Flames
“I see flames coming out of a Ratel IFV
and how smoke vapours rises from it,
while it’s shot out
where it’s captured by a minefield.
Bleeding and burning comrades die
and their names and faces,
are burnt into my mind.
Even if I rise my eyes
to the heaven
I still cannot understand
till this day,
why some had to pay
such an expensive price
and precisely what their lives bought.
It’s something to die in honour,
but another thing to life
in a country
poem by Gert Strydom
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Related quotes
Why?
If I could paint
I would paint a portrait
of a shot out Ratel armoured car
standing in a landmine field.
Out of which the smoke still rises
And I would print in defencelessness
with every brush stroke
of armoured steel failing
against projectiles
and then becoming a coffin
and enemy soldiers standing grinning
with teeth brilliant white
and bones of fallen comrades
that tried to stop a horde of barbarians
and hyenas and jackals standing drooling
and vultures turning in the sky
and in the background till the horizon
enemy tanks, armoured cars
and men would lay shot to pieces
with pools of blood, intestines
and shot of legs and hands
and the title would be: Why?
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Captain
It’s the third day of the battle
and around us there are enemy tanks
of which the canons keep clapping
and Stalin organ rockets
that falls at places among our men.
Next to me there’s a Captain
with a three day old beard
and his eyes is red of tiredness
while he gives instructions
over the radio.
We shoot till darkness
and through the night
and thunder clap flashes
keep on shooting
the enemy out.
The morning dawns
and the sun rises over the battlefield,
that is soundless and grim
and like two ghosts
we walk around in the bushes.
He wipes dust from his face
while we drive further
through the bushes
and we look out
from the top of the Ratel IFV
and in the distance,
a single rifle shot resounds
and the Captain is dead.
[Reference: Ratel IFV=> Ratel Infantry Fighting Vehicle]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Ac her forþ beraò; fugelas singaò, gylleò grœghama
Gnashing enemy tanks are coming on
while the Ratel-90 stands still
and many things
goes through my mind.
The shot sounds thundering
and for a moment I am blinded
by smoke, dust and giant flames
that devours things.
The redneck is still shooting
through branches and bushes
with the front machinegun
and it can cost his life
but he shoots on like a machine
and feeds the ammunition belt
and I let the driver pull him in
and he’s again aboard
locked behind armoured steel
where he curses and takes out his rage
and shoot from within
and he speaks a foreign tongue:
“Ac her forþ beraò;
fugelas singaò,
gylleò grœghama”
We drive away with speed
and stop and shoot and drive again
and let projectiles
find their targets deadly
and so we continue for hours
that drag into days
and around us the enemy is shot out
and what is not burning,
is already junk
or just left behind.
Enemy soldiers of Fapla,
Cuba and a few from Russia
lie shot to pieces,
some half burnt
and whole brigades are wiped out
and in the distance I hear jackals howling
and the air is full of vultures
turning in it
while the stench of death,
phosphorous and gunpowder almost suffocates me
and some more dust or maybe emotions
makes my eyes tear.
[References: Redneck=>Englishman. “Ac her forþ beraò; fugelas singaò, gylleò grœghama” => Gaelic for: “For here starts war; carrion birds sing, and grey wolves howl.” From: “The Fight at Finnsburh.” Jackal => a African fox.]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Burning! !
Some thing is burning,
which is leading me to a
world full of hatred and disgust.
why i have suddenly started
obeying my selfish mind
why it left my loving
heart some were deep beneath
the ferocious flames of my
'anger'
Why suddenly my broken heart
starts to fight for its anger
what's the thing which is
burning in me so badly
and at the end,
when the flames of my anger
burnt my life into ashes
then my soul reminds me
that it was my own
heart which was burning so
'badly'
poem by Nishtha Dutta
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Tracing Me Out...
I find a new fire burning
With colourful flames hitherto unseen.
I find that it is burning
With fumes souring to skies hitherto unreached.
And my joy knows no bounds.
I find the thing burning
My mind is it!
I find the crowd cheering
My people are it!
And a gloom embraces me.
The flames flicker,
The smoke withers,
And the souls creep back into the holes,
I feel a stench of my mind
And a heap of ash remains.
I won`t see new things burning,
Nor will I search for flames thereof.
With what little is left over in me since
I have to trace a form of mine
To speak certain brutal truths to you.
poem by M.d Dinesh Nair
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Hemant Karakare's Son
The dazzling light of my father’s pyre
Is more potent than any other
The smoke that rises from my father’s pyre
No dusky fumes can be as bold.
Clouds assemble in my father’s sky
Raindrops patter… upon his decaying corpse
Battles end and sleep descends
While honour slips into comatose bliss
Violence flows today a river in spate
The whole city bathes in my father’s blood
I threw away the million bucks they gave
Trying to mock the valour of the dead
I see life brimming in his soul
He emptied all and was left with none
I see bullets sparkling in his eyes
Those don’t yet know how to retreat back…
My father’s remains are now in my hand
My fists hold fragments of this land
Tears no more… let immense anger rise
My fists- the tombs of my father, dead
I see ash scattered everywhere
The leaping flames sighed and then perished
My father’s pyre keeps burning… alas alone
And a bleeding nation rests- in peace
poem by Debayudh Chatterjee
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Beyond A Tracing I Have Never Been...
Somewhere there around me
I find a new fire burning
With colourful flames hitherto unseen.
I find that it is burning with fumes
Souring to the altitudes hitherto unreached.
In fact my joy knows no bounds.
I feel the thing burning now
Oh, my mind is it!
I find the eccentric crowd cheering
My people are it!
And a gloom begins to embrace me.
The flames flicker and go slende,
The smoke withers and dies,
And the souls unseen creep back into the holes,
I feel a stench of my mind
And a heap of ash remains.
I can`t see new things burning,
Nor can I search for flames thereof.
With what little is left over in me since
I have to somehow trace a form of mine
To speak certain brutal truths to you.
Beyond a tracing I have never been...
poem by M.d Dinesh Nair
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Forever young
I saw boys driving away to war
in a Ratel-90 armoured car
and they were well trained,
ready for action
and called up for military service
against their will.
Two smiled and a few
waved goodbye
and there was dirt
in my eyes,
when my armoured car
caught speed.
Enemy battle tanks were everywhere
and we fought right through the night
and with first light
an armoured car was stuck
in a mine field
and they were hoping for the best
but the worst was there
and shot out they paid the cost.
Although the enemy
paid a much higher price
and lost,
it’s like yesterday that they
waved goodbye
and sacrificed in vain
their lives for people
that does not honour them
and remain forever young.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Carbonized Steaks
More significant than the rise and fall,
More important than the historic events,
More woeful than pathetic deaths,
May we find occurring around us,
Unheeded, though trivial to the minds,
Yet gruesome to the unsealed eyeing hearts.
Once aimless loitering through the forest,
Brought me to the blazing smoky spot,
Where wild flames were leaping up,
Encircling patches of the withering grass,
And barky beds of dry palm needles.
My eyes captured a sight too horrible,
A tragedy performed away from the stage,
Beyond the sight of human busy eyes,
With no audience to applaud the struggle,
Or grieve at unjust agonizing infliction.
A black partridge was fighting in panic,
Against the callous besieging yellow flames,
Each time belittling from all around,
The bird jumped to ward off the calamity,
As hapless men wheedle misfortune,
But in vain retreat with the gait reverse,
And when no one rescues, fight alone.
Why it flies not, I wondered much,
To save the life, with the wings intact,
Relentless flames encroached instantly,
And burnt bones, flesh and feathers.
Curiosity took me then to the dismal spot.
Ah! What a doleful thing I had to behold,
The belly seething with the burnt blood,
The motherhood all black, sooty smoked,
Lay singed among the seven babe birds,
Like steaks too carbonized to be eaten.
When the victimizing gluttonous flames,
Rushed far away, I heard the weeping voices,
Of the sappy sticks of burning youngs,
Protesting against being blazed too soon.
poem by Muhammad Shanazar
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Phoenix From the Flames
Silence shields the pain
So you say nothing
Feel they've rigged the game
And you're done with lovin'
Only you can see the darkness in the northern lights
Phoenix from the Flames
We will rise together
They will know our names
Can you feel it
Shelter me from pain
I always wanna feel this way
Oh yeah
Just like a Phoenix from the Flame
Wish they'd take you back
Cos you miss heaven
Too many bags to pack
So leave them where they are
Tonight you're flying on a golden dream
Phoenix from the Flames
We will rise together
They will know our names
Can you feel it
Shelter me from pain
I always wanna feel this way
Everybody's talking
Nobody's listening
Too busy thinking about what you've
Been missing
Everybody said you're gonna take it
Too far baby now
Well come on
When you're done with lovin'
It comes down to nothing
Can you feel it
Can you feel it
Can you feel it
Phoenix from the Flames
We will rise together
They will know our names
Can you feel it
Shelter me from pain
I always wanna feel this way
Oh yeah
Just like a Phoenix from the Flame
Phoenix from the Flames
We will rise together
They will know our names
Can you feel it
Shelter me from pain
I always wanna feel this way
Oh yeah
Just like a Phoenix from the Flame
Why don't you come and deny it
You know you can't deny it
I always wanna feel this way
Just like a Phoenix from the Flames
song performed by by Robbie Williams from I've Been Expecting You
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Brushfire While it Lasted
1. On Top of Smokey Mountain
Dawn is pale on these waifs’ faces,
Sun rays striking their thin backs.
The colour of refuse here is bright:
Worms sepia, cans gooey, faeces black.
A country will rise from excreta.
2. Slumdogs
Rain coming through this window is warm
Slithering from hot tin gutters;
Bullet-hot roofs sizzle in the rain,
Bloated foetuses float in city waters.
“The baby’s wet! Plug the roof hole, Lakay.! ”
3.People Power
It is the hunger on brown wrinkles
lined in the irony of parched lips
parted in smile that convulses
the clot of flames violent in the blood
of these gnoméd comrades now
crouched in the muck of this burning river.
The anger was good while it lasted.
poem by Albert B. Casuga
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Make It till Monday
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till monday?
Another friday night waiting for a revelation
I can see a million faces in the condensation
In a moment youd changed
Things werent the same
You were talking at me not with me
And your tongue was burning up in flames
Are you coming back?
Are you coming back?
When monday comes youll be alone
With the whole world staring at you
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till monday?
Hey my friend friend you better leave now Im gonna go my own way
You said I suffer from inner frustration
In a moment you changed
Things werent the same
You were talking at me not with me
And your tongue was burning up in flames
And when you turn him off
Where does he go?
Whereve the years gone?
I dont no
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till monday?
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till monday?
song performed by by Verve
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The havoc of war
a Smoking and burning
enemy battle tank
stands stopped in its tracks,
like a metal coffin
with its occupants
still hatched in.
a BRDM enemy armoured car
is encased by leaping flames
and the phosphoric burning smell
is churning in my guts.
Some dead Cuban soldiers lay
cut from the stem
mangled in blood and guts
and the machinegun is still chattering
and I wish to be,
in another place and time
than to be a part
of this slaughtering.
a Bleating Gemsbok rushes past
trying to outrun the flames,
that leap through the field
while the machines of war
brings death to the living.
Shot after shot is fired
at killing range
and it’s hot and deafening
inside the Ratel,
but the wind
brushes through my hair
where I stand
in the top hatch
and trees and bushes
sweep past
as if screened in a movie house.
Enemy armour keeps exploding
and my voice sounds strange
and unfamiliar to me,
while I give directions
for the next killing.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Mr William Mortality
Come time to test the truth and the fear
here comes the point to push you severe
you knew it was coming an now here you go
all that i have, all that i know
spread the pain- push the purpose
spread the pain- accross the surface
have you ever been in a battle beyond
the power of your punch,
now its time you respond
to the bullshit behaviour
and the brutal force
with the power of your mind
to determine the course
self control- no break today
the power to choose- is the power i crave
Mr William Mortality
Torso debouchery
into the fire, to the fire, to the flames
into the fire, to the burning flames
We live in the brain drain, see the price rise again!
We die in the brain drain, where the cost is so high!
We live in the brain drain, see the price rise again!
We die in the brain drain, where the predators feed!
big waves crash down on me,
under cold black skies in the icey sea
Im the prospect of the damage done
and attacked by the feeling that we all die young,
poem by Bradley John Downs
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One Shot
Huu huuuu
Huu huuuu
Huu huuuu
Huu huuuu
Huu huuuu
The last days were the meanest
Leanest days of our lives
You threw me the pieces
I started the fire
One thing led to a dead end
One shot put her away hey-hey
Look out on a green world
Windows and wives
No bedroom to run to
No miracle jive - no conversation
Then nothing meant nothing
Ten dollars tore us apart
On thing led to a dead end
One shot put her away
One thing nothing meant nothing
Ten dollars tore us apart
On thing led to a dead end
One shot put her away
The last days were the meanest
Leanest days of our lives
One thing led to a dead end
One shot put her away
Look out on a dream world
Windows and wifes
No bedroom to run too
No woman that i
No conversation
Hot love is the dearest
No money can buy
She burnt like a spitfire
One shot put her away
One shot put her away hey hey
One shot put her away
Ah ha ha
Ah ha ha ha
Ah ha ha
Ah ha ha ha
Ah ha ha
Ah ha haaaa
Ah ha ha
Ah ha ha ha
Ah ha ha
Ah ha ha ha
Ah ha ha
One shot put her away
song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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5. The Cat
The cat shot over the sleeping dog
And caught it with his paw
The cat shot over the table
Dog chased him through the door
The cat shot over the TV
And Landed in a chair
The cat shot over the ceiling light
Springs shot him through the air
The cat shot over the mirror
A cat gave him a fright
The cat shot over his image
But didn’t want to fight
The cat shot over the fireplace
Burnt tail on red hot coal
The cat shot over the hearthrug
Like a firework on a roll
The cat shot over the window ledge
Burnt curtains caught in the nets
The cat shot over in dad’s old car
For a visit to the vets
poem by David Threadgold (2008)
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Fire/Burning
Burning through the forset,
Flames of orange, red and yellow,
Lick at the trees and plants,
Scorching everything in its path,
Fire.
Burning my skin,
Leaving smoke and heat,
In it's wake,
Torching my hair,
Fire
A thing of beauty,
And warmth,
But feasr it also,
For its scorching heat,
Fire.
Burning my heart,
Blood fueling the flames,
Love as its oxygen,
The Burning desire,
Fire.
poem by McKenzie Mickey
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He was lucky
The BTR-152 lowers its heavy machinegun
and starts firing,
before the 90mm shell
knocks the hell out of it.
The BTR stand motionless
and white smoke rises
from it like steam
and there’s an acrid smell
in the air.
I jump down from Ratel’s dome
and through the smoke
a Cuban appears,
with hands above his head
and there’s a man unscarred
that should have been dead.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Faces
Key:-a - anita r - ray
A: look around you
What do those faces tell you?
R: faces, joy and pain
A: faces
All around different faces I see
Some are happy, some in misery
They express joy and pain
No two faces are the same.
R: people, people all over town
Some of them are poor and others wear a crown
Ive seen alot of many faces
Joy and pain in different places
Open your mind, set yourself free
Figure it out, what could it be?
Sympathise, understand
Give love and peace to the other fellow man
A: faces
R: faces, joy and pain
A: look around you
Do you see those faces
What do those faces tell you
A: everywhere I go, different faces I see
A: faces
All around different faces I see
Some are happy, some in misery
They express joy and pain
No two faces are the same.
R: playing with your life, playing with your soul
You all scream out Im the one in control
Killing of the colours, silly stupid games
You know who you are without no names
Dont mess the world cause that the sequal
Open your mind cause we talking about the people
In the world, all kind of places
Different races, different faces
A: different faces
Everywhere
song performed by by 2 Unlimited
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Faces & Names
Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause trouble for me
Faces and names
If we all looked the same and we all had the same name
I wouldnt be jealous of you or you jealous of me
Faces and names
I always fall in love with someone who looks
The way I wish that I could be
Im always staring at someone who hurts
And the one they hurt is me
Faces and names, to me theyre all the same
If I looked like you and you looked like me
Thered be less trouble you see
Faces and names, I wish theyd go away
Id disappear into that wall and never talk
Talk, not talk
I wish I was a robot or a machine
Without a feeling or a thought
People who want to meet the name I have
Are always disappointed when they meet me
Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause problems for me
Faces and names
Id rather be a hole in the wall
Looking out on the other side
Id rather look and listen, listen and not talk
To faces and names
If I had a breakdown when I was a kid
I lost my hair when I was young
If you dress older when youre not
As your really age you look the same
If we all looked the same, we wouldnt play these games
Me dressing for you and you dressing for me
Undressing for me
Faces and names, if they all were the same
You wouldnt be jealous of me or me jealous of you
Me jealous of you, me jealous of you
Your face and your name
Your face and your name
Faces and names
Faces and names
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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