In The Shallows
AMONG the shallows where the sand
Is golden and the waves are small,
I love to lie, and to my hand
How many little treasures fall!
What shells and seaweed grace the shore,
What happy birds on happy wings,
And for companions, what a store
Of humble, happy, living things!
Yet the sea's depths are also mine,
And in the old days I used to dive
Into the caves, where corals shine
And where the shimmering mer-folk live.
I am the master of the sea
In deeps where fairy flowers uncurl;
That treasure-house belongs to me,
Those amber halls, those stairs of pearl.
But now thereto I go no more,
Because of all the argosies,
Deep sunk upon the ocean floor,
Where all the world's lost treasure lies.
Where loveless laughter curls the lips
Of wild sea creatures at their sport
About the bones of noble ships,
My ships, that never came to port.
poem by Edith Nesbit
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O Cruel Sea!
No more will I go near the sea!
No more will I stand on a beach;
No more will I live near a shore;
The sea no more looks lovely!
No more will I play on its sands;
No more will I bask in its sun;
No more will I watch ships and boats;
The sea has lost its glory!
No more will I walk on the shore;
No more will I build sand-castles;
No more will I eat sea-fish foods;
The sea has lost its beauty!
No more will I go over-seas;
No more will I adore the waves;
No more will I yearn for the sea;
The sea has lost its sanctity!
No more will I deep-dive for pearls;
No more will I collect sea-shells;
No more will I dream of Blue Sea;
The sea’s a Mass-Grave, watery!
poem by John Celes
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The Glory of Ships
The glory of ships is an old, old song,
since the days when the sea-rovers ran
In their open boats through the roaring surf,
and the spread of the world began;
The glory of ships is a light on the sea,
and a star in the story of man.
When Homer sang of the galleys of Greece
that conquered the Trojan shore,
And Solomon lauded the barks of Tyre that
brought great wealth to his door,
'Twas little they knew, those ancient men,
what would come of the sail and the oar.
The Greek ships rescued the West from the East,
when they harried the Persians home;
And the Roman ships were the wings of strength
that bore up the empire, Rome;
And the ships of Spain found a wide new world,
far over the fields of foam.
Then the tribes of courage at last saw clear
that the ocean was not a bound,
But a broad highway, and a challenge to seek
for treasure as yet unfound;
So the fearless ships fared forth to the search,
in joy that the globe was round.
Their hulls were heightened, their sails spread out,
they grew with the growth of their quest;
They opened the secret doors of the East,
and the golden gates of the West;
And many a city of high renown
was proud of a ship on its crest.
The fleets of England and Holland and France
were at strife with each other and Spain;
And battle and storm sent a myriad ships
to sleep in the depths of the main;
But the seafaring spirit could never be drowned,
and it filled up the fleets again.
They greatened and grew, with the aid of steam,
to a wonderful, vast array,
That carries the thoughts and the traffic of men
into every harbor and bay;
And now in the world-wide work of the ships
'tis England that leads the way.
O well for the leading that follows the law
of a common right on the sea!
But ill for the leader who tries to hold
what belongs to mankind in fee!
The way of the ships is an open way,
and the ocean must ever be free!
Remember, O first of the maritime folk,
how the rise of your greatness began.
It will live if you safeguard the round-the-world road
from the shame of a selfish ban;
For the glory of ships is a light on the sea,
and a star in the story of man!
poem by Henry Van Dyke
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As Happy, Happy, Happy As Can Be
Bricklayer’s like to keep their spirit levels high
Joiner’s and Chippie’s will raise the rafters
They do the things that brings them joy
Things that give them the laughter’s
Their as happy, happy, happy as can be
Nurse’s keep their humour tender
Clown’s like to act the fool
Heating engineer’s like it hot
Ice cream makers keep it cool
Their all happy, happy, happy as can be
I like to be in your arms
Saying I love you’ listening to you saying I love you too
I like to see your smiling eyes
In which my smiling eyes look into
Then I am as happy, happy, happy as can be
You make me so happy, happy, happy as can be
Happiness is me as happy, happy, happy as can be
In love and as happy, happy, happy as can be
In love with you happy forever in love
As happy, happy, happy as can be
poem by Michael Micmac Mccrory
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Oh Yes, I'm So Happy!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause i get to hear your lies
i'm so happy
surprise!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you tell lies on me
i'm so happy
see?
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you call me names
i'm so happy
i'v fame!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you break your promises
i'm so happy
i'm joyous!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you gave me some attention
i'm so happy
i'm in heaven!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause i get to be used
i'm so happy
i'm amused!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you spare me a few minutes
i'm so happy
i must be nuts!
oh yes, i'm so happy
cause you let me love you
i'm so happy
i'm through with you!
oh yes, if i was so happy
cause of you
i'll be happier
now without you!
poem by Sandy Nobody
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The Treasures Of The Deep
What hid'st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells?
Thou hollow-sounding and mysterious main!
-Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-colour'd shells,
Bright things which gleam unreck'd-of, and in vain!
-Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea!
We ask not such from thee.
Yet more, the depths have more!-what wealth untold,
Far down, and shining through their stillness lies!
Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold,
Won from ten thousand royal Argosies!
-Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main!
Earth claims not these again.
Yet more, the depths have more!-thy waves have roll'd
Above the cities of a world gone by!
Sand hath fill'd up the palaces of old,
Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry.
-Dash o'er them, ocean! in thy scornful play!
Man yields them to decay.
Yet more! the billows and the depths have more!
High hearts and brave are gather'd to thy breast!
They hear not now the booming waters roar,
The battle thunders will not break their rest.
-Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave!
Give back the true and brave!
Give back the lost and lovely!-those for whom
The place was kept at board and hearth so long,
The prayer went up through midnight's breathless gloom,
And the vain yearning woke 'midst festal song!
Hold fast thy buried Isles, thy towers o'erthrown-
But all is not thine own.
To thee the love of woman hath gone down,
Dark flow thy tides o'er manhood's noble head,
O'er youth's bright locks, and beauty's flowery crown,
-Yet must thou hear a voice-restore the dead!
Earth shall reclaim her precious things from thee!
-Restore the dead, thou sea!
poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
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Shells
Reaching down arm-deep into bright water
I gathered on white sand under waves
Shells, drifted up on beaches where I alone
Inhabit a finite world of years and days.
I reached my arm down a myriad years
To gather treasure from the yester-milliennial sea-floor,
Held in my fingers forms shaped on the day of creation.
Building their beauty in three dimensions
Over which the world recedes away from us,
And in the fourth, that takes away ourselves
From moment to moment and from year to year
From first to last they remain in their continuous present.
The helix revolves like a timeless thought,
Instantaneous from apex to rim
Like a dance whose figure is limpet or murex,
cowrie or golden winkle.
They sleep on the ocean floor like humming-tops
Whose music is the mother-of-pearl octave of the rainbow,
Harmonious shells that whisper forever in our ears,
The world that you inhabit has not yet been created.
poem by Kathleen Jessie Raine
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Oh Happy Days
Oh happy days,
Everyone likes you.
Oh happy days,
Please stay today.
Oh happy days,
Sweet like honey.
Oh happy days,
loving family ties.
Oh happy days,
Giving us strength.
Oh happy days,
Children out playing.
Oh happy days,
On the green grass.
Oh happy days,
With boundless optimism.
Oh happy days,
I give thanks.
Oh happy days,
Dreaming for more.
Oh happy days,
Warm and bright.
Oh happy days,
Like love eternal.
Oh happy days,
And glad memories.
Oh happy days,
New hope prayers.
Oh happy days,
With smiling faces.
Oh happy days,
Holidays and health.
Oh happy days,
With close friends.
Oh happy days,
Generous and giving.
Oh happy days,
Shiny rainbow dreams.
Oh happy days,
Till the very end.
Oh happy days,
Always and forever.
Amen.
poem by Rowina Mallick
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The Ghosts of the Sea
The ghosts of the sunken ships remember the fog,
Reminiscent of the danger of a wild, mad dog.
Hidden it the darkness it came into the night,
everyone aboard the sailing ship became affright.
They lost their way in that thick cloud as they fell the rhythm of the waves,
They could hear the water as it crashed against the shore and the caves.
Before the sailor knew it they were in the sea among the rolling, foaming crests,
The deep sea was calling them as the waves broke across their breasts.
The high seas had taken another ship as it lay battered among the rocks, moving
slowly with tide,
Softly they could hear the whispering of the fog as it spoke to the ocean wide.
The ghosts of the sea beckon as the ocean becomes a sheet of glass,
The fog has lifted and the ghosts for the deep invite the ships who would dare pass.
poem by Ron Dawson
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At The Seaside
O SOLITARY shining sea
That ripples in the sun,
O gray and melancholy sea,
O'er which the shadows run;
O many-voiced and angry sea,
Breaking with moan and strain,--
I, like a humble, chastened child,
Come back to thee again;
And build child-castles and dig moats
Upon the quiet sands,
And twist the cliff-convolvulus
Once more, round idle hands;
And look across that ocean line,
As o'er life's summer sea,
Where many a hope went sailing once,
Full set, with canvas free.
Strange, strange to think how some of them
Their silver sails have furled,
And some have whitely glided down
Into the under world;
And some, dismasted, tossed and torn,
Put back in port once more,
Thankful to ride, with freight still safe,
At anchor near the shore.
Stranger it is to lie at ease
As now, with thoughts that fly
More light and wandering than sea-birds
Between the waves and sky:
To play child's play with shells and weeds,
And view the ocean grand
Sunk to one wave that may submerge
A baby-house of sand;
And not once look, or look by chance,
With old dreams quite supprest,
Across that mystic wild sea-world
Of infinite unrest.
O ever solitary sea,
Of which we all have found
Somewhat to dream or say,--the type
Of things without a bound--
Love, long as life, and strong as death;
Faith, humble as sublime;
Eternity, whose large depths hold
The wrecks of this small Time;--
Unchanging, everlasting sea!
To spirits soothed and calm
Thy restless moan of other years
Becomes an endless psalm.
poem by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
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At the sea
I watched the fish, beneath the sea.
With the shape & fins.
Swimming in the lit water of blind Colour.
I saw reefs kissing shore, where the nets are fishing.
Silver stones, deep in the sea, hiding crawling creatures.
Floating bubble preserving transparent reflection.
Waves are foaming words carrying dead sea fruit.
I listen to the cruel shells echoing the trumpet of the sea.
Now, I dive, deep down, in your underworld garden.
Of green rocks, treasure stones & golden suns, of married light & water.
Far from the land of sweat.
Drinking air, breathing no more.
Playing, Crawling, swimming, sliding, , flying & more.
O blue wows. You sealed my lips of salty flavour
And veiled my skin of seaweed, perfume.
poem by Luca Menin
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As Long As You're Happy
Today i met a lonely girl
with a touch of magic
i've been waiting for someone like her
I'm so happy
She let's me know of her love
i give her all of mine
My Angel sent from above
i tell her all the time cause i'm so happy
Now what was once 2 lonely souls
tonight we sleep, arms in arms
i found someone to love and hold
i wonder if she's happy
Love is here, just in time
my dark world has begun to shine
wherever i go, i want her near
cause she's what makes me happy
How long will this love last?
still can't believe she's mine
So attractive with a past so tragic
i'll do anything for her just as long as she's happy
She seems to hold and kiss me less
i feel so cold, her lips are blessed
i hope she never strays from me
she's what keeps me happy
She wants to free, it's in her eyes
Away from me, let her decide
an eclipse is what she sees in mine
cause love has made me happy
Then came the day, i lost my heart
she's gone away, forever we part
I find myself back in the dark
where nobody can be happy
I would hold you in my arms
No other hand in my palms
i thought the love of ours would last
she wants me to be happy
Forget about me
life has been tragic
im'a wait in the rain for you
just to see you happy
I'm stuck in a world where demons grab me
They stab me
...but im'a wait in the rain for you
As long as you're happy
I'm Only Happy When
I'm only happy when it rains
without a cloud in the sky
I'm only happy in these chains
all that I can do is cry
I'm only happy when I bleed
it let's me know I'm alive
I'm only happy when I need
just myself to survive
I'm only happy when I dream
of my long lost love
I'm only happy when I scream
at the Heavens above
I'm only happy when I'm alone
at war with my brain
I'm only happy when I've known
that life is just pain
I'm only happy when I'm lost
and I can't find my way
I'm only happy when I've crossed
the path of disarray
I'm only happy when I see
death is my way out
I know I'll be free
I have no doubt
I'm only happy when I'm told
that I've gone insane
I'm only happy when I hold
all these thoughts in my brain
I'm only happy when I sleep
and go out of my mind
I'm only happy when I'm in too deep
I'm only happy when it's me you cannot find
poem by Haley Nicole
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The happy heart
The happy heart
~
How happy the heart
when left to sing and dance
when given every dream
told to believe
and never be afraid
happy joyful each beat
while the laughter is filling
those days and nights
which pass by so quick
leaving little memories
to always be kept
a treasure of their own
the friends which came
for the love they shared
and the joy they gave
valued in every way
how happy the heart
which has all this
poem by Matthew Holloway
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Beachcombing
As the tide retreats, it leaves behind
Once hidden treasures, for folk to find.
Left revealed, is a long strip of shiny, wet sand,
Where treasures, now at their journey’s end, will land.
By the sea, small pieces of glass have been ground,
Leaving their once sharp edges, smooth and round.
There are a few fallen feathers from visiting gulls.
Smooth, egg-shaped pebbles – both shiny and dull.
Shells of all shapes, such as cones, conches, and scallops,
Are washed ashore by the powerful sea, as it gallops.
There are lions’ paws, kings’ crowns, tulips, angel wings,
Slipper shells, jewel boxes, moon snails and other things.
Sugar Kelp, Bladderwrack and Dead Man’s Fingers,
Are some of the seaweeds which, on the shore, linger.
The sight of numerous pieces of discarded litter,
Leaves behind a taste, in my mouth, that is bitter.
Pieces of driftwood, many with interesting shapes,
From the endlessly shifting sea, make their escape.
If, along a sandy beach, you take a relaxing wander,
There are many treasures on which you can ponder.
Folk can while away many an hour of pleasure,
Sifting amongst all the newly arrived treasure.
An hour or two spent exploring a sandy cove,
Can potentially reveal a whole treasure trove.
poem by Angela Wybrow
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As Scared As A Rabbit
on the outside i look happy as can be
i hop around with the looks of grace and beauty
i seem so small and cute a furball is what i am
on your side you see a happy being
but deep inside i think like this
i hide deep in my hole not willing to come out
i hide from the other creatures and put on a show
im just a small creature that has nothing to protect itself
sure i may smile on the outside and look happy
but on the inside im dying
so the next time you see a rabbit like me
realize they put up a front and we are not happy
poem by Chance Topliss
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The Sea-Shore
I SHOULD like to dwell where the deep blue sea
Rock'd to and fro as tranquilly,
As if it were willing the halcyon's nest
Should shelter through summer its beautiful guest.
When a plaining murmur like that of a song,
And a silvery line come the waves along:
Now bathing—now leaving the gentle shore,
Where shining sea-shells lay scattered o'er.
And children wandering along the strand,
With the eager eye and the busy hand,
Heaping the pebbles and green sea-weed,
Like treasures laid up for a time of need.
Or tempting the waves with their daring feet,
To launch, perhaps, some tiny fleet:
Mimicking those which bear afar
The wealth of trade—and the strength of war.
I should love, when the sun-set reddened the foam,
To watch the fisherman's boat come home,
With his well-filled net and glittering spoil:
Well has the noon-tide repaid its toil.
While the ships that lie in the distance away
Catch on their canvass the crimsoning ray;
Like fairy ships in the tales of old,
When the sails they spread were purple and gold.
Then the deep delight of the starry night,
With its shadowy depths and dreamy light:
When far away spreads the boundless sea,
As if it imaged infinity.
Let me hear the winds go singing by,
Lulling the waves with their melody:
While the moon like a mother watches their sleep,
And I ask no home but beside the deep.
poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
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Happy
Some need gold and some need diamond rings
Or a drug to take away the pain that living brings
A promise of a better world to come
When whatever here is done
I dont need that sky of blue
All I knows since I found you, Im happy when Im in your arms
Happy, darling, come the dark
Happy when I taste your kiss
Im happy in a love like this
Theres a house upon a distant hill
Where you can hear the laughter of children ring
Guardian angels, they watch from above
Watching over the love that they bring
But at night I feel the darkness near, I awake and I find you near
Im happy with you in my arms
Im happy with you in my heart
Happy when I taste your kiss
Im happy in love like this
In a world of doubt and fear
I wake at night and reach to find you near
Lost in a dream, you caught me as I fell
I want more than just a dream to tell
Were born in this world, darling, with few days and trouble never far behind
Man and woman circle each other in a cage
A cage thats been handed down the line
Lost and running neath a million dead stars
Tonight lets shed our skins and slip these bars
Happy in each others arms
Happy baby, come the dark
Happy in each others kiss
I m happy in a love like this
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Ocean Liner
They went down to the sea in ships,
In ships they went down to the sea.
In boats hewn of oak-tree strips,
In galleys with skin-sewn sails,
In triremes, caravels, brigs—
Frail, flimsily rolling rigs—
They went down where the huge wave rips,
Where the black storm lashes and hales.
They went down to the sea in ships,
To the sounding, sorrowing sea.
They go down to the sea—O me !—
What ships that outbrave the sea,
What ships that outrun the gale,
With a feather of steam for a sail
And a whirling shaft for an oar,
Are the ships that my brothers build
To carry me over the sea,
That my hand with treasures filled
May knock at the morrow's door !
Steel hulls impenetrable
To the waves that tease and pull,
Bright engines that answer the beat
Of their foam-slippered dancing feet,
Hot fires that shudder and drive,
Close-tended, untiring, sure—
Like queen-bees deep in the hive
Who labor and serve and endure:
All these are down below
Far under the slippery water,
While the babe sleeps soft in his bed,
And the banquet table is spread,
And my neighbor's laughing daughter
Trims her hair with a rose-red bow.
They went down to the sea in ships,
In ships they went down to the sea.
And the sea had a million lips
And she laughed in her throat for glee.
And. the floor of the sea was strewn
With tempest trophies dread,
And the deep-sea currents croon
As they wash through the bones of the dead.
But the ships that my brothers build—
Ah, they mock at the storm's mad rage;
And their burning hearts are thrilled
When he throws them his battle gauge.
On the sea-foam they lean for a pillow,
They drive without paddle or sail
Straight over the mountainous billow,
Straight on through the blustering gale !
Oh they shake out gay flags as they run,
Flags that flutter and gleam in the sun!
From the tip of their turrets above
They send news of the storm to the shore;
And they hear from afar through the roar,
Down the cloud-built aisles of the sky,
Some land-bound lady's cry
To her ocean-wandering love.
They go down to the sea in ships,
In ships they go down to the sea.
And my brothers, the masterful, free,
Fear no more the white foam of her lips,
They have won her, she harks to their wooing,
The love of ten thousand years,
The suing, the wild undoing,
The faith unto death, the tears.
Oh, their glory her song shall be;
Soft, soft is the kiss of her lips!
They go down to the sea in ships,
In ships they go down to the sea.
poem by Harriet Monroe
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Happy Town
in happy town(where
the flowers are laughing
&
the birds are singing)
love swims through the air
(we're all
happily soaked)
joy breathes from the trees
(: umbrage of
smiles(:
happiness floats in the pond
(((ripples) carry) laughter)
everyone
is welcome in
happy town
(strange
rs
&
new
comers)
happy town
is a secret paradise
(everyone
knows where it is)
there's a map in your heart
(i found my way there)
&
now
i live in happy town
(im happy)
comejoinme
A day at the Ocean
A day at the Ocean
I had a notion...to look at the life
in the deep blue
barnacles on ships
stuck on the hull; making a home
oysters have beds-no pillows or quilts
at the bottom of the ocean's floor
some sand, will make them a peal
crabs walk sideways; on thier backs
they live in a tight curled seashell;
sea horses, unique
dads care for their young
they are the first single dads
oh I wish I could live in the ocean so blue
to play the dolphins and eels
I’d dance with a jelly fish as it jiggles about
and listen to the song of a whale
spend a day at the ocean
or, pick up sea shells
find the beauty in a crystal clear
tide pool; the wonders of nature
reminds us to ponder
the creatures both large and small
poem by Catherine Inscore
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