En.Citatepedia^®.ro

Harold Arnett

I leaned against the mantel, sick, sick,
Thinking of my failure, looking into the abysm,
Weak from the noon-day heat.
A church bell sounded mournfully far away,
I heard the cry of a baby,
And the coughing of John Yarnell,
Bed-ridden, feverish, feverish, dying,
Then the violent voice of my wife:
"Watch out, the potatoes are burning!"
I smelled them ... then there was irresistible disgust.
I pulled the trigger ... blackness ... light ...
Unspeakable regret ... fumbling for the world again.
Too late! Thus I came here,
With lungs for breathing ... one cannot breathe here with lungs,
Though one must breathe.... Of what use is it
To rid one's self of the world,
When no soul may ever escape the eternal destiny of life?

poem by Edgar Lee Masters
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Fade To Black

FADE TO BLACK
You live your life day by day
You can't feel it's slipping away
It's like heaven where you never get bored
You self inflicted Rock'n roll whore
Can you feel it
Can you feel the clocks ticking away
The world doesn't change in a day
The world doesn't change it
The world doesn't change in a day
It makes me sick
to see
what you need
to breathe
It makes me sick
to see
what you need
the world doesn't change in a day
You've got a thousand wounds to heal
You gotta stop thinking nothing's for real
electric shock won't bring you back
You're fading baby
You fade to black
The world doesn't change in a day
The world doesn't change it
The world doesn't change in a day
It makes me sick
to see
what you need
to breathe
It makes me sick
to see
what you need
the world doesn't change in a day
It makes me sick
to see
what you need
to breathe
It makes me sick
to see
what you mean
to me
When you are the one inside
is it what you thought it'd be
I always knew you'd be a star
and now you are

song performed by by Zeromancer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Michael Furey

That night was cold,
The wind was biting.
All over Ireland
the snow was falling

"I was packing
my trousseau,
To Dublin town
I was to go."
"I heard a pebble
strike my pane.
A moment passed,
then, there, again."
"I looked out
On the snow filled lane.
That's when I saw him,
Saw my Michael.
His pale face raised
toward my light.
Like an angel
lost in contemplation."
"Michael's health was not the best.
His lungs were weak
and fluid filled."
"Soon after I had left the West,
I heard that he had fallen ill."
"He's buried now near Sligo town,
between Ben Bulben and the sea.
'May my Michael rest in peace,
I think he died for love of me.'

poem by John F. McCullagh
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No More Cause To Worry

Now, Railroad Bob has lost his job, he's got no place for working,
His wife, she cries with desperate eyes, their baby's head's a' jerking.
The union man don't give a damn, Big Brother lies a' lurking,
The boss' in cabs are picking scabs, they count their money, smirking.

Bob walks the streets and begs for eats or little jobs for trying
"The answer's no, you ought to know, no use for you applying,
And don't be sad, it aint that bad, it's soon your time for dying."
The air is thick, his baby's sick, the cries are multiplying.

Bob's wife's in town, she's broken down, she's ranting with a fury,
Their life of sin has done them in, they skirmish, scrimp and scurry,
Their baby coughs, the doctor scoffs, the snow is all a' flurry,
Bob's midnight dreams are filled with screams; he knows he needs to hurry.

It's getting late, Bob's tempting fate, his choices cruel and blurry.
He chooses gas, they breathe their last, there's no more cause to worry...

poem by Terry O'Leary
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The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight

At midnight the would-be ascetic
announced:
"This is the time to give up my
home and seek for God. Ah, who has
held me so long in delusion here?"
God whispered, "I," but the ears
of the man were stopped.
With a baby asleep at her breast
lay his wife, peacefully sleeping on
one side of the bed.
The man said, "Who are ye that
have fooled me so long?"
The voice said again, "They are
God," but he heard it not.
The baby cried out in its dream,
nestling close to its mother.
God commanded, "Stop, fool, leave
not thy home," but still he heard not.
God sighed and complained, "Why
does my servant wander to seek me,
forsaking me?"

poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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One More Try

Heat of the night, in silent skies
I watched the rain fall in the streetlight
Im hypnotized by your sweet smile
Clear as a picture in my minds eye
Id do anything to have you here
Do everything to dry your tears
Baby, baby, wont you understand
Can you forgive me for the love I let slip through my hands?
Chorus:
Baby, were worth one more try
Cant you see my soul is dying
Only you can breathe new life
Baby, were worth one more try
I cant deny a thousand times
I left you all alone like a lost child
Id sacrifice to rectify
To heal the hurt that I still see in your eyes
Id do anything to have you here
Do everything to dry your tears
Baby, baby, wont you understand
Can you forgive me for the love I let slip through my hands?
Chorus:
Baby, were worth one more try
(cant you see) deep inside, my soul is dying
Only you can breathe new life
Baby, were worth one more try
The carnival carousel on freemond street, where we would meet
Those days just seem so out of reach
I still hear your voice as I got to sleep, still haunting me
You hold the key to set me free; cant you see
Chorus:
Baby, were worth one more try
(cant you see) deep inside, my soul is dying
Only you can breathe new life
Baby, were worth one more try
Baby, wont you listen to me
Baby, were worth one more try
(cant you see) deep inside my soul is dying
Only you can breathe new life
Baby, were worth one more try
Only you can breathe new life
Baby, were worth one more try...try...try

song performed by by 911
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Immortal Part

When I meet the morning beam,
Or lay me down at night to dream,
I hear my bones within me say,
"Another night, another day.

"When shall this slough of sense be cast,
This dust of thoughts be laid at last,
The man of flesh and soul be slain
And the man of bone remain?

"This tongue that talks, these lungs that shout,
These thews that hustle us about,
This brain that fills the skull with schemes,
And its humming hive of dreams,--

"These to-day are proud in power
And lord it in their little hour:
The immortal bones obey control
Of dying flesh and dying soul.

"'Tis long till eve and morn are gone:
Slow the endless night comes on,
And late to fulness grows the birth
That shall last as long as earth.

"Wanderers eastward, wanderers west,
Know you why you cannot rest?
'Tis that every mother's son
Travails with a skeleton.

"Lie down in the bed of dust;
Bear the fruit that bear you must;
Bring the eternal seed to light,
And morn is all the same as night.

"Rest you so from trouble sore,
Fear the heat o' the sun no more,
Nor the snowing winter wild,
Now you labour not with child.

"Empty vessel, garment cast,
We that wore you long shall last.
--Another night, another day."
So my bones within me say.

Therefore they shall do my will
To-day while I am master still,
And flesh and soul, now both are strong,
Shall hale the sullen slaves along,

Before this fire of sense decay,
This smoke of thought blow clean away,
And leave with ancient night alone
The stedfast and enduring bone.

poem by Alfred Edward Housman
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The Church-Bell

As I was lying in my bed
I heard the church-bell ring;
Before one solemn word was said
A bird began to sing.

I heard a dog begin to bark
And a bold crowing cock;
The bell, between the cold and dark,
Tolled. It was five o'clock.

The church-bell tolled, and the bird sang,
A clear true voice he had;
The cock crew, and the church-bell rang,
I knew it had gone mad.

A hand reached down from the dark skies,
It took the bell-rope thong,
The bell cried "Look! Lift up your eyes!"
The clapper shook to song.

The iron clapper laughed aloud,
Like clashing wind and wave;
The bell cried out "Be strong and proud!"
Then, with a shout, "Be brave!"

The rumbling of the market-carts,
The pounding of men's feet
Were drowned in song; "Lift up your hearts!"
The song was loud and sweet.

Slow and slow the great bell swung,
It hung in the steeple mute;
And people tore its living tongue
Out by the very root.

poem by Elinor Morton Wylie
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This Is Getting Old

"This is getting old."
"I'm sick of you."
I nodded, shrugged
You took the door ajar your left
I lingered a little while
Your footsteps dissolves into the drumming noise
"This is getting old. I'm sick of myself."
There were no other doors
but the one you took when you left

poem by Norman Santos
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Dust Child

Come child sleep here by my side
Come child breathe your lungs a little while
Come child sleep here by my side
Come child to your surrender

Sleepwalking angel
Travel through a lonely house
Inspire hollow
Sadly follow
Your way to find me here

Come child sleep here by my side
Come child breathe your lungs a little more
Come child sleep here by my side
Come child to your surrender

Let dust settle
As blankets for your sleep
The skin tremble form the cold
Slowly'll corrode
Rest while you can
Before the sun comes up
And they'll find you where they find you
Only hope says they'll find you right here

Come child sleep here by my side
Come child breathe your lungs a little while
Come child sleep here by my side
Come child to your surrender

Wander ghostly cherub
Let torrents of empty calm you down
Let the dreams that wait for you dampen your lips
Until you wake and breathe your darling lungs no more...

Come child to your surrender (repeat until fades)

poem by Daniel Oliveira
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World Asleep

Feel like me
Cut away my skin
The blood on the tap washes clean
The mirror I cracked curses me
If you're a little late
It's time to leave
Live another day now
I hear you scream
See, see what I can see (I will believe in you, you and me)
Cover me with angel's wings (I will believe in you, you'll see)
Breathe the air I breathe (I will believe in you, you and me)
Suffocate the world asleep (I will believe in you, you and me)
Pain, in me
Watch as it feeds
Another day melts, I feel the heat
The honey I drink nurses me
If you're a little late
It's time to leave
Live another day now
I hear you scream
See, see what I can see (I will believe in you, you and me)
Cover me with angel's wings (I will believe in you, you'll see)
Breathe the air I breathe (I will believe in you, you and me)
Suffocate the world asleep (I will believe in you, you and me)
Too late, drifting away
Too late
See, see what I can see (I will believe in you, you and me)
Cover me with angel's wings (I will believe in you, you'll see)
Breathe the air I breathe (I will believe in you, you and me)
Suffocate the world asleep (I will believe in you, you and me)
Just see, see what I can see (I will believe in you, you and me)
Cover me with angel's wings (I will believe in you, you and me)
Breathe the air I breathe (I will believe in you, you and me)
Suffocate the world asleep (I will believe in you, you and me)
I will, I, I, I
I will, I, I, I

song performed by by Feeder
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Her Dilemma

THE two were silent in a sunless church,
Whose mildewed walls, uneven paving-stones,
And wasted carvings passed antique research;
And nothing broke the clock's dull monotones.

Leaning against a wormy poppy-head,
So wan and worn that he could scarcely stand,
--For he was soon to die,--he softly said,
"Tell me you love me!"--holding hard her hand.

She would have given a world to breathe "yes" truly,
So much his life seemed hanging on her mind,
And hence she lied, her heart persuaded throughly,
'Twas worth her soul to be a moment kind.

But the sad need thereof, his nearing death,
So mocked humanity that she shamed to prize
A world conditioned thus, or care for breath
Where Nature such dilemmas could devise.

poem by Thomas Hardy
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The New Mistress

"Oh, sick I am to see you, will you never let me be?
You may be good for something, but you are not good for me.
Oh, go where you are wanted, for you are not wanted here.
And that was all the farewell when I parted from my dear.

"I will go where I am wanted, to a lady born and bred
Who will dress me free for nothing in a uniform of red;
She will not be sick to see me if I only keep it clean:
I will go where I am wanted for a soldier of the Queen.

"I will go where I am wanted, for the sergeant does not mind;
He may be sick to see me but he treats me very kind:
He gives me beer and breakfast and a ribbon for my cap,
And I never knew a sweetheart spend her money on a chap.

"I will go where I am wanted, where there's room for one or two,
And the men are none too many for the work there is to do;
Where the standing line wears thinner and the dropping dead lie thick;
And the enemies of England they shall see me and be sick."

poem by Alfred Edward Housman
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Sickening Love

Sickening Love

I am in love
I am love sick
my passion is burning
my desire is inflamed
my lust is feverish
I am a love sick man
I am a sick man
my love for her is sickening
call an ambulance

- Commonline Project, October 2008 -

poem by Suchoon Mo_
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We—Bee and I—live by the quaffing

230

We—Bee and I—live by the quaffing—
'Tisn't all Hock—with us—
Life has its Ale—
But it's many a lay of the Dim Burgundy—
We chant—for cheer—when the Wines—fail—

Do we "get drunk"?
Ask the jolly Clovers!
Do we "beat" our "Wife"?
I—never wed—
Bee—pledges his—in minute flagons—
Dainty—as the trees—on our deft Head—

While runs the Rhine—
He and I—revel—
First—at the vat—and latest at the Vine—
Noon—our last Cup—
"Found dead"—"of Nectar"—
By a humming Coroner—
In a By-Thyme!

poem by Emily Dickinson
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The Seance

"The spirits do not like the light,"
The medium said, and turned the switch;
The little lady on my right
Clutched at my hand with nervous twitch.
(She seemed to be a pretty bitch.)

The moustached women on my left,
With spirits on hr heavy breath,
Lasciviously leaned her heft
On me as one who languisheth.
The sordid room was still as death.

"A shape I see," the medium cried,
"Whose face and name I do not know . . ."
"'Tis Robert service," soft replied
A voice - "I passed a month ago,
And I've come back to let you know.

"The Other Side is gay and bright;
We are so happy there and free,
And Dan McGrew I oft recite,
And follow up with Sam McGee . . .
But now excuse me, I must flee."

The fat dame leaned to get my ear,
(Her breast was soft as feather bed.)
"I love his verses; oh dear, dear,
I didn't know that he was dead."
"No more did I," I sourly said.

The little lady grabbed me hard;
(She looked to me a "yesful" dear.)
Said she: "Don't you adore the Bard?"
Said I: "Before he fades, I fear
I'd like to kick his astral rear."

So then I bravely broke away
From spooks and ectoplasic gauze.
Yet in the brazen light of day
I had to pinch myself because
Really! I wondered if I was.

poem by Robert William Service
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A Song Of Comfort

"Sleep, weary ones, while ye may --
Sleep, oh, sleep!"
Eugene Field.

Thro' May time blossoms, with whisper low,
The soft wind sang to the dead below:
"Think not with regret on the Springtime's song
And the task ye left while your hands were strong.
The song would have ceased when the Spring was past,
And the task that was joyous be weary at last."

To the winter sky when the nights were long
The tree-tops tossed with a ceaseless song:
"Do ye think with regret on the sunny days
And the path ye left, with its untrod ways?
The sun might sink in a storm cloud's frown
And the path grow rough when the night came down."

In the grey twilight of the autumn eves,
It sighed as it sang through the dying leaves:
"Ye think with regret that the world was bright,
That your path was short and your task was light;
The path, though short, was perhaps the best
And the toil was sweet, that it led to rest."

poem by John McCrae
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The Ruined Maid

"O 'Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!
Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?
And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?"-
"O didn't you know I'd been ruined?" said she.

-"You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,
Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;
And now you've gay bracelets and bright feathers three!"-
"Yes: that's how we dress when we're ruined," said she.

-"At home in the barton you said 'thee' and 'thou,'
And 'thik oon' and 'theäs oon' and 't'other'; but now
Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compan-ny!"-
"Some polish is gained with one's ruin," said she.

-"Your hands were like paws then, you face blue and bleak
But now I'm bewitched by your delicate cheek,
And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!"-
"We never do work when we're ruined," said she.

-"You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,
And you'd sigh, and you'd sock; but at present you seem
To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!"-
"True. One's pretty lively when ruined," said she.

-"I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,
And a delicate face, and could strut about Town"-
"My dear - raw country girl, such as you be,

Cannot quite expect that. You ain't ruined," said she.

poem by Thomas Hardy
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Across the Sea

THE confines of our being are not these
White limbs of sense. Our true selves broader are
And higher than the path of furthest star.
Beyond the reach of sense, each hears and sees
And feels. The root alone of giant trees
5
Touches the earth; their branches pierce to heaven.
"To-day," "Here," "There," are to the body given;
Our spirits watch among the eternities.
Dearest, our beings can mingle, and our lips
Kiss off the dark world-sadness from the soul;
10
Our hands can clasp, our eyes return love's gaze,
Tho' waste lands moan between, where crimson dips
The westering sun, and tho' wide oceans roll;
Tho' being so far, we breathe in different days.

poem by Frederick George Scott
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A Sick Child

The postman comes when I am still in bed.
"Postman, what do you have for me today?"
I say to him. (But really I'm in bed.)
Then he says - what shall I have him say?

"This letter says that you are president
Of - this word here; it's a republic."
Tell them I can't answer right away.
"It's your duty." No, I'd rather just be sick.

Then he tells me there are letters saying everything
That I can think of that I want for them to say.
I say, "Well, thank you very much. Good-bye."
He is ashamed, and turns and walks away.

If I can think of it, it isn't what I want.
I want . . . I want a ship from some near star
To land in the yard, and beings to come out
And think to me: "So this is where you are!

Come." Except that they won't do,
I thought of them. . . . And yet somewhere there must be
Something that's different from everything.
All that I've never thought of - think of me!

poem by Randall Jarrell
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Sonnet V: Nothing But No

Nothing but "No," and "Aye," and "Aye," and "No"?
How falls it out so strangely you reply?
I tell ye, Fair, I'll not be answer'd so,
With this affirming "No," denying "Aye."
I say, "I love," you slightly answer "Aye";
I say, "You love," you pule me out a "No";
I say, "I die," you echo me an "Aye";
"Save me," I cry, you sigh me out a "No";
Must woe and I have nought but "No" and "Aye"?
No I am I, if I no more can have;
Answer no more, with silence make reply,
And let me take myself what I do crave.
Let "No" and "Aye" with I and you be so;
Then answer "No," and "Aye," and "Aye" and "No."

poem by Michael Drayton
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