The city and the sea
I
To none the city bends a servile knee;
Purse-proud and scornful, on her heights she stands,
And at her feet the great white moaning sea
Shoulders incessantly the grey-gold sands,--
One the Almighty's child since time began,
And one the might of Mammon, born of clods;
For all the city is the work of man,
But all the sea is God's.
II
And she--between the ocean and the town--
Lies cursed of one and by the other blest:
Her staring eyes, her long drenched hair, her gown,
Sea-laved and soiled and dank above her breast.
She, image of her God since life began,
She, but the child of Mammon, born of clods,
Her broken body spoiled and spurned of man,
But her sweet soul is God's.
poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
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Related quotes
A Child Is Sweet Any Day Of The Week
A child that's born on a Monday
holds beauty in sight and mind.
A child that's born on a Tuesday
is graceful, sweet and kind.
A child that's born on a Wednesday
is a treasure, so they say.
A child that 's born on a Thursday
sees a quest with each new day.
A child that's born on a Friday
is loving and freely gives.
A child that's born on a Saturday
shows great work through how they live.
A child that's born on a Sunday
is happy, carefree and gay.
I guess you could say that a child is
special, no matter what the day.
poem by Christine K. Trease
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In Collins Street
I stood in the heart of the city street,
I felt the throb of her pulses beat,
The thunder of life on the sunny air,
The waves of the people everywhere,
Like the stirring lilt of a mighty song
Ran the fever of life in the moving throng,
With the hope and joy and the want and woe
Of a million souls in its ebb and flow.
Like a floating straw in an eddy caught
My soul was whirled in the city’s thought—
The purse-born pride and the scheming brain,
The grinding need and the grasping gain;
The silent strength that is born to rule,
And the shallow laugh of the feckless fool,
The fresh young face where no shadow lies,
And the quenchless pain in the harlot’s eyes.
I stood in the heart of the city street,
And I heard not the tread of the passing feet,
For the days were grey and the nights were long,
And my soul was vexed with a wild sad song,
And the world like a stream flowed thro’ my brain,
And I saw her lands in a dream of pain,
And her power enthroned on the people’s needs,
And her heroes dead for a hundred creeds.
And I saw thro’ the pageant moving on
The same dark horrors of ages gone,
The dumb despair and the dire distress,
And man still mad in his littleness.
Who cares tho’ Earth be a masterpiece,
If pain and sorrow shall never cease?
Does God endure in His vaulted skies
The hopeless pain in His creatures’ eyes?
Then I saw, like a glory shining thro’,
What man had conquered and yet shall do.
I saw the depths where he lay of old,
And the heights of a splendour yet untold.
And I knew, in a flash, since the world began
What man had suffered and done for man,
And I felt like a note that is borne along
On the upward swell of a battle song.
poem by George Essex Evans
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Magnificat
THIS is Christ's birthday: long ago
He lay upon His Mother's knee,
Who kissed and blessed Him soft and low--
God's gift to her, as you to me.
My baby dear, my little one,
The love that rocks this cradling breast
Is such as Mary gave her Son:
She was more honoured, not more blest.
He smiled as you smile: not more sweet
Than your eyes were those eyes of His,
And just such little hands and feet
As yours Our Lady used to kiss.
The world's desire that Mother bore:
She held a King upon her knee:
O King of all my world, and more
Than all the world's desire to me!
I thank God on the Christmas morn,
For He has given me all things good:
This body which a child has borne,
This breast, made holy for his food.
High in high heaven Our Lady's throne
Beside her Son's stands up apart:
I sit on heaven's steps alone
And hold my king against my heart.
Across dark depths she hears your cry;
She sees your smile, through worlds of blue
Who was a mother, even as I,
And loved her Child, as I love you.
And to her heart my babe is dear,
Because she bore the Babe Divine,
And all my soul to hers draws near,
And loves Him for the sake of mine!
poem by Edith Nesbit
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Within War, Within Peace
I was born long ago, in a city far away
not knowing would I live yet another bloody day
There were bombs all around me, deep into the night
children dissapeared as I stood by in fright
You would try to run, but could not hide
the taunting enemy, was by your side
You didn't know, who they were
it felt as if, it was all a blur
Families destroyed and pulled apart
by greedy hands, supporting this art
I now look back at all the sin
people with sorrows, who were killed within
I was born long ago, in a city far away
within war I stood up and embraced my day
I was born long ago, in a city far away
but within peace, I chose to live, in a city by the bay.
Charlie vergara
10.30.2007
17140
poem by White Tiger
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Outlaw
(coverdale/lord/marsden)
When I left my home
I was not much more than a child,
My mother started crying
She knew that I was born to be wild
cos I was looking for the bright lights of the big city,
A red hot town where the girls are pretty
I took to the highway,
Chasing my dream down the line
Heading out for trouble,
Never finding my peace of mind
cos I been run out of town so many times before
An usually kind of places where I cant go back no more
Outlaw - born outside of the law,
Just another outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
I never find it easy trying to keep the feeling alive,
Ive always been a dreamer,
Dreamers find it hard to survive
When theyre living in the bright lights of the big city,
A red hot town where the girls are pretty
Outlaw - born outside of the law,
Just another outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
Outlaw - born outside of the law,
Just another outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
Outlaw - born outside of the law,
Just another outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
Born outside of the law,
Just another outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
Outlaw, outlaw,
Man on the run will always take chances for fun
song performed by by Whitesnake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Kathleen
O Norah, lay your basket down,
And rest your weary hand,
And come and hear me sing a song
Of our old Ireland.
There was a lord of Galaway,
A mighty lord was he;
And he did wed a second wife,
A maid of low degree.
But he was old, and she was young,
And so, in evil spite,
She baked the black bread for his kin,
And fed her own with white.
She whipped the maids and starved the kern,
And drove away the poor;
'Ah, woe is me!' the old lord said,
'I rue my bargain sore!'
This lord he had a daughter fair,
Beloved of old and young,
And nightly round the shealing-fires
Of her the gleeman sung.
'As sweet and good is young Kathleen
As Eve before her fall;'
So sang the harper at the fair,
So harped he in the hall.
'Oh, come to me, my daughter dear!
Come sit upon my knee,
For looking in your face, Kathleen,
Your mother's own I see!'
He smoothed and smoothed her hair away,
He kissed her forehead fair;
'It is my darling Mary's brow,
It is my darling's hair!'
Oh, then spake up the angry dame,
'Get up, get up,' quoth she,
'I'll sell ye over Ireland,
I'll sell ye o'er the sea!'
She clipped her glossy hair away,
That none her rank might know;
She took away her gown of silk,
And gave her one of tow,
And sent her down to Limerick town
And to a seaman sold
This daughter of an Irish lord
For ten good pounds in gold.
The lord he smote upon his breast,
And tore his beard so gray;
But he was old, and she was young,
And so she had her way.
Sure that same night the Banshee howled
To fright the evil dame,
And fairy folks, who loved Kathleen,
With funeral torches came.
She watched them glancing through the trees,
And glimmering down the hill;
They crept before the dead-vault door,
And there they all stood still!
'Get up, old man! the wake-lights shine!'
'Ye murthering witch,' quoth he,
'So I'm rid of your tongue, I little care
If they shine for you or me.'
'Oh, whoso brings my daughter back,
My gold and land shall have!'
Oh, then spake up his handsome page,
'No gold nor land I crave!
'But give to me your daughter dear,
Give sweet Kathleen to me,
Be she on sea or be she on land,
I'll bring her back to thee.'
'My daughter is a lady born,
And you of low degree,
But she shall be your bride the day
You bring her back to me.'
He sailed east, he sailed west,
And far and long sailed he,
Until he came to Boston town,
Across the great salt sea.
'Oh, have ye seen the young Kathleen,
The flower of Ireland?
Ye'll know her by her eyes so blue,
And by her snow-white hand!'
Out spake an ancient man, 'I know
The maiden whom ye mean;
I bought her of a Limerick man,
And she is called Kathleen.
'No skill hath she in household work,
Her hands are soft and white,
Yet well by loving looks and ways
She doth her cost requite.'
So up they walked through Boston town,
And met a maiden fair,
A little basket on her arm
So snowy-white and bare.
'Come hither, child, and say hast thou
This young man ever seen?'
They wept within each other's arms,
The page and young Kathleen.
'Oh give to me this darling child,
And take my purse of gold.'
'Nay, not by me,' her master said,
'Shall sweet Kathleen be sold.
'We loved her in the place of one
The Lord hath early ta'en;
But, since her heart's in Ireland,
We give her back again!'
Oh, for that same the saints in heaven
For his poor soul shall pray,
And Mary Mother wash with tears
His heresies away.
Sure now they dwell in Ireland;
As you go up Claremore
Ye'll see their castle looking down
The pleasant Galway shore.
And the old lord's wife is dead and gone,
And a happy man is he,
For he sits beside his own Kathleen,
With her darling on his knee.
poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
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To Leave This City
This is the city to walk around in the rain
Staring at the barges in the harbor
And to hum songs through the night.
The city has countless streets
Bustling with people running around...
The waitress who brings me my tea every evening
And whom I like a lot although she's a White Russian
Is in this city.
The old pianist who turns around
To look at me
When he sneaks in pieces by Schumann and Brahms
While playing waltzes and foxtrot
Is also in this city.
The ferry boats that caryy passengers
To the village where I was born are in this city.
So are my memories,
All those I love,
And the graves of my loved ones.
This is the city where I have a job,
Where I earn my bread money.
And yet, in spite of all this,
This is the same city I'm leaving
Because of a woman
In another city.
poem by Orhan Veli Kanik
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The Dead To The Living
Work while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
IN the childhood of April, while purple woods
With the young year's blood in them smiled,
I passed through the lanes and the wakened fields,
And stood by the grave of the child.
And the pain awoke that is never dead
Though it sometimes sleeps, and again
It set its teeth in this heart of mine,
And fastened its claws in my brain:
For it seemed so hard that the little hands
And the little well-loved head
Should be out of reach of my living lips,
And be side by side with the dead--
Not side by side with us who had loved,
But with these who had never seen
The grace of the smile, the gold of the hair,
And the eyes of my baby-queen.
Yet with trees about where the brown birds build,
And with long green grass above,
She lies in the cold sweet breast of earth
Beyond the reach of our love;
Whatever befalls in the coarse loud world,
We know she will never wake.
When I thought of the sorrow she might have known,
I was almost glad for her sake. . . .
Tears might have tired those kiss-closed eyes,
Grief hardened the mouth I kissed;
I was almost glad that my dear was dead
Because of the pain she had missed.
Oh, if I could but have died a child
With a white child-soul like hers,
As pure as the wind-flowers down in the copse,
Where the soul of the spring's self stirs;
Or if I had only done with it all,
And might lie by her side unmoved!
I envied the very clods of earth
Their place near the child I loved!
And my soul rose up in revolt at life,
As I stood dry-eyed by her grave,
When sudden the grass of the churchyard sod
Rolled back like a green smooth wave;
The brown earth looked like the brown sea rocks,
The tombstones were white like spray,
And white like surf were the curling folds
Of the shrouds where the dead men lay;
For each in his place with his quiet face
I saw the dead lie low,
Who had worked and suffered and found life sad,
So many sad years ago.
Unchanged by time I saw them lie
As when first they were laid to rest,
The tired eyes closed, the sad lips still,
And the work-worn hands on the breast.
There were some who had found the green world so grey,
They had left it before their time,
And some were little ones like my dear,
And some had died in their prime;
And some were old, they had had their fill
Of bitter unfruitful hours,
And knew that none of them, none, had known
A flower of a hope like ours!
Through their shut eyelids the dead looked up,
And without a voice they said:
'We lived without hope, without hope we died,
And hopeless we lie here dead;
And death is better than life that draws
Pain in, as it draws in breath,
If life never dreams of a coming day
When life shall not envy death.
Through the dark of our hours and our times we lived,
Uncheered by a single ray
Of such hope as lightens the lives of you
Who are finding life hard to-day;
With our little lanterns of human love
We lighted our dark warm night--
But you in the chill of the dawn are set
With your face to the eastern light.
Freedom is waiting with hands held out
Till you tear the veil from her face--
And when once men have seen the light of her eyes,
And felt her divine embrace,
The light of the world will be risen indeed,
And will shine in the eyes of men,
And those who come after will find life fair,
And their lives worth living then!
Will you strive to the light in your loud rough world,
That these things may come to pass,
Or lie in the shadow beside the child,
And strive to the sun through the grass?'
'My world while I may,' I cried; 'but you
Whose lives were as dark as your grave?'
'We too are a part of the coming light,'
They called through the smooth green wave.
Their white shrouds gleamed as the flood of green
Rolled over and hid them from me--
Hid all but the little hands and the hair,
And the face that I always see.
poem by Edith Nesbit
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Sonnet- A Most Wonderful Christmas
This Christmas brings with it especial joy,
Not all can get even in their lifetime;
Like Jesus Christ, is born a baby-boy;
To make your family-life, still more sublime.
0 thank the Lord, the child was born alright;
0 thank the Lord, the child was born with ease;
0 thank the Lord, the child has senses right;
O thank the Lord, the child has no disease.
If boy or girl, it does not matter much;
God's gift of yet another child is great;
On mother's birthday born- what magic touch?
Miraculous, an event until date.
Maybe, God plans to give you one more try!
So make merry but never must you cry.
poem by John Celes
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Call Of Love
I walked towards the ocean
As she began to roll and began to roar
Then she put in in a daze, I remembered today
As I thought of a woman, that I knew once before.
Her eyes where as deep as the ocean
Her soul as loving as the ocean is blue
Her skin as white, as the sand that night,
A statement, was never as true.
The breeze then went through my hair
As though as a woman was standing there,
She then touched my heart and kissed my lips,
At the ocean, I just stood and stared.
The ocean then took itself a form
Was a form to set myself and soul free
So then I closed my eyes and I fantasized
And then I accepted the ocean, inside of me.
Randy L. McClave
poem by Randy McClave
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Detroit City (Lyrics)
Me and Iggy were giggin' with Ziggy and kickin' with the MC5
Ted and Seger were burnin' with fever
and let the Silver bullets fly
The Kid was in his crib, shady wore a bib
and the posse wasn`t even alive
Shock rock choppin' block, songs to make your heart stop
Shovie it in ta overdrive
Playing loud and fast
Make that guitar blast
Playing like today will be your last...
Well I was born there
Gonna die there
With all my long hair
Detroit City
You feel your heart beat
You hit the concrete
Dance the mean street
Detroit City
There`s a riot raging downtown
Tryin' to burn the place down
Skies glowin; red and grey
But the Riff kept a Rockin'
The Creem kept a-talkin'
And the streets still smokin' today
Playing loud and fast
Make that guitar blast
Playing like today will be your last...
Well I was born there
Probably die there
With all my long hair
Detroit City
You feel your heart beat
You hit the concrete
Dance the mean streets
Detroit City
Six mile seven mile eight mile nine mile
ten mile eleven mile Detroit city
Louder
Faster
Louder
Detroit City
Well I was born there
Gonna die there
We don`t belong here
Detroit City
You feel your heart beat
Hit the concrete
Dance the mean street
Detroit City
Well I was born there
Probably die there
With all my long hair
Detroit City
You feel your heart beat
You hit the concrete
Dance the mean street
Detroit City
poem by Satan's Sibling
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Ceylon City
Im going home to the town where I was born
Where little children laughed as they sang
A happy song
In the little town of ceylon,
Ceylon city, ceylon city
Ive got a boat , I hope its still afloat
With rusty sails, and an old wooden oar
It goes along, in the little town of ceylon
Ceylon city.....
My daddy will be waiting there
My sister will be combing down her silver hair
My mamma will be waiting there
Serving lunch to my brother, but hes nowhere
Ceylon city....
song performed by by Cat Stevens
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Song: Suicide City
Down at suicide city,
Null of pride and past all pity.
Suicide city:
A stressed out Walter Mitty,
I'm at suicide city,
And I've maxed out my last chitty.
Suicide city, for my crime.
It's the dreaming and aphasic snow,
The white noise of this constant go.
And frozen in the cauldron's glow,
Of demons and my fears of woe;
The neediness of knee-jerk foe,
Who'd stand and fight them toe to toe,
Toe to toe, toe to toe...
Down at suicide city,
With nothing in the kitty.
Suicide city:
My life has got so shitty.
I'm at suicide city,
Waist deep in nitty-gritty.
Suicide city. In the slime.
It's the waking and the finding,
Of the ties, no longer binding,
In a white light: burning, blinding,
That no-one wants to know.
It's the grating and the grinding,
Of my teeth and nerves unwinding.
It's the brazen lies, reminding me
Of a dog and pony show!
Down at suicide city,
There ain't no joke so witty.
Suicide city:
The outcome won't be pretty.
I'm at suicide city,
Where I'll sing my final ditty.
Suicide city. Done my time.
I've done my time!
poem by David SmithWhite
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Famous Daughters And Sons
In every town and city,
all have at least one famous daughter or son.
Someone who was born there
or someone who stayed there for a while.
For every town and city
will have least one,
some places have many
and celebrate that fact.
Some are famous entertainers;
some are writers and artists,
and some for their work
for the betterment of humankind.
Therefore, if you look through the history
of your town or city
you will find
some famous daughters or sons there.
14-15 February 2008
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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My City My Town
Those mighty wheels keep rollinon
On to that crazy place
That still feels like home
The world outside is rushing by
It feels good to take that road
Time after time
I dont know how you feel
My heart is beating fast
It has been way too long
But here I am Im back
Its good to know youre still around
Youd never let me down, in my city
You get my feet back on the ground
Youd never let me down, in my city
No regrets, well just a few
You havent lost a thing
Im still crazy for you
I dont know how you feel
Are you excited too
It has been way too long
Tonight Im back with you
Its good to know youre still around
Youd never let me down, in my city
You get my feet back on the ground
Youd never let me down, in my city
Ive been no stranger
To every corner of your heart
Your dream still lives inside of me
I dont know how you feel
My heart is beating fast
It has been way too long
But here I am Im back
In my city, my town
Deep in my heart, Im so proud
Of my city, my town
Ill never, ever let you down
Its good to know youre still around
Youd never let me down, in my city
You get my feet back on the ground
Youd never let me down, in my city
My city, my town
song performed by by Scorpions
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Born But a Little Child
He who spoke the world into creation
He was born but a little child
With love so meek and mild
His birth brought the world a new elation
Was born to die to save all the nations
He was born but a little child
With a precious glowing smile
Was to become the church’s foundation
He was born but a little child
To reclaim the fallen world for His own
He was born but a little child
He came that true love, through Him, could be known
He was born but a little child
To take on our sins, and for them atone
((May 31st,2003))
poem by Danny Speicher
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Soft White
When the sea is as grey as her eyes
On these days for sure &nb sp;the soft white
mist blown in from the ocean &n bsp;the town dissolving
It all adds up ;her bare shoulders
Nakedness ; rolling in from the sea
on winter afternoons - a fine rain
looking down on the sand &nb sp;& shingle
the waves breaking on the shore &n bsp;& white
It is impossible to deny what
taken by surprise ; then wonder
the many details of her body
to be held first now &nbs p;then later
In body & mind &nb sp;the fine rain outside
on winter afternoons &nb sp; the nakedness
of her bare shoulders &nbs p; as grey as her eyes
the sea rushing up the beach as white as
The whole outline called 'geography'
meeting at a set of erotic points
lips shoulders&n bsp; breasts &n bsp;stomach
the town dissolves &nbs p; sex thighs &n bsp; legs
Outside &n bsp; then across her nakedness
it rains in the afternoon &nbs p; then the wonder
her body so young & firm &nb sp;dissolves the town
in winter & nbsp;grey as her eyes
poem by Lee Harwood
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Sweet Love Child
She stands in the doorway
In the pale moon shine
When she looks at me, every part of me,
Brings my soul back to life
Eyes like a rainbow
They cut right through
Oh I'm lost in time
All through my mind
I'm in love what can I do
Sweet love child...
I shiver, I shiver and shake
It's been a long, long time
When she touches me, every part of me
Just comes back alive
She rides like the wind
On a summers night
And she gives and takes
In the love she makes
She makes everything so right
My Sweet Love Child
My sweet love child...
By the light of the morning
Like an angel's sigh
I can feel her breath
Lying next to me
With the world locked outside
I can feel
A taste so sweet
And she gives me love
All the precious love
It makes my life so complete
Sweet Love Child
She stands in the doorway
In the pale moon shine
My Sweet Love Child
song performed by by Europe
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Madonna of the Streets
For many years, she walked the streets
and her body she sold.
It was a living, she said,
but deep within her,
there was a heart of gold.
The story goes they called her
the Madonna of the streets.
If anyone needed help,
her outstretched hand was always there.
She rescued many young souls
from the streets of despair.
Her neighbours turned their nose up
at her living ways,
but took a long second look
the day the lord took her away.
A child was playing in the road,
the car they did not see,
but this woman of the night
saw what was happening there.
There was a screech of brakes,
a child screaming for his mum,
and a twisted broken body
underneath the wheels of the car.
When the crowds began to gather,
the tragedy became very clear.
The girl had been passing,
saw what was happening there,
had sacrificed her own life
for that child fair.
The neighbours,
who had shunned her,
now began to weep openly
for that loathsome girl
that lived down the street,
and whose friends had nicknamed her,
the Madonna of the streets.
Many learned a lesson
on that fateful day.
That was not to judge to harshly
those they do not really know.
(1 July 2007)
poem by David Harris
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Broken child
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who has seen more than his young eyes should.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who would run away from it all if he could.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who has been ravished by the likes of you and I.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child with to much pride to cry.
I see the face off a broken child.
a child who fights off anyone who cares.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who wishes his mother was there.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who wont let his hardships keep him down.
I see the face of a broken child.
A child who refuses to give up and reveal a frown.
poem by Joshua Reid
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