
Not in this world to see his face
Not in this world to see his face
Sounds long, until I read the place
Where this is said to be
But just the primer to a life
Unopened, rare, upon the shelf,
Clasped yet to him and me.
And yet, my primer suits me so
I would not choose a book to know
Than that, be sweeter wise;
Might some one else so learned be.
And leave me just my A B C,
Himself could have the skies.
poem by Emily Dickinson

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Related quotes
A Closed Book
A book unopened
leaves words to die.
A book unopened
leaves words to lie
in perpetuity,
never alive, never free
to deliver its thoughts
for any to see.
Who was the writer?
What did he pen?
The absence of readers
are lost and then
the book lies quietly
on a shelf
and maybe all by itself it knows.
It will never be opened.
It will always be closed,
just like some people
who won't open up
and speak their words to you.
Their life is something
you'll never know,
something you won't view.
For they are a closed book too.
poem by Edwina Reizer

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I just signed to do my next book with Ecco Press, a new primer or encyclopedia. This will be my take on what classic Italian cooking is.
quote by Mario Batali

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The Zeroes—taught us—Phosphorous
689
The Zeroes—taught us—Phosphorous—
We learned to like the Fire
By playing Glaciers—when a Boy—
And Tinder—guessed—by power
Of Opposite—to balance Odd—
If White—a Red—must be!
Paralysis—our Primer—dumb—
Unto Vitality!
poem by Emily Dickinson

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It's True
Madame de Sevigne
Doted on her daughter
Sent her many artful, insistent letters
Many of which the ungrateful child read
But some of which she left unopened.
Which did she leave unopened?
Only the important ones.
How do I know? Unopened
Letters are the always the important ones.
poem by Morgan Michaels

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Lights Out
I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way, however straight,
Or winding, soon or late;
They cannot choose.
Many a road and track
That, since the dawn's first crack,
Up to the forest brink,
Deceived the travellers,
Suddenly now blurs,
And in they sink.
Here love ends,
Despair, ambition ends,
All pleasure and all trouble,
Although most sweet or bitter,
Here ends in sleep that is sweeter
Than tasks most noble.
There is not any book
Or face of dearest look
That I would not turn from now
To go into the unknown
I must enter and leave alone
I know not how.
The tall forest towers;
Its cloudy foliage lowers
Ahead, shelf above shelf;
Its silence I hear and obey
That I may lose my way
And myself.
poem by Edward Thomas

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Harder Cards
Well, a hammer fell down on a .44 primer
And that was one less problem in South Carolina tonight
Wrong or right.
She just looked to me as she finished her tale
The blank expression went another pale shade of gray
There was nothing to say.
In the shadows of her face I saw the scars
That you get when you live where love is hard
And she said,
"Don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat."
"Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile in my bare feet."
"There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play."
Well, I put the cuffs on her and sat her in the car
Walked inside, he was layin' on the floor stone dead
Been shot in the head.
There were whiskey bottles and dope by the chair
A starving baby with nothing to wear but tears
So the picture was clear.
He had finally pushed her way across the line
And the badge I wore was losing all its shine
And she said,
"Don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat."
"Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile in my bare feet."
"There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play."
I just stood there thinkin' how justice is blind
But after thirty five years you learn to read the signs
So I made up my mind.
I took the cuffs oof her and I walked her back in
Wiped the gun off and wrapped it in his right hand
Where it should've been.
And the morning paper read in black and white
It's just another senseless case of suicide
Suicide.
Oh, but don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile along my beat
There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play.
Well, a hammer fell down on a .44 Primer
And that was one less problem in South Carolina tonight...
song performed by by Kenny Rogers

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It would seem that the Watergate story from beginning to end could be used as a primer on the American political system.
quote by Bob Woodward

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My Therapist's a Lady
It's all so simple now,
yet it took 30 years
to begin to understand.
It's as though someone
stole the primer I had
and gave me another
in my own language.
It's because you are
who you are
that I've begun
to become who I am.
That sounds too dramatic.
All you did, really, was scream
when you opened the bathroom door,
saw me wrapped in a towel,
standing at attention on a mat,
waiting in my thirtieth year
for the steam to clear
from the cabinet mirror,
waiting for someone
to shout, 'At ease! '
poem by Donal Mahoney

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I read a book
I read a book
Not to enhance my looks
I read a book
Maybe to avoid being a crook
I read a book
Not just to learn how to cook
I read a book
To ascertain how to defend my rights
Not just to acquire knowledge
Reading a book I pledge,
Is one of the roads to the light
I read a book
To understand how a kings territory
Is defended with pieces such as the rook
I read a book
So there will be no questions asked
When I count correctly what you took
I read a book
So that I play not ignorant
Now on life I’ve a different outlook
I read a book
So if I come up with all the right answers
I will know for sure it is not merely a fluke
Copyright 2006 - Sylvia Chidi
poem by Sylvia Chidi

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Lost In A Book
SHHH!
don't bother me
I'm lost in a book
mixed up with
the complicated plots
and outrageous characters
when i'm lost in a book
I don't have to think
about my life
I'll get stuck in
a fantasy world
and never
have to come back
home again
one book
after another
I read, read, read
different places
different people
a new world
I start fresh
each time
I open up a new book
when i'm lost in a book
I am safe
no one can hurt me
I'm happy
when I'm lost
in a book
poem by Annie Janine

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The Ballad (Denny & Jean)
There's a cloud in the sky and it's raining on you
Still you try to keep dry but your troubles leak through
And you've lost all you could, feeling sad
Choose your reveries
Keep the good, leave the bad
Take a few of these, the sweeter memories
Don't forget them please, the sweeter memories
To set your mind at ease, the truest remedies
Are the sweeter memories
There's a life full of pain and a life full of glee
So you see that the rain doesn't mean much to me
For I know that it pays making light
of living's tragedies
Make your days be as bright
Take a few of these, the sweeter memories
song performed by by Todd Rundgren

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Open Book's Monologue (revisited the years later portion of part 16)
Maybe I'm the book, and maybe you're the reader
but who is you? is it not everyone
since I'm open, for all to point at laugh at, out of malice or for fun
because they know my thoughts, they know i love her? !
what did i do?
i never said i love you! ! !
how can they know?
how did i reap what i did now sow? !
The worst part
about being an open book,
is an open book can't close itself, can't have a heart
anyone can know all from just one look
there seems to be something wrong with being too open and honest
but it's too late a book can't close itself
can't move by its own accord to a shelf
an open book can never rest
so now I'm the book, so since im there just read
just read.... and watch my heart, my purpose, my soul, my life, me
watch.... watch them bleed
poem by David Knox

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Sweeter Memories
Theres a cloud in the sky and its raining on you
Still you try to keep dry but your troubles leak through
And youve lost all you could, feeling sad
Choose your reveries
Keep the good, leave the bad
Take a few of these, the sweeter memories
Dont forget them please, the sweeter memories
To set your mind at ease, the truest remedies
Are the sweeter memories
Theres a life full of pain and a life full of glee
So you see that the rain doesnt mean much to me
For I know that it pays making light
Of livings tragedies
Make your days be as bright
Take a few of these, the sweeter memories
song performed by by Todd Rundgren

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Life is short
It seems you forgot, our life is short.
There is no time to beg or extort for support.
Learn how to live yourself.
Take a book from the shelf and…
Delicately leafing page after page
you will find a wood sage.
People are like books,
some of them are good,
some of them are bad,
some of them are just mad,
some of them are not sassy,
they look more glassy,
they are not gassy,
they are classy
like books on the shelf
waiting for a warm hand.
Milliards of people are on the Land,
each one needs the right hand
so that to open it like a book and read.
If you manage to do it
you’ll succeed to learn a lot.
Remembering that life is short
you’ll learn how to burn the useless things,
how to leave the one without a gun
who troubles brings,
how to live with those you adore,
And… much much more.
Larisa R (Odessa, Ukraine)
poem by Larisa Rzhepishevska

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All of us can think of a book... that we hope none of our children have taken off the shelf. But if I have the right to remove that book from the shelf -that work I abhor- then you also have exactly the same right and so does everyone else. And then we have no books left on the shelf for any of us.
quote by Katherine Paterson

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Used To Be Bad
I used to be bad
But I dont have to be bad no more
Yeah, I used to be bad
But I dont have to be bad no more
Well aint no doubt about it, people
Its something you cant ignore
Well, I aint good looking
People, you know Ive been up on a shelf
Yes, I know I aint good looking
And Ive been put up on the shelf
But I got a sweet disposition
I like to enjoy myself
I used to be bad
But I dont have to be bad no more
Yeah, I used to be bad
But I dont have to be bad no more
You know I learned my lesson
A long, long time ago
Well, no matter what you say
No matter what you do
Youve got one life to live
Its gonna come back home to you
I used to be bad
But I dont have to be bad no more
Yeah, people, I learned my lesson
A long, long time ago
The good lord made this world
And everything thats in it
The way I see it, baby
You got to love it to the limit
Oh yes, now people
Its something you cant ignore
Yes I used to be bad
But I aint gonna be bad no more
Well, the way you treat me darling
Made me understand
Never quit you baby
Im gonna love you to the end.
Yeah, I used to be bad
But I aint gonna be bad no more
Yes, I learned my lesson
A long, long time ago
Yes, I learned my lesson
A long, long time ago
Yes, I learned my lesson
Youre gonna reap just what you sow
song performed by by Paul McCartney

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Long Way Back Home
From the railhead to the boatyard
From the factory to the farm
From the mines to the millhouse
Ive weathered the storm
From the bar room to the bedpost
Ive wasted my days
All I have is my drink
And the time left to think
While time slips away
Just look at my face
As you tell me goodbye
Youll see what Im after
By the look in my eye
Just walk away
And leave me alone
Its a long way back home
Now in case you should ask me
What it is that Ive done
Well I say Im a soldier
Who once had a son
But my son doesnt know me
Thats his right to choose
Oh say can you see
My best friend is me
Im a friend I could use
Just look at my face
As you tell me goodbye
Youll see what Im after
By the look in my eye
Just walk away
And leave me alone
Its a long way back home
Now the pages have faded
The story grows cold
And the plot falls to ashes
Like the ruins of old
Those rats in my rafters
Theyre after my shoes
And anything else
They can find on the shelf
Ive said they could use
Just look at my face
As you tell me goodbye
Youll see what Im after
By the look in my eye
Just walk away
And leave me alone
Its a long way back home
Its a long way back home
song performed by by Gordon Lightfoot

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On A Young Poetess’s Grave
UNDER her gentle seeing,
In her delicate little hand,
They placed the Book of Being,
To read and understand.
The Book was mighty and olden,
Yea, worn and eaten with age;
Though the letters look’d great and golden,
She could not read a page.
The letters flutter’d before her,
And all look’d sweetly wild:
Death saw her, and bent o’er her,
As she pouted her lips and smil’d.
And weary a little with tracing
The Book, she look’d aside,
And lightly smiling, and placing
A Flower in its leaves, she died.
She died, but her sweetness fled not,
As fly the things of power,—
For the Book wherein she read not
Is the sweeter for the Flower.
poem by William Cosmo Monkhouse

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The Chornicles of a Dark Heart Part 16 The open book's monologue
Red what is it to you black the color of death? maybe maybe not? anyone here play video games? FOR CHAOS? ring any bells help spread the taint more quickly? what might an open book write
what would a open book draw
what would an open book think
open books are predictable
so predict what the picture means
why is black black? why is red O infused? what is the meaning only you know maybe only me...
(added years later)
Maybe I'm the book, and maybe you're the reader
but who is you? is it not everyone
since I'm open, for all to point at laugh at, out of malice or for fun
because they know my thoughts, they know i love her? !
what did i do?
i never said i love you! ! !
how can they know?
how did i reap what i did now sow? !
The worst part
about being an open book,
is an open book can't close itself, can't have a heart
anyone can know all from just one look
there seems to be something wrong with being too open and honest
but it's too late a book can't close itself
can't move by its own accord to a shelf
an open book can never rest
so now I'm the book, so since im there just read
just read.... and watch my heart, my purpose, my soul, my life, me
watch.... watch them bleed
poem by David Knox

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The Evenings Young
The evenings young
The night began
Between the bottles in a mirror
Im smiling at myself
Look in my eyes and start to count
The bottles on the shelf
Bottles on the shelf
Evenings young
The night began
Barman brings another beer
Could ask myself
Why am I here
Between the bottles in a mirror
Smiling at myself
Look in my eyes and start to count
The bottles on the shelf
I know I could at any time
Get up the chair and leave this place
I know I could at any time
Get up the chair and leave this place
I wait for me and my decision
Between the bottles thats my face
Tv shows a football game
I leave the place but all the same
If someone asked me hey guy you
Where do you go, what do you do?
I wouldnt know what I could say
song performed by by Yello

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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