell me you don’t know why
But I rose up to live once more
From the grave of my depression.
You were too blind to see my real worth
But I lived again
There you were abusing me
Torturing my life inside out
I still don’t know why
Is that how life’s supposed to be?
But I rose up to live once more
From the grave of my depression
You were too blind to see my real worth
But I lived again
A day won’t go by
When I think of you
How cruel you were to me
And how I became stronger
Day by day
From the thoughts of you
Giving and not taking
From me, for me
And I rose up to live once more
From the grave of my depression
You were too blind to see my real worth
And I lived again
Now you are helping me
That’s how life’s supposed to be
There you are being a friend
But is it true until the end?
And you raised me up to live once more
From the grave of my depression
You re-gained your sight and saw my worth
And you lived again
There you were
poem by Lyrael Myrna
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