City of Dreams
Oh, we might have a marvellous city
Were we only less keen on cash
Less avid for things - more's the pity
That fade and are gone in a flash,
A city where duffers in my line
In wrapt adoration fall flat
To behold its superlative skyline
But there isn't much money in that.
Oh, we might have a city most splendid
Were sordid self-seeking denied.
Were good taste and culture attended
By pride that transcends money-pride.
Then, urged by more glorious dreaming
Than moved beneath Pericles' hat,
We would out-Athens Athens in scheming
But - there isn't much money in that.
So let's build our city according
To canons commercial and sane.
Where every house is a hoarding
And every 'palace' a pain.
Let us mingle the Gothic and Moorish
In the nice neo-Georgian flat.
What odds, tho' they blither it's boorish?
Who cares? For there's money in that.
Oh, let's have a conglomeration
Of all architectural ills.
We build for ouselves, not th enation,
And to advertise somebody's pills
With piles that are proud and pretentious
And styles that are 'pretty' and fat.
And a fig for their strictures sententious!
There's not a brass farthing in that.
And so we'll grow richer and richer
While curleywigs crawl the facade
Of the home of the sur-super-picture
Or pubs where the profits are made.
Yet - We might have a marvellous city
If we only knew how to grow fat
At the game. But we don't - more's the pity.
So there isn't much money in that.
And when we have piled up the riches,
And pass, and leave never a trace,
A grave-digger, with clay on his breeches,
Will come and pitch dirt on our face.
And our passing may serve to remind him,
As he gives the grave-mound a last pat:
'Well, he's gone; and he's left nought behind him,
And there isn't much honor in that.'
poem by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
The Big City Type
I woke up in a big city apartment
Rode to a big city job
On a big city subway
With hip, big city people
Worked at a big city job
In a big city skyscraper
Stood in a big city line
For lunch, heard big city jazz
On a big city radio station
It was like a big city scene
In a big budget movie
When I realized I had become
The big city type
I always wanted to be
Yet I was still me
poem by Adam Artois
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Heartache City
Hit the city, hit the night
Hit the club, sip the wine
Just remember to leave on time
Hit the red lights, check the girls
Youre steppin into another world
See the man, hell spin you alive
But just remember to leave on time
Heartache, city of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Crazy people in heartache city
City of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city, its a city of sin
Check the star club, see the stars
See the action
In the back street bars
Lookin for love
Youre in the wrong place
Tricks for kicks
Can you stand the pace
Heartache, city of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Crazy people in heartache city
City of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Hit the city, hit the night
Crazy people, neon light
You pay your money
Its no real crime
But just remember to leave on time
song performed by by Uriah Heep
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Tale of Three Cities
New York blasted London blasted
Singapore -
Ripped off each other's metaphoric balls,
Crumbling walls.
Priapic city monoliths -
Blue-sky scraping bastards -
Shout about their height (but really length) .
V8 arseholes didn't care -
Pumping shit into the air,
So long as they were always there to
Fart aloud a smoggy cloud,
Laughing at the weak asthmatic,
Humoured that it seems traumatic.
Watch the greedy cities oozing
Chair-bound fat committees, though they
Look a bunch of titties as they
Waffle on about the pound.
Ever thought to look around and see
That they were dead?
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
poem by Mark R Slaughter
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
In The City
As a child on the farm
I was warned of the wiles of the city
Of that demon disguise
As the dirt in the skies of the city
Well they say the proximity warps their minds
Until they're shooting one another just pass the time
And we live it appears
Both in spite and in fear of the city
I was constantly told
How our lives were controlled by the city
How they keep us in debt
With the trends that they set it's a pity
Now the beautiful people in the magazines
Got the normal ones living beyond their means
And the things that they said
Made me go in my head to the city
When I finally came
There's some things still the same in the city
You still lie under the thumb
Of the rich and the young and the pretty
Well they weren't much different than we might act
If there was that many others that closely packed
It's an ancient idea
But it struck me so clear in the city
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
One Day Traveler
Whenever I've traveled to a crowded city
I always think, 'Oh what a pity
to live in a city.'
For the skyscrapers there
so high in the air
have hidden the blue of the sky
except for the birds that fly.
The cold gray stone adorned with lights
never seem warm until the nights.
Their blinking neons can't compare
with the twinkling stars up in the air.
And again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in the city.'
The hustle, the bustle and constant noise
have become for some the city's joys.
The screeching brakes, the honking sounds
is an abrupt assault to my head that pounds.
And again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in a city.'
A one day visit and I'm ready to leave
and I know that I could never conceive
of being at home, never to roam
where the grass grows under my feet,
except for a country street
and again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in a city.'
poem by Edwina Reizer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Shitty Kitty City
There's a lobby by my study where my visitors may enter
which, since we got the kittens, has a dirtbox at the centre.
They're still too young to go outside, that's why I ask for pity:
they've turned my quiet oasis into Shitty Kitty City.
Pity, pity, isn't it a pity?
They've turned my quiet oasis into Shitty Kitty City.
Their mother trained them very well to go into the tray.
They do their stuff and cover it - that's fair enough, you say;
but litter gets flicked everywhere, so underfoot is gritty:
you need your wellies on indoors for Shitty Kitty City.
Pity, pity, isn't it a pity?
You need your wellies on indoors for Shitty Kitty City.
Mind the crap... Mind the crap... Stand clear of the turds, please.
I scoop the jobbies off the floor: the cats think I collect 'em,
so each one keeps on squeezing me a present from its rectum.
There's steaming heaps all over, and it isn't smelling pretty -
it's best to wear a gasmask when in Shitty Kitty City.
Pity, pity, isn't it a pity?
It's best to wear a gasmask when in Shitty Kitty City.
Ip dip dog shit, you are not it.
But soon they will be big enough to do it in the garden.
I'm putting out my begging bowl, for which I beg your pardon.
And now you see, good people all, the reason for my ditty -
a whipround for a catflap door for Shitty Kitty City.
Pity, pity, isn't it a pity?
I need to buy a catflap door for Shitty Kitty City.
poem by Wild Bill Balding
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Eternal Kansas City
Chorus (choir singing)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city)?
(van singing)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Train down to st. louis
Get me there alright
Over to the city there, you know that one
Where the farmers daughter digs the farmers son
Dig your charlie parker
Basie and young
Witherspoon and jay mcshann
They will come
Oooowoooowoooo
Chorus (van and choir in background)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Lady liberty in waiting
You know she lights the way
Her name is billie, shes a holiday
And the city is eternal -- hey, cant you see?
Its inside of you and its inside of me
Oooowoooowoooo
Chorus (van and choir in background)
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city ?
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
Wild thing
You know the way to kansas city (choir only)
Thank you man (van)
You know the way to kansas city
Sing it (van)
You know the way to kansas city (van and choir)
Hit it (van)
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
Baby cant you sing it one time (van)
(choir)
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Naked City
All the victims have turned to stone, no one is happy, theyre all alone
Id sacrifice my social position tonight
In new york, millionaires, and lonely people with lonely stares
Im not lookin for love and Im lost in this night
In the naked city (in the city) there are ten million stories (naked city)
Im not lookin for pity (in the city) in this naked city (naked city)
Street vampires in the night, young lovers and love at first sight
This is my flesh and my fantasy
Older women with younger men, Ive got a feelin Im in trouble again
But Ive got to live my destiny
In the naked city (in the city) its a race with the devil (naked city)
All the pain and the sorrow (in the city) is there more tomorrow (naked city)
In the naked, naked city (in the city) naked city
Lonely people lookin for someone, lonely people goin their way
Lonely people lookin for something, lonely people goin their way
In new york, millionaires, lonely people with lonely stares
Im not lookin for love and Im lost in this night
In the naked city, there are ten million stories
Im not lookin for pity in this naked city
In the naked, naked city (in the city), its a race with the devil (naked city)
All the pain and the sorrow (in the city) is there more tomorrow (naked city)
(in the city, naked city) (repeats out)
song performed by by Kiss
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
In The City
He is just a boy in the city
Dressed the same hes uniformly pretty
He knows its the time
He can read the signs
He can really change
In the city
The best dressed boy in town he thinks its funny
Half a dozen jobs makes his money
He is just a boy in the city
Friday night propels walter mitty
Its about time
He can read the signs
A night on the town
In the city
Monday is a work day
Tuesdays much the same
Wednesday comes and goes away
Thursdays back again
Friday night is sunday in the morning
Monday brings the weekends final yawning
Now its about time
He has crossed the line
He is miles away
In the city
(city!)
(city!)
(city!)
(city!)
Now its about time
He can read the signs
He can really change
It is on his mind
He has crossed the line
He has gone once more
From the city
song performed by by Madness
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Stranger in the City
He does an incredible feat
While the world moves meaningless
Abandoned on the street
Roams the man with the dirty face!
A cruel fast-paced heartless city
Where nobody has time for him
None tells him a word of pity
The nights fade the days dim.
Yet unmindful of all
The ragged holds his head high
He still can walk tall
Without a hint of sigh!
The odd man out in the city
An animal, a mad scavenger
He needs no words of pity
He's happy to remain a stranger.
poem by Pradip Chattopadhyay
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
High In The City
I got the time, I got my feet
Lets go hit the street
High in the city
High in the city
I got my mace and you got your knife
You gotta protect your own life
High in the city
High in the city
I wanna get high in the city
I wanna stay alive here in the city
I wanna stay high in the city
High in the city
High in the city
Lets not walk down sutton place
You know everybody there got an akitas
High in the city
High in the city
Dont wanna talk politics today
I feel too good let me have my way
High in the city
High in the city
Watch out for that guy on your right
Seen him on the news last saturday night
He was high in the city
High in the city
Hey, look theyre setting fire to that jeep
Theres not much you can keep
High in the city
High in the city
I wanna get high in the city
I wanna stay alive in the city
I wanna stay high in the city
High in the city
High in the city
So many people feeling low
And theres only one way to go to
Get high in the city
High in the city
Lets grap a pie, lets hit the park
Ill kiss and hug you till it gets dark
Here in the city
Getting high in the city
(high in the city)
(high in the city and youre looking so pretty)
(feelin pretty witty, gettin high off of the city)
(hi-ai-ai-ai, high in the city)
(high in the city)
(high in the city and youre looking so pretty)
(feelin pretty witty, gettin high off of the city)
(hi-ai-ai-ai, high in the city)
(high in the city)
(high in the city and youre looking so pretty)
(feelin pretty witty, gettin high off of the city)
(hi-ai-ai-ai, high in the city)
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Aint No Love In The Heart Of The City
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
Baby, since you been around.
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity, child
Aint no love cos you aint around.
Every place that I go,
Well, it seems so strange.
Without you love, baby, baby,
Things have changed.
Now that youre gone
Yknow the sun dont shine,
From the city hall
To the county line, thats why
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
Aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
(solo)
Every place that I go,
Well, it seems so strange.
Without you love, baby, baby,
Things have changed.
Now that youre gone
Yknow the sun dont shine,
From the city hall
Woman, to the county line, thats why
Aint no love in the heart of the city,
There aint no love in the heart of town.
There aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around.
(solo)
There aint no love in the heart of the city,
There aint no love in the heart of town.
Aint no love, sure nuff is a pity,
Aint no love cos you aint around,
cos you aint around.
song performed by by Whitesnake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Vantage Point
Show yourself to me and,
Let me love you;
City of Gold!
City of Love!
City of Peace!
City of Life!
City of Care;
Like these little things,
These little rivers,
These windows!
Like a glass artist;
And, to the vantage point.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
O Town And City To Down And Pity !
O TOWN AND CITY TO DOWN AND PITY
O towns and cities!
If anything goes amiss
In your arteries and veins
Town would tumble 'down'
And city would be a'pity'!
Even the winds have no knowledge
Of the lanes and by lanes
Of the labyrinthine towns!
Let me tell you,
It is no wonder;
The day is not far off
When city folks buy air in kilos
From supermarkets,
And in their living burrows
Churn it with their electric fans
All through the day
To collect every disease
Named and unnamed!
If you search their addresses,
Better approach the diseases
That would guide you in a flash
To their miserable homes!
Both their homes and minds,
Lo, have shrunk like small mustard!
The bit of the sky that they could see
Is just to the size of their plates!
If peace is the one they dream for
They would never get it even in death!
Oh, everything is topsy-turvy here!
They inhale carbon-di-oxide
And exhale their own life!
--S.CHANDRA KALAADHAR
poem by Sundaram Chandrakalaadhar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Song: Suicide City
Down at suicide city,
Null of pride and past all pity.
Suicide city:
A stressed out Walter Mitty,
I'm at suicide city,
And I've maxed out my last chitty.
Suicide city, for my crime.
It's the dreaming and aphasic snow,
The white noise of this constant go.
And frozen in the cauldron's glow,
Of demons and my fears of woe;
The neediness of knee-jerk foe,
Who'd stand and fight them toe to toe,
Toe to toe, toe to toe...
Down at suicide city,
With nothing in the kitty.
Suicide city:
My life has got so shitty.
I'm at suicide city,
Waist deep in nitty-gritty.
Suicide city. In the slime.
It's the waking and the finding,
Of the ties, no longer binding,
In a white light: burning, blinding,
That no-one wants to know.
It's the grating and the grinding,
Of my teeth and nerves unwinding.
It's the brazen lies, reminding me
Of a dog and pony show!
Down at suicide city,
There ain't no joke so witty.
Suicide city:
The outcome won't be pretty.
I'm at suicide city,
Where I'll sing my final ditty.
Suicide city. Done my time.
I've done my time!
poem by David SmithWhite
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A Blind Sleeping At The Moment
Let's go into the city - housekeeping - Furniture
Preparing for the evening was keen to return to lonely hunter
They wake up in clashes fanatical fire from verified maps
Let's fly ash when burned wreckage burned the city in the old way
I was so impressed with his gust Dancing
The fall of the city burning hatred and sin on fishhook
Law of the long breath inside the house - the doors
I called the water from poverty history - the moon light
The color of the sun to beat each other at all.
poem by by unknown author
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I Am Not Going To Tell You The Name Of The City
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
in which my steps are still searching for me.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
whose bridges are longer than life.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
under whom even the sky was like a tent.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
in which I learned to start up a new journey as soon as I arrive.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
which is never to grow old.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
in which I met the eyes with the color of the sky.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
in which I was knocking on my own doors from inside.
I am not going to tell you the name of the city
which was a cage far too small for my wings.
Vida Nenadic
poem by Vida Nenadic
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Welcome To The City
Two dollar tips and the lipstick cigarettes
Get yourself a job with your fingertips
Too many tickets for the backseat matinee
Two hours later and you're looking for another face
Don't ask for love
Don't ask for pity
Don't ask for me
Welcome to the city
Four hundred dollars bus a room in the city
With a whole lot of people and a hole in the ceiling
Freeze in the winter, die in the summer
Seventeen kids next door without a mother
Hey, if you see me coming up the stairs
Please don't confuse me with someone who cares
Welcome to the city...I'm glad you made it, baby
I'm really...
You got some letter, it's a recommendation
Your best friend's ex sent a copy to the station
And he knows some agent through a distant realtion
An inside connection with a map and directions
Ah, too bad you came
Too bad you waited
Too bad for you
You're over-educated
Welcome to the city...I'm glad you made it, baby
I'm really glad
Don't ask for love
Don't ask for pity
Don't ask for me
Welcome to the city
song performed by by Quarterflash
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
City Boy Blues
Fireflies in dogfights
Runnin hot in the heat
Street noise, another bribe
Things too hard to believe--so head out
My hearts in the country
My feets in the city with you
All my friends are eatin sushi
Talkin bad about you know who-who-who
My tongues talkin riddles
But I just cant seem to find a clue
So I take a swig of whiskey
And jump into the saddle with you-you-you
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
Cats in the alley
Rats in my snakeskin boots
All my neighbors think Im crazy
And my girl thinks Im losin my cool-cool-cool
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
I got the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
Dont look to jesus to change your seasons
Its the american dream
Souls of gypsies, road of stone
Cant seem to find no peace--so head out
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
I got the blues, I got the blues, got the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
And I just cant seem to break the shackles of the city boy blues
I got the blues, I got the blues,
I got the blues, I got the blues
I got the blues, I got the blues,
I got the blues, I got the blues
song performed by by Motley Crue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Pretty, Pretty City
Now the city has a studded nose,
Because the city is so pretty, and the city knows:
The city, she almost fooled me underneath the
Chicken sky- The city is so pretty,
But the city lie:
I loved the city and all its vermilion moods and ice-creams,
With parks and busses and city airplanes
And city rides- City coffins and city dies;
And I watched the city get drunk and turn around
And raise its monuments and party down;
And I sat upon one of her benches in a speculating mood,
And wondered if the city was so pretty,
Why was she so rude: The vulgar nebulas of the city’s
Eyes, the narcissisms of its displays:
There are so many well suited boys better than I out walking
In their sunny city days:
And I realized, the city didn’t love me,
The city plays and paws and eats up little boys such as
Me- She said she loves her little poet boys, such as me,
But the sweet, sweet city lies,
Because the city is so pretty, studded nosed and stunning eyed,
But she uses her autumn facades to blind the autumn chicken skies-
The pretty, pretty city has me hypnotized,
But the pretty, pretty city lies.
poem by Bret R. Crabrooke
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!