The Final Shot Is Fired
The moonlight danced across the waters
where the breeze made ripples there.
Nothing stirred the stillness
except the lonely hoot of an owl.
It was as if the place
had desolation in the air,
but all that was deceptive
as the earth trembles
of men marching somewhere.
As the night grew longer,
the marching stirred the silence
that had been there before.
Soon voices barking orders
had ears erect.
Slowly the resting animals
now began to flee.
Somehow they could sense
two predators were about to start a war.
Rifles were cocked and ready,
their muzzles extended from each bush.
They would not open fire
until their prey was near.
The volley of shots sent scores of birds
to flight into the early morning light.
Shots rang out from both sides,
each thinking they were winning
for the cause they were fighting for.
Neither realised
the war would never be over
so long as both sides carried a gun.
That could be a picture from any battlefield,
it’s only when they give up their weapons
and sit around a table and talk to one another
will wars ever end.
Until that day comes along
the death toll will rise
always at an alarming rate.
The ghosts of thousands
still roam across every battlefield,
never ever resting
until the final shot is fired.
8 February 2008
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
You think Im no good, well I know Ive been bad
Took you to a place, now you cant get back
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Walked together down a dead end street
We were mixing the bitter with the sweet
Dont try to figure out what we might of had
Just two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Im just a singer, some say a sinner
Rolling the dice, not always a winner
You say Ive been lucky, well hell Ive made my own
Not part of the crowd, but not feeling alone
Under pressure, but not bent out of shape
Surrounded, we always found an escape
Drove me to drink, but hey thats not all bad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Guess Ive been greedy, all of my life
Greedy with my children, my lovers, my wife
Greedy for the good things as well as the bad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Maybe its just talk, saloon singing
The chairs are all stacked, the swingings stopped swinging
You say I hurt you, you put the finger on yourself
Then after you did it, you came crying for my help
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Im not complaining, baby Im glad
You call it a compromise, well whats that
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
(happy birthday, frank)
song performed by by U2
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Skin
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots, and we'll take that ride
Across this bloody river to the other side
41 shots, they cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life
Is it a gun?
Is it a knife?
Is it a wallet?
This is your life
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
Ain't no secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your american skin
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots, lena gets her son ready for school
She says now on these streets charles
You got to understand the rules
Promise me if an officer stops you'll always be polite
Never ever run away and promise mama you'll keep your hands in sight
Cause is it a gun?
Is it a knife?
Is it a wallet?
This is your life
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in your american skin
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
Is it a gun?
Is it a knife?
Is it a wallet?
This is your life
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
41 shots and we'll take that ride
Across this bloody river to the other side
41 shots my boots caked in mud
We're baptized in these waters and in each other's blood
Is it a gun?
Is it a knife?
Is it a wallet?
This is your life
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret)
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in
You can get killed just for living in
You can get killed just for living in
Your american skin
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Across The Battlefield
Hear the cannons roar
across the battlefield
with its pits of pain
where the dead and dying lay.
In the no man’s land
that separates friend from foe.
Hear the mournful sounds
of weeping flesh
entangled within the baptism of death.
Across the battlefield
where there are fleeting ghosts
of those who fell on another day.
One day the guns may fall silent
and flowers will once again dance
with an evening breeze.
Instead of the blood of innocence
milking the no man’s ground.
Birds may again sing one day
replacing the agony of young men
dying before their time.
In twenty, fifty or a hundred years
they will be remembered
for the sacrifice they gave,
condemning themselves to an early grave.
Maybe when that day comes
no more cannons will again roar
across the battlefield
with its pits of pain.
19 May 2009
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Let me keep watch
Let me keep watch
Over your body when
You are resting in peace.
Let me sacrifice
My meditation to you
When you are resting in peace
Let me protect your body
From rotting
When you are resting in peace.
Let me protect your memories
And dreamless dreams
When you are resting in peace.
Let me plant a fruit tree
Above you that I may still eat
When you are resting in peace.
Let me storm the gates of heaven
When you are resting in peace.
Let me give you oblation
Of our experience
When you are resting in peace.
Let me breathe for you
When you are resting in peace.
Let me douse the fires of hell
When you are resting in peace.
Let me glorify your name
When you are resting in peace.
Let me be your counterpoint
When you are resting in peace.
Let me overcome the light
When you are resting in peace.
Let me touch your organs
When you are resting in peace.
Let me drink your water
When you are resting in peace.
Let me describe your bones
When you are resting in peace.
Let me dream your dreams
When you are resting in peace.
poem by David E. Patton
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Houses Open Their Window Lids
the houses open their window lids
the keys unlock thousands of doors
an entrance spreads for all the misfits
whose ocean dropp tells to sandy shores
a tale of waves
a story no more
swept by a whale's
breath on ocean floor
sea bottom deep
it's still to be found
in words that keep
the whisper of the ground
uttered in a stillness of a lonely night
it still can swim and promise the flight
to a seagull circling around its prey
to eat of the twilight and still keep the day
so come in with your eyes resting on sight
to burn in its candles and fit in the light
poem by Miroslava Odalovic
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Shots
Shots
Ringing all along the borders can be heard
Striking out like a venom in the sky
Cutting through the air faster than a bird
In the night.
Children
Are lost in the sand, building roads with little hands
Trying to join their fathers castles together again
Will they make it? who knows where or when
Old wounds will mend?
Machines
Are winding their way along, looking strong
Building roads and bringing back loads and loads
Of building materials
In the night
Men
Are trying to move the borders on the ground
Lines between the different spots that each has found
But back home another scene was going down
In the night.
Lust
Comes creepin through the night to feed on hearts
Of suburban wives who learned to pretend
When they met their dreams end
In the night.
Shots
I hear shots, I keep hearing shots
I keep hearing shots
I hear shots.
Shots
I hear shots, I keep hearing shots
I keep hearing shots
I hear shots.
But Ill never use your love,
You know Im not that kind
And so if you give your heart away
I promise to you
Whatever we do
That I will always be true.
song performed by by Neil Young
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Time Out
Running in the human race
round in circles
No sense of time and space
Or who we are
Let me pour some water in your wine
Lets talk about the future
We should have better things on our minds anyway
No time for words
No time for wars
Its high time we work it out
No time for fighting
No time for tears
Somebody tell me what its all about
We could be making the best of the night
But all we do is scream and shout
Time out ..... for love
Lovers on a battlefield
A house divided
Eyes that pierce like maked steel
Through the heart
Come lay your wounded body down
And talk about the future
Throw your weapons to the ground
Before its too late
No time for words
No time for wars
Its high time we work it out
No time for fighting
No time for tears
Somebody tell me what its all about
We could be making the best of the night
But all we do is scream and shout
Time out ..... for love
No time for words
No time for wars
Its high time we work it out
No time for fighting
No time for tears
Somebody tell me what its all about
We could be making the best of the night
But all we do is scream and shout
Time out ..... for love
song performed by by Gino Vanelli
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Skin (41 Shots)
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots....
and we'll take that ride
'cross this bloody river
to the other side
41 shots... cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
41 shots
Lena gets her son ready for school
She says "on these streets, Charles
You've got to understand the rules
If an officer stops you
Promise you'll always be polite,
that you'll never ever run away
Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it in your heart, is it in your eyes
It ain't no secret
41 shots... and we'll take that ride
'Cross this bloody river
To the other side
41 shots... got my boots caked in this mud
We're baptized in these waters and in each other's blood
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Showdown
They walk with their arms away from their sides
Cause its all in the timing
Who wins the fight
All around them the signs are clear
Its gone too far
Now the showdown is here
Showdown is here
Hungry dogs follow
And the vultures lead
Self-preservation
The original greed
But theres too much fire
For the perfect match
Now its just a matter of the first attack
Which one is right
Thats no longer clear
Anger has no light
When its covered with fear
Never turn your back
Thats always when youre caught
Youre a dead man on the rack
cause youre just too proud to stop
Absolute quiet is the final warning - showdown
Six minutes and the war is roaring -showdown
The voice of reason was buried this morning -showdown
Decision for death is the final story -showdown
We used to love it when they came on the scream
The good guys strong
And the bad guys mean
But the story has changed
Now the endings insane
The audience dies
In the final frame
Its the final game
Now both sides are gone
No funerals
No priests
No crowds singing songs
No heroes in the streets
Both sides were wrong
Just too stubborn to teach
And it was just too long
Before enough people had the courage to speak
And say
No showdown
No showdown
No showdown
They walk with their arms away from their sides
Will the ones who are left
Still say they are right?
song performed by by Jefferson Starship
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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War
child who cries for parents in a broken
down battlefield bringing him to
realize an unkind truth.
bodies piling up, shots ringing,
cries in vain in front of
deaths cruel eyes.
Ignorant to their surroundings, marching
on like puppets on a string following
commands.
acidic smell, not a single, remnant
of what use to be happiness left behind.
surrounded by corpses, a single child
standing in the middle of the road,
dead look in his eyes crying for help.
poem by Rosa Torres
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Battlefield Of Love
I am a soldier
A casualty of love
I've been from heaven
All the way to hell
I've had a journey
Much more than I can tell
I've got stories
Much more than I can sell
All this mass confusion
Causes chaos in my brain
I'm on the battlefield
The battlefield of love
With all of the illusions
I won't ever be the same
I'm on the battlefield
The battlefield of love
I'm a prisoner
A prisoner of love
I have been captured
And kept underground
I have been tortured
But I don't make a sound
'Cause I know one day
One day I will be found
All this mass confusion
Causes chaos in my brain
I'm on the battlefield
The battlefield of love
With all of the illusions
I won't ever be the same
I'm on the battlefield
The battlefield of love
song performed by by Lenny Kravitz from Lenny
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Day they Murdered Camelot
.
One afternoon in Dallas, Texas
November, Nineteen sixty three
A brace of shots were fired
That would enter history
With Jacqueline beside him
in the presidential Limousine
John Kennedy was waving
taking in the happy scene.
Coming out of Dealy plaza
They made the turn on Elm
No shots had yet been fired
The day was mild and warm.
From above, Oswald was waiting
In the book deposit loft
His rifle at the ready
His prey scoped and crossed.
“You can't say that they don't love you”
the governor's wife said
From behind a shot was fired
a scoped rifle spitting lead.
J.F.K. then clutched his throat
And John Connelly his side
A second bullet hit a curb
and ricocheted aside.
The third shot was the killing shot
bone and brain cells flying
The Marines had trained the sniper well
and Camelot was dying.
That afternoon in Dallas
As darkness was descending
Did he think about his children
as consciousness was ebbing?
“Make for Parkland Hospital”
The secret service screamed
they'd failed to save the president
But who had done the deed?
Walter Cronkite told the nation
that Camelot was dead.
L.B.J. on Air Force One
became the nation’s head.
Back on the Streets of Dallas
Oswald had killed again.
An officer named Tippit
Lay in the gutter, dead.
Oswald was apprehended
In a movie house nearby
They found his nest and rifle
What they never found was why...
A nation mourned its President
on his final Caisson ride
and watched his little boy salute
standing by his Mother's side.
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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0331 How to Wait Doggedly
I’ve never seen him just like this before.
Crouched at the entrance to the largest run,
the burrowed-out soil in front of it
ground to dust by many eager legs
hopping, skipping out of the dark warren -
he’s totally silent, totally still. It's awesome.
This isn’t the puppy who goes wild at rabbits
in a frenzy of excitement, wet nose intoxicated by
a thousand trails of scent, scattering
white tails into burrows, barking wildly
(are they friends or enemies, in this joy?)
at the sheer excitement of the chase,
puppy paradise; but now..
this is serious stuff.
at first sight, you could think he’s resting, he’s so still;
his back legs haunched down under him, looking
like the sphinx itself, immobile, waiting for the question
it’s waited for through thousands of wise years;
may only answer in this sacred silence;
his nose and head and throat almost flat upon the ground
(this is no time for his 'Tailwaggers' League' identity disc to rattle)
as if at the epicentre of
some invisible geometry of scent and earth-echoed sound,
his ears poised, half-lifted on instant muscles;
he’s the image of relaxation, at first sight:
but a stillness packed with potential energy
wound as ready on electric nerves as in a spring;
a silence so intense it’s thrilling,
full of alertness; a silence right inside his head
that teaches silence, stillness: he’s carrying
no sense of future: he’s living a continuous present,
waiting for the senses to tell him something.
There’s nothing else in the world to do, right now.
A fox terrier flat on the ground at the entrance
to a mere rabbit-hole; we’ve never found a foxhole,
we two; should I apologise to him? If we had,
he’d be in there like a flash; sheer life-or-death ferocity;
but here, nevertheless, it’s serious stuff;
this is what thousands of years of dog
have made him for; that, and what he and man
have learned together from each other; bred in him;
while this present man gazes awestruck at the species
in its perfection of action, action contained in stillness,
stillness and silence containing all the senses,
all contained in knowledge, awaiting, perfect, pure,
what the cosmos will reveal in its good time.
Has my dog just shown me, taught me,
how a poet should await a poem?
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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When Will They Ever Realize
The sound of silence filled the air,
just before the dawn.
The sun’s streaky fingers stretched
forward on the fading night sky.
I walk in desolation,
for reasons I know not why.
The chorus of the morning birds
has yet to break the spell
of the unstrained silence,
which on everything had befell.
I tried to remember yesterday,
when the oyster of the world was mine.
I tried to see the smiling faces,
of those I loved and left behind.
The war was not mine or theirs,
but always someone has to go,
to do the battles for the sake of someone’s word.
An order given by a faceless person
and thousands throw away their lives.
There is no reason given,
and the faceless one doesn’t hear their cries,
of all those who fall on battlefields.
Giving up their families and their lives.
They call them cowards, those who refuse,
to follow orders to commit suicide.
There is no adventure in dying;
in a place, you cannot pronounce the name.
There is no glory in suicide,
but wars make men do it just the same.
When will they ever realize,
wars make no difference at all,
except to make rows of white crosses,
as memorials to those who had to fall.
I shudder at the sounds of the guns,
breaks the silence in my ears.
Will my loved ones before the days end,
be among those to shed tears?
13 March 1984
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mr Blue
Winter sounds the crying
Like an old man slowly dying
And the only sound, the wind that fills the trees
Even colder comes the moon
And though it never seems too soon
A sudden stillness as the rainfall starts to freeze
(chorus)
Im mr blue
Im here to stay with you
And no matter what you do
When youre lonely - Ill be lonely too
(repeat)
A young girl, she is shaded
Bears the scars that never faded
Of the baby that was born on christmas day
While the heavens sing their song
A childs life is never long
cos the food supplies will only last a day
(chorus repeat)
Patriot emotion, is the cause of the commotion
After all theres really no-one here to blame
Soldiers taking orders, cos we must defend the borders
Of our nation (and the other sides the same)
(chorus repeat)
Ill come to you at night
When all the world is sleeping tight
And lie beside you, till the early morning dew
You cant hear me, you cant see
But you can feel me when you read
The folded letter she left addressed to you
(chorus repeat)
song performed by by Yaz
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mr Blue
Winter sounds the crying
Like an old man slowly dying
And the only sound, the wind that fills the trees
Even colder comes the moon
And though it never seems too soon
A sudden stillness as the rainfall starts to freeze
(chorus)
Im mr blue
Im here to stay with you
And no matter what you do
When youre lonely - Ill be lonely too
(repeat)
A young girl, she is shaded
Bears the scars that never faded
Of the baby that was born on christmas day
While the heavens sing their song
A childs life is never long
cos the food supplies will only last a day
(chorus repeat)
Patriot emotion, is the cause of the commotion
After all theres really no-one here to blame
Soldiers taking orders, cos we must defend the borders
Of our nation (and the other sides the same)
(chorus repeat)
Ill come to you at night
When all the world is sleeping tight
And lie beside you, till the early morning dew
You cant hear me, you cant see
But you can feel me when you read
The folded letter she left addressed to you
(chorus repeat)
song performed by by Yaz
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Belleau Wood
Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
Over belleau wood that night
For a christmas truce had been declared
By both sides of the fight
As we lay there in our trenches
The silence broke in two
By a german soldier singing
A song that we all knew
Though I did not know the language
The song was silent night
Then I heard my buddy whisper,
all is calm and all is bright
Then the fear and doubt surrounded me
cause Id die if I was wrong
But I stood up on my trench
And I began to sing along
Then across the frozen battlefield
Anothers voice joined in
Until one by one each man became
A singer of the hymn
Then I thought that I was dreaming
For right there in my sight
Stood the german soldier
neath the falling flakes of white
And he raised his hand and smiled at me
As if he seemed to say
Heres hoping we both live
To see us find a better way
Then the devils clock struck midnight
And the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood
Was blown to hell again
But for just one fleeting moment
The answer seemed so clear
Heavens not beyond the clouds
Its just beyond the fear
No heavens not beyond the clouds
Its for us to find it here
song performed by by Garth Brooks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Original Sin
The man-brained and man-handed ground-ape, physically
The most repulsive of all hot-blooded animals
Up to that time of the world: they had dug a pitfall
And caught a mammoth, but how could their sticks and stones
Reach the life in that hide? They danced around the pit, shrieking
With ape excitement, flinging sharp flints in vain, and the stench of their bodies
Stained the white air of dawn; but presently one of them
Remembered the yellow dancer, wood-eating fire
That guards the cave-mouth: he ran and fetched him, and others
Gathered sticks at the wood’s edge; they made a blaze
And pushed it into the pit, and they fed it high, around the mired sides
Of their huge prey. They watched the long hairy trunk
Waver over the stifle trumpeting pain,
And they were happy.
Meanwhile the intense color and nobility of sunrise,
Rose and gold and amber, flowed up the sky. Wet rocks were shining, a little wind
Stirred the leaves of the forest and the marsh flag-flowers; the soft valley between the low hills
Became as beautiful as the sky; while in its midst, hour after hour, the happy hunters
Roasted their living meat slowly to death.
These are the people.
This is the human dawn. As for me, I would rather
Be a worm in a wild apple than a son of man.
But we are what we are, and we might remember
Not to hate any person, for all are vicious;
And not be astonished at any evil, all are deserved;
And not fear death; it is the only way to be cleansed.
poem by Robinson Jeffers
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Simple Fight
Simple men destined for fancy fights
Find the treasure chests
In their evening rest
Frowning on the cuddly toys
In an eventual rest.
I have some resting to speak about,
Fines are startling me in a final elixir,
Finding arts and their principles
After too many years,
And men could hear the fighting.
This resting settlement is a settlement,
Villages start to rock and righteously rock
When strenuously fighting with other rocks.
I have no rest in sight,
I am simpler than the ritualistic days
After my death,
After my life.
poem by Naveed Akram
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Moonlight Shadow
The last that ever she saw him
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
He passed on worried and warning
Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
Lost in a riddle last saturday night
Far away on the other side.
He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight
And she couldn't find how to push through
The trees that whisper in the evening
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
Sing a song of sorrow and grieving
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
All she saw was a silhouette of a gun
Far away on the other side.
He was shot six times by a man on the run
And she couldn't find how to push through
I stay
I pray
I see you in heaven far away
I stay
I pray
I see you in heaven one day
Four AM in the morning
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
I watched your vision forming
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
Stars move slowly in the silvery night
Far away on the other side
"Will you come to talk to me this night?"
But she couldn't find how to push through
I stay
I pray
I see you in heaven far away
I stay
I pray
I see you in heaven one day
Far away on the other side.
Caught in the middle of a hundred and five
The night was heavy but the air was alive
But she couldn't find how to push through
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
Far away on the other side.
song performed by by Mike Oldfield from Crises
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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