The Child on the Curbstone
The headlights raced; the moon, death-faced,
Stared down on that golden river.
I saw through the smoke the scarlet cloak
Of a boy who could not shiver.
His father's hand forced him to stand,
The traffic thundered slaughter;
One foot he thrust in the whirling dust
As it were running water.
As in a dream I saw the stream
Scatter in drops that glistened;
They flamed, they flashed, his brow they splashed,
And danger's son was christened.
The portent passed; his fate was cast,
Sea-farer, desert-ranger.
Tearless I smiled on that fearless child
Dipping his foot in Danger.
poem by Elinor Morton Wylie
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Electric Eel Song
Ay! me one child Ay-eeee!
Ay! me one daughter
Take out you’ foot
From the black river water
Haul out you’ hand
Out the slow river water
Stay ‘pon the bank
Of the cold river water
Ay! me one daughter
Ay! me one child! Ay-eeee!
Electric eel
Is the eel in the river
Shadow ‘pon the bottom
Is the eel in the river
Something like you’ hand
Is the eel in the river
Swimming like you’ foot
Is the eel in the river
Ay! me one child Ay-eeee!
Ay! me one daughter
Foot after foot
Though the black river water
She can’t touch the bottom
Out the slow river water
Shirt like umbrella
In the cold river water
Ay! me one daughter
Ay! me one child! Ay-eeee!
Electric eel
Is the eel in the river
Cutlass shape
Is the eel in the river
Black blade or brown
Is the eel in the river
Dozing so quiet
Is the eel in the river
Ay! me one child Ay-eeee!
Ay! me one daughter
Slap of a tail
Through the black river water
Shiver like ague
Out the slow river water
As if she take cramp
Of the cold river water
Ay! me one daughter
Ay! me one child! Ay-eeee!
Electric eel
Is the eel in the river
No blood, just a thrill
Is the eel in the river
Lightning bold
Is the eel in the river
And she Drown now, she chilly
Is the eel in the river
Ay! me one daughter
Ay! me one child! Ay-eeee!
poem by Slade Hopkinson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Danger
There is danger atop our heads;
There is danger around us all;
There is danger beneath our feet;
There is danger to man and beast!
There is danger in the skies;
There is danger in the seas;
There is danger ev’n on land;
There is danger to man and beast!
There is danger from earth’s bowels;
There is danger in forests;
There is danger in hills, vales;
There is danger to man and beast!
There is danger from our brethren;
There is danger from kith, kin;
There is danger from strangers;
There is danger to man and beast!
There is danger within us;
There is danger from space;
There is danger to our soul;
Nevertheless, God protects us.
poem by John Celes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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With A Water-Lily
SEE, dear, what thy lover brings;
'Tis the flower with the white wings.
Buoyed upon the quiet stream
In the spring it lay adream.
Homelike to bestow this guest,
Lodge it, dear one, in thy breast;
There its leaves the secret keep
Of a wave both still and deep.
Child, beware the tarn-fed stream;
Danger, danger, there to dream!
Though the sprite pretends to sleep,
And above the lilies peep.
Child, thy bosom is the stream;
Danger, danger, there to dream!
Though above the lilies peep,
And the sprite pretends to sleep.
poem by Henrik Johan Ibsen
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Monday Morning
As the sun comes up between the grey of the rain clouds
Brighter than the streetlights along the industrial parks
I travel slowly gaining foot by foot in the dense traffic
As the buses, trucks and cars fight their way up the bridge
I see beauty on this Monday morning after the rain
While misty drops of water elevated by the tires ahead
Splash on my windshield before illuminating like diamonds
The sun rises in my back welcoming this new rainy day
Harbor cranes like silhouettes along the river shores
Tower high above the freight piers blue and grey on grey
Crossing the bridge high above the city in the midst of traffic
I see the dark waters sleeping very still after the storm
Drops of water lingering on the railing far on the outer edge
Before losing balance and making the journey into the deep
To mingle with the river then travel the short distance to the sea
I dream about flying and diving into cool black waters
About becoming one with the particles of our existence
Surrounded by a vacuum I could start over in a different form
But the traffic merciless pushes me further along into the city
I missed my chance and just smile about the beauty of today
poem by Kristina Louisa Carr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Chickenman
I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
Im counting through the night ride
And its one more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
One more song for the maker
Chickenman chickenman
On the road to athens
I saw a dead deer on the highway
I slipped into a desert
Five prairie dogs and a rabbit
I was running down on queen street
I saw a woman on the sidewalk
(danger danger)
She was beaten by a stranger
(danger danger danger danger)
Danger danger danger
And its one more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
One more song for the maker
Hold my hand
Chickenman
I was on the road to austin
Met a man on the highway
He sold me junk and conversation
He was wise and dirty from the weather
I said darkness into darkness
All the carnage of my journeys
Makes it harder to be living
He said its a long road to be forgiven
One more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my had
One more song for the maker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land
You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan
I went looking for a car
Found myself beneath the stars
I went looking for a girl
Found a man and his world
Chickenman chickenman
(I went looking for a car)
Chickenman hold my hand
(found myself beneath the stars)
Chickenman chickenman
(I went looking for a girl)
Chickenman hold my hand
(found a man and his world)
I am an only child
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
I am an only child
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Death, Inevitable Death
Death, inevitable Death.
So now You come to show Your world,
Hence the blackened cloak – unfurled.
And peering down upon my form
– Bereft of pity – Your eyes of storm.
Death, inexorable Death.
‘When? ’ The only question out of Thee.
My dream retorts 'But ne’er for me! ’
But now awake, I bid you so –
My giving tears cry ‘Where to go? ’
Death, adamant Death.
You cast Your spell and guide me 'way,
For life and I have had our day.
And what of me? I prey You, tell!
Be glorious in Heaven or gnarled in Hell?
Death, ineluctable Death.
Oh wiry ghoul, I'm here to follow –
I leave my body grey and shallow.
‘Come! ’ You bid in thund’ring tones,
‘Beg farewell to shattered bones.’
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
Death
Death death
Death death death
Death death death death
Death death death death death
Death death death death death death death death
Death death death death death death death death
Death death death death death
Death death death death
Death death death
Death death
Death
poem by Mark R Slaughter
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Knowing
There is a danger of knowing too much
knowing too much danger
Crossing a road without looking
Taking a risk with your cooking
A danger in knowing
There is a danger in knowing too much
Having digitalised lives
synched to computer
GOOGLED
There is a danger
Is there a danger in knowing?
Too much danger?
Too much knowing?
Too much?
we have/are becoming
More like a shopping mall
Packed full of brands
And gadgets
our apps additives
There is a danger of losing your child
In a shopping mall
Losing your self
In the underground
A danger in knowing
A danger in looking
The sign
The times
Are a changing
A danger of unseeing
Unliving
A danger of touching the edge of extinction
Without feeling
Bottled emotions
Formaladehyde Brains
Mask for a face
Stone for a heart
There is on a lighter note
A danger in eating my cooking
Knowing too much
Too soon
Too late
or a danger of knowing nothing
Simply eating what's arrived on your plate
poem by Yvette Smith
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Headlines (demo 1)
we call ourselves the crown of creation
i wonder what does it mean
we're not the owners of the moon and the earth
it's like a roundabout and it goes round and round for free
we've made some gruesome inventions
yet we're mastered by those systems
we're endangered danger, we're running out of fashion
if we don't care for responsibility, hey-hey
we're endangered danger, we're endangered danger,
we're the headlines today but all that we say is
we're endangered danger,
eric says that we're a lonely species
that's why we're playing the fools
but once we'll enter the aquarian age
i sometimes catch him floating in his swimming-pool, he says
if we'd tune in to our brighter sides
we'd feel like jesus on the waters
cause we're sailors not soldiers so much more for this show
than a guest-appearance in the universe, here we go
we're endangered danger, we're endangered danger,
we're the headlines today but all that we say is
we're endangered danger
song performed by by Alphaville
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Trouble River
Well, the river runs through this valley
Combing deep and black [?]
Coming like a tombstone's
Shadows across my back
Trouble river
Six foot high and risin'
Trouble river
I can't keep from cryin'
Woke up last night a'shakin'
Shakin' from a dream
All i seen was smilin' faces
Starin' back at me
Trouble river
Six foot high and risin'
Trouble river
I can't keep from cryin'
Snakes crawling in the house
I'm stuck in muddy ground
Tonight i'm gonna shed this skin
Cause water's risin' and i goin' down to
Trouble river
Six foot high and risin'
Trouble river
I can't keep from cryin'
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mark R. Slaughter
Just like the dahlia
Death comes in all its beauty
And so I stroke her petals
Push my feet root-deep
Into the composted soil
As weary clouds unite
Coalesce
Darken through the greys
In preparation
Incontinence prevails
Lachrymose in empathy
They cry for me
Sharing tears
Mortality brings
As twilight closes
I rot
(They fade)
To be the plant
(They'll water)
I, denomination Mark R. Slaughter
Struggle thro' my fantasy
To seal the state of mind
That I of soul
Remain eternal
Back on the windowsill
A daffodil stretches
From a bulbous foot
Flirts like a ballerina
STOPS
Wonders of the world
My cat hears the brassy thoughts
From yellow trumpet
Pricks up his ears
Iridescent eyes
Focussed on the future
I'll wait
For his appraisal
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2012
A Trail of Death
death death death death death death death death death death death
death death death death death death death death death death death
death death death death death death death death death death death
death death death death death death death death death death death
death death death death death death death death death death death
poem by Mark R Slaughter
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As Time Starts
As time starts a river flows
As the river flows a child cries
As a child cries the tears become a river
As the river is made life starts to grow again
As time starts a tree grows
As trees grow children climb
As children climb the stars shine
As the stars shine a story begins
As time starts a child runs
As a child runs danger chases
As the danger chases death awaits
As death awaits, the death takes you
poem by Isabella Epona
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Dangerous Life
My danger is imminent, at long life
My danger is penetrating the soul.
It is an exactly harmonious death,
Upon the time I was dead,
Like a spread has turned into solid contentment.
My muddiness in these waters
Brings shame to my boots, the shoes of death.
I love a little danger when anger upsets
Us, and when it conceals the danger of death.
Opening an action is like deathly awakening,
The theatre of war is upon us all, when we commit deeds
To our name.
poem by Naveed Akram
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The present danger which this country faces is at least as great as the danger which we faced during the war with Germany and Japan. Briefly stated, it is the very real danger that this country, as we know it, may cease to exist.
quote by James Forrestal
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Lonely Thespian
This darkness comes over me,
assaulting with stark reality,
like a tree in the field
alone and stripped of its shield.
When the rain clouds have left,
I was a victim of a theft,
forced to be part of a thespian,
playing out my retrogression.
I'm forced to watch myself,
he's forced to burden himself,
a broken lock holds back my violence,
as I cause only silence.
I sit by the river,
and I start to shiver,
contemplating my mistakes,
wishing from reality to awake.
My mind cannot focus,
my heart, eaten by locusts,
my mind feels so alone,
my heart like dust has been blown.
Love for me is naught,
the lady with death's water is fraught,
my friends want to kill me,
fear and distrust have become a sea.
Why is my world full of hate?
Has this been the work of fate?
My failure makes me tremble and shake,
how can everybody be so fake?
This loneliness is my dark cave,
maybe death will make me brave.
poem by Soren Valentine
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The Rill From The Foot Of The Mountain
The rill from the foot of the mountain that joins the river to the sea
It has babbled on downhill forever by hedgerows in the high
Country
It has witnessed the birth and death of millions of Seasons even before the first Human was born
In the upland wood where it flows through the birds sing at dawn of the morn.
The rill it is truly immortal something that will live forever more
Forever 'twill flow to the river that flows to the great ocean shore
To it there is not a time limit it is as old as father time
It has inspired the long dead poets to glorify it in their rhyme.
The rill from the foot of the mountain towards the river ripples along
And sometimes above it's quiet babble the dippers can be heard in song
The dark brown white breasted waterbirds of Human kind they do seem shy
By the water-way they were born and in the water-way they will die.
The rill from the foot of the mountain downhill to the big river flow
The ancestors of the upland farmers who lived by it centuries ago
In the old Village graveyard it flows by with the long departed they lay
As on for to join the big river it babbles on it's downhill way.
poem by Francis Duggan
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The Space Heater
On the then-below-zero day, it was on,
near the patients' chair, the old heater
kept by the analyst's couch, at the end,
like the infant's headstone that was added near the foot
of my father's grave. And it was hot, with the almost
laughing satire of a fire's heat,
the little coils like hairs in Hell.
And it was making a group of sick noises-
I wanted the doctor to turn it off
but I couldn't seem to ask, so I just
stared, but it did not budge. The doctor
turned his heavy, soft palm
outward, toward me, inviting me to speak, I
said, "If you're cold-are you cold? But if it's on
for me..." He held his palm out toward me,
I tried to ask, but I only muttered,
but he said, "Of course," as if I had asked,
and he stood up and approached the heater, and then
stood on one foot, and threw himself
toward the wall with one hand, and with the other hand
reached down, behind the couch, to pull
the plug out. I looked away,
I had not known he would have to bend
like that. And I was so moved, that he
would act undignified, to help me,
that I cried, not trying to stop, but as if
the moans made sentences which bore
some human message. If he would cast himself toward the
outlet for me, as if bending with me in my old
shame and horror, then I would rest
on his art-and the heater purred, like a creature
or the familiar of a creature, or the child of a familiar,
the father of a child, the spirit of a father,
the healing of a spirit, the vision of healing,
the heat of vision, the power of heat,
the pleasure of power.
poem by Sharon Olds
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Danger Zone
Shaking off the tresholds of a long forgotten dream
And you just can't make it last
Coaching paradise on a personal line
But you get fired to fast
And you lie, memories drifting by
Love don't make it on those pin-striped nights
When you're looking through someone's disguise
You can't make it alone, so you gotta make a move
But you're looking at nobody's eyes
Well that's love, or maybe love come and go
Looking for love is a danger zone
Love don't go begging in the danger zone
You won't get nothing from the danger zone
Tales that you tell from the stories that you'll hear
And you'll get what you can while you may
Don't understand when you're looking for a dame
But it's only a heartbreak away
And you'll learn, faking has no return
No way when you're feeling that way
Will your feet get caught up in the crowd
And the song that you sing is too soft to be heard
But your speakers are way too loud
Like the pain, loving is no big game
Looking for love is a danger zone
No don't go living in the danger zone
You won't get nothing from the danger zone
Don't take no chances in the danger zone
Love don't go begging in the danger zone
No don't go living in the danger zone
You won't get nothing from the danger zone
Don't take no chances in the danger zone
Love don't go begging in the danger zone
song performed by by Rainbow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Left Foot, Right Foot
left foot, right foot,
left foot, right foot,
eyes fixed straight ahead....
drawn by the spectre
of our own greed;
use it up, throw it out,
use it up, throw it out....
hardened and lifeless,
eaten from within
by the maggots of ego...
deaf to the cries
of our own children,
blinded by the 'God'
of cyber technology...
strip the fields,
cut down the forests...
mine the mountains,
we pee in our own
drinking water, and
walk away....
leaving nuclear tracks
in the womb of time.
left foot, right foot,
left foot, right foot...
marching blindly to hell
with drool on our chins!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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A Fantasy
I wandered in a dream
And heard bluebells chime by the water,
Saw unicorns drink from the stream
And heard wild, whirling elvish laughter.
I realized things are not what they seem,
That little boys worship the river's daughter,
That angels grunt and butterflies scream
While good men go like lambs to the slaughter.
It was only a silly dream
But it has haunted me ever after,
When lights burn low and candles gleam,
When graveyards groan and their corpses mutter.
poem by John Thorkild Ellison
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Goldfish told the Water Stream…
Goldfish told the water stream:
You always move downstream!
Don’t you have a dream in life?
To achieve higher realms
Look at me i always swim
Across against all streams!
Water smiled responded not
Playfully splashed its hands
Jackson on board got wetted
Startled pulled out his hand!
Up at the end of fishing rod
Faintly died out a moan
Deep down in the distant sea
A shark silently mourned…
30th October 2009
poem by Kesav Venkat Easwaran
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