The Broken Tower
The bell-rope that gathers God at dawn
Dispatches me as though I dropped down the knell
Of a spent day - to wander the cathedral lawn
From pit to crucifix, feet chill on steps from hell.
Have you not heard, have you not seen that corps
Of shadows in the tower, whose shoulders sway
Antiphonal carillons launched before
The stars are caught and hived in the sun's ray?
The bells, I say, the bells break down their tower;
And swing I know not where. Their tongues engrave
Membrane through marrow, my long-scattered score
Of broken intervals… And I, their sexton slave!
Oval encyclicals in canyons heaping
The impasse high with choir. Banked voices slain!
Pagodas campaniles with reveilles out leaping-
O terraced echoes prostrate on the plain!…
And so it was I entered the broken world
To trace the visionary company of love, its voice
An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled)
But not for long to hold each desperate choice.
My world I poured. But was it cognate, scored
Of that tribunal monarch of the air
Whose thighs embronzes earth, strikes crystal Word
In wounds pledges once to hope - cleft to despair?
The steep encroachments of my blood left me
No answer (could blood hold such a lofty tower
As flings the question true?) -or is it she
Whose sweet mortality stirs latent power?-
And through whose pulse I hear, counting the strokes
My veins recall and add, revived and sure
The angelus of wars my chest evokes:
What I hold healed, original now, and pure…
And builds, within, a tower that is not stone
(Not stone can jacket heaven) - but slip
Of pebbles, - visible wings of silence sown
In azure circles, widening as they dip
The matrix of the heart, lift down the eyes
That shrines the quiet lake and swells a tower…
The commodious, tall decorum of that sky
Unseals her earth, and lifts love in its shower.
poem by Harold Hart Crane
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Thunder In The Tower
Well, the lightning flashed at midnight
And the dogs did howl along
You dont believe it - unless youve seen it
It was the night the thunder broke
There is no more creation
No room for good - no hope
You better cry for salvation - as
The reaper dangled by the rope
A scream for help - the morning after
Theyd equalised the score
And in their minds - theres only laughter
A smile - without a cause
And there was thunder in the tower
As the cat crept out
There was thunder in the tower
Theres no escape - no doubt
Its been the night the birds were silent
And the town was deadly still
A curling lip - an icy grip
n bony fingers that can kill
Assembling in the tower
The payment bloody high
They tried to cheat their final hour
Hes gonna get them eye to eye
Bridge
And there was thunder in the tower
Screaming silence in the air
There was thunder in the tower
Awesome power evrywhere
And there was thunder in the tower
They didnt care its right or wrong
There was thunder in the tower
And the reaper came along
Chorus
song performed by by U. D. O.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Story Of OVO
(Only available on some editions)
A long time ago, in a far away land
Theo was the man who learned to understand
The riches of the earth
And all that it was worth
The first man that ever tried to stand with his own plan
Now this man was all about the wind rain and trees
He knew that it would take care of all of his families
Now Ion was the son who spent his nights and days
Looking for all kinds of ways to get his father's praise
In all daddy's ways he just wanted to impress
Make it faster, stronger is what he tried to stress
Sofia was the girl
Living in her own world
She found love and joy with a young sky boy
Sky boys were seen as less to the rest
So it would seem
Sofia went into the woods to daydream
With love in her eyes
Her own father would despise
Her love for the young sky boy he would destroy
Feet in the earth
Heads in the sky
We watch the world go by
Feet in the earth
Heads in the sky
We watch as life goes by
When Theo was gone, his son Ion took the power
And in his daddy's name, he built the biggest strongest tower
The earth people and sky people divided by machines
And the ones who had nothing were the ones who had the wings
The sky boy just wanted everything to be equal
From full-time lover to now fighting for his people
Now Beth was the mom
Who really loved to weave
She couldn't believe her own son would decieve
The sky people got hungry and their welfare was ignored
She let them in the tower and the bloody battle roared
Down came iron and the tower fell as well
The dark days were over and the sky people's hell
Feet in the earth
Heads in the sky
We watch the world go by
Feet in the
song performed by by Peter Gabriel
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Tower Name
The Lord’s name
Power name
A tower name
A strong name
And power-tower name
A strong tower, the name
A safe place, the name
Good in every situation, the name
Has unmatched power, the name
And a place of fortification, the name
When spiritually attacked, to the name run
When the past foibles clouds the mind, to the name run
When disappointed, to the name run
When failure cripples in, to the name run
And when tempted, to the name run
In the name, security
In the name, safety
In the name, peace
In the name, strong power
And in the name, a strong tower
A strong tower, strong refuge
A strong tower, stout defense
A strong tower, powerful protection
A strong tower, shield from the past
And a strong tower, enemy at bay to put
Whatever enemy offensive, call the name
Like Joseph, make a dash to the name
So portable, so wherever, the tower name
A refuge from doubt, selfishness, malice
And a shelter from slenderness, loneliness, envy and the like
So as the devil launches attack
A run to the tower name make
Call upon the power name
Stay in the power-tower
And watch him, sulking away
The Bible assures us: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Prov.18: 10, KJV) .
poem by Obed Akuma
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Ave Maria In Rome
FAR away dim violet mountains
Fade away from sight;
Flashing from fantastic fountains,
Jets the liquid light,
Where from Nymph's or Triton's lip
Bubbling waters drip and drip,
Bubbling day and night.
Pealed from tower to answering tower,
O'er the city swells,
Ringing in the hallowed hour,
Rhythm of bells on bells;
And on wings of Choral Song,
Confluent hearts to Mary throng,
From low, cloistered cells.
On the golden ground of even,
Like a half-way home,
On the pilgrim to heaven
Floats St. Peter's Dome;
High, high, in the air alone,
Man's dread Thought transformed to stone,
Pinnacled o'er Rome.
poem by Mathilde Blind
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tower Of London
Let me take you to trafalgar square
Let me take you there
Every streets a fashion catwalk
Everyones debonair
Let me take you to piccadilly
Guess it leads somewhere
Tower over centuries, tower over london
Tower up and frankly Im amazed
Whats done cannot be undone, not here not in london
Whats done can never be erased
So, tower up! - its those little things
Make life interesting- tower of london!
Tower up! - wasting time
Yours and mine - tower of london!
Hip london! hip london!
Let me take you to st.jamess square
Let me groove you there
Diplomats get target practice
In the open air
Psychobillies scream blue murder
Then they hit mayfair
Tower over centuries, tower over london
Tower up and frankly Im amazed
Whats done cannot be undone, not here not in london
Whats done can never be erased
So, tower up! - its those little things
Make life interesting- tower of london!
Tower up! - wasting time
Precious time - tower of london!
Tower up! Ill meet you there
Ill be there - tower of london
New york! - dont make me laugh
Ive seen photographs - tower of london...
song performed by by Abc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ben Boyd's Tower
Ben Boyd's Tower is watching—
Watching o’er the sea;
Ben Boyd’s Tower is waiting
For her and me.
We do not know the day,
We do not know the hour,
But we know that we shall meet
By Ben Boyd’s Tower.
Moonlight peoples Boyd Tower,
Mystic are its walls;
Lightly dance the lovers
In its haunted halls.
Ben Boyd’s Tower is watching—
Watching o’er the foam;
Ben Boyd’s Tower is waiting
Till the “Wanderer” comes home.
O! he lay above us—
High above the surf—
Finger-nails and toe-caps
Digging in the turf.
We do not know the day,
We do not know the hour,
But Two and Two shall meet again
By Ben Boyd’s Tower.
There’s an ancient dame in Eden—
Basket on her arm—
And she goes down the Main Street
From the old, old farm.
Hood drawn on her forehead—
Withered dame and grey—
She never looks on Boyd Tower
Out across the Bay.
Bright eyes in the ballroom,
Coquetting with two,
Just for love of mischief,
As a girl will do.
A quarrel in the bar-room—
All within the hour—
And four men rode from Boyd Town
To Ben Boyd’s Tower.
poem by Henry Lawson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fortess of Grace
You are my refuge,
my strong and safe high tower,
The source of all my strength.
Everlasting strength,
Unending power,
Unassailable peace,
Mighty, perfect love.
Your passion overwhelms me,
Your love washes over
my spirit like a wave.
I hear you in the quiet,
I hear you in the storm,
The clarion call in battle,
The whisper that brings the calm.
Tower of Peace,
Tower of Love,
Fortress of Grace.
© 2008
poem by Jeffrey Stultz
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Bells of Hope
Noble bells ring at dusk
Narrow alley ways, cobble stone
Hope is a flower in a window
We graze the fields of searchers
Your face is in the sea
We leave the chaos with a smile
The sandy beach is mellow with trust
Let the waves wash your pretense away
Pure golden prayer from a friend
The wind has settled into a breeze
Dreams become a soft voice
I listen to the bells drift across the island
Voices of angels whisper in the tide
The first stars come out with love
Capture moments of justification
The bell tower is lit in the distance
Silent trees live in peace
Grace shines on mankind
Bells of dusk ring with hope
poem by Joseph Narusiewicz
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Here I Come-3
Hold me forever
With your Almighty Hands
Tell me again
I'm forgiven
Feed me
The Body and the Blood
For here I come
Through the narrow gate
Leaving the sanctuary cleanse.
Cover me
With blessings
As I cover my flock
Hold me up
Hold me up
Strong Tower
Love Everlasting.
As I travel
Life's highway
Give me a heart
For the least of these
Give me a heart
For the despised
Above all
Give me your heart.
Possessed me
With the Holy Spirit
And let me bear
The fruits thereof.
Cover me
With blessings
As I cover my flock
Hold me up
Hold me up
Strong Tower
Love Everlasting.
Hold me up!
poem by Buxton Shippy
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Once Upon A Poem
In the Mad-Poetic world,
Of a lonely Ivory Tower,
Was a Poet never heard,
For it never was his hour.
He had gone and warned the World,
Of impending, danger, power,
But the people kept on dancing,
Just like fools, around his tower.
Poets, Idealists and Lovers,
This old World has never changed,
Poets, stay in Ivory Tower
And pretend you are deranged.
poem by Sandra Feldman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stargazer
High noon
Oh Id sell my soul for water
Nine years worth
Of breakin my back
Theres no sun in the shadow of the wizard
See how he glides
Why hes lighter than air
Oh I see his face
Where is your star
Is it far, is it far, is it far
When do we leave
I believe, yes, I believe
* in the heat and the rain
With whips and chains
Just to see him fly
So many die
We built a tower of stone
With out flesh and bone
Just to see him fly
Dont know why
Now where do we go
Hot wind moving fast across the desert
We feel that our time has arrived
The world spins while we put his wing together
A tower of stone to take him straight to the sky
Oh I see his face
Where is your star
It is far, is it far, is it far
When do we leave, yeah
I believe, I believe
*
All eyes see the figure of the wizard
As he climbs to the top of the world
No sound as he falls instead of rising
Time standing still
Then theres blood on the sand
Oh I see his face
Where was your star
Was it far, was it far
When did we leave
We believe, we believe, we believe
In the heat and rain
With whips and chains
To see him fly
So many die
We built a tower of stone
With out flesh and bone
To see him fly
But why, it dont rain
With all our chains,
Did so many die
Just to see him fly
Look at my flesh and bone
Now look, look, look, look
Look at this tower of stone
I see a rainbow rising
Look there on the horizon
And Im coming home
Coming home, Im coming home
Time is standing still
He gave me back my will
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Going home
Im going home
My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is weeping
We still hope, we still hope, oh
Take me back
He gave me back my will
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Going home
Im going home
My eyes are bleeding
And my heart is weeping
We still hope, we still hope, oh
Take me back, take me back
Back to my home, oh, oh...
song performed by by Rainbow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tower Of Song
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song
I said to hank williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank williams hasnt answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the tower of song
I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the tower of song
So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
Im very sorry, baby, doesnt look like me at all
Im standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they dont let a woman kill you
Not in the tower of song
Now you can say that Ive grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And theres a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song
I see you standing on the other side
I dont know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
Well never have to lose it again
Now I bid you farewell, I dont know when Ill be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But youll be hearing from me baby, long after Im gone
Ill be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the tower of song
Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And Im crazy for love but Im not coming on
Im just paying my rent every day
Oh in the tower of song
song performed by by Leonard Cohen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Burj Khalifa
A tower reaching for the sky
The tallest in the world they say.
The tiny country of Dubai
is very proud they can display
A master piece in steel and glass
A building that must be world class
A tower meant to demonstrate
the power of this little State.
Luxury writ unashamed
Which some think can be blamed
for wrecking the economy.
Which could be true quite possibly.
Dubai is asking time to pay
the debts incurred along the way
It could be that they aimed to high
and now they’re forced to question why.
The Tower of Babel was destroyed.
They say because God was annoyed
at the arrogance of men.
Dubai has dared to try again.
Wednesday,06 January 2010
http: // blog.myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Stratagem
In Those Passage Ways He Passed His Days
But Believed His Passive Ways Must End
Knowing His Time Like All Others Will Run Out
He Takes The Role Of The Desperate Man"
Breathing Silence Conscious Stripped And Bare
I Know That What's Inside Them I Also Share
For Within Every Coward Lies A Slave
My Prison Is The Darkness Theirs The Need To Be Led
For Within Every Hour Lies A Day
This Land I Know These People Are My Own
All That Remains Hidden Will Soon Be Shown
For Beneath Every Tower Lies Its Grave
A One Man Army Fights An Imaginary War
Far Within Myself Only I Know What For
Come Now
See How
Drop Drop Down And Liquidfy
I'll Give The World To You
Drop Drop Down And Sanctify
I Promise All The Truth
I'll Give You More Than Eyes
I'll Give You More
I'll Give You More Than Your Two Eyes
The Truth The Truth The Truth
On Their Knees Blessing Light
Come With Me Rule The Night
Take The Chance Ride The Beast
Join The Famine Or The Feast
But They Won't Hear They Just Stare
They Don't Care They Wouldn't Dare
To Live Live Live Beyond Their Walls
Each Tower In My Sight
Broken
Each Tower In My Way
Broken
I'll Turn These Words To Swords
Spoken Tonight
song performed by by ZeroHour
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ball And Chain
(Colin Moulding)
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
Don't want demolition,
Don't want your compensation,
It's not just bricks and mortar,
We are lambs to slaughter.
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
Must we live in fear,
From those who shed no tears?
Our one and only shelter,
Your games, your helter skelter.
Motorways and office blocks,
They're standing on the spot
Where stood a home,
Crushing on the memories of people,
Who have since turned to stone.
(Ahh)
They've turned to stone,
(Ahh)
They've turned to stone.
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Sunken City
I walked beside a quiet sea,
At starlight, while the west was gray
And clear, though faint and far away;
Through the stilled water, forth me,
Voices of bells came dreamily;
No breeze more manifest than they.
Some say a thousand years ago
There throve a city on an isle
Beyond the headland, mile on mile,
Which, in a night of fear and woe,
Sank in the glassy depth below—
Sank tower and dwelling, beam and tile.
And now, when twinkling skies are clear,
Withing the sunken city there,
The sad ghosts ring their past despair
Out on the mermen’s atmosphere—
Ring loudly all, that life may hear
Dead sadness stir the ample air.
To me this city is not strange;
I feel familiar with each gate,
Each tower and street unfortunate,
And, wheresoe’er I dwell or range,
Its mem’ry-picture does not change,
Limned by its stern destroyer, Fate.
Its labarums, on roof and mast,
Swam in the light with silken arms,
No wrathful wars, nor dread alarms,
The streeted splendor overcast;
But, on a throne of gems amassed,
Sat Pleasure with Circean charma.
Yet came the hour of loss and fear.
The city sank, tower, wall, and mart,
Its brittle site was rent apart,
And all went down that once was dear;
But oft, in loneliness, I hear
Its sunken bells ring in my heart.
I beat no note of vain regret.
My hope-wrought city of To-be.
Youth seen, upon the future’s sea,
Has vanished, and its sun is set;
But broader and diviner yet,
The city of Reality.
For, though its ways be paved with stone,
And hard and rough to toiling feet,
And though, in the accustomed street,
No blazoned garniture is known,
By Fate, God’s hand, His will is shown,
And love makes humble service sweet.
poem by Henry Abbey
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Victim 0001, a poem of 9/11
Father Mychal Judge bent down
to the woman on the floor.
His right hand made the cross in sign
like oft he had before.
Above him the North Tower Burned
like South Tower just next door.
The chaplain of the firemen,
Mychal was a Catholic priest.
Born and bred in Brooklyn,
He was no stranger to these streets.
When he heard word about the planes,
his safety he ignored..
He had to go be with his boys
His trust was in the Lord.
The people in the towers had
the choice to burn or fly.
So many that day took the plunge
preferring not to fry.
The raging fires melted steel.
South Tower started to collapse
The Bravest in her stairwells
never heard recall perhaps.
“Sweet Jesus, Make this end now! ”
Some heard Father Mychal cry.
Debris from the South Tower
Like a scythe came flying by.
It was blunt force trauma to the head
laid Father Mychal low.
His friends removed his body
before North tower, too, would go.
Thousands passed that terrible day;
the mighty and the small.
When responders came with body bags
Mychal was first of all.
Zero Zero Zero One
A strange number for a Priest,
who rushed where Angels feared to tread,
not fearful in the least
poem by John F. McCullagh
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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There are fully forty towers, which are lofty and well built, the largest of which has fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower of the principal tower of the church at Seville.
quote by Hernando Cortes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ball & Chain
(colin moulding)
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
Dont want demolition,
Dont want your compensation,
Its not just bricks and mortar,
We are lambs to slaughter.
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
Must we live in fear,
From those who shed no tears?
Our one and only shelter,
Your games, your helter skelter.
Motorways and office blocks,
Theyre standing on the spot
Where stood a home,
Crushing on the memories of people,
Who have since turned to stone.
(ahh)
Theyve turned to stone,
(ahh)
Theyve turned to stone.
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Do You Not Father Me
Do you not father me, nor the erected arm
For my tall tower's sake cast in her stone?
Do you not mother me, nor, as I am,
The lovers' house, lie suffering my stain?
Do you not sister me, nor the erected crime
For my tall turrets carry as your sin?
Do you not brother me, nor, as you climb,
Adore my windows for their summer scene?
Am I not father, too, and the ascending boy,
The boy of woman and the wanton starer
Marking the flesh and summer in the bay?
Am I not sister, too, who is my saviour?
Am I not all of you by the directed sea
Where bird and shell are babbling in my tower?
Am I not you who front the tidy shore,
Nor roof of sand, nor yet the towering tiler?
You are all these, said she who gave me the long suck,
All these, he said who sacked the children's town,
Up rose the Abraham-man, mad for my sake,
They said, who hacked and humoured, they were mine.
I am, the tower told, felled by a timeless stroke,
Who razed my wooden folly stands aghast,
For man-begetters in the dry-as-paste,
The ringed-sea ghost, rise grimly from the wrack.
Do you not father me on the destroying sand?
You are your sisters' sire, said seaweedy,
The salt sucked dam and darlings of the land
Who play the proper gentleman and lady.
Shall I still be love's house on the widdershin earth,
Woe to the windy masons at my shelter?
Love's house, they answer, and the tower death
Lie all unknowing of the grave sin-eater.
poem by Dylan Thomas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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