Howling
the pregnant lion, the burning bush,
the hammered flute, well gone dry.
without a prayer, the eagle falls
in blackened cinders to the earth.
the food stamp mom, her head down,
children stare with blank milky eyes.
there's another man down in the project,
news at five, news at five.
deserted smokestacks stare at an angry sky,
buildings filled with rats and ghosts.
abandoned cars, abandoned lives,
old gas pumps rusting in the wind....
and the wind blows and howls,
ripping shingles from empty houses, ...
breaking limbs from trees long dead;
drowning out the sound of children's voices....
slamming doors and breaking windows,
carryng the fated owl to the eaves.
blowing at my back like the fires of hell,
blowing in my face with the freedom of loss.
the pregnant lion, the burning bush,
the hammered flute, well gone dry.
without a prayer, the eagle falls
in blackened cinders to the earth....
and no one hears....no one feels...
the lone wolf howling....
the spirits of death howling...
the eyes of God, ... howling!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Related quotes
The Winds Of Wyoming
Have you ever heard the wind
blowing across the plains?
Moving and stacking snow
in drifts across the lane
Have you heard the wind howling
like a wolf baying at the moon?
It's an eerie and unnerving feeling
making up its melodious tune
Have you ever watched the trees
bending to and fro in the wind?
Leaves blow off and scatter around
it's mother nature who has sinned
Have you heard the windows rattle
as the wind blows through the cracks?
The draft blows under each of the doors
it's coming in from the back
The wind is part of our landscape
and it's with us most everyday
But we love Wyoming wind that's true
it's ours and we're here to stay
poem by Louise Davis
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Vacancy, For Rent
walking the streets
of a small southern town...
empty buildings, empty houses,
'vacancy, for rent'
no one moving much,
even the church parking lots
are empty.... seems like
Jesus and His disciples
packed up, and moved on...
probably looking for work!
only a sense of quiet despair,
the sound of old cars rusting,
and the howling of a dog.
just read the news:
an elderly couple, married
67 years, murder suicide...
he'd been sick, she had
alzheimer's.... afraid there'd
be no one to take care of her...
another unmarked grave,
forgotten people, abandoned
by their own government.....
another empty house that
used to be a home...
'vacancy, for rent.'
just walking the streets
of a small southern town...
church bells are ringing...
and the smell of death
hangs in the air!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Blackened...
blackened steel...
blackened faces,
blackened hearts,
blackened roads...
blackened eyes,
blackened dreams,
blackened prayers,
blackened gods...
blackened memories,
blackened fingers,
blackened windows,
blackened rooms...
blackened thoughts,
blackened nails,
blackened shovels,
blackened tomb!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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It Is Still Too Early To Cry
Life's bleak
There's no other way to flee
from the broken glass fragments
scattered across the floor.
Watching pieces of my face
staring back at me
as my head hung low
looking at those flawed reflections.
Blood dripping on the brick
the now silent culprit
who blew that precious mirror
right in front of my face.
Happened in a flash
nothing I could save
just be glad that my eyes
are spared from the graze.
The blizzards are blowing
the wind won't stop howling,
but it is still too early to fall...
It is still too early to cry.
The old me would feel like quitting
but I have a reason to keep on standing,
because I can see with my very eyes
that the season is still too early...
It is still too early to cry.
Wishing the dark to be eternal
as flesh curled up in a corner
locked in a fetal position
not wanting to wake up again.
But Time waits for no one
and dawn disturbs my slumber
as if my rest has never happened,
the cycle goes on and on.
The blizzards are blowing
the wind won't stop howling,
but it is still too early to fall...
It is still too early to cry.
The old me would feel like quitting
but I have a reason to keep on standing,
because I can see with my very eyes
that the season is still too early...
It is still too early to cry.
(Nature's song rings so eternal:
Life slips into death,
death rises into life.
Seasons come and passes
nothing is ever permanent
change, is inevitable
and those who refuse to die
would never have tasted life.)
The blizzards are blowing
the wind won't stop howling,
but it is still too early to fall...
It is still too early to cry.
The old me would feel like quitting
but I have a reason to keep on standing,
because I can see with my very eyes
that the season is still too early...
It is still too early to cry.
What's broken, is already broken
but it is still too early to cry...
I still have a long way to go.
poem by Wilson Khor Woo Han
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No Quarter
Close the door, put out the light.
No, they wont be home tonight.
The snow falls hard and dont you know?
The winds of thor are blowing cold.
Theyre wearing steel thats bright and true
They carry news that must get through, oooh
They choose the path where no-one goes.
They hold no quarter, they hold no quarter.
Walking side by side with death
The devil mocks their every step
The snow drives back the foot thats slow
The dogs of doom are howling more
They carry news that must get through
To build a dream for me and you
They choose the path where no-one goes.
They hold no quarter, they ask no quarter.
The pain, the pain without quarter.
They ask no quarter.
Yeah! without quarter, quarter, yeah!
The dogs of doom are howling more!
I hear the dogs of doom are howling more!
song performed by by Led Zeppelin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Have Mercy!
Have Mercy!
with final thoughts
i walk these streets,
past vacant buildings hallowed.
in silent mourning,
my heartbeat joining,
the concrete scarred by living.
passing strangers hurrying,
as if they had a life to return to.
while the shouts and cursing of working men,
rings inside the empty walls!
past tenemant buildings,
and unemployed stoops,
and eyes staring from windows.
dogs too hungry to bark,
squad cars passing slow,
tis the funeral of poverty.
while meth lab food stamp children,
sharpen knives against the curb.
and everything's grey, even the sounds,
the air is drunk with anger.
i caught a ride
with a trucker wired,
who mumbled slamming gears.
out into the country
once green and rich...
now brown and deserted.
fields not worked,
farm's foreclosed,
houses left to ghosts and memories.
tractors rusting in the sun,
the air is drunk with anger.
back into town,
past libraries closed,
and churches that ache with empty.
i can hear the sound
of the distant bells...
be it freedom or infinity.
past hospitals full,
and graveyards that move
with shadows in the night.
back to the small room
where i cant sleep...
where god weeps in the stillness.
America, America...
the air is drunk with anger!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The Gospel, The Dharma, And The Breath
the darkened streets
haunt and whisper,
lights come and go,
eternity breaks the glass.
and right and wrong,
frozen on the ground...
smokestacks, abandoned cars,
vacant buildings ran by rats.
the hungry hand,
the mouth of poverty.
the addict's needle,
the body in the alley.
the woman beaten,
her face blackened and bloody.
the click of the hammer
on an empty chamber.
and the houses beckon,
with lighted rooms
where shadows move in
a most familiar way.
the smell of food,
and the warmth contained...
never quite reaching
the children sleeping
in the back of the car.
the churches gone dark,
no sound, no action.
down the street the bars
light up the night.
at a corner table,
he sits alone with a drink...
and a book he just opened...
he writes with a pen,
sure that no one can see:
we are the gospel,
we are the dharma...
we died on the cross,
we gave up our kingdoms.
we are the healers,
but the killers...
we are the medicine,
and yet the guns.
we are the hand dipped
in the infected wound...
and yet we are the giver
of that very wound...
both the breath of Satan,
and the breath of God!
from our knees we learn
the gift of flight!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Sudden Things
A storm was coming, that was why it was dark. The wind was blowing the fronds of the palm trees off. They were maples. I looked out the window across the big lawn. The house was huge, full of children and old people. The lion was loose. Either because of the wind, or by malevolent human energy, which is the same thing, the cage had come open. Suppose a child walked outside!
A child walked outside. I knew that I must protect him from the lion. I threw myself on top of the child. The lion roared over me. In the branches and the bushes there was suddenly a loud crackling. The lion cringed. I looked up and saw that the elephant was loose!
The elephant was taller than the redwoods. He was hairy like a mammoth. His tusks trailed vines. Parrots screeched around his head. His eyes rolled crazily. He trumpeted. The ice-cap was breaking up!
The lion backed off, whining. The boy ran for the house. I covered his retreat, locked all the doors and pulled the bars across them. An old lady tried to open a door to get a better look. I spoke sharply to her, she sat down grumbling and pulled a blanket over her knees.
Out of the window I saw zebras and rattlesnakes and wildebeests and cougars and woodchucks on the lawns and in the tennis courts. I worried how, after the storm, we would put the animals back in their cages, and get to the mainland.
poem by Donald Hall
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Biker
Riding
Riding Fast
It’s A Blast.
Fast
Fast Feelings
Always Always Fast.
Feelings
Feeling Adrenaline Rush
Last Last Last.
Rush
Infusion Rush Gears
Riding Changing Gears Gears Gears.
Rush
Infusion Rush Roads
Riding Changing Gears Gears Gears.
Roads
Roads Go Go
Blowing Blowing Blast.
Wind
Wind Sweeping
Sweeping Moments Last.
Never Fast
Fast Enough
Howling Howling Past.
Never Fast
Fast Enough
Howling Howling Past.
Never Fast Enough
Until You Have To Stop
Dead Quick.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Praying For Emptiness!
walking barefoot down the streets
of the holy city...
listening to the sounds,
the whimper, the cry, and the roar...
praying for emptiness....
the clock beats in rhythm
with the sidewalks and the walls.
the smell of burnt flesh
hangs in the air....
'Jesus Saves' painted on a fence....
oil rigs and chemical sprays,
fields filled with unmarked graves.
windows broken, doors sway, rusted hinges,
cars abandoned, vacant buildings,
dead bodies, eyes lost stare!
the spirits of the children
sing haunting and low...
words pierce like nails,
the birds hear and weep....
a hand gun, a needle, half pack of smokes....
nobody saves the night from the dawn!
praying for emptiness...
poem by Eric Cockrell
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My Boy Jack
1914-1918
'Have you news of my boy Jack?'
Not this tide.
'When d'you think that he'll come back?'
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
'Has anyone else had word of him?'
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing and this tide.
'Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?'
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind-
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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Have You News of my Boy Jack?
'Have you news of my boy Jack?'
Not this tide.
'When d'you think that he'll come back?'
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
'Has anyone else had word of him?'
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing and this tide.
'Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?'
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind-
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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4: 39 A.m.
the strong wind keeps on blowing
howling
above the house and the trees bending
in different directions
there is this sound of tin roofs
about to be blown away
i hear them
and feel the fury
of someone
coming
to the mind of my wife
it is nothing
but a typhoon coming
on schedule
as predicted by the weather bureau
yesterday
and to her
i am just overdoing thoughts
and things
playing always
the role of the poet
even when
the wind is the wind
and nothing
but the wind
and nothing else
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Lost Forever
All your life youre bin slipping and sliding
Trying to find a way
Sun wont shine but now its your time to pay
Theres no turning back as you look
The hangman in the eye
Now hells just your death away
Its too late to say you care
When theres evil in your stare
You say youre not to blame
In your head voices mocking
Every prayer
Remember the face you saw
That once was you
Spirit high theres no way that
You could lose
Give him rope they said
As you look the hangman in
The eye
Now around your neck you feel
The noose
In your head voices mocking
Every prayer
Now youre lost forever
Im burning with fire its time to
Leave or get out
Im burning in fire I cant take
No more so get out
Im burning with fire the wheels of
Steel will grind you
Burning in fire this time
Youre lost forever
Lost forever!
Theres an evil in your stare
Lost forever!
And hells just a breath away
Youre lost forever
And theres no way out you burn
With fire its time to get out
Get out, get out
And theres no way out
Lost forever
song performed by by Black Sabbath
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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He Is Abandoned By The World
HE IS ABANDONED BY THE WORLD
He is abandoned by the world
Faces in the street pass by without speaking to him
The trees and the sky do not nod hello
He is cold and the wind does not care for him.
He is abandoned by the world
And all he has done
And all he has made
Mean nothing.
He is abandoned by the world.
And so he knows:
Every human being
who lives on this earth
will die
and not come back again.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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On the island
Cemented into existing
among grey buildings, long grey days
they listened keen on hearing any whispering,
even tried to hear the breaking of the sea,
the howling wind and rain sifting down
but everything was barred, as life in prison is
locked behind strong steel doors, shut in
where some people came as specimens
of a political cause gone beyond
civility with guns, bombs doing the talking
taking lives, killing
and time oozed on, as meaningless,
their lives were gone.
[Reference: On The Island by Dennis Brutus.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Anvil
England's on the anvil--hear the hammers ring--
Clanging from the Severn to the Tyne!
Never was a blacksmith like our Norman King--
England's being hammered, hammered, hammered into line!
England's on the anvil! Heavy are the blows!
(But the work will be a marvel when it's done.)
Little bits of Kingdoms cannot stand against their foes.
England's being hammered hammered, hammered into one!
There shall be one people--it shall serve one Lord--
(Neither Prist nor Baron shall escape!)
It shall have one speech and law, soul and strength and sword.
England's being hammered, hammered, hammered into
shape!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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You Don't Care, You Can't Care
It's dark, dank and dreary
The Wind is cold and uncomforting
But I am just another Raindrop
That lands on your Leaves,
You stand rooted to the ground
Not even the Wind moves you
And the Rain touches you.
As I land on your Leaf,
Trying to retain, to remain there
Just for a second, to be a part of you;
The Wind blows me away 'whoosh'
And I am gone.
But you don't look back,
The Roots tell you 'no' as the
Wind continues to blow...
Lying on the ground, looking
Back up at what could have been
You stand there, alone, the
Wind howling, the Rain falling,
And you don't care,
You can't care. Is it the
Wind or the Rain? Or are you just too vain?
Strangely, stupidly, sadly; I
Give you another chance, I try
To talk to you, but you let the
Wind shake your Leaves, the
Rain fall on you, you watch
those Raindrops slide off you
Each and every one falls to the earth
You don't care, You can't care.
poem by E.D. French
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No Quarter
Close the door put out the light,
You know they wont be home tonight.
The snow falls hard and dont you know,
The winds of thor are blowing cold.
Theyre wearing steel thats bright and true.
They carry news that must get through.
They choose the path where no one goes.
They hold no quarter.
They hold no quarter.
Walking side by side with death,
The devil mocks their every step.
The snow drives back the foot thats slow,
The dogs of doom are howling more.
They carry news that must get through,
To build a dream for me and you.
They choose the path where no one goes.
They hold no quarter.
They ask no quarter.
Originally by led zeppelin
song performed by by Nirvana
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Earth Weeps
the earth weeps
for its children,
lost in the darkness
of passion and greed.
turned away from the limitless skies
of their father.....
turned away from the breasts
of she who succored them....
burning the home they live in
for the sudden rush of fire!
breaking out the windows of hope,
eating food they cannot swallow.
wild hogs,
blindly, stupidly,
destroying everything
in their paths.....
the crumbs of their insatiable lust
hanging on their chins,
their eyes glazed, and empty....
no one home anymore!
the trees kneel with sorrow,
and the rivers cry for deliverance....
the earth weeps,
...and so do I!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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