No Wonder Why God Made Us All Mortal Beings...!
Fresh flowers, sliced at the stems, on an angle...,
so they breathe at the parlour....deeper, longer;
still, in two day's they'll lay with the dead...dying,
tossed like trash from a black El Camino.
Coffeee, and petit-fours,
from Artuso's Bakery
awaiting our arrival,
from black limousines,
to deliver us from death, back to life,
to the home of the widow in mourning;
and we'll smack our salty lips,
at the site of the pasteries,
and slap each others backs
at the sharing of tell-tale,
carry-on 'bout the deceased.
Redundant cliches play a pestilent tune, like:
''It's the only time we get together it seems'',
and, '''Doesen't he look just like himself'''?
And as a child, i would think: Who else would he look like?
Sat, and watched the last of the arrangements,
flooding the rear of the black El Camino;
Saw petals.....all shapes and colours,
strewn through the highway wind,
streaking past my peripheral view;
makes me glance out the tinted glass,
at the cars in the faster lanes,
counting how many faces
were staring back at mine,
as we procession to the yard,
for last good-byes,
Father Quinn leads in prayer;
morose toss of roses,
Amadeus,
passion-red, short stemmed, and thornless.
And after the final rose finds rest on the wood,
and we all walk away, like zombies on qualudes,
i look back o'er my shoulder, and marvel,
how all the flowers,
now dead..... are irreverantly piled,
and i muse as to why they always seem
to resemble an Egyptian pyramid.
Strange souls we be...When Death arrives;
No wonder why God made us mortal...!
poem by Frank James Ryan Jr.
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Still Life in Landscape
It was night, it had rained, there were pieces of cars and
half-cars strewn, it was still, and bright,
a woman was lying on the highway, on her back,
with her head curled back and tucked under her shoulders
so the back of her head touched her spine
between her shoulder-blades, her clothes
mostly accidented off, and her
leg gone, a long bone
sticking out of the stub of her thigh—
this was her her abandoned matter,
my mother grabbed my head and turned it and
clamped it into her chest, between
her breasts. My father was driving—not sober
but not in this accident, we’d approached it out of
neutral twilight, broken glass
on wet black macadam, like an underlying
midnight abristle with stars. This was
the world—maybe the only one.
The dead woman was not the person
my father had recently almost run over,
who had suddenly leapt away from our family
car, jerking back from death,
she was not I, she was not my mother,
but maybe she was a model of the mortal,
the elements ranged around her on the tar—
glass, bone, metal, flesh, and the family.
poem by Sharon Olds
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Back In Black (live 1981)
Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long I'm glad to be back [I bet you know I'm...]
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I've been looking at the sky
'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild
CHORUS:
'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
(Well) I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black
Back in the back
Of a Cadillac
Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack
Yes, I'm in a bang
With a gang
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang
Cause I'm back on the track
And I'm beatin' the flack
Nobody's gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now
I'm just makin' my play
Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way
CHORUS
Well, I'm back, Yes I'm back
Well, I'm back, Yes I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
Well I'm back in black
Yes I'm back in black
hooo yeah
Ohh yeah
Yes I am
Oooh yeah, yeah Oh yeah
Back in now
Well I'm back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back
Back in black
Yes I'm back in black
Out of the sight
song performed by by AC-DC
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Eurydice
I
So you have swept me back,
I who could have walked with the live souls
above the earth,
I who could have slept among the live flowers
at last;
so for your arrogance
and your ruthlessness
I am swept back
where dead lichens drip
dead cinders upon moss of ash;
so for your arrogance
I am broken at last,
I who had lived unconscious,
who was almost forgot;
if you had let me wait
I had grown from listlessness
into peace,
if you had let me rest with the dead,
I had forgot you
and the past.
II
Here only flame upon flame
and black among the red sparks,
streaks of black and light
grown colourless;
why did you turn back,
that hell should be reinhabited
of myself thus
swept into nothingness?
why did you glance back?
why did you hesitate for that moment?
why did you bend your face
caught with the flame of the upper earth,
above my face?
what was it that crossed my face
with the light from yours
and your glance?
what was it you saw in my face?
the light of your own face,
the fire of your own presence?
What had my face to offer
but reflex of the earth,
hyacinth colour
caught from the raw fissure in the rock
where the light struck,
and the colour of azure crocuses
and the bright surface of gold crocuses
and of the wind-flower,
swift in its veins as lightning
and as white.
III
Saffron from the fringe of the earth,
wild saffron that has bent
over the sharp edge of earth,
all the flowers that cut through the earth,
all, all the flowers are lost;
everything is lost,
everything is crossed with black,
black upon black
and worse than black,
this colourless light.
IV
Fringe upon fringe
of blue crocuses,
crocuses, walled against blue of themselves,
blue of that upper earth,
blue of the depth upon depth of flowers,
lost;
flowers,
if I could have taken once my breath of them,
enough of them,
more than earth,
even than of the upper earth,
had passed with me
beneath the earth;
if I could have caught up from the earth,
the whole of the flowers of the earth,
if once I could have breathed into myself
the very golden crocuses
and the red,
and the very golden hearts of the first saffron,
the whole of the golden mass,
the whole of the great fragrance,
I could have dared the loss.
V
So for your arrogance
and your ruthlessness
I have lost the earth
and the flowers of the earth,
and the live souls above the earth,
and you who passed across the light
and reached
ruthless;
you who have your own light,
who are to yourself a presence,
who need no presence;
yet for all your arrogance
and your glance,
I tell you this:
such loss is no loss,
such terror, such coils and strands and pitfalls
of blackness,
such terror
is no loss;
hell is no worse than your earth
above the earth,
hell is no worse,
no, nor your flowers
nor your veins of light
nor your presence,
a loss;
my hell is no worse than yours
though you pass among the flowers and speak
with the spirits above earth.
VI
Against the black
I have more fervour
than you in all the splendour of that place,
against the blackness
and the stark grey
I have more light;
and the flowers,
if I should tell you,
you would turn from your own fit paths
toward hell,
turn again and glance back
and I would sink into a place
even more terrible than this.
VII
At least I have the flowers of myself,
and my thoughts, no god
can take that;
I have the fervour of myself for a presence
and my own spirit for light;
and my spirit with its loss
knows this;
though small against the black,
small against the formless rocks,
hell must break before I am lost;
before I am lost,
hell must open like a red rose
for the dead to pass.
poem by Hilda Doolittle
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Back In Black
Back in black
I hit the sack
Ive been too long Im glad to be back [i bet you know im...]
Yes, Im let loose
From the noose
Thats kept me hanging about
Ive been looking at the sky
cause its gettin me high
Forget the hearse cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cats eyes
Abusin every one of them and running wild
Chorus:
cause Im back
Yes, Im back
Well, Im back
Yes, Im back
Well, Im back, back
(well) Im back in black
Yes, Im back in black
Back in the back
Of a cadillac
Number one with a bullet, Im a power pack
Yes, Im in a bang
With a gang
Theyve got to catch me if they want me to hang
Cause Im back on the track
And Im beatin the flack
Nobodys gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now
Im just makin my play
Dont try to push your luck, just get out of my way
Chorus
Well, Im back, yes Im back
Well, Im back, yes Im back
Well, Im back, back
Well Im back in black
Yes Im back in black
Hooo yeah
Ohh yeah
Yes I am
Oooh yeah, yeah oh yeah
Back in now
Well Im back, Im back
Back, Im back
Back, Im back
Back, Im back
Back, Im back
Back
Back in black
Yes Im back in black
Out of the sight
song performed by by AC-DC
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Friday Mourning
Friday mourning
I'm dressed in black
Douse the houselights
I'm not coming back
For years I warned you
Through tears I told you
Friday mourning
There comes a time
A flaw that breaks
This very smug mug of mine
This dawn raid
Soon put paid to all the things
I whispered to you at night time
And I will never stand naked
In front of you, or if I do
It won't be for a long time
Look once to me, Look once to me - then look away
Look once to me, Look once to me - then look away
And when they haul me down the hall
And when they kick me down the stairs
I see the faces all lined up before me
Of teachers and of parents
And bosses, who
All share a point of view
"You are a loser"
"You are a loser"
Friday / Friday mourning
Dressed in black
I won't be coming back
Friday / Friday mourning
Dressed in black
I won't be coming back
song performed by by Morrissey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Burdend Black Rose
It's twisted I know
But true
I can only feel love when i'm dreaming it through
While this rose that burdens me
is lying on my chest
I watch as people stare at my lonliness
I sit up stunned as they walk past
Growing fear inside
The red rose wilts as the black rose blooms
Please come back
turn what was once red back again
Take awat this hate that stays,
As the black rose waits in silentness,
as I decay beneath it's beauty,
I need love but I can't feel it,
Won't except it,
I need to open up but the black rose holdsme still
love is what i'll never get,
I know it's twisted but true I can only feel love whrn i'm dreaming it through
The black rose burdens me
until I decay,
\then the black rose turns back to red
to reap me once again
another time left once more among the dead.
poem by Amy Ormonde
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Black Rose
A black rose can stop the beat of ones heart…
A black rose brings the scent of death as it tears love apart…
A black rose makes nightmares reality…
A black rose fills my life with uncertainty…
A black rose is forgotten hopes and dreams…
A black rose is a broken girl laying in tears and painful screams…
A black rose is the pain of a shattered life…
A black rose is lost love in my hopeless life…
A black rose is the memories that haunt my restless soul…
A black rose took everything from me that once made me whole…
Including…you…
A Black Rose
A black rose can stop the beat of ones heart
A black rose bring the scent of death as it tears love apart
A black rose makes nightmares relity
A black rose fills my life with unsertanty
A black rose is forgoten hopes and dream
A black rose is a broken man laying in tears and painful screams
A black rose is the pain of a widowed wife
A black rose is lost love in my hopless life
A black rose is the memorys that haunt my restless soul
A black rose took everthing from me that once made me whole
poem by Glenn McGahan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Black And Red
Black and Red
The colours of dead
Black and Red
The colours of my bed.
Black and Red
swirling in my head
Black and Red
Killing my brov Ted.
BLACK AND RED
Black and Red
Colours that spread
Black and Red
The patterned thread.
Black and Red
The voices said
Black and Red
I Iove eating bread
Black and Red
My favourite colours till the end.
poem by Carniz Fatema
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Black Bone Song
Seven men on a dead man's coffin
waiting 'till the rumour will be true
seven souls are damned for ever
eternally bound to sing the tune
Black Bone Song, it's never ending a unique minor key,
Black Bone Song come along hell bound on the sea.
Risk a view at the brink of death
treasure hunters, they're never coming back
seven voices scream and shout,
found an escape through the hole in the ground.
This old legend of seven sailor's lives
drinking rum, singing black bone's rhymes
seven pains cry out loud
digging out the tale, out of the ground.
song performed by by Zed Yago
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Paint It Black
I see a red door
And I want it painted black
No colors anymore
I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by
Dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head
Until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars
And theyre all painted black
With flowers and my love
Both never to come back
I see them turn their heads
Quickly look away
Like a newborn baby
It just happens every day
I look inside my self
See my heart is back
I see my red door
And I want it painted black
Maybe then Ill fade away
And not have to face the facts
Its not easy facing up
When your whole world is black
No more will my green sea
Go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee
This thing happening to you.
If I look hard enough
Into the setting sun,
My love will laugh with me
Before the morning comes
(wanna see...? ? ? )
song performed by by U2
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Knock em Dead Kid
In the heat of the night
You went and blackened my eyes
Well now Im back
Im back
Im back
And Im coming your way
Well now Im supercharged
Might just explode in your face
Im black
Im black
Im black
And Im primed for hate
(chorus)
Knock em dead, kid
(knock em dead)
Knock em dead, kid
(knock em dead)
The blade is red, kid
(knock em dead)
Knock em dead, kid
Knock em dead
A star-spangled fight
Heard a steel-belted scream
Now Im black, Im black, Im black
Another sidewalks bloody dream
I heard the sirens whine
My blood turned to freeze
Youll see the red in my eyes
As you take my disease
(chorus)(solo)(chorus)
Knock em knock em knock em
Dead...(scream)
Knock em dead kid
song performed by by Motley Crue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Everything between us is black
A black sleep near to death
surrounds me and everything between you and me,
while police patrol cars
with flashing lights and sirens
are parking outside the yard
and you are at your lover’s house.
They are here to lock handcuffs around my wrists,
send by the lies that you trumpet forth
and when I only allow one policeman
to come into the yard
while your white policeman lover with the others
have to wait outside the yard
the lot of them are raging mad
as I threaten
to take legal action against them
and that one black policeman
finds your drugged out child
where he is sleeping,
learn from him
that they have come in vain
and that you are making arses of them and me,
he searches through the house
and I send the whole lot of them to hell
where they can go and crawl back in
and there’s death
like a deep dark grave,
where at a time
I had love for you
and my memory fades, about our gloomy story
of which now nothing remains
but for the realization
that your departure was my actual salvation
and between us everything is black,
all meaning has been wiped out eternally.
[Reference: Un grand sommeil noir… by Paul Verlaine.]
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Rose With A Tinted Past
A wind from the north country.
Blows through the tapestry of my mind.
Like flowers in the wind.
I sway like a silver birch.
Winging high I soar though the sky.
A bird of tell tale feather below.
Ah, a rose with a tinted past.
A tear of dew on each new petal.
Shadow of sky I see.
A big yellow eye that warns me.
Spring has fallen by the way side.
Summer warms each small bed.
Sleep eluded the dreamers head.
Days hark of summer sandwich paste.
Eaten down in gulps of haste.
Gone are the winter winds.
Replaced by summers warm rays.
Ah, our rose with a tinted past.
Born out of a refuse tip.
Born with buds pointing skyward high.
To catch the sun through a cloudy sky.
Born with a majestic air.
The dark clouds of heaven see you there.
Rain dances on your petals blight.
Sky thunder roars.
Storm of shadows pass overhead.
Wind of tears, tears and shreds,
the petals from our roses head.
Sky of blue, no clouds of night.
Looks down at the sorry sight.
Head limp, beauty gone.
Sadness of glory light.
No longer see the sunlight.
Petals sweet, insect head.
Food for natures bed.
Earth dust shower still.
Life is short to fulfil
Day - night passes a solemn breath.
For our tinted roses death.
13 June 1978
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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What Our Dead Do
Jan came this morning
—I dreamt of my father
he says
he was riding in an oak coffin
I walked next to the hearse
and father turned to me:
you dressed me nicely
and the funeral is very beautiful
at this time of year so many flowers
it must have cost a lot
don’t worry about it father
—I say—let people see
we loved you
that we spared nothing
six men in black livery
walk nicely at our sides
father thought for a while
and said—the key to the desk
is in the silver inkwell
there is still some money
in the second drawer on the left
with this money—I say—
we will buy you a gravestone
a large one of black marble
it isn’t necessary—says father—
better give it to the poor
six men in black livery
walk nicely at our sides
they carry burning lanterns
again he seemed to be thinking
—take care of the flowers in the garden
cover them for the winter
I don’t want them to be wasted
you are the oldest—he says—
from a little felt bag behind the painting
take out the cuff links with real pearls
let them bring you luck
my mother gave them to me
when I finished high school
then he didn’t say anything
he must have entered a deeper sleep
this is how our dead
look after us
they warn us through dreams
bring back lost money
hunt for jobs
whisper the numbers of lottery tickets
or when they can’t do this
knock with their fingers on the windows
and out of gratitude
we imagine immortality for them
snug as the burrow of a mouse
poem by Zbigniew Herbert
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fade to Black
Do you think of me
or am I just a forgotten memory
like the others before
when you look back
do I cross your mind
this love you made so blind
or does it just fade to black
Should I still feel this way
like it was only yesterday
I watched you walk away
As I travel down
this empty highway
I fade to black
Tell me was he hard to find
or did it just come so easy
the first time he made you smile
Do you look at him
to see me standing there
do you just not care anymore
as you watch another day
fade to black
As I drive another lonely mile
farther from you on this dusty road
do you ever miss me at all
baby, just for a little while
while you watch the night fall
in that big open sky
do you ever cry
or just fade to black
So many nights pass us by
still my arms are empty
while he's holding you tight
loving you til the morning light
my love rolls down a one way track
yeah, I look back
you're nowhere to be found
I try to turn around
I fade to black
Do you think of me
girl, how you lost your best friend
or do you try to pretend
I was just a beginning to an end
as you fade to black
(spiritwind-2006)
poem by Spiritwind Wood
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Paint It
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore, I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and they are painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens every day
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and its heading into black
Maybe then Ill fade away and not have to face the facts
Its not easy facing up when your whole world is black
I wanna see it painted painted, painted black, oh baby
I wanna see it painted painted, painted black, oh baby
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
I wanna see it painted, painted black, oh
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted from the sky
Painted, painted, painted black oh baby
Painted painted, painted black
song performed by by Vanessa Carlton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Who Is Right?
Im just a locd out brother coming straight from s.d.
Just another islander, beaner, wop, minority
Taught to love one another, all races
All types of colors, different skin, different faces
Can you answer my question when I ask you who is right?
Racist come in all forms of colors black or white
So take what when I say your hatred sucks
Coming from the h-i-t man swo whats up?
If you aint down with my white brother,
We aint down with you
And if you aint down with my black brother,
Then we aint down with you
Punk, punk, talking that trash
White trash, black trash, you get a back to back slap
You think Im soft, then you dont know me
Cause no I dont play that and were definitely not your homie
Hell take your pride for a long ride, try and hide
You hate my outside, how bout my inside
Its just me and my boys and well hit em up
So bring it on holmes, and we could get em up
Yeah come on yall, get em up
One for peace, two for love, and three for my g-o-d
Yeah, come on yall get em up
Get your hands up
One for peace, two for love, and three for my g-o-d
Now thats dread to you head for my final conclusion
Straight up acts 10 holmes, its peters vision
So, get up peter, kill and eat
Surely not lord this meat is unclean
For my lord makes nothing unclean
Creatures of the world all beasts and human beings
Black or white who is right?
Peace and love throught my lord, jesus christ!
Then peter began to speak,
I now realize how dog does not show favortism,
But accepts man from every nation who fear him
And do what is right
Black or white, who is right?
song performed by by P.O.D.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black Capricon Day
Hey hey
Hey hey
Let the rain come down on me
Hey, hey, hey, hey
I see people and theyre craving blood
And Im so rarely understood
Well I dont know what they want from me,
Its gonna take sometime just to let them see
Im going through a black, hey capricorn day
And though it doesnt seem so
Im going through a black hey capricorn day
Though you want to check me out
Im not the man to play, play, play, play.
Hey hey
Dont you see Im not the man to play
Hey hey
No way you can play with me today
Hey hey
Just let me sing it to my capricorn day
Hey hey
My heart is a pure sun and the sky is black
And I can feel cold steel when I turn my back
It stings like needles, with a jagged tongue
You know this scream reminds me
Of when I was so young
I never had any of those
Black hey capricorn days
Though it doesnt seem so
Ive got to get this way
Im going through a black hey capricorn day
And though you want to check me out
Im not the man to play, play, play, play
Its just to black for me
Its just too black
Im stuck on the highway
Leading straight to hell
Like any other drifter with a soul to sell
You know Im dealing with the devil
In everyone I meet
And their faces tell a story,
That life aint so sweet
Im going through a black, hey capricorn day
And though it doesnt seem so
Im going through a black hey capricorn day
Though you want to check me out
Im not the man to play, play, play, play.
Hey hey
song performed by by Jamiroquai
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Grave Yard Suicide
I walked through the local cemetery last night.
It was so quiet, everyone was sleeping.
All quiet everything at peace.
I felt so welcome, so at home
there among the deceased.
I began thinking, why do I continue on?
why must I inhale even one more breath?
when all I dream of is the means to an end.
That can only be brought about by death.
Was it time for the end?
Yes it was I had to go
This was the choice which I faced
After all, everyday is merely a continuation
of the one which passed us by.
There have ben times when I felt slightly hopeful
but there was never any hope when I most needed it.
And there is little I wish to recall
the years are wrought with sadness
I've lost my mind, a million times
but I always find it again within madness.
As my heart has drifted along
I knew it could not stay afloat
with each day that passed
I felt it sink deeper in misery's boat
So there, amongst the dead
I came to the conclusion
That it was time to bring
an end to my life's illusions
The blood flowed like a river
as I took a razor to my wrist
I would have made preparations, said good-byes
but, I doubt I'll be missed
It became so cold
as everything went black
for the first time, I felt peace
because I knew there was no going back
No hope. No dreams. No anything.
I had no further reason to try
I no longer wished to live
I do not regret the decision I made to die
poem by Amy Louise Kerswell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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