When I drive through Laingsburg
When I drive through Laingsburg
I wonder why people build houses
in a water-basin,
but who expects
a big cloudburst
with rain pouring down
in the middle of the Karoo?
The word murder now jumps
out of the names of residential areas
and insurers talk about a act of God
as if Laingsburg
is like Sodom and Gomorra
where God let out His judgement
when a flood swept building, houses
and squatter’s shacks
away with its waters
and caused people to drown
and if I would think similar
only the righteous stayed alive,
but it’s nonsense
as a disaster stays a disaster
and here nobody
preached for conversion
and our incompetence
to grasp it
far too easily lies the guilt
on Him from who all good things comes.
[Reference: Laingsburg 25 January 1981.]
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
The Cities Of White Men
Those men build many houses:
They dig the earth, and they build;
They cut down the trees, and they build;
They work always - building.
From the elevation of the mountainside
I behold the clouds:
The clouds build many beautiful houses in the sky:
They build, and they tear down;
They build, and they dissolve. . . .
The cities of white men,
They are not beautiful like the cloud cities;
They are not vast, like the cloud cities. . . .
A wind-swept teepee
Is all the house I own. . .
poem by Anonymous Americas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
poem by Elizabeth Bishop (1976)
Submitted by anonym
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Empty Old Houses
Empty Old Houses
Empty old houses can talk…
But one must know how to listen…
to hear them
Empty old houses have stories…
But one must be eager to listen…
to hear them
Empty old houses can suffer..
But one must have empathy …
To feel it
Empty old houses can feel pain
But one must be able to bear it …
To feel it
Empty old houses have memories
But one must believe … that they have…
To share them
Empty old houses contain people’s lives
But one must believe…that they do…
To share them
Empty old houses can seem dead and deserted
But one must know that they’re not..
To know them
Empty old houses can teem with life’s pleasures
But one must walk through
to sense the aura of life
Empty old houses abound in life’s treasures
But one cannot help but…
To admire them
poem by David Whalen
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Resistor
You are being taken under our power to your destination
Go!
Everybody, is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody, is a part...
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
To welcome disaster (repeat - fade)
Everybody
Everybody is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody
Hey! Hey!
Everybody, is a part...
Hey! Hey!
Were all here on this planet
To spend a couple of hundred thousand hours
To find out
Where we came from
Where we go, and what our souls are all about
Go!
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Everybody, is a part...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Everybody
Everybody, is a part...
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody, is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
song performed by by Yello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Resistor
You are being taken under our power to your destination
Go!
Everybody, is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody, is a part...
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
To welcome disaster (repeat - fade)
Everybody
Everybody is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody
Hey! Hey!
Everybody, is a part...
Hey! Hey!
Were all here on this planet
To spend a couple of hundred thousand hours
To find out
Where we came from
Where we go, and what our souls are all about
Go!
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Everybody, is a part...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Everybody
Everybody, is a part...
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Everybody, is a part of the whole of the system
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
Faster, faster, to welcome disaster
song performed by by Yello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Flood
The water flows to any place,
Flooding the land en way;
Submerging roads, bridges and fields,
Filling the wells and lakes;
It spares no one and humans too,
Neither the beasts nor trees;
Carrying the garbage and rubbish
And the entire sewage of state;
Whole villages have been cut off;
Many have been marooned;
Shelterless and starving in the cold;
Some clutch on to pieces of wood;
And stay alive for some more time,
Afraid to lose their hold;
There’s no water to even drink;
The people are all stark-naked;
And all they see is sea-water,
No food is in sight for many miles;
Oh, what havoc, the storm has wrought
On a state so poor!
So many fishermen are lost;
And many must have died;
Perched atop trees dangerously,
Birds too have not been spared;
They have lost their nests in trees;
And eggs and young ones as well;
The rain is pouring incessantly;
None can escape its brunt;
The state is cut into ‘islets’,
With corpses, carcasses afloat;
The air is filled by malodor;
The stench unfit to breathe;
Many human lives have lost in flood,
The place is diseases-prone;
Should nature be so unkind
To human beings on earth?
Help seems to come at a snail’s speed;
Thousands were swept alive;
No one knows the numbers lost;
A pall of gloom covers;
Will the flood-waters ever recede?
Will the sun dry up the land?
Lakhs of houses have been washed off;
God help the poor victims!
Copyright by Dr John Celes 12-8-1999
poem by John Celes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Look What The Good People Done
They were drinkin his wine
They were usin his name
They were takin the time to take
His name in vain
Look what the good people done to him
Look what the good people done to him
They were havin their fun
Look what the good people done
Well, the good people say things that they
Dont really mean
They look so convincing cause theyre
So squeaky clean
Look what the good people done to him
Look what the good people done to him
Its a million to one
Look what the good people done
They (? put him on walkin down ? ), they said,
Lets go on with the show
And they pad him on whiskey and say, boy,
Youve got to go
Look what the good people done to him
Look what the good people done to him
Hes (? on the highway ? ) to none
Look what the good people done
All the newspaper men
They were lookin for names
Pulled him out of a hat
They needed someone to blame
Look what the good people done to him
Look what the good people done to him
He thought he was the one
Look what the good people done
Well, the good people say,
Keep your nose to the ground
Then theyll build you right up
Just to knock you right down
Look what the good people done to you
Look what the good people done to you
They were gettin their kicks
Look what the good people nixed
[spoken - here we go]
Look what the good people done to me
Look what the good people done to me
Look what the good people done to me
Look what the good people done to me
They were havin no fun
Look what the good people done
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Chernobyl
When Russia tried to keep quiet
over the disaster
of a exploding nuclear reactor
the whole of Europe was radiated
satellites saw the explosion
with flames shooting up,
radiation going into the air
being swept away on the wind
and all of the people fighting against the disaster
got a death sentence,
the towns of Chernobyl and Pripyat is now empty
with no living beings moving there
and the impact circled out much wider
and in Russia people are still suffering from it.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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No architect troubled to design houses that suited people who were to live in them, because that would have meant building a whole range of different houses. It was far cheaper and, above all, timesaving to make them identical.
quote by Michael Ende
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Not A Day Dream!
The slanting earth and the stationary Sun are too biased,
When they rotates on a monotonous speed,
The people flourish in numbers on the infertile land,
Where the partiality of the earth is shown as drought,
The people nourish their nerves in the fertile land,
Where the earth provides them with good climate,
Poorer are the people where the sun shows his smiling face,
Richer are them, when obedient Sun plays hide and seek,
When the flood washes away the cities in certain places,
The economy is revived through building better houses,
When the drain water flood need the life of pitiful human,
The water born diseases and mosquitoes are on the game,
When the sun is too prejudiced showing his intensity,
The earth is equally unfair with five weapons of massacres,
Be impartial and not to follow the biased natures,
We are the human and we will control all of these,
Keeping all of these under our finger tips and make,
These to do what we want, no more catastrophes.
poem by Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi
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Time of Disaster
In this minute is a time of disaster,
Up with a second of mild calamity.
This means a battle has been won,
Life is on our side again, for the peace has come.
Water and ice can not be the same,
Nor can they be different;
Similarly, the accidents that happen
Are one of the same and also different
As they exist, and in these seconds.
The Sun had a notion of my day’s catastrophe,
Heat melted the ice of the polar region,
And travellers forgave the stationary men
When the dull day ended with an accident -
The roof fell, muttering away first then collapsing
To accept us as buried, by the rubble as you know.
This disaster was concrete and never the talk of nonsense,
This second was a tragedy of the highest eminence.
poem by Naveed Akram
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An Abstract painting
My eyes fall on an abstract painting
of which my girlfriend,
wants to paint a series
that may hang in board halls
and offices.
There’s something hot and alive
in the background
that changes from golden yellow,
to flame orange
and flows into black red
and a green line
runs from the foreground
into the horizon.
With strong straight lines wood,
and sink plate shacks appear
with horizontal and vertical lines
and it looks like a squatter camp,
or the houses of a headman
in the country.
To me it looks like drums and large tin cans
that lies around in the front
and a big old TV set
with sitting places round it
and at the back,
there are two wooden pens
to keep in sheep and goats.
Maybe there’s red sand
on the one side
and yellow and green grass
for grazing on the other side,
but honestly I do not want to stay
in such a place.
[Reference: Abstract painting by Mandi. Look at the painting on my mabooki webpage: http: //www.mabooki.com/poems/display/1416_An_Abstract_ painting.htm]
poem by Gert Strydom
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Lord, how easily we keep You responsible
Lord, how easily we keep You responsible
for every disaster hitting us on this apostate rebel earth
and still You see everything, every moment
that things decay into amok, how touching
we are seeking to a greater worthiness.
Lord, how easily we keep You responsible
and we never think properly,
we at times want to judge You according to our feelings
and still You see everything, every moment
where we act in aberration, at times totally without humanity,
act against other older people.
Lord, how easily we keep You responsible
as if the consequence of our choices and deeds are infectious from You,
to further send us to damnation, bring infection to everyone, even the elderly
and still You see everything, every moment
where we are suffering, are following You or are avoiding, every deed and glance,
where You look into the depths and to You nothing is at face value.
Lord, how easily we keep You responsible
for every disaster hitting us on this apostate rebel earth.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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You And I
you and i
are the reason
things are
the way they are...
no, we didnt invade
Iraq and Afghanistan,
but we voted for
the clowns that ordained
these actions...
or, even worse,
didnt vote at all.
no, we didnt cause
the big oil spill...
yet by our reckless
consuming lifestyles,
driving our big SUV's
going nowhere...
maybe we did!
no, we didnt cause
the disaster in Haiti,
the hurricane in New Orleans,
the Japanese nuclear disaster...
but what have we done
to help fix these problems?
no, we didnt tell the banks
to foreclose on all these houses...
but we stood by doing nothing
while our government bailed
them out... and their CEO's
drew their bonuses....
no, we didnt tell them
to cut social security
and medicare, to cut
educational aid...
but we sit and watch
while the elite do their thing,
and pay no taxes...
you and i,
standing by, doing nothing,
saying nothing, not getting
involved...
you and i
are the reason
things are
the way they are...
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Red Rain
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
I am standing up at the waters edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
It cant be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Well Ive seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
They tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
There is no blood around see no sign of pain
Hay ay ay no pain
Seeing no red at all, see no rain
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Red rain-
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again
Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
With the trust of a child
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
And I cant watch any more
No more denial
Its so hard to lay down in all of this
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
Im bathing in it
Red rain coming down
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is coming down all over me
Im begging you
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Over me in the red red sea
Over me
Over me
Red rain
song performed by by Peter Gabriel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The word survivor suggests someone who has emerged alive from a plane crash or a natural disaster. But the word can also refer to the loved ones of murder victims, and this was the sense in which it was used at a four-day conference in early June at Boston College.
quote by Godfried Danneels
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Maybe… there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends — maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.
quote by Stephen King
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Sad To See
it is sad to see
that in the middle of the rain
you go and you
leave me here
so guilty
when the rain stops
there is no peace
inside my mind
the rain goes on
why are you doing this to me?
soon i shall forget you
as i drown and
finally die
inside the flood that you
have caused me
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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23feb7 The Day After: Fragmented Reports
we have damage
might be worse?
with strong after
shocks my street?
flooded
I have water
from hot water
cylinder but
will ration
eight
pulled
out alive
from
Pyne Gould
Building
three from
CTV building
that is only
a block from work
a few thousand
treated for injuries
PGB totally
collapsed
trapping killing
200 workers?
CTV building
120 missing?
22 missing
in Christchurch
Cathedral
under spire
roof collapse
forty-eight
were pulled out
from collapsed
buildings alive
overnight
some people
pulled out
without a scratch
other people
had limbs
amputated
to get them out
scares snares
nightmares
not so easily
swiftly removed
poem by Terence George Craddock
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I don't think aliens or ghosts like black people. We never get abducted; our houses never get haunted. It always happens in rural areas, where no ethnic people live.
quote by Xzibit
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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