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Russian Family History

I was born in a peaceful time and place
My father just out of uniform
The draft and ration books thrown away
Abundance grew in our English garden

The empire was dissolving but its ties
For worse or better would long endure
As a future traveller to many lands
I would discover and learn to explore.

From the port of Odessa they had come
Leaving Smorgon village, carrying its name
Settling down to toil, in London's East End
Never to talk of Russia again

Jenny, Louis, Violet, Peg,
The children of the ships of 1904
Building a platform of support
For the generations to follow them

Trotsky left town, Mosely came by
To beat on their doors and smash their store
They had out-run the Cossacks, how could they yield
To bully-boys imitating Nazi hordes

And sixty years on, summer of '91
A great-grandchild of those who sailed
Sat with his parents at the TV set
Transfixed by a ballet in mid-pirouette

Gorbachev confronted, then overthrown
The Empire and its collectives torn down
While Nizhni-Novgorod, from where forefathers fled
Lay poverty-soaked, children dying and dead

Now the earth has opened its secrets so far
The danger is that it will all split apart
Its passengers spilled from the side of the Ark
Butterflies, mammals and cities alike

It's a pity we remember less than we forget
For as a child, learning from the Rabbi's tongue
I had a small sense of our history's ballet,
More agile than empires in the long run.

poem by Frank Bana
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes

To My Name-Child

Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed,
Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read.
Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down
By the English printers, long before, in London town.

In the great and busy city where the East and West are met,
All the little letters did the English printer set;
While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play,
Foreign people thought of you in places far away.

Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands
Other little children took the volume in their hands;
Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas:
Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please?

Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play,
Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey,
Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze,
Tiny sandpipers, and the huge Pacific seas.

And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you,
Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do;
And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away
Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey!

poem by Robert Louis Stevenson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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London Pool

London Pool's in London town,
Ay, boys! O boys!
London Pool's in London town,
Where the great ships anchor down!
O to shake the canvas free,
Hear the cordage cheerily
Whistling to the open sea
Down from London Pool, O!

London Pool's a crowded place,
Ay, boys! O boys!
London Pool's a crowded place,
Crafts and crews of every race!
O to hear the clanking chain
Trail along the wharf again, -
Hear the tautening ropes astrain
Down from London Pool, O!

London Pool's a gallant sight,
Ay, boys! O boys!
London Pool's a gallant sight,
Toil by day and glare by night!
O to shake our heels and go, -
Feel the four free winds ablow,
Hail the lights of long ago
Down from London Pool, O!

poem by Cicely Fox Smith
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Wars Defiant Ones

(7/2/12)

They came back from the war as defiant as can be
As if they had a split personality.
Tragedies had opened up the doors
To many things they never saw before.

Seeing homeless children roaming the streets
Women who didn't listen - would get beat.
Terrorist groups killing their own
Pipe bombs planted, ready to be blown.

Civilians scattering all around
Dead bodies laying on the ground.
Men, women and children in the square
On their knees saying their prayers
But to a terrorist they don't care.

Don't they realize that life must change
Nothing ever stays the same.
Families being torn apart
As death tears at their hearts.

Natural causes kill millions of people every day
Why are we letting war lead the way?
No matter what name for GOD you may use
When it comes to war - we all lose.

Look at the hospitals in a war zone
Children left with no skin and broken bones
People have lost many a limb
The war is getting worse - it looks grim.

YES! AMERICA has lots of imperfections
But people look to us for protection.
Our soldiers After seeing all the atrocities
They come back defiant as can be
To try to change the course of history.

poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Rats Got My Kid

Some parents should not be parents,
To lose your kid for two days and not know is unbelievable,
It doesn’t make any sense,
You take your child to Chuck E. Cheese, and forget about them,
For TWO DAYS,
I think that the cardboard pizza clogs up the brain cells,
Could it be the machines that spill you tickets to redeem for prizes?
$25 in tokens for $2 disguises,
Or the football games were on the television sets, -is Dallas playing?
It could be worse, some parents forget about their children in the car,
During summertime, a/c off, windows rolled up, sweltering, blistering heat,
They forgot that they had their children,
They do errands, and some forget because the children made them beat.
It is sad that these humans are allowed to procreate,
Snip’em while they’re young,
For this continued behavior will have a limited number in this fate.

(1-10-2008)

Ammended:

More sadly a parent left his two children outside in 35 degrees,
He went to see Ti_s and A_s for at least an hour,
His children were left in a car while he gandered at boobs around everywhere,
He would be the perfect specimen for a vasectomy,
Cardrico Lajuan Nash you are failure at parenting because you did not care.

poem by Joe Rosochacki
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Boys Are Back In Town

Guess who just got back today
Them wildout boys, that'd been away
Haven't changed, had much to say
But man I still think them cats are great
They were asking if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
Told them you were living downtown
Driving all the old men crazy
The Boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
(I Said) The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
You know that chic who used to dance a lot?
Every night she'd be on the floor, shaken what she got
Man when I tell you she was cool she was red hot
I mean she was steamin'
And that time over at Johnny's place
When this chic got up and slapped Johnny's face
Man we just fell about the place
What that chic don't wanna know forget 'er
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
(I said) The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
Spread the word around
Guess who's back in town
You spread the word around
Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drinks will flow and blood would spill
If the boys wanna fight you better let 'em
That kid rocks down at the corner blasting out my favourite song
The nights are getting warmer and won't be long
Wont be long till the summer comes
Now that the boys are here again
The boys are back in town (the boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town (the boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town (the boys are back in town)
(Spread the word around)
The boys are back in town (The boys are back in town)
(The boys are back, the boys are back)
The boys are back in town again
They're hanging out at Dino's
The boys are back in town again

song performed by by Thin Lizzy
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Just Young

We are just rushing to school
with our books and our brains
but time can't tell for how long
we will help in building an empire
and hope can't guarantee us insurance

We are just dancing away the nights in clubs
while the rest of the world vanishes in sleep
but age will not stand by our side for long
and when day comes, we'll go home
yet even we don't remember if we belong

We are just running across streets
to demand justice and freedom for the nation
but history won't remember us
while we vanish from the face of the earth
and leave the streets to dwell

We are just young
even with grey hair planted on our fertile brains
even with young limbs jostling in our flesh
even with our sweet voices in life's melodies
we are just too young!

poem by Timothy muggaga
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sins Of Our Fathers

It's a seed planted
By the history of our forefathers
That is in you and I my brothers
Yes! You too my sisters
Are plaqued by the same seed
The same seed that assumed
A place of comfort
In the garden of my father's father's father,
Further and farther from root level
It found its way through the bark to us the branches
And now as we grow leaves
And new buds from us emerge
The seed find its way to our children and so I pray,
Let us children be not held accountable
For the sins of our fathers

We suffer from self doubt and self inadequacy
We ask ourselves the same question
That others before us asked
Who am I to make it,
When in my family no one did?
The question is in you
The question is in me
Yes! You can trace it back to the seed
The same seed that history
Planted in our forefather's garden
To us poverty is congenital
And mediocrity congenial
But how can I believe in myself
When even my father doubt me?
I guess it all begins with me
As a man thinketh, so is he
So hear me father I pray
Let us children be not held accountable
For the sins of our fathers

poem by BiggRich Shuping
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Permanence

I am leaving earth with little knowledge of it,
without having visited its great cities and lands
I was here for a moment, it seems, to praise,
and now that I am leaving I am astounded

So what does cruelty mean in these circumstance
and what does triumph, empire and domination,
but waves upon the still sea beneath.
And what does failure mean but to sink below

poem by David Ignatow
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Goodbye London

GOODBYE LONDON

I hear the whispers of London in my ears,
London! London! is how the birds sing,
oh, i love the english bus ride and the ancient buildings,
where the trees and the animals can stop dancing,
If men where horses, hopes will vanish in wheelchair,
Oh, I feel like enjoying in the queens empire of riches,
where the love the love of english beer won't stop flowing in my lips,
I know why I still dreams of cheese and the humpty-dumpty children will fly like wizards,
Oh, I remember the window of gossips of the old women,
I know why the london bridge wears a crown,
Oh, I never want to say goodbye to the land of the colonies,
where the beauty of flowers can stop milking,
where the voice of flute can stop roaring into the air,
where everyones fall in love with the empires,
And if you're searching for the crystal ball of snow,
London is where honey 's clock keep alarming,
Goodbye london of the Amazones of green light.

Yomi-Habib.

poem by Abayomi Habib
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Your Assessment Pleases

If I had no embedded indoctrinations,
Or a thumb to suck when I was young.
Would I be as stunned to discover,
Those unaccustomed to living in the projects...
Had less dysfunctions,
Than the ones I was 'told' I had?

Especially when I grew up in a time,
When all my neighbors kept their doors opened.
And parents disciplined not only their children,
But any child within their reach.

And those who lived in suburbs then,
Would pretend they did not sit on toilets.
And I often wondered about that.
Since my mom would often say...
'Just be 'you'.
Let others folks think they have silver spoons in their mouths.
And walk around with their butts on their shoulders.'

For a very long time I looked for this.
I wanted my mother's visions to be validated.

~Ma?
May I ask you a question? ~

'What is it now...
Larry? '

~Check this out.
I've been looking all around for folks,
With silver spoons in their mouths.
And butts on their shoulders.
I walked all over too!
Where did you see this? ~

'Boy?
Something is wrong with you! '

My mother had her way of telling my sisters and I...
We were 'different' children.

And I think about my childhood every now and then.
Wondering about all of those 'fortunate' and well dressed children.
Living in the suburbs.
And why they seem to have more problems then we had?
And why those 'kids' now with children...
Can't seem to hold themselves accountable,
For allowing the world to get sooo
Crazed!

'Boy?
Something is wrong with you! '

~Thank you, Ma!
I 'think' I know what you mean.~

'That's good to hear.
Now prove it by leaving me alone,
And go outside to play...
Like you're a 'normal' child.*

~Again...
Your assessment pleases.~

*Boy, if you don't get outta my face! *

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Sonnet: The Greatest Joy On Earth Is Children

The greatest joy on earth is our children;
To see them born healthy and grow up well;
To see them acquire God's precious ken,
That guides them to Heaven, avoiding hell.

What joy it is to see them walk on fours!
And learn to move, to utter sounds with sense;
What joy it is to hear their mental stores!
To see them worldly-wise, avoid non-sense.

What, joy to see the child, Father of man!
What joy to see them outdo their parents!
What joy when things we cannot do, they can!
What joy to see their God-given talents?

Our children are the apples of our eyes;
The Almighty God, we see, in their guise.

poem by John Celes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Washington McNeely

Rich, honored by my fellow citizens,
The father of many children, born of a noble mother,
All raised there
In the great mansion-house, at the edge of town.
Note the cedar tree on the lawn!
I sent all the boys to Ann Arbor, all the girls to Rockford,
The while my life went on, getting more riches and honors—
Resting under my cedar tree at evening.
The years went on.
I sent the girls to Europe;
I dowered them when married.
I gave the boys money to start in business.
They were strong children, promising as apples
Before the bitten places show.
But John fled the country in disgrace.
Jenny died in child-birth—
I sat under my cedar tree.
Harry killed himself after a debauch,
Susan was divorced—
I sat under my cedar tree.
Paul was invalided from over study,
Mary became a recluse at home for love of a man—
I sat under my cedar tree.
All were gone, or broken-winged or devoured by life—
I sat under my cedar tree.
My mate, the mother of them, was taken—
I sat under my cedar tree,
Till ninety years were tolled.
O maternal Earth, which rocks the fallen leaf to sleep!

poem by Edgar Lee Masters from Spoon River Anthology
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Affair On 8th Avenue

The perfume that she wore was from some little store
On the down side of town
But it lingered on long after shed gone
I remember it well
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night
Her long flowing hair came softly undone
And it lay all around
And she brushed it down as I stood by her side
In the warmth of her love
And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And she told me a riddle Ill never forget
Then left with the answer Ive never found yet
How long, said she, can a moment like this
Belong to someone
Whats wrong, what is right, when to live or to die
We must almost be born
So if you should ask me what secrets I hide
Im only your lover, dont make me decide
The perfume that she wore was from some little store
On the down side of town
But it lingered on long after shed gone
I remember it well
And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night

song performed by by Gordon Lightfoot
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Small Town

Well I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probly die in a small town
Oh, those small communities
All my friends are so small town
My parents live in the same small town
My job is so small town
Provides little opportunity
Educated in a small town
Taught the fear of jesus in a small town
Used to daydream in that small town
Another boring romantic thats me
But Ive seen it all in a small town
Had myself a ball in a small town
Married an l.a. doll and brought her to this small town
Now shes small town just like me
No I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
And people let me be just what I want to be
Got nothing against a big town
Still hayseed enough to say
Look whos in the big town
But my bed is in a small town
Oh, and thats good enough for me
Well I was born in a small town
And I can breathe in a small town
Gonna die in this small town
And thats probly where theyll bury me

song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Curriculum Vitae

1992

1) I was born in a Free City, near the North Sea.

2) In the year of my birth, money was shredded into
confetti. A loaf of bread cost a million marks. Of
course I do not remember this.

3) Parents and grandparents hovered around me. The
world I lived in had a soft voice and no claws.

4) A cornucopia filled with treats took me into a building
with bells. A wide-bosomed teacher took me in.

5) At home the bookshelves connected heaven and earth.

6) On Sundays the city child waded through pinecones
and primrose marshes, a short train ride away.

7) My country was struck by history more deadly than
earthquakes or hurricanes.

8) My father was busy eluding the monsters. My mother
told me the walls had ears. I learned the burden of secrets.

9) I moved into the too bright days, the too dark nights
of adolescence.

10) Two parents, two daughters, we followed the sun
and the moon across the ocean. My grandparents stayed
behind in darkness.

11) In the new language everyone spoke too fast. Eventually
I caught up with them.

12) When I met you, the new language became the language
of love.

13) The death of the mother hurt the daughter into poetry.
The daughter became a mother of daughters.

14) Ordinary life: the plenty and thick of it. Knots tying
threads to everywhere. The past pushed away, the future left
unimagined for the sake of the glorious, difficult, passionate
present.

15) Years and years of this.

16) The children no longer children. An old man's pain, an
old man's loneliness.

17) And then my father too disappeared.

18) I tried to go home again. I stood at the door to my
childhood, but it was closed to the public.

19) One day, on a crowded elevator, everyone's face was younger
than mine.

20) So far, so good. The brilliant days and nights are
breathless in their hurry. We follow, you and I.

poem by Lisel Mueller
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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This Free Will

She peeled from a stretch black snake
Which slipped up to the hotel door.
Darting looks from piercing eyes --
The stir of memory and then no more.
Well, you know how I have to believe --
She can almost remember my name.
Its been a long time coming, babe --
Long time loose amongst foreign hills --
Shaking my faith in this free will.
Years ago in a coastal town,
Mosquitoes buzzed in her hair.
Schooldress torn and bare feet brown --
Then the rains came and she wasnt there.
Youre closing your doors on me
When you had almost remembered my name.
Its been a long time coming, babe --
Long time loose amongst foreign hills --
Shaking my faith in this free will.
Sharp points in an ink black sky --
Faint words collide, then are lost.
Ill follow you beneath this dome --
Win you back at any cost.
I know we were children then,
But you can almost remember my name.
Its been a long time coming, babe --
Long time loose amongst foreign hills --
Well, lets be children still --
Dont shake my faith in this free will.
Dont shake my faith in this free will.

song performed by by Jethro Tull
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Neighborhood Bully

Well, the neighborhood bully, hes just one man,
His enemies say hes on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
Hes criticized and condemned for being alive.
Hes not supposed to fight back, hes supposed to have thick skin,
Hes supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
Hes wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
Hes always on trial for just being born.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him.
He was supposed to feel bad.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That hell live by the rules that the world makes for him,
cause theres a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he dont get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he wont be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Well, hes surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldnt hurt a fly.
To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Every empire thats enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and rome, even the great babylon.
Hes made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no ones command.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
Whats anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin, they say.
He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
Hes the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers?
Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lets Talk About Tomorrow

(olivia newton-john/amy sky/john capek)
Life
A gift we cannot take for granted
We gotta live it right
We are the parents of our planet
Weve touched the moon and built the final gun
If war was food we could feed everyone
Talk about the children
What will be their legacy
If they have a future
It is up to you and me
Talk about forever
For we may not have that long
Oh, its now or never
Lets talk about
Lets talk about tomorrow
Trees, animals and seas
Were all connected
They have a right to be
But they cant ask to be protected
I feel the rain--burning from the sky
We are to blame--if we just close our eyes
Talk about the children
What will be their legacy
If they have a future
It is up to you and me
Talk about forever
For we may not have that long
Oh, its now or never
Lets talk about
Lets talk about tomorrow
Its our only world
Please save us from ourselves
Talk about the children
What will be their legacy
If they have a future
It is up to you and me
Talk about forever
For we may not have that long
Oh, its now or never
Lets talk about
Lets talk about tomorrow

song performed by by Olivia Newton-John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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West End Girls

(....forever)
Sometimes youre better off dead
Theres gun in your hand and its pointing at your head
You think youre mad, too unstable
Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables
In a restaurant in a west end town
Call the police, theres a madman around
Running down underground to a dive bar
In a west end town
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
West end girls
Too many shadows, whispering voices
Faces on posters, too many choices
If, when, why, what?
How much have you got?
Have you got it, do you get it, if so, how often?
And which do you choose, a hard or soft option?
(how much do you need? )
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
West end girls
West end girls
(how much do you need? )
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
Oooh west end town, a dead end world
East end boys, west end girls
West end girls
Youve got a heart of glass or a heart of stone
Just you wait till I get you home
Weve got no future, weve got no past
Here today, built to last
In every city, in every nation
From lake geneva to the finland station
(how far have you been? )
In a west end town, a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
A west end town, a dead end world
East end boys, west end girls
West end girls
West end girls
West end girls
(how far have you been? )
Girls
East end boys
And west end girls
And west end girls
And west end girls
East end boys
The west end girls
The west end boys
And west end girls
The west end girls
The west end boys
The west end girls

song performed by by Pet Shop Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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London Boys

Cow bell strikes another night
Your eyes are heavy and your limbs all ache
You've bought some coffee, butter and bread
You can't make a thing cause the meter's dead
You moved away
Hold your folks you're gonna stay away
Bright lights, Soho, Wardour street
You hope you make friends with the guys that you meet
Somebody shows you round
Now you've met the London boys
Things seem good again, someone cares about you
Oh, the first time that you tried a pill
You feel a little queasy, decidedly ill
You're gonna be sick, but you mustn't lose faith
To let yourself down would be a big disgrace
With the London boys, with the London boys
You're only seventeen, but you think you've grown
In the month you've been away from your parents' home
You take the pills too much
You don't give a damn about that jobs you've got
So long as you're with the London boys
A London boy, oh a London boy
Your flashy clothes are your pride and joy
A London boy, a London boy
You think you've had a lot of fun
But you ain't got nothing, you're on the run
It's too late now, cause you're out there boy
You've got it made with the rest of the toys
Now you wish you'd never left your home
You've got what you wanted but you're on your own
With the London boys
Now you've met the London boys
Now you've met the London boys
Now you've met the London boys

song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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