The Music of the Reeds
It had been the worst of years, I seemed
To always be in strife,
First my business in receivership
And then my darling wife,
She decided that our poverty,
Once Banks had seized our home,
Was the perfect opportunity
For her to leave, and roam.
So she roamed with a protector,
The accountant I'd released,
When I found that through his perfidy
I'd have to call the police,
He was always just one step ahead,
My wife knew me too well,
So they took the Channel Ferry, left
This fool, to rot in hell!
I was heading for a breakdown,
All this fretting, and the grief,
I was hell-bent on disaster,
Vowed to catch this blatant thief,
And my wife, I would have killed her
For disloyalty, I swear,
So I followed them through Europe,
Catching glimpses, everywhere.
But they managed to elude me
And I ended up in Greece,
I had gone through all the money
I had salvaged for the chase,
With what little I had left, I found
A villa I could rent,
By a woodland, in the marshes
I could brood on what I'd spent.
It was broken down and basic,
Had been empty there for years,
And the roof was badly leaking,
Rain could mingle with my tears,
I felt sorry for myself, and it
Was lonely, stuck out there,
Where the isolated shepherd came
To see, to stand and stare.
But they soon had lost their interest
In the stranger in their midst,
I was left to brood in silence
Walk the woodland in the mist,
And I skirted round the marshes
Where there lay a shallow lake,
It was fresh, and it was verdant
And unspoiled by man's estate.
When the weather was idyllic
I would sit and think of Beth,
Of the time there on the hillside
Where the world had held its breath,
But the years of wine and flowers
They had slowly been submerged,
And with age, the passion sours
As we lose that primal urge.
I would lie awake at midnight
Hear the music of the reeds,
With the wind so gently playing
Through the marshes and the trees,
And one night I left the villa
When I heard a certain note,
And I saw a sudden movement,
That I thought must be a goat.
But my eyes had slowly focussed,
It seemed old and tired, and turned
And it stared at me quite sadly
It had horns, a beard that curled,
And it stood up on the hindquarters
A goat is noted for,
And it clutched the pipes of Pan
To breathe soft music, from its core.
It stood there for but a moment
Then it walked into the wood,
With its shoulders bowed and beaten,
And it staggered as it moved,
But the music was so wistful
Of a love, long lost before,
That my eyes began to glisten
As the lake lapped at the shore.
In a month I'd met with Gaya
Who I'd seen, back through the trees,
Dancing gently in the moonlight
Casting petals in the breeze,
And she came back to the villa
Where she saw to all my needs,
And we lie in love, and listen
To the Music of the Reeds.
14 September 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Already There
Seen it all Im already there
Save you books and you pills
I dont need them Im there
You can do anything you want to
All youve got to do is try
I thought my best days had left me
My best years had left me behind
Then I felt them come back (to me)
And all the wild eyes
All the wild eyes no what I mean
It trees cut stars and eyes to heaven
Ill bend them back and bend them again
If my skin looks tired and ol from living
Ill turn right back and live it again
You better pray when the music stops
And youre left alone in your mind
Cause Ill be hearing music till the day I die
Then I heard it turn off
I swear I heard the screams
And all the wild eyes
All the wild eyes no what I mean
Theyre scared theyve lost their dream
They press down on me
You know I thought I was there
Hello high are you?
Yes, well that explains it
Oh you were walking round like some kind of angel
You were walking round like some kind of angel
Hello high are you yes
Well that explains it
Well that explains it
song performed by by Verve
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Walk Within A Dream
I saw a building old as days
With countless rooms laid within
Walls with cracks and ivy rose
From the earth before me
Slowly I entered that place
Air ran heavy, thick to my lungs
With each taken step
I walked the rooms and halls
Some bare stripped of life
Others as though never touched
Some like a memory kept
Where instruments of music
Lay dust covered, silent
Still brought a song to thought
I saw paintings and pictures
Rich in a veil of colour
Like all the seasons held at once
A beauty found, celebrated
Then a sadness felt
In the shadowed halls
Empty with a loneliness
Another room had windows
Where a wind whistled through
I heard a birdsong carried
It passed in a second step
I thought no more of it
I descended and climbed stairs
Became lost and yet found
I knew this place well
However strange it came to me
Yes I knew this place
I felt the walls, ageless
I smelt the air, familiar
The ground beat to a pulse
A rhythm only I knew
On this my first visit
To that building which once rose
I felt at home, comforted
I looked back became held
As though I had never moved
The entrance still behind me
In spite of all the rooms and halls
Which I had walked
In spite of every step I counted
Numberless, countless, endless
I remained unmoved
Yet moved still moved
My eyes closed I felt myself pulled
Away from that old building
The rooms and walls
The cracks and the climbing ivy
That whistling wind
The music and colour
I awoke and thought
Had I walked a dream
Built upon my heart, soul, mind
Had I just walked myself
No answers came
I lay awake lost in thought
poem by Matthew Holloway
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Wilderness
Come away! come away! there’s a frost along the marshes,
And a frozen wind that skims the shoal where it shakes the dead black water;
There’s a moan across the lowland and a wailing through the woodland
Of a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those that love us.
There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson chills of autumn
Put off the summer’s languor with a touch that made us glad
For the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we cannot follow,
To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other shores.
Come away! come away! you can hear them calling, calling,
Calling us to come to them, and roam no more.
Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies between us,
There’s an old song calling us to come!
Come away! come away!—for the scenes we leave behind us
Are barren for the lights of home and a flame that’s young forever;
And the lonely trees around us creak the warning of the night-wind,
That love and all the dreams of love are away beyond the mountains.
The songs that call for us to-night, they have called for men before us,
And the winds that blow the message, they have blown ten thousand years;
But this will end our wander-time, for we know the joy that waits us
In the strangeness of home-coming, and a woman’s waiting eyes.
Come away! come away! there is nothing now to cheer us—
Nothing now to comfort us, but love’s road home:—
Over there beyond the darkness there’s a window gleams to greet us,
And a warm hearth waits for us within.
Come away! come away!—or the roving-fiend will hold us,
And make us all to dwell with him to the end of human faring:
There are no men yet may leave him when his hands are clutched upon them,
There are none will own his enmity, there are none will call him brother.
So we’ll be up and on the way, and the less we boast the better
For the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do not know:—
The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to blight it,
And the doom we cannot fly from is the doom we do not see.
Come away! come away! there are dead men all around us—
Frozen men that mock us with a wild, hard laugh
That shrieks and sinks and whimpers in the shrill November rushes,
And the long fall wind on the lake.
poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Pearls of Verna Boone
I'd been alone for a year or so
Since Norma Jean had died,
I stayed in the house I'd bought for her
At the end of River Drive,
I'd felt her death as a fatal blow,
A crippling twist of fate,
For Norma Jean was my one true love,
Though I'd met her a little late!
I was past my prime when our eyes had met,
And she'd looked so young to me,
Her eyes had sparkled like diamonds set
As scarabs in sand and sea,
She saw the desert behind my eyes,
The emptiness in my life,
I stumbled over the words, but she
Said 'Yes! ' - She would be my wife!
I didn't know that she carried then
The seeds of a painful death,
Her face was flushed at the altar stone
And she seemed so short of breath,
I thought it merely a passing faint
That excitement had brought on,
As we stood in front of the Minister,
And joined our lives as one.
But then at home, she fell apart,
Collapsed on the kitchen floor,
I saw her lying, and coughing blood
Like I'd never seen before,
The doctor called, and he shook his head
As he left her there in the bed,
'I'm very sorry, ' the doctor sighed,
'But your lovely wife is dead! '
I cried and raged, and swore at fate
I smashed each wedding gift,
I wouldn't go to the funeral
But stayed at home and wept.
I cursed the heavens and thought that hell
Could never have been as bad
As a love that I'd waited a lifetime for,
A love that I'd never had!
The house next door was a rental place,
Stood empty for months that year,
But then a couple had moved on in,
I didn't see him, just her.
I thought that he was a traveller,
Was constantly on the road,
He came at night, and he left at dawn
In a battered and ancient Ford.
I had no reason to talk to them,
I sat at home with my grief,
I wandered out in the garden then
At one with each falling leaf,
But then one day, I heard her there
The other side of the fence,
Breaking her heart, as crying there
She sobbed with vehemence.
After a week of this, I climbed
The fence, and spoke to her,
'Why do you sigh, why do you cry? '
But she cried then all the more.
I walked around and sat with her
Quite late in the afternoon,
She smiled, and dried her eyes, and said,
'My name is Verna Boone! '
She said she'd only been married
Just a year this coming Spring,
But now that she knew the man he was,
Regretted everything,
He'd lost her money, just gambled it,
Had spent it on other girls,
And now they were left with nothing, he
Just wanted her mother's pearls!
'They're all I have to remember her, '
She sobbed, like a frightened child,
'They're worth a lot, but they're more to me, '
She looked at me, and smiled.
She took me inside and pulled them out
Three strings, they were very fine,
'He said that he's going to pawn them! '
Then she put her small hand in mine.
I was sad, alone and vulnerable,
I looked at her lovely curls,
She smiled at me, and she asked me then
If I'd care for her mother's pearls?
'I'll say they're lost, misplaced, I'll say,
He'll rant and rage, and more,
But he won't be able to pawn them now...'
Then she walked me to the door.
I took her home, and I placed the pearls
With the gems my wife had once:
'They'll be all right in the downstairs safe.'
It was then that she saw the gun.
She looked afraid, but she picked it up
And weighed it there in her hand,
I took it gently and locked it up
With the rest of my contraband.
'She must have watched as I spun the dial,
I know - I was such a fool! '
The sergeant sat and he stared at me,
And his stare was distant, cool.
He didn't believe a word I said
I could see that now, I'm done!
They put me back in a cell to wait
To be charged with Murder One!
She told them I had come over when
Her husband came home one night,
Waving a gun and ranting, then
Her husband put up a fight!
I'd shot him once through the head, she said,
Then taken her on the bed,
Stolen a fine pearl necklace,
Then beaten and left her for dead!
They found the gun on the floor, they said,
I knew that the gun was mine,
They found the pearls in my safe, they said,
It was only a question of time.
She sat at the back of the court while I
Was stood in the prisoner's dock,
And I noticed she wore her mother's pearls
With a nice new evening frock.
10 August 2009
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Pains of Divorce
His entire life was in his pocket
Starting from his daughters hair locket.
A few pictures of him and his family
Reminding him of how things used to be.
A crumbled up note saying:
Daddy ! I love you - I want you home.
This is where you belong.
The divorce had not gone too well
He had put his family through a living hell.
He felt the pressures getting to him
Of things he did and places he’d been
Of a life that he had been ashamed
He turned to alcohol to ease the pain.
They say with friends he had been
Who Turned to crime and to sin.
they convinced him that
This business was easy prey
And with this they could get away.
He got caught and served some time
Got out of jail and was doing fine.
Then he ran across the same old crowd
Drinking in a bar and getting loud.
Since he had met them his life had changed
He left the bar in a fit of rage.
This rage soon opened up his mind
And he fell to the floor and began to cry.
He asked himself: how is it! that we lose our way
We leave our families and go astray.
How is it! That love is like wine
It gets you drunk and leaves you blind.
How is it! That we fall under loves spell
It makes us happy- or it puts us thru hell.
How is it! That we see faults in others
But not in ourselves.
Do we think that we could hide it
And no one can tell.
He was putting the blame on him falling in love
And wanting to give his family so much more
That he lost himself and forgot the score.
He recalled: I once felt like a king on his throne
And now I’m left all alone.
I knew what it was like to make love
Under the stars above.
I would feel your heart beating on top of mine
And thought that we’d be together till the end of time.
Those beautiful nights and those fantastic days
Where I would make love to you in every way.
Like a fool I let this all slip away.
He found religion on that night
Turned his life around, and began his plight
He would fight to get his family back
He would not give up the slack.
The pains of divorce changed his way
And he knew he would never stray.
His wife saw the change in him
And decided to take him back in.
His daughter now happy as can be
Because once again she had her family.
poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
An Old Memory
How sweet the music sounded
That summer long ago,
When you were by my side, love,
To list its gentle flow.
I saw your eyes a-shining,
I felt your rippling hair,
I kissed your pearly cheek, love,
And had no thought of care.
And gay or sad the music,
With subtle charm replete;
I found in after years, love
'Twas you that made it sweet.
For standing where we heard it,
I hear again the strain;
It wakes my heart, but thrills it
With sad, mysterious pain.
It pulses not so joyous
As when you stood with me,
And hand in hand we listened
To that low melody.
Oh, could the years turn back, love!
Oh, could events be changed
To what they were that time, love,
Before we were estranged;
Wert thou once more a maiden
Whose smile was gold to me;
Were I once more the lover
Whose word was life to thee,--
O God! could all be altered,
The pain, the grief, the strife,
And wert thou--as thou shouldst be--
My true and loyal wife!
But all my tears are idle,
And all my wishes vain.
What once you were to me, love,
You may not be again.
For I, alas! like others,
Have missed my dearest aim.
I asked for love. Oh, mockery!
Fate comes to me with fame!
poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Against The Wind
Words and music by bob seger
It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely, she was the queen of my nights
There in the darkness with the radio playlng low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didnt know now what I didnt know then
Against the wind
We were runnin against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin
Against the wind
And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded bv stranners I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin
Searching for shelter again and again
Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter against the wind
Well those drifters days are past me now
Ive got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out
Against the wind
Im still runnin against the wind
Well Im older now and still
Against the wind
song performed by by Bob Seger
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
As Years Go By
Tell me how the years go by
Its been a long long time
Tell me how your plans fell through
And how you changed your mind
Tell me bout the hearts you broke
How many have you known
Tell me how the years went by
And left you all alone
Tell me dear
I want to hear
bout the lost and wasted years
Tell me when now tell me why
Tell me how the years go by
Tell me how the years go by
Like borrowed dancing shoes
That gather dust beneath your ned
Mislaid and seldom used
Like a heart that haunts a phone booth
On a corner far from home
Tell me how the years went by and left you
All alone
Close your eyes
Tell me what do you see
Its an imperfect world
Still we dream perfect dreams
Its no big surprise when were down on our knees
Truth isnt always what we will believe.
Tell me how the years go by
In seasons at your door
And how the things you left me for
Dont matter anymore
Tell me how the more we learn
The more we leave unknown
Tell me how the years went by and left you
All alone
Alone
Close your eyes (x3)
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Back In Time
Last night; I went back in time
To see my wife if we never had met
I saw my ways, and my upcoming days
And my soul, was full of regret.
She wasn't there, but was in my prayer
As I surveyed the new life that I lived
And I walked alone, in my empty home
As my love for her I couldn't give.
I looked for her, and she couldn't be found
Last night when I went back in time,
So I searched her world, left nothing unfurled
But for her, nothing about her could I find.
So without me she took another path
Because then we had never met
But I stayed on that road, until I died old
Because no other woman in my heart would I let.
Then I had my thought when I awoke from my dream
And my woman she couldn't be found
So I closed my eyes and I sat down to cry
As my world was flipped upside down.
I remember now that she had left me
To be in the arms of another man
She was my love my life, my woman my wife
Now she's holding another mans heart and hand.
Why she left me; GOD will only know
But the love I felt once will never be mine,
I did nothing wrong, just loved her to strong,
Now again I wish, to go back in time.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Across The Fields
Oooooh...
Well, they left then in the morning
A hundred pairs of wings, in the light, moved together
Oooooh...
In the colors of the morning
I looked to the clouds in the cirrus sky and theyd gone
Across the marshes
Across the fields below
Oooooh...
I fell through the vines and I hoped they would catch me below
Oooooh...
If only to take me with them there
Tell me the part that shines in your heart on the wind
Across the marshes
Across the fields below
Oooooh...
I fell through the vines and I hoped they would catch me below
Oooooh...
And the reeds blew in the morning
Take me along to the places youve gone when my eyes looked away
Tell me the song that you sing in the trees in the dawning
Tell me the part that shines in your heart and the rays of love forever
Please take me there
Aaaaah...
song performed by by 10000 Maniacs
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The Enchanted Wood (Part 4)
All eyes turned towards the back
as the bride made her entrance.
Six small bluebirds held
up her long flowing train
as she moved down the centre isle
towards her husband to be.
Standing side by side,
they took their weddings vows
and when they were pronounced,
man and wife a great cheer rang out
that could be heard across the land.
They rode back through the throngs
of well-wishers who lined the route.
Everywhere everyone was smiling
for the happy couple.
It was a joyous occasion
celebrated by everyone
and all the creatures everywhere.
Arriving back at the castle
an old man with a long white beard
waited there to greet them.
He smiled as they moved towards him.
He first kissed the Princess
and whispered a few words in her ear
and she left them as the old man
took her husband to one side.
Putting his arm around his shoulders
lead him to a quiet area
where they both could talk.
“Do you want to go back? ” The old man asked.
“No sir, I do not.
The old man nodded.
“Then you shall stay here forever
with the happiness you have found.”
“But I am cursed, sir.”
The old man smiled and shook his head.
“You were never cursed.
You came here because you were lonely.
Only sad and lonely people
ever enter the enchanted wood.”
“But I don’t understand.”
Only love prevents the others entering
and you had none, but a lot to give.”
“You now have all your wishes
and all your dreams here.
For the first time in your life,
you have friends, someone to love,
and a world as big as you want it
to roam and explore.
Now go to your wife and enjoy your life
the way you always wanted it.”
The old man smiled and then vanished.
He went to his wife
and gathered her in his arms.
They walked to the top of the castle.
Standing together, they looked out
across the enchanted wood and the land beyond it.
Like the curse said
he never went back,
nor did he want to.
He now lives happily in the world
of his wishes and dreams
with his Princess and his friends.
One day in your dreams,
you might catch a glimpse
of him with his Princess
happy together forever.
The End
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Where Do I Go From Here?
(words & music by paul williams)
If I knew the way Id go back home
The countryside has changed so much Id surely end up lost
Half-remembered names and faces so far in the past
On the other side of the bridges that were burned once they were crossed
Tell me where, where does a fool go when theres no-one left to listen
To a story without meaning that nobody wants to hear
Tell me where, where does a fool go when he knows theres something missing
Tell me where, where will I go from here
Where will I go from here
Get back home where my childhood dreams and wishes still are none of my regrets
Go back to a place where I can figure all the odds
Have a fighting chance to lose the blues and win my share of bets
Tell me where, where does a fool go when theres no-one left to listen
To a story without meaning that nobody wants to hear
Tell me where, where does a fool go when he knows theres something missing
Tell me where, where will I go from here
Where will I go from here
Tell me where, where does a fool go when theres no-one left to listen
To a story without meaning that nobody wants to hear
Tell me where, where does a fool go when he knows theres something missing
Tell me where, where will I go from here
Where will I go from here
Tell me where, where does a fool go when theres no-one left to listen
To a story without meaning that nobody wants to hear
Tell me where, where does a fool go when he knows theres something missing
Tell me where, where will I go from here
Where will I go from here
Tell me where, where does a fool go when theres no-one left to listen
To a story without meaning that nobody wants to hear
Tell me where, where does a fool go when he knows theres something missing
Tell me where, where will I go from here
Where will I go from here
song performed by by Elvis Presley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Handsworth Wood
Have ever you seen
On Halloween,
The cloud that covers the trees so green?
The shroud that covers the last of lovers
The shifting mist of the in-between?
I’ve stood, I’ve stood,
By Handsworth Wood,
I’ve stood as long as I thought I could;
All Hallow’s Eve is the night I grieve
My Genevieve of the purple hood.
She slipped between
The trees so green,
She slipped from me one Halloween;
The cloud had glimmered, the evening shimmered
But she was never to more be seen.
And since that cloud
Became a shroud,
I’ve not forgotten the words I vowed;
My patience burns for the cloud’s return
To help discern what I might have been.
The day she left
I held my breath,
Her sleight of hand was so very deft;
But Genevieve, I still believe
You’ll wander out on some Hallow’s Eve.
I wait in vain,
There’s only rain,
The rain and part of the cloud remain;
But Genevieve I’ve not perceived
Since she went tripping in World’s End Lane.
World End’s Land
In Autumn rain,
There’s nothing left of my lost refrain;
For Handsworth Wood is a neighborhood
Where trees are held in a great disdain.
2 July 1977
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Unbroken
(holly lamar, annie roboff)
How I ever lived and breathed before you loved me, I dont recall
If I walked around at all, it was in bits and pieces
Of a jagged heart
You kissed me and every piece went back in place, every pain got erased
You held me up to the light
No one ever left me out in the rain
Cold words still remain unspoken
And I never got lost, spent years in the dark
Youre here, now my hearts unbroken
When I see your smile fill my soul again
Im unbroken
If I doubted the power of love, baby now I understand
I thank God for every day I wake up to the soft touch
Of your magic hands
In this world sometimes the only thing thats real is the way you make me feel
Babe, the changes day and night
I swear its life
No one ever left me out in the rain
Cold words still remain unspoken
And I never got lost, spent years in the dark
Youre here, now my hearts unbroken
When I see your smile fill my soul again
Im unbroken
I still see the night, I fell into your eyes
And when we made love it felt like the first time
No one ever left me out in the rain
Cold words still remain unspoken
And I never got lost, spent years in the dark
Youre here, now my hearts unbroken
When I see your smile fill my soul again
Im unbroken
When I see your smile fill my soul again
Im unbroken
Im unbroken, oh yeah
Im unbroken
No one ever left me out in the rain
Cold words still remain unspoken
And I never got lost, spent years in the dark
Youre here, now my hearts unbroken
When I see your smile fill my soul again
Im unbroken
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Flawed Fidelity
‘Life is a great disappointment, ' mused
The sailor on the quay,
And he sighed again, and frowned, and then
Looked sadly out to sea,
‘We start by thinking it wonderful
With a whole wide world out there,
But the world is thin, and it hems you in
If you have no love to share! '
The man he'd met on the promenade
Stood silent by his side,
The sun dipped into the ocean on
Its slow but stately ride,
The Moon, the queen of the evening rose
To light the Milky Way,
‘I shouldn't have gone to sea, but then
She'd have left me anyway! '
The man in the cheap and shoddy suit
Had nodded in the gloom,
His thoughts were locked in the high rise block,
That he'd left that afternoon,
She'd pushed him out on the balcony
Still dressed in her negligée,
‘You'd better not come around again,
He's coming home today! '
‘I thought I could go and roam, while she
Sat patient, waited here,
The love in her eyes had gone, when I
Came back, the following year,
We muddled along for two more years,
She couldn't look in my eyes,
When I asked her who she was seeing
All I got was a pack of lies! '
The man in the cheap and shoddy suit
Thought of his wife at home,
He'd told her about some meeting, but
He'd wandered the streets alone,
Hoping she'd keep their rendezvous
Continue their brief affair,
And he thought of her long and shapely legs
And the fragrance of her hair.
‘Marriage can be a terrible bind,
We think it will last for life, '
He said to the sailor, dredging up
Some thoughts of his faithful wife,
‘But wives get dull with the passing years
And they lose that vital spark,
So a man must find a lover…'
They both nodded, in the dark.
‘I said that I'd meet her here, at six, '
He checked his watch again,
‘She said to stay, she would get away
If she could, by half past seven.'
‘Mine should be any moment now,
Her man has gone for the night,
She says that she's dull and bored at home,
But she's feisty, and she's bright! '
They parted then at the quay, each walked
Some way, then stood in the glow,
Of a dimly lit street standard
Lighting the sombre street below,
Then a woman walked up to the sailor,
Gave him kisses, long and deep,
While the man in the cheap and shoddy suit
Went pale, and began to weep!
22 August 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Cocotte
When a girl's sixteen, and as poor as she's pretty,
And she hasn't a friend and she hasn't a home,
Heigh-ho! She's as safe in Paris city
As a lamb night-strayed where the wild wolves roam;
And that was I; oh, it's seven years now
(Some water's run down the Seine since then),
And I've almost forgotten the pangs and the tears now,
And I've almost taken the measure of men.
Oh, I found me a lover who loved me only,
Artist and poet, and almost a boy.
And my heart was bruised, and my life was lonely,
And him I adored with a wonderful joy.
If he'd come to me with his pockets empty,
How we'd have laughed in a garret gay!
But he was rich, and in radiant plenty
We lived in a villa at Viroflay.
Then came the War, and of bliss bereft me;
Then came the call, and he went away;
All that he had in the world he left me,
With the rose-wreathed villa at Viroflay.
Then came the news and the tragic story:
My hero, my splendid lover was dead,
Sword in hand on the field of glory,
And he died with my name on his lips, they said.
So here am I in my widow's mourning,
The weeds I've really no right to wear;
And women fix me with eyes of scorning,
Call me "cocotte", but I do not care.
And men look at me with eyes that borrow
The brightness of love, but I turn away;
Alone, say I, I will live with Sorrow,
In my little villa at Viroflay.
And lo! I'm living alone with Pity,
And they say that pity from love's not far;
Let me tell you all: last week in the city
I took the metro at Saint Lazare;
And the carriage was crowded to overflowing,
And when there entered at Chateaudun
Two wounded poilus with medals showing,
I eagerly gave my seat to one.
You should have seen them: they'd slipped death's clutches,
But sadder a sight you will rarely find;
One had a leg off and walked on crutches,
The other, a bit of a boy, was blind.
And they both sat down, and the lad was trying
To grope his way as a blind man tries;
And half of the women around were crying,
And some of the men had tears in their eyes.
How he stirred me, this blind boy, clinging
Just like a child to his crippled chum.
But I did not cry. Oh no; a singing
Came to my heart for a year so dumb,
Then I knew that at three-and-twenty
There is wonderful work to be done,
Comfort and kindness and joy in plenty,
Peace and light and love to be won.
Oh, thought I, could mine eyes be given
To one who will live in the dark alway!
To love and to serve -- 'twould make life Heaven
Here in my villa at Viroflay.
So I left my poilus: and now you wonder
Why to-day I am so elate. . . .
Look! In the glory of sunshine yonder
They're bringing my blind boy in at the gate.
poem by Robert William Service
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Set The Night To Music
Set the night to music
Set the night to music
Look at all the stars tonight, look at all the moonlight
Look at us were all alone
Oh and its just like a dream, some romantic fantasy
Darling come and hold, hold me close
We could be making love
And with the slightest touch
We could, set the night to music
We could set the night to music
We could do what we want to do
Itll only take me and you, to
Set the night to music
Find a rhythm all our own, melt into it nice and slow
Love ourselves away from here
Your heart beating next to mine, perfect love in perfect time
Watch the world disappear
This moment is ours to take (this moment is ours)
And with the love we make
We could set the night to music
We could set the night to music
We could do what we want to do
Itll only take me and you, to
Set the night to music
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
This moment is ours to take (this moment is ours)
And with the love we make
We could set the night to music
We could set the night to music
We could do what we want to do
Itll only take me and you,
To set the night, set the night
Set the night to music
Set the night to music
We could set the night to music
We could set the night to music
We could set the night to music
Set the night, set the night, set the night, set the night...
song performed by by Starship
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
His Eyes Said It All
There was once a small child,
Like one we all know
From around the neighborhood
With a mom who's an addict
And a father, nowhere to be found
His father did leave,
Dressed for that big party in the sky
With an open wound left on his heart
And his baggage, left to be tattered
And weathered in the years to come
He was twenty when he was five
His world was turned upside down
His innocence stripped away like newspaper
His heart ripped out and his stomach pitted
For his eyes said it all.
And the years did come, in fact
A career made of distribution,
Better yet an enterprise
Narcotics, women, sex and fame
Life in Chicago was all the same
He learned to fight by the ones who'd beat him
He learned to curse by the adults who'd scold him
He learned to steal from the ones who loved him
And he had a reason for everything,
As if searching for something that wasn't there
He found love in war and destruction
He found peace in death and despair
He found passion in excess and addiction
He found everything but what his innocence was lost through
And you knew, for his eyes said it all.
By now, he had it all
3 piece suits and Italian leather
Slight wrinkles in his worn skin
Bulgy eyes, tinted yellow with jaundice
And a sinister smile made of gold
His money was endless
And his wives were plentiful
His son's bastards along with their sisters
His memories shift to the last night
As he arrived to the gate with the large villa
His mentor inside, old and shaky
As they drank and laughed with shared stories
Of murder some forty years prior
And in that instant, the boy's gun was drawn
For what he was searching for, his eyes said it all.
poem by Adrian Menoover13 Nieves
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
It takes three to make a family
(The Mistress or mother)
My son was a gift,
But his father didn't think so,
He left me alone,
With his son I mind you,
I was just a girl,
And he a man,
He did not care,
He left me bowed eyes and broken,
A Lord was he and I Mistress was I,
We were in two different worlds,
Seperated by our familes,
But our son not like us,
A son forced to see his parents like this,
I can still do te best for him,
His father is a monster not a man,
I am scared for my son,
What of his life?
No, I must do my best for him,
If I don't I'll let both of us down,
Years have past and now my son is a man,
I'm dying slowly,
I don't want my son to worry,
I know that I'm on my deathbed,
And I'm as king forJesus.
(Lord or father)
I did not leave her,
She left me,
I couldn't find her,
I wanted my son,
She didn't give him,
Now she's gone and my son with me,
My son's mother was my late wife,
I wanted them both,
But she sought me to be a demon,
Lies upon lies,
I was persuaded from my mother,
My wife listened to our converesation,
Many years later my son is married,
Now I'm going to meet my wife,
Together in heaven,
We have all eternity,
Jesus please keep our son.
(Son)
I am a man who loves,
Mom and dad didn't know,
I am the birth of their future,
They died without knowing me,
I am their son,
But all their time was fighting,
Mentally and emotional,
I spent my childhood afraid of them,
On a nevering chase against time,
My family will teach and give me love,
Years, many, many, years later,
I am a great grandfather,
Now and finally I am on my deathbed,
And I'm happy,
A tear has fallen out my eye,
I am now ready to reunite with,
Both my mother and father,
Jesus thank you for bringing,
The family together at last.
poem by Qeeony Luv
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Broken Love Song
Sitting, sitting, waiting for the music to stop
The music plays over and over again
My eyes wander, my sight blurred
My mouth lets out whispers and sighs
The song plays all over again; in circles
Tears, wait a minute...tears?
Tears flow down my cheek
The sound of misery has been playing
Playing in full circles, let it stop
I won't let it stop even if it hurts
The words that I murmur, I whisper softly
He left me; he left me behind
The music breaks me down into pieces
I grieve as I see myself dead in the funeral
I didn't die in the funeral, I died here
My lips part and gave way to smoke
Clouds of mist form before my eyes
The images are distorted, it is blurred
By salty waters that rush down my cheek
I could not hear the music anymore
He left me by this chair
He left me and made me hear this music
Broken as it played in circles
I hear my heart stops its own music
The tears in my eyes sympathize
poem by A.B. Black Waltz
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!