When the Watchman Saw the Light
Winter, summer, the watchman sat there looking out
from the roof of Atreus' palace.
Now he has good news to report. He's seen the fire light up
in the distance and he's happy; besides, the drudgery's over now:
it's hard to sit there night and day in heat and cold,
waiting for a fire to show
on the peak of Arachnaion.
Now the longed-for signal has appeared. Yet when happiness comes
it brings less joy than one expected.
But at least we've gained this much: we've rid ourselves
of hope and expectation. Many things will happen
to the house of Atreus: no need to be wise
to guess this now the watchman has seen the light.
So let's not exaggerate.
The light is good; and those coming are good,
their words and actions also good.
And let's hope all goes well.
But Argos can do without the house of Atreus.
Ancient houses are not eternal.
Of course many people will have much to say.
We should listen. But we won't be deceived
by words such as Indispensable, Unique, and Great.
Someone else indispensable and unique and great
can always be found at a moment's notice.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Related quotes
Good news
When I was a child
I went with thousands of people,
to listen to a great preacher
and today his words still stand:
“Good news
I have good news.
The good news is,
that God loves you.”
“He has a plan for your life
and there’s a purpose for living.
Don’t give up.
Don’t let the headlines
threaten you.”
“God is still sovereign.
He’s still on the throne
and those that follows and serves Him
has a future,
brighter than tomorrow.”
*
Still I keep my eyes on Him
and although my world staggers around me
and at times I do not know
where to find light
in the darkness,
I know that He is still near.
The years pass so quickly
that life is almost
like a dream
and sometimes I do not know
why things happen,
but still I trust
in the almighty God
and that His light will come in time
and I wait on His plan
to unfold for me.
[Reference: Billy Graham.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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You're So Good
If you were an apple, I would take a bite
If you were a lemon, I would squeeze you tight
You're so good, I've got to have you
You're so good that nothing else matters
You're so good, you're so good, you're so good for me
If you were a penny, you'd be good as gold
If you were a snowball, I would love the cold
'Cause you're so good, I've got-got to have you
You're so good that nothing else matters
You're so good, you're so good, you're so good,
You're so good for me
If you were a candle, I would light your fire
And if you were hard labor, I would never tire
'Cause you're good, I've got-got to have you
You're so good that nothing else matters
You're so good, you're so good, you're so good
You're so good for me
You're so good for me
You're so good, you're so good, you're so good for me
song performed by by Monkees
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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At This Great Distance
Memory
Ancient light from a binary star
Bends across a receeding tide
A single point of light st this great distance
At this great distance only the eye
Pressed against the telescope of dreams
Sees two stars
Two stars, two white hot lines on a firey white
Spinning madly on lines defined
By each others gravity.
And by the time we see
The light of memory
There is no hope
Theres no hope
Only memory
They danced to songs
Played at the speed of light
Red shifting
Untouchable
At this great distance two stars, two souls
Become one single point of light
Not hot
Not cold
Not you
Not me
Only memory
Chorus
Only memory - at this great distance
(repeat to end
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Fire
Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.
Confusion, whipping, whirling never ending.
Always colder, always harder, cruel and devastating all in one.
Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.
Light, I need a light to keep at bay the ever darkening hour.
Searching for warmth, searching to hide, searching to survive.
Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.
A leaf, a twig, anything to find a way.
At last a flame, a hope to guide me from my doom.
Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.
The light is hungry devouring all in its path and growing in strength.
Then suddenly, goodbye mydear with a hiss the light and my salvation go out.
Fire was my life, fire was my hope, fire was my everything.
poem by Angelic Warrior
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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SONNET: On House-warming
Oh, what a happy day it seems today?
House-warming function is about to start;
And people come with much good things to say;
A house, your own, you built per latest art!
Your labour hard, has brought you this great joy;
A time for fun and frolic, once again;
As kith and kin and siblings too enjoy;
An achievement, most wise and rather sane!
Congratulations on your achievement!
And many more good things must come your way;
A Home; it turns a 'House-warmed tenement',
Where dwells, a righteous family to pray!
But what about the soul-Abode of God?
So keep it pure for celestial reward.
poem by John Celes
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Unique
A rising star,
Wise men from the East;
A Virgin Lady to her husband with a unique flair,
But this was to be fulfilled.
Raised under unique environment for your love,
And to foretell it before hand;
But the rising star was traced by the Wise Men from the East.
Health, joy, love nad peace;
Of the golden oil to be pour on you,
But held in high esteem to crown the day on this news.
The secrets of the Bible,
Of the seventh malak to speak out loud;
But the army of the horsemen are now in the dark.
Darkness!
We are all in the dark waiting for the light;
Like the message from the seventh messenger.
Your innerself,
Over and over again to gain the wisdom of this news;
With the unique hour on the white throne.
An hour,
A day,
A moon;
Dressed in sackcloth with the two golden pipes around,
But with the smile of the shepherds to give us hope.
Smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter,
With words so unique from the air;
But like the seed of Abraham with the unique mind of love.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Doomed darkness
the end is coming if it in the way of light or if it is in the way of eternal darkness no one knows short of the allfather himself after the absence of light comes a mystery shrouded in dark engergies who knows what lays ahead in a unknown future could be good or bad or it is probably both so however in which you live your life if your good hearted than thats great if your bad and dark inside your ending would be diffrent than that of a saint not everyone whom is good is always good for everyone has but a little bit of darkness hidden deep in themselves but only a few can be good and never bad or evil one cant be both a question or phrase i once read is' There are those that feel most safest in the light and those that feel most safest in the darkness which one are you? '.
poem by Dorian Suchelle
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Good News
Something to begin with
That's easy said than done
You'll see me rolling home
But I don't understand why
Still there's nothing at all
Time is on my side
But we mustn't let our disappointment show
But I will, and you will go on
All I need is some good news (some good news)
All I need is some good news (just some good news)
To put me on my feet (to put me on my feet)
To put me at my ease (at my ease)
All I need is some good news (all I need is some good news)
All I need is some good news (some good news)
To put me at my ease (to put me at my ease)
All I need is some good news
All I need is some good news (just gimme me some good news)
All I need is some good news (some good news)
To put me at my ease (to put me at my ease)
To put me on my feet (on my feet, on my feet)
All I need is some good news (all I need is some good news)
All I need is some good news (all I need is some good news)
All I need is some good news
All I need is some good news (all I need is good news)
To put me on my ease (to put me at my ease)
To put me on my feet (on my feet, on my feet)
All I need is some good news (good news)
All I need is some good news (some good news)
All I need is some good news (good news)
All I need is some good news
[Repeat to fade
song performed by by 10 Cc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Not All Good People
Good people are celebrated and good people are in jail
And we condemn good people by our own words to fail
And since people are not the best judges of character it would be fair to say
That the best candidate does not always get elected on Election Day.
Not all good people as some believe are destined to die young
And many good people as we know their praises are unsung
And in a World of billions of human beings the good outnumber the bad
And that not many are recognized for their true worth does seem a little sad.
Not all good people are in the Newspapers or are ever in the news
And on what they think is fair and right are never asked for their views
Many are the quite achievers of publicity quite shy
Why the egotistical can become successful I often wonder why?
Not all good people are leaders though by good example they do lead
Though all good people are happy with enough and they never yield to greed
And though there are billions of good people in the bigger World out there
The good who make the news headlines to say the least seem rare.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Youre So Good For Me
If you were an apple
I would take a bite
If you were a lemon
I would squeeze you tight
Youre so good Ive got to have you
Youre so good that nothing else matters
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good for me
If you were a penny
Youd be good as good
If you were a snowball
I would love the cold
cause youre so good Ive got to have you
Youre so good that nothing else matters
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good for me
If you were a candle
I would light your fire
And if you were hot labor
I would never tire
cause youre so good Ive got to have you
Youre so good that nothing else matters
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good for me
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good
Youre so good for me
Youre so good
1: if you were an apple, I would take a bite.
If you were a lemon, I would squeeze you tight.
Chorus: youre so good Ive got to have you.
Youre so good, that nothing else a-matters.
Youre so good, youre so good, youre so good for me.
2: if you were a penny, youd be good as good.
A-if you were a snowball, I would a-love the cold.
Chorus: cause youre so good Ive got to got to have you.
Youre so good that nothin else a-matters.
Youre so good, youre so good, youre so good,
Youre so good for me.
3: if you were a candle, I would a-light your fire.
A-if you were hard labor, I would a-never tire.
Chorus: cause youre so good Ive got to got to have you.
Youre so good that nothin else a-matters.
Youre so good, youre so good, youre so good,
Youre so good for me.
Youre so good for me.
Youre so good, youre so good, youre so good for me.
Source: mark atkins (by ear), 4/30/00
song performed by by Monkees
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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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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Family House
The house is many-storeyed,
Its flavour is tasty, like the snow.
May you live in this building
For all eternity, just to be unique
And loving towards the family.
The house abated after a while
Due to cold and bad weather.
The weather of a soul is unique
Since the house is a gap in its wake.
My house is your house,
And your house is mine.
This eternal abode reigns high!
poem by Naveed Akram
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Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
poem by Dylan Thomas
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Home For Love
Because the earth is vast and dark
And wet and cold;
Because man's heart wants warmth and light
Lest it grow old;
Therefore the house was built--wall, roof
And brick and beam,
By a lost hand following the lost
Delight of a dream,
And room and stair show how that hand
Groped in eager doubt,
With needless weight of teasing timber
Matching his thought--
Such fond superfluousness of strength
In wall and wood
As his half-wise, half-fearful eye
Deemed only good.
His brain he built into the house,
Laboured his bones;
He burnt his heart into the brick
And red hearth-stones.
It is his blood that makes the house
Still warm, safe, bright,
Honest as aim and eye and hand,
As clean, as light.
Because the earth is vast and dark
The house was built--
Now with another heart and fire
To be fulfilled.
poem by John Freeman
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An Ode to Music
An Ode to Music
You don't words to touch my soul,
You don't words to bring light into my life,
You don't words to paint a picture,
You don't words to make me think of home.
You are a great leveller talking to kings and paupers alike,
You give people identity,
You can unite us,
You can give us hope.
You are as old as humanity itself,
You are always evolving with us,
You can show us our past,
You can show us our future.
You can inspire us to dream,
You can change the future,
You document our lives,
You can drive darkness out of our hearts.
You are a great force for good,
You can help liberate people,
You are mankind's greatest gift,
You could bring unity to mankind if we just listened to you.
You are perhaps my greatest love,
You are there for every occasion,
You are there for the happy times,
You are there for the great tragedies of life.
You can define time and eras,
You can define a man's life like nothing else,
You are the life-blood of me,
You are like the alpha and omega there at the beginning and at the end.
By Christopher Tye
poem by Christopher Tye
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The Truth About The Good News
I AM thinking
i agree with what the wind is telling
that from afar
some good news are waiting
and i bloat myself with hope
feeling like cotton
soft and useful
the wind left
and i waited for days for the coming of good news
like a cure for instance
for loneliness
or a miracle for the healing of a friend
who is dying
beside me
hands clasped towards heaven
for the skies to listen
I am thinking that the wind may have simply pitied our situation
and lied
and will not come back and stop
for we will always
remind about him about the good news
I am thinking
there are times when out of pity the ones that come here
say words
that they do not mean
and then
i sit again holding the hands of the dying friend
giving him
the good news from the warmth of my hand
it does not speak of healing
i does not want to remember anything
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Advent
This Advent moon shines cold and clear,
These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year
And still their flame is strong.
'Watchman, what of the night?' we cry,
Heart-sick with hope deferred:
'No speaking signs are in the sky,'
Is still the watchman's word.
The Porter watches at the gate,
The servants watch within;
The watch is long betimes and late,
The prize is slow to win.
'Watchman, what of the night?' But still
His answer sounds the same:
'No daybreak tops the utmost hill,
Nor pale our lamps of flame.'
One to another hear them speak
The patient virgins wise:
'Surely He is not far to seek'—
'All night we watch and rise.'
'The days are evil looking back,
The coming days are dim;
Yet count we not His promise slack,
But watch and wait for Him.'
One with another, soul with soul,
They kindle fire from fire:
'Friends watch us who have touched the goal.'
'They urge us, come up higher.'
'With them shall rest our waysore feet,
With them is built our home,
With Christ.'—'They sweet, but He most sweet,
Sweeter than honeycomb.'
There no more parting, no more pain,
The distant ones brought near,
The lost so long are found again,
Long lost but longer dear:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,
Nor heart conceived that rest,
With them our good things long deferred,
With Jesus Christ our Best.
We weep because the night is long,
We laugh for day shall rise,
We sing a slow contented song
And knock at Paradise.
Weeping we hold Him fast, Who wept
For us, we hold Him fast;
And will not let Him go except
He bless us first or last.
Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;
We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
And summer smite the snow:
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say, 'Arise, My love,
My fair one, come away.'
poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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Agamemnon's Warrior
A queer and fearful question is tight,
Oppresses my soul and tosses:
Can one be alive if Atreus has died --
Has died on a bed of roses.
All that we dreamed of and everywhere praised,
All our longing and fear --
Were fully reflected in those calm eyes,
As were in a glass of a tear.
Ineffable power dwelt in his hands,
A saga of feet was retold;
A beautiful cloud he was for his land
Mycenae -- the country of gold.
What am I? A fragment of ancient dread,
A javelin, fallen on earth --
Atreus, the leader of nations, is dead, --
But I have been spared by death.
The down is full with reproachful flame,
The waters enticingly sing,
It’s hard to exist with the horrible shame,
If one had forfeited one's king.
poem by Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev
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All's Well
Watchman, watchman, what of the night,
What of the night to tell?
The heavens are dark, and never a light
But the far-off flicker of Hell.
But the steed is in the stall,
Unsleeping;
And the warder on the wall,
Watch-keeping;
And the granary is stored,
And ready gun and sword.
In the name of the Lord,
All's Well!
Watchman, watchman, what of the night,
What of the night to tell?
The wind blows fierce, and the foam flies white,
And the waters moan and swell.
But the foes to haven keep,
Safe hiding;
And our ships are on the deep,
Sure riding;
And the gallant hearts on board
Keep ceaseless watch and ward.
In the name of the Lord,
All's Well!
Watchman, watchman, what of the night,
What of the night to tell?
There are widows weeping, and babes affright,
And a ceaseless burial bell.
But the hand that holds the gun
Still shakes not;
And the line drops one by one,
Yet breaks not.
Of the blood so nobly poured
There shall surely be reward.
In the name of the Lord,
All's Well
poem by Francis William Bourdillon
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Any Woman
I am the pillars of the house;
The keystone of the arch am I.
Take me away, and roof and wall
Would fall to ruin me utterly.
I am the fire upon the hearth,
I am the light of the good sun,
I am the heat that warms the earth,
Which else were colder than a stone.
At me the children warm their hands;
I am their light of love alive.
Without me cold the hearthstone stands,
Nor could the precious children thrive.
I am the twist that holds together
The children in its sacred ring,
Their knot of love, from whose close tether
No lost child goes a-wandering.
I am the house from floor to roof,
I deck the walls, the board I spread;
I spin the curtains, warp and woof,
And shake the down to be their bed.
I am their wall against all danger,
Their door against the wind and snow,
Thou Whom a woman laid in a manger,
Take me not till the children grow!
poem by Katharine Tynan
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