The Room
Through that window—all else being extinct
Except itself and me—I saw the struggle
Of darkness against darkness. Within the room
It turned and turned, dived downward. Then I saw
How order might—if chaos wished—become:
And saw the darkness crush upon itself,
Contracting powerfully; it was as if
It killed itself, slowly: and with much pain.
Pain. The scene was pain, and nothing but pain.
What else, when chaos draws all forces inward
To shape a single leaf? . . .
For the leaf came
Alone and shining in the empty room;
After a while the twig shot downward from it;
And from the twig a bough; and then the trunk,
Massive and coarse; and last the one black root.
The black root cracked the walls. Boughs burst
the window:
The great tree took possession.
Tree of trees!
Remember (when time comes) how chaos died
To shape the shining leaf. Then turn, have courage,
Wrap arms and roots together, be convulsed
With grief, and bring back chaos out of shape.
I will be watching then as I watch now.
I will praise darkness now, but then the leaf.
poem by Conrad Potter Aiken
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Related quotes
A New leaf
There’s a new leaf upon the Tree
A thousand, thousand have been before
In the life of this great tree
Yet, the Tree rejoices, and is glad
For there is a New Leaf upon the tree
The roots are deep, and hidden
Tis one tree from root to branch
And lives in and through each leaf
The hearts’ smile resurrected
Through the New leaf upon the tree
Like the stars of heaven
New leaves have been many
And so they all are One
For they all share the same root
Bless the New leaf upon the tree
Perfection in the Blessing
Joy released in tears of love
The strength in life will comfort
From root to God above
A New leaf upon the tree
Beauty, Truth, and life
Complete from root to branch
When life’s cycle turns
Leaves fall to nourish roots
And behold, a New leaf upon the tree
poem by Adrian Wait
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Brooding Grief
A yellow leaf from the darkness
Hops like a frog before me.
Why should I start and stand still?
I was watching the woman that bore me
Stretched in the brindled darkness
Of the sick-room, rigid with will
To die: and the quick leaf tore me
Back to this rainy swill
Of leaves and lamps and traffic mingled before me.
poem by David Herbert Lawrence
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A Dead Leaf
between these two shores
i float like a dead leaf
am not dead either..
if i was i will not feel the pain
budded flowered and became a fruit
on one shore
eaten and as a bare stray seed laid
at the other shore
as a seed i did germinate
the mother root grew into a tree
an off spring flower and fruit came by
all along as a seed i thought i was the tree itself
I NEVER THOUGHT I WILL LOOSE
MY IDENTITY AS A SEED
CAN A TREE SHOW ITS SEED
EVEN IF IT WANTS TO
ALL ALONG...
I thought i was the tree itself
may be i was a part of each part
the stem to hold, the leaf to nourish
till fate wind blew me down as a dead leaf
today as a dead leaf i float
wanting a living from one shore
wanting relationship from the other
as a dead leaf i float..am not dead with pain
ALL ALONG....
I DID THINK I WAS THE TREE ITSELF
BEING JUST A SEED
poem by Samanyan Lakshminarayanan
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The Flask of Time
There is a single leaf flying
in this my autumn gloaming,
a leaf fluttering light
as if being orchestrated
by your words in flight
rushing to my inner ear;
'I have fallen in love
with another you said.'
My leaf stammered,
swaying in its downward flight
unable to remount the tree,
terrified to crash the ground
suspended forever there
as was also true of your words;
better to not reach my inner ear
better to not have my leaf touch down dead.
Between us all these years
neither war, nor peace;
we existed in the troubled middle ground
purgatoried, unsensed, fluttering, leaf bound
frozen between tree and ground.
Now you have burned our tree down-
lit the leaf and made it flame-
and pulled from under us the very ground.
No matter the dead leaves, the burning tree
no matter the absent ground
these things will
in turn return
for the seasons never-end.
Therefore, I shall take my sip of sorrow
sipped slowly from my Flask of Time
and await
the Spring.
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise The Rain
Beloved, let us once more praise the rain.
Let us discover some new alphabet,
For this, the often praised; and be ourselves,
The rain, the chickweed, and the burdock leaf,
The green-white privet flower, the spotted stone,
And all that welcomes the rain; the sparrow too,—
Who watches with a hard eye from seclusion,
Beneath the elm-tree bough, till rain is done.
There is an oriole who, upside down,
Hangs at his nest, and flicks an orange wing,—
Under a tree as dead and still as lead;
There is a single leaf, in all this heaven
Of leaves, which rain has loosened from its twig:
The stem breaks, and it falls, but it is caught
Upon a sister leaf, and thus she hangs;
There is an acorn cup, beside a mushroom
Which catches three drops from the stooping cloud.
The timid bee goes back to the hive; the fly
Under the broad leaf of the hollyhock
Perpends stupid with cold; the raindark snail
Surveys the wet world from a watery stone...
And still the syllables of water whisper:
The wheel of cloud whirs slowly: while we wait
In the dark room; and in your heart I find
One silver raindrop,—on a hawthorn leaf,—
Orion in a cobweb, and the World.
poem by Conrad Potter Aiken
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The Angel Tree
A leaf broke away, spinning to the earth
droplets of dew formed from unheralded sadness
As the leaf spiraled downward, a beautiful angel
plucked it from the air, admiring perfection.
Divine breath pushed it high above her
wafting upward, the leaf glistened. Rays of light
gently tugged until forward motion was felt.
Brightness arrived
Pure love formed a golden aura as the leaf
slowly turned, twinkling into a star.
Past debts, discrimination and blind eyes,
now become an illumines trove,
all pain forgotten and forgiven.
poem by Sandra Hawkins
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The Leaf And The Tree
When will you learn, myself, to be
a dying leaf on a living tree?
Budding, swelling, growing strong,
Wearing green, but not for long,
Drawing sustenance from air,
That other leaves, and you not there,
May bud, and at the autumn's call
Wearing russet, ready to fall?
Has not this trunk a deed to do
Unguessed by small and tremulous you?
Shall not these branches in the end
To wisdom and the truth ascend?
And the great lightning plunging by
Look sidewise with a golden eye
To glimpse a tree so tall and proud
It sheds its leaves upon a cloud?
Here, I think, is the heart's grief:
The tree, no mightier than the leaf,
Makes firm its root and spreads it crown
And stands; but in the end comes down.
That airy top no boy could climb
Is trodden in a little time
By cattle on their way to drink.
The fluttering thoughts a leaf can think,
That hears the wind and waits its turn,
Have taught it all a tree can learn.
Time can make soft that iron wood.
The tallest trunk that ever stood,
In time, without a dream to keep,
Crawls in beside the root to sleep.
poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Chaos
-ordo ob kao, order out of chaos, and the idea is that, uh, with the
Influence of powerful forces behind the scene, you can bring order out of the
Chaos that we see. we know, for instance, that much of the....
-...an eerie order underneath even chaos, as if the finger of god,, in order
And disorder, is always there....
-...i think he has nothing to support this. y-youre so full of it!
Aliens....protecting society how? chaos happens. theres too many people here...
Atlantique :
Gotta learn the way to turn
Hat over eye
Feeling dead more than alive
Give her something to rely on
One more time.
No one hears the sound
Fear is all around
Turn the music loud
No more lullaby.
No way in, no way out
Empty talk and tv shouts
Got to find the way around
No, you aint no lifer
In this town.
No one hears the sound
Fear is all around
Turn the music loud
No more lullaby.
Stop the beat, hear the sound
Time has come for you to speak
Your mind
Cant you hear the sound?
Chaos all around
Turn the music loud
No more lullaby
Dee-dee-dee x2
Learn to fly.
song performed by by Unkle
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lonely Leaf
Lonely leaf
trembles
at the feeble moment
It's on the verge of falling
It's about to merge with limitless nature!
Air is guest to leaf once
now will become constant companion
Bond with tree
soon will be abandoned
The moment came
parting is always pain
fighting against time is invain
finally tree says farewell to the leaf
Now leaf realises boundless 'freedom'
It's floating like free bird
It is 'gone with the wind'
Leaf lost it's green colour
wearing pale colour
Colour hardly matters!
Leaf sings song of freedom
Bond with tree is bound
Feeling freedom is ecstasy abound
poem by Mula Veereswara Rao
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Hope
an angel a bridge
of heart
Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness
Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness
Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness
Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness
Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness Darkness
a light
of humanity tree
Family Tree
There's love within our family tree
and happiness abound.
Its roots are deeply planted
in rich and fertile ground.
We enjoy the rays of sunlight
and endure the winds and rain,
and when a leaf falls from our tree,
together we share the pain.
God gave us earthly families
and never did intend,
that bonds of love built on Earth
upon our death should end.
For when our life is over
and from earth our souls will flee,
one by one, leaf by leaf,
He'll rejoin our family tree.
poem by Ron Tranmer
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Evening
The light passes
from ridge to ridge,
from flower to flower—
the hepaticas, wide-spread
under the light
grow faint—
the petals reach inward,
the blue tips bend
toward the bluer heart
and the flowers are lost.
The cornel-buds are still white,
but shadows dart
from the cornel-roots—
black creeps from root to root,
each leaf
cuts another leaf on the grass,
shadow seeks shadow,
then both leaf
and leaf-shadow are lost.
poem by Hilda Doolittle
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A Love Scene
let me hold your hand so i can take you there
on a chair
i spread my legs and look up to the sun above us
you kneel and i be your god for this moment
you root yourself to earth like a sunflower
you shed your leaf you bow down like a slave
you find my treasure my dews
for now i became the shape of another
a leaf am i
consume me, you worm!
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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It Is About The Entire Performance
It is highly unlikely...
But,
Nothing is impossible...
That a leaf,
Connected to a twig or a branch...
Of a rooted tree,
Would not have a clue...
How it is associated with the process,
Of life.
Or...
That it accepts it has nothing to do with it at all.
However...
Attempts to deceive the other leaves,
They too are equally independent.
And can do what they wish...
With this being totally ignored,
By the Earth from which it feeds!
It is unlikely that a leaf would be that selfish.
But...
I BET it gets the point,
When that tree begins to give it signals...
Its leeching days,
Are not permanently attached.
And that leaf has to go!
And the Earth,
In agreement AND with approval given...
Knows WHO runs the show!
It is not about the part the leaf plays in the act.
It is about the entire performance that is important.
AND...
Has only ONE director.
'Some' leaves get this!
However,
Many do not.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Leaf And The Tree And The Roots
if i had to write it again
then i had to, as i must
let you fully understand
the true nature of a vine
the way the leaf swerves
with the wind to give itself
to a fateful fall, the one that
completes its existence as
a leaf to a tree, a part of
a whole, the way it must
settle on the ground and
be with the worms and rot
and fulfills the cycle of its
short existence, and by then
it tells the roots, i am a leaf
i am back and you must now
eat everything in me so i can
be with the bark again so i
can be a leaf again to a tree
that holds me back
and then for another time
lets me fall again.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Up In The Tree
What would you see, if I took you up
My little aerie-stair?
You would see the sky like a clear blue cup
Turned upside down in the air.
What would you do, up my aerie-stair
In my little nest on the tree?
With cry upon cry you would ripple the air
To get at what you would see.
And what would you reach in the top of the tree
To still your grasping grief?
Not a star would you clutch of all you would see,
You would gather just one green leaf.
But when you had lost your greedy grief,
Content to see from afar,
Your hand it would hold a withering leaf,
But your heart a shining star.
poem by George MacDonald
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A Leaf
I, like a leaf I breath,
I absorber the sun light, into me,
then bring into the tree,
The root is it's heart,
soaking, the water with in,
of the tree where,
the branch I live upon,
the wind wafts as the sun sets,
I will die brown no longer green,
in this leaf is me.
poem by Walter C. Edwards
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An Individuality
i am always a shade of something else
a background for instance
am i not a part of it? i am.
in the dark, i am black
so what do you see? just darkness
how can i be a ghost? a mist?
a white fog amidst the sea of darkness
a soul floating in cold air
you will be afraid for what you will see
so i am but a black shadow
blending with the night
you see nothing
but i shall speak in the comfort of your sleep
during the day
i assume the shape of a body
settle on the mind
live on the plain and the green grass
take the shade of the big tree
and wade myself on the shallow waters
we will be there
enjoying the conversation
sipping tea
and watching the seagulls
we shall take the beauty
in the most ordinary ways we can
spectators and distant from the touch
of pain and too careful about desire
you see? how can we be hurt
an island to an island
between us the ocean
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Paradise Of Chaos
We march like fools in a parade of chaos.
We march like fools in a parade of chaos.
Led by our enemies.
While we sing their praises.
Led by our enemies.
While we kiss their hands.
The morning rained fire.
Let the heavens retire.
Over the eyes of the blind.
And the vioces of spoiled children.
True leadersare gone.
We turned our back too many times.
And bit the hand of the provider.
Chaos kills us.
Chaos.
song performed by by Zao from Parade Of Chaos
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Leaf Fell In Gaza
Death
is a leaf
torn from the tree
no one feels the pain
of the leaf
swept by the rain
to the sea.
poem by Vince Gullaci
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