Tortoise Shell
The Cross, the Cross
Goes deeper in than we know,
Deeper into life;
Right into the marrow
And through the bone.
Along the back of the baby tortoise
The scales are locked in an arch like a bridge,
Scale-lapping, like a lobster's sections
Or a bee's.
Then crossways down his sides
Tiger-stripes and wasp-bands.
Five, and five again, and five again,
And round the edges twenty-five little ones,
The sections of the baby tortoise shell.
Four, and a keystone;
Four, and a keystone;
Four, and a keystone;
Then twenty-four, and a tiny little keystone.
It needed Pythagoras to see life playing with counters on the living back
Of the baby tortoise;
Life establishing the first eternal mathematical tablet,
Not in stone, like the Judean Lord, or bronze, but in life-clouded, life-rosy tortoise shell.
The first little mathematical gentleman
Stepping, wee mite, in his loose trousers
Under all the eternal dome of mathematical law.
Fives, and tens,
Threes and fours and twelves,
All the volte face of decimals,
The whirligig of dozens and the pinnacle of seven.
Turn him on his back,
The kicking little beetle,
And there again, on his shell-tender, earth-touching belly,
The long cleavage of division, upright of the eternal cross
And on either side count five,
On each side, two above, on each side, two below
The dark bar horizontal.
The Cross!
It goes right through him, the sprottling insect,
Through his cross-wise cloven psyche,
Through his five-fold complex-nature.
So turn him over on his toes again;
Four pin-point toes, and a problematical thumb-piece,
Four rowing limbs, and one wedge-balancing head,
Four and one makes five, which is the clue to all mathematics.
The Lord wrote it all down on the little slate
Of the baby tortoise.
Outward and visible indication of the plan within,
The complex, manifold involvednes,s of an individual creature
Plotted out
On this small bird, this rudiment,
This little dome, this pediment
Of all creation,
This slow one.
poem by David Herbert Lawrence
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Baby Tortoise
You know what it is to be born alone,
Baby tortoise!
The first day to heave your feet little by little from the shell,
Not yet awake,
And remain lapsed on earth,
Not quite alive.
A tiny, fragile, half-animate bean.
To open your tiny beak-mouth, that looks as if it would never open,
Like some iron door;
To lift the upper hawk-beak from the lower base
And reach your skinny little neck
And take your first bite at some dim bit of herbage,
Alone, small insect,
Tiny bright-eye,
Slow one.
To take your first solitary bite
And move on your slow, solitary hunt.
Your bright, dark little eye,
Your eye of a dark disturbed night,
Under its slow lid, tiny baby tortoise,
So indomitable.
No one ever heard you complain.
You draw your head forward, slowly, from your little wimple
And set forward, slow-dragging, on your four-pinned toes, Rowing slowly forward.
Whither away, small bird?
Rather like a baby working its limbs,
Except that you make slow, ageless progress
And a baby makes none.
The touch of sun excites you,
And the long ages, and the lingering chill
Make you pause to yawn,
Opening your impervious mouth,
Suddenly beak-shaped, and very wide, like some suddenly gaping pincers;
Soft red tongue, and hard thin gums,
Then close the wedge of your little mountain front,
Your face, baby tortoise.
Do you wonder at the world, as slowly you turn your head in its wimple
And look with laconic, black eyes?
Or is sleep coming over you again,
The non-life?
You are so hard to wake.
Are you able to wonder?
Or is it just your indomitable will and pride of the first life
Looking round
And slowly pitching itself against the inertia
Which had seemed invincible?
The vast inanimate,
And the fine brilliance of your so tiny eye,
Challenger.
Nay, tiny shell-bird,
What a huge vast inanimate it is, that you must row against,
What an incalculable inertia.
Challenger,
Little Ulysses, fore-runner,
No bigger than my thumb-nail,
Buon viaggio.
All animate creation on your shoulder,
Set forth, little Titan, under your battle-shield.
The ponderous, preponderate,
Inanimate universe;
And you are slowly moving, pioneer, you alone.
How vivid your travelling seems now, in the troubled sunshine,
Stoic, Ulyssean atom;
Suddenly hasty, reckless, on high toes.
Voiceless little bird,
Resting your head half out of your wimple
In the slow dignity of your eternal pause.
Alone, with no sense of being alone,
And hence six times more solitary;
Fulfilled of the slow passion of pitching through immemorial ages
Your little round house in the midst of chaos.
Over the garden earth,
Small bird,
Over the edge of all things.
Traveller,
With your tail tucked a little on one side
Like a gentleman in a long-skirted coat.
All life carried on your shoulder,
Invincible fore-runner.
poem by David Herbert Lawrence
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A tortoise
the tortoise is just inadequate
she has been treating
the same way everyone
of another kind
a supercilious front
to shroud weaknesses
broadcasting insouciance
with a hard hard shell
she knows she has a birthright
a hard headed advantage
with its shell signed
with letters from heaven
nobody is allowed even to knock on
it, protected species
here she is behaving in ways
that turn people away
without even knowing why
ten thousand years from now
she would be still in her same state
and behaving the same way
one big curvy hard hard shell
as the world shuttles to a new sphere
poor tortoise! poor tortoise!
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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The Line
Can U talk 2 me with your body, baby?
Can U tell me what I wanna hear?
Can U lay on me a good enough reason 2 cross the line?
Yeah, ho! {x2}
Can U be my lover and still be my friend? (Can U be my friend?)
Can U stick with me till the bitter end? (The bitter end)
Can U lay on me a good enough reason 2 cross the line?
Yeah, ho! (Cross the line)
CHORUS:
The line, line - it's a happy step 2 make
It takes time, time - all is what it takes
The line, line - and soon your life is so much better
The water's so much better on the other side (Cross the line)
Can U tolerate? Why am I not so free?
How I did the plan
Can U understand I'm a free man?
But will I stop the dam if I don't cross the line?
Yeah, ho! {x2}
Ow!
Hey
Cross the line sugar, cross the line {x2}
Cross the line
CHORUS
(Cross the line)
Cross the line sugar, cross the line {x3}
I want U 2 cross the line, hey! {sample used in "Acknowledge Me"}
Talk 2 me, say the things I wanna hear, oh!
Cross the line
Cross the line
Cross the line
Baby, baby, baby, can U make me cross the line?
Cross the line, sugar, cross the line
U know U got 2 cross the line!
(New dance) {repeat in BG}
People, people, I got a brand new dance {x2}
Ain't talkin' 'bout Housequake! No!
Ain't talkin' 'bout Shake 'N' Bake! No!
Ain't talkin' 'bout Rice-O-Roni! No!
I'm talkin' 'bout Macaroni? No!
Lord have mercy
Boni? (What?)
On the 2 (Yeah!)
What we gonna do? (Kangaroo!)
Say it! (Kangaroo!)
Come on
Boni? (What?)
On the 2 (Yeah!)
What U wanna do? (Kangaroo!)
Do the do (Do the do!)
Cross the line {repeat}
Baby, baby, baby, cross the line {repeat 2 fade}
Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, help me stand
I try, I have need, I am whole
Through the door, through the shore
Precious Lord, I believe in your name
song performed by by Prince
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Real Meaning Of Life
The real meaning of present life, begins at The Cross of Christ,
The cross on Mount Calvary, where Christ died for you and me,
Anywhere you travel on this sod, the Cross points men to God,
With a meaning far much higher, than any human earthly desire.
The Cross, purposed in this life, for man's Savior, Jesus Christ,
For the earthly life of Christ Jesus, not for Him, but for all of us,
His purpose came with a price, which was to be God's sacrifice,
As The Lord God purposed for Him, to be The Lamb for our sin.
Christ's example is for all men, in this world, God did condemn,
After sin had entered the earth, then The Lord put down a curse;
With a plan God had initiated, in a place where Christ was hated,
Crying for Him to be crucified; for them and All, Christ had died.
The Lord had left Heaven's majesty, to die for sinners at Calvary,
Surrendering His life for sinful man, all part of God's eternal plan,
Where Christ became sin for us, so we could gain righteousness,
This that through Jesus Christ, fallen man could attain eternal life.
For believers now on this earth, our present life has eternal worth,
Now with that promise of paradise, we are to be a living sacrifice,
Surrendering to God, all our life, to be witnesses for Jesus Christ,
So others, by the Cross of Calvary, may also secure life eternally.
Poem: Song to the Holy Cross
The cross of love:
The cross I love:
The cross I'd loved all life;
The wooden cross:
The holy cross:
The cross that bore man's strife.
The oaken cross:
The heavy cross:
The cross Jesus carried;
The cross on which
Christ Lord was nailed:
And bore man's sins indeed.
The cross of death:
The blood-stained cross:
The Savior, man, redeemed;
The cross of life's
Victory o'er death:
That souls on earth must heed.
poem by John Celes
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Tortoise Family Connections
On he goes, the little one,
Bud of the universe,
Pediment of life.
Setting off somewhere, apparently.
Whither away, brisk egg?
His mother deposited him on the soil as if he were no more than droppings,
And now he scuffles tinily past her as if she were an old rusty tin.
A mere obstacle,
He veers round the slow great mound of her --
Tortoises always foresee obstacles.
It is no use my saying to him in an emotional voice:
'This is your Mother, she laid you when you were an egg.'
He does not even trouble to answer: 'Woman, what have I to do with thee?'
He wearily looks the other way,
And she even more wearily looks another way still,
Each with the utmost apathy,
Incognisant,
Unaware,
Nothing.
As for papa,
He snaps when I offer him his offspring,
Just as he snaps when I poke a bit of stick at him,
Because he is irascible this morning, an irascible tortoise
Being touched with love, and devoid of fatherliness.
Father and mother,
And three little brothers,
And all rambling aimless, like little perambulating pebbles scattered in the garden,
Not knowing each other from bits of earth or old tins.
Except that papa and mama are old acquaintances, of course,
Though family feeling there is none, not even the beginnings.
Fatherless, motherless, brotherless, sisterless
Little tortoise.
Row on then, small pebble,
Over the clods of the autumn, wind-chilled sunshine,
Young gaiety.
Does he look for a companion?
No, no, don't think it.
He doesn't know he is alone;
Isolation is his birthright,
This atom.
To row forward, and reach himself tall on spiny toes,
To travel, to burrow into a little loose earth, afraid of the night,
To crop a little substance,
To move, and to be quite sure that he is moving:
Basta!
To be a tortoise!
Think of it, in a garden of inert clods
A brisk, brindled little tortoise, all to himself --
Adam!
In a garden of pebbles and insects
To roam, and feel the slow heart beat
Tortoise-wise, the first bell sounding
From the warm blood, in the dark-creation morning.
Moving, and being himself,
Slow, and unquestioned,
And inordinately there, O stoic!
Wandering in the slow triumph of his own existence,
Ringing the soundless bell of his presence in chaos,
And biting the frail grass arrogantly,
Decidedly arrogantly.
poem by David Herbert Lawrence
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An Interesting Ancestry
To some of us, a tortoise lives on land
while turtles only rarely leave the sea.
‘Chelonians' applies to any brand,
so here I'll use this terminology.
Land dwellers share aquatic ancestry
and most of us decided to stay put.
Chelonians agreed to disagree.
A flippered revolution was afoot.
A late Triassic turtle fossil shows
a hard-shelled belly plate and softer back,
presumably to ward off fatal blows
from deeper-dwelling predators' attack.
Did top shell metaphorically ‘dissolve'
when full-shelled forebear sought the sea's embrace?
Or did an unshelled forebear's shell evolve
in oceanic pilgrimage retrace?
Genetic sleuthing points to latter case.
The evidence suggests that once again,
the tortoise forebears left their liquid space
and plodded (swam?) to shore with sigh, 'amen'. *
From sea to shore to sea to shore once more.
You'd surely think a record lies therein.
Yet maybe making not three trips but four
is water loving cousin terrapin.
When next you gaze with love in tortoise eyes
and wonder at his mind's soliloquy,
from languid, longing looks you may surmise,
he's pondering ‘To sea or not to sea'.
poem by Diane Hine
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A Tortoise's World!
Story of a tortoise who hid in his shell
Under the rock in the well
That is where it would dwell
Until one day a frog chased by a snake, did fell
Both, tortoise and frog were friends since they met
They had so much to talk, a lot of fun, you bet
Frog wanted to go home, leave a new friend, not to forget
Frog left, promised, soon it shall return and bring friends to get
Days passed and tortoise was sad and lonely
It rained and rained, and then came the day lovely
Frog came and came Frogs, croaking and singing jolly
Also were there tortoises, fishes and snails, Joy filled the world wholly!
poem by Manjeshwari P MYSORE
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Tortosise and the Hare: The true story
So you think tortoise
won the race,
not so.
Today the last
of Hare's descendants
passed on.
Oh his death
bed from his
lips came this,
my great, great
so many grandfather
was bribed,
to throw the race,
to the Tortoise
by the way of carrots,
his greatest weakness
you didn't really think
the Tortoise could have
won do you. Then he passed on.
wrote 4-14-07
It's the tortoise's shell, ugly and hard that protects its life long journey on earth.
358
you once said
you are unhappy
you live on this hard shell
of a tortoise
and your burden
is such that you cannot
really move freely
as a bird with its wings
you wish the burden
melts into your skin
and it is done
then you say
the skin binds you
and the flesh and bone
are burdens too
you want something
lighter like the feathers
of a free bird
something light and easy
and verily free
and it is done
i am happy to see
you flying in the skies
doing some acrobatics
in space
chirping some melodies
under the trees
diving in the sea
teasing the rivers
and this hovering
on the cows
and today i hear
a different song
a sad song from a bird
by my window
it is you
you want to return
to the hard shell of
the tortoise
you miss the silence
and the privacy
of your hiding
now, you have doubts
what burdens are
what freedom is
and this cannot just
be easily done
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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What You Are Saying
you once said
you are unhappy
you live on this hard shell
of a tortoise
and your burden
is such that you cannot
really move freely
as a bird with its wings
you wish the burden
melts into your skin
and it is done
then you say
the skin binds you
and the flesh and bone
are burdens too
you want something
lighter like the feathers
of a free bird
something light and easy
and verily free
and it is done
i am happy to see
you flying in the skies
doing some acrobatics
in space
chirping some melodies
under the trees
diving in the sea
teasing the rivers
and this hovering
on the cows
and today i hear
a different song
a sad song from a bird
by my window
it is you
you want to return
to the hard shell of
the tortoise
you miss the silence
and the privacy
of your hiding
now, you have doubts
what burdens are
what freedom is
and this cannot just
be easily done
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Tortoise (Love Poem)
This girl came to my party,
And petted my tortoise,
In nineteen sixty four,
When I was eight, and
No-one noticed, not even me.
She still complains today
That she missed out on
Her jelly and ice-cream,
When she was seven, and
No one noticed, not even me.
I think when ten years later this
Beautiful blonde said yes, she
Would be mine, and is today, this
Tortoise slow was still around, and
No one noticed, not even me.
I tell our children now grown-up,
That I have found a tortoise is
The perfect way to find the girl,
Who will be yours forever, when
You are eight and she is seven.
poem by Ian Beckett
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Shadow of The Cross
In the shadow of Christ’s cross, is every soul and sinner lost,
Every soul upon God’s earth, with sin tainting their own worth,
With His light put on all pride; the reason why Christ had died,
Carrying out His Father’s will, when lifted high on Calvary’s hill,
Lifted up for all men to see, was Christ the Lord of all Eternity.
He was nailed up to pay the cost, of all the sin of sinners lost,
Lifted high as God’s Sacrifice, to pay for man an eternal price,
From on that cross at Calvary, blood did flow for you and me,
Blood of the Spotless Lamb, to pay the penalty of sinful man,
Worthy to atone for all, but one; Jesus Christ, God’s only Son.
From that cross to the grave, for all of those God would save,
Through faith in God’s Son, the Savior who died for everyone,
Now lifted high for all of us, the One in whom today men trust,
Seated upon His Eternal Throne, interceding for all of His own,
Men who at the cross believed, from Him, eternal life received.
Now all whom God did save, enter into eternal life, not a grave,
Truly saved by God’s Sacrifice, to be with His Son in Paradise,
Freed from sin’s eternal penalty, through the love from Calvary,
Fully cleansed in Calvary’s tide; blood out of our Savior’s side,
Purged of all our sinful dross, while in the shadow of the cross.
(Copyright ©04/2008)
Time is a fluid condition which has no existence except in the momentary avatars of individual people. There is no such thing as was — only is. If was existed, there would be no grief or sorrow. I like to think of the world I created as being a kind of keystone in the universe; that, small as that keystone is, if it were ever taken away the universe itself would collapse.
quote by William Faulkner
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The Goodness of God
Oh, the kindness of a Holy Lord, poured on those on earth below,
As His gracious help is implored, by those here who need Him so,
And by others, God goes ignored, for The Lord they do not know,
But even these men cannot afford, to continue in the way they go.
God’s goodness extends to everyone, wherever we are in this life,
Through His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Available to all men under the sun, to deal with their toil and strife,
His kindness follows as they run, the race that leads to eternal life.
It was God who made a sacrifice, by sending His Son to the cross,
Paying for all men an eternal price, while making a way for the lost,
By that cleansing work of Christ, to purge all sinners of their dross,
Preparing for believers a paradise, when life’s final river they cross.
The Lord is the Creator of us all, Maker of all creatures on the earth,
Every creature, great and small, and He knew you before your birth,
Although we are cursed by the fall, God places on man much worth,
And all who hear the trumpet call, Christ shall rapture from the earth.
Extended to each and all of us, is God’s goodness and much more,
Saving men from a grave of dust, when they came to Christ as Lord,
Extending to Him a simply trust, and God opens up the eternal door,
As belief in Christ is the only must, to live with our God forevermore.
(Copyright ©07/2008)
It Was God
It was the Lord God, who would give, His only Son for us to live,
So that men could live eternally, all through the cross of Calvary.
It was upon the cross, where Christ, as a man would give His life,
Freely given, for sinful man; the heart of God’s Redemptive Plan.
Christ was a man, yet was God, sent from Heaven to earth’s sod,
For a time, Christ left His Throne, to redeem a people of His own.
Just sinful people, desperately lost, would find Truth at the cross,
Eternal Truth, from God above, sent down to sinners by His Love.
It was God’s love that sent His Son, to be the Savior of everyone,
God, sent as a sinless man to die, for sinful people like you and I,
Christ, Eternal God and our Creator, sent to earth to be our Savior,
From Eternal Heaven for all of us, sinful men simply made of dust.
Sent from Heaven, down to earth, to offer all men a Spiritual Birth,
Prompted by a love He has for all, deceived in sin by Adam’s fall.
Only through Jesus Christ our Lord, can men, to God, be restored,
Restored, to a relationship with Him, as Christ saves men from sin.
It is Christ, who’s coming back again, to take Home believing men,
He’s coming back for all of us, who in The Son have put their trust,
Leaving again His Glorious Throne, to take us to our Eternal Home,
Where we shall live forevermore, with Jesus Christ, The Risen Lord.
(Copyright ©09/2008)
Core Truths To Salvation
There are core Truths we believe, from The Word that we receive,
Truths out of God’s Revelation, which lead a soul unto Salvation.
The first Truth is a belief in God, this I say with a resounding nod,
The Creator of all that we see, The Lord God who exists eternally.
The top of God’s Creation plan, was when The Lord created man,
From the dust man was formed; in God’s image he was adorned,
Created to be eternal with a soul, but, from perfection he did fall,
When in Paradise Satan entered in, introducing man to mortal sin.
That perfection man had at first, was now stained by sin’s curse,
Initially given immortal breath, man now would face certain death.
God would provide by His Son, eternal redemption for everyone,
In His Plan, He called Jesus Christ, to be man’s atoning sacrifice.
This would point to the Cross, where God had redeemed the lost,
On a wicked cross on Calvary, where Christ died for you and me.
This is the very heart of Grace, where sinners can place their faith,
In the finished work of Jesus Christ, who paid God’s eternal price.
But, Christ who died rose again, to grant a New Life to sinful men,
When this Truth you do believe, Eternal Life you shall you receive.
These are Truths for everyone, through the Witness of God’s Son,
When they embrace their Creator, as their Lord and Eternal Savior.
(Copyright ©08/2009)
The developers, if they decide to move a tortoise, have to pay the long-term costs for enhancing the areas that take care of the tortoise, and it gives us the opportunity to manage an area that is going to be protected.
quote by Gale Norton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Will Get There
Ohohah
Hey
Yeah
I've been wanderin' 'round in the dark
Been lost somewhere where no light could shine on my heart
I have known a pain so deep
But I know my faith will free me
[Get there] And I'll get through this
[Get there] I'll find my way again
So don't tell me that it's over
'Cause each step just gets me closer
[chorus]
(I will get there) I will get there
(I will get there) I will get there somehow
Cross that river (Cross that river)
Nothing's stoppin' me now
I will get through the night (Oh, yes, I will)
And make it through to the other side
(Get there) Get there
(Get there) Get there
I've been in these chains for so long
I'll break free and I'll be there where I belong
Hold my head up high, I'll stand tall
And I swear this time I won't fall
[Get there] I will do this
[Get there] No matter what it takes
'Cause I know no limitations
And I'll reach my destination, I will get there
[chorus]
I will get there (I will get there)
I will get there (Ooh) somehow (Somehow)
Cross that river (Cross that river)
Nothing's stoppin' me now
I will get through the night
And make it through to the other side
(Ooh, get there) Get there
(Get there) Get there
Well, the night is cold and dark
But somewhere the sun is shining
And I'll feel it shine on me
I'll keep on tryin', I'll keep on tryin'
I will get there (I will get there)
I will get there somehow
Cross that river (Cross that river)
Nothing's stoppin' me now
I will get through the night
And make it through to the other side
Get there, get there
I will get there (I will get there)
I will get there somehow (Somehow)
Cross that river (I'll cross that river for you)
Nothing's stoppin' me now (OhwhoaI)
I will get through (Through) the night
And make it through to the other side (Ohhoohho)
(Get there) Get there
(Ooh, get there) Get there (Whoaoh)
I will get there (I will get there)
I will get there somehow (Somehow)
Cross that river (I'll cross it for your love)
Nothing's stoppin' me now (No matter what)
I will get through the night (I will get through the night)
And make it through to the other side
(Get there) Get there
(Ooh, get there) Get there
Get there
Ohhooh
I'll get there
song performed by by Boyz II Men
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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