Girl of Fifteen
Girl of fifteen,
I see you each morning from my window
As you pass on your way to school.
I do more than see, I watch you.
I furtively draw the curtain aside.
And my heart leaps through my eyes
And follows you down the street;
Leaving me behind, half-hid
And wholly ashamed.
What holds me back,
Half-hid behind the curtains and wholly ashamed,
But my forty years beyond your fifteen?
Girl of fifteen, as you pass
There passes, too, a lightning flash of time
In which you lift those forty summers off my head,
And take those forty winters out of my heart.
poem by James Weldon Johnson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Golden Bells
When I was almost forty
I had a daughter whose name was Golden Bells.
Now it is just a year since she was born;
She is learning to sit and cannot yet talk.
Ashamed—to find that I have not a sage’s heart:
Henceforward I am tied to things outside myself:
My only reward—the pleasure I am getting now.
If I am spared the grief of her dying young,
Then I shall have the trouble of getting her married.
My plan for retiring and going back to the hills
Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
Golden Bells
When I was almost forty
I had a daughter whose name was Golden Bells.
Now it is just a year since she was born;
She is learning to sit and cannot yet talk.
Ashamed—to find that I have not a sage’s heart:
I cannot resist vulgar thoughts and feelings.
Henceforward I am tied to things outside myself:
My only reward—the pleasure I am getting now.
If I am spared the grief of her dying young,
Then I shall have the trouble of getting her married.
My plan for retiring and going back to the hills
Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
poem by Bai Juyi, translated by Arthur Waley
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Touchdown Tennessee
(Dean Dillon/ Kenny Chesney)
(This limited edition single was released as a Tribute to John
Ward - the Voice of the Vols. A portion of all sales proceeds
were delivered to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital and to
the John Ward Scholarship Fund.)
(Voice over by announcer)
Tennessee, Halloway rolling out this way, needs a block,
Halloway looking, Halloway on the run, Halloway at the ten,
Halloway at the five, Halloway dives!
Give him six! Give him six large ones.
(Switches to a different game, same announcer)
Back is Kelly, the score 22-17, the dive, Touchdown!
Big 'Oleans in the Superdome!
(Start song)
With a voice you could hear all the way to Rocky Top
Play by Play for thirty one years, it never stopped
We heard twenty, fifteen, ten and five
Your voice was our eyes and we could see
Touchdown Tennesee.
(Announcer again)
It is Gault, pulling it down at the six, Gault, ten, fifteen,
Twenty, Gault outside, Gault thirty, Gault thirty-five,
Gault forty, Gault forty-five, fifty, forty-five, forty,
Yes sir, Willie Gault, ladies and gentlemen, is running
All the way to the state capital. Give him six.....Willie Gault!
Quarterback roll right. It was a long throw down field to Willie Gault.
For a second no one knew if it was caught.
We heard twenty, fifteen, ten and five
Your voice was our eyes and we could see
Touchdown Tennesee.
Your voice painted us a picture of all the losses and the wins
And it's so hard to imagine a game without your voice again
Saying twenty, fifteen, ten and five,
Your voice was our eyes and we could see
Touchdown Tennessee.
(Announcer again)
To the thirty-five, down to the thirty, twenty-five, twenty,
Fifteen, ten, He carries the ball all the way for one touchdown!
Phillip running through, around, over and underneath
Defenders for South Carolina, takes the ball all the way
Home for a miraculous touchdown and...
(Song)
So thank you, John. What a run, it's been fun for us all
Oh the way our hearts pounded when you called
Twenty, fifteen, ten and five
Your voice was our eyes and we could see
Touchdown Tennessee.
(Announcer)
Manning sneaks, pitches forward, falls down, as yet,
No whistle, Manning rolling to the right side, motions
To throw down into the end-zone, and it is touchdown!
Tennesse!
(Song)
So thank you, John...
song performed by by Kenny Chesney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Twenty Five To Midnight
Train I ride don't be slow
If your whistle can blow
Fifteen miles down the track
Tell them I'm coming back
Counting poles counting sheep
Don't be slow I won't weep
If your wheels on the line
Were to put me on time
Just a year to the day
Since I went upon my way
To seek my fortune and fame
Be a star change my name
And that's it more or less
Til this midnight express
I know I can't be late
Cause she said she won't wait
She'll just go marry Jack
So there's no turning back
And it's 25 to midnight and fifteen miles of track
Band I had got a break
Just one chance we had to take
Told my girl I'd be back
Left her with my friend Jack
New York City for a spell
Things didn't turn out so well
Every dive that we played
We were lucky we got paid
Mr Train driver please
If your speed you increase
Every cent I have now
Will be yours this I vow
And that's it more or less
Til this midnight express
I know I can't be late
Cause she said she won't wait
She'll just go marry Jack
So there's no turning back
And it's 25 to midnight and fifteen miles of track
We called ourselves the Latino Lovers
Hawaiian shirts and top forty covers
I didn't think I could sink this low
When drugs and booze ate all my dough
This isn't how it was meant to be
There's no such thing as a meal that's free
If I was ever to get out alive
I have to get home on time
Train I ride don't be slow
If your whistle can blow
Fifteen miles down the track
Tell them I'm coming back
And that's it more or less
Til this midnight express
I know I can't be late
Cause she said she won't wait
She'll just go marry Jack
So there's no turning back
And it's 25 to midnight and fifteen miles of track
And it's 25 to midnight and fifteen miles of track
song performed by by Sting
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Stations were built at intervals averaging fifteen miles apart. A rider's route covered three stations, with an exchange of horses at each, so that he was expected at the beginning to cover close to forty-five miles - a good ride when one must average fifteen miles an hour.
quote by Buffalo Bill
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Apparitions
BECAUSE there is safety in derision
I talked about an apparition,
I took no trouble to convince,
Or seem plausible to a man of sense.
Distrustful of thar popular eye
Whether it be bold or sly.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
I have found nothing half so good
As my long-planned half solitude,
Where I can sit up half the night
With some friend that has the wit
Not to allow his looks to tell
When I am unintelligible.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
When a man grows old his joy
Grows more deep day after day,
His empty heart is full at length,
But he has need of all that strength
Because of the increasing Night
That opens her mystery and fright.
Fifteen apparitions have I seen;
The worst a coat upon a coat-hanger.
poem by William Butler Yeats
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Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
The po-lice in New York City
They chased a boy right through the park
And in a case of mistaken identity
The put a bullet through his heart
Heart breakers with your forty four
I wanna tear your world apart
You heart breaker with your forty four
I wanna tear your world a part
A ten year old girl on a street corner
Sticking needles in her arm
She died in the dirt of an alleyway
Her mother said she had no chance
song performed by by Rolling Stones from Goats Head Soup
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Missing Finger
You left us with ten fingers and,
Came back with nine fingers;
What really went wrong?
Fifteen years away from home,
We are yet to know what really went wrong;
Fifteen years away to make some money,
What really went wrong with your missing finger?
You made enough money and thought that,
You were richer than the President;
Today, you've returned home poorer than before!
There is time for everything,
A time to gain and a time to lose;
What really went wrong?
From a flight to your plight,
Who will help you now?
Fifteen years awayto make some money,
But today you can't even eat well at home;
From a flight to your plight,
Today you can't even sleep well at home;
Fifteen years away to make some money,
The very colours of the rainbow with a view;
You left us with ten fingers and,
Came back home with nine fingers;
What really went wrong?
From a flight to your plight,
Fifteen years away to make some money;
From the land of red, gold and green! !
From a flight to a plight,
It's all part of a lesson;
You are now at home at last.
The President was at the stadium but,
Where were you?
It is better to be humble than to boast.
Flight, sight, might, bright, tight, light;
You're poorer than fifteen years ago!
Bite, kite, height, fight, eight, plight;
You're poorer than fifteen years ago!
Quiet, rite, white, night, site, write;
You're poorer than fifteen years ago!
Today, the President is better off than you.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Seconds Of Pleasure
You say you dont desire me,
Shes only a hired hand,
Now you are tired of me.
Expensive care is meaningless,
Feeling nothing and caring less.
Cut off at the pass,
She knows where you were headed,
She wants double-time or a temporary wedding.
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
Though she? with forty-five years
For seconds of pleasure.
I thought I knew you too well,
Now I find the man is a mystery,
And the promises you made
Are really only ancient history.
Everyday goes by without a hitch,
You say the urge becomes an itch.
You say that Im no go for you, thats rich,
Or am I being bitchy?
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
Though she forty-five years
For seconds of pleasure.
And the hands on the clock move so precisley,
You say you only kissed her once or twice.
You didnt do it for love, you didnt even do it with stealth.
I cant help you now,
I cant help myself.
Commited to life and then commuted to the outskirts.
I was living for thirty minutes at a time
With a break in the middle for adverts.
You treat me like a piece of human furniture.
You say when? you sad soul,
If you can look all that you like,
But I wont let you touch and poke.
And the lucky girl leads a life of leisure,
Though she ? forty-five years
For seconds of pleasure.
song performed by by Elvis Costello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Am Told
For forty four years now
Each morning I woke up
I go straight to prepare
A cup of coffee for my wife
It's a ritual that I do
For forty four years
Not that she asks for it
But it's what I love to do
Love is what commands me
To lit a kettle to boil a water
For she likes it when its so hot
A coffee she drinks quite early
Suddenly, now that it's our anniversary
I do the thing I 've been doing ever since
We got married for forty four years back
Yet for the first time I am told just so today
That the coffee I served her now tasted bad
poem by Marvin Brato Sr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Kiwi Dave
For forty five years I've been working and I'm just an unfettered slave
And I have gray hairs to show for it I am quoting Kiwi Dave
Five years to go to retirement I was sixty last birthday
And ever since I've started working it's been uphill all the way.
My ex wife said that I was a drinker that I was too fond of the booze
That was her excuse for leaving she said I was born to lose
But I take it in moderation after work three or four beers
And I've been a slave for her and for my children for close to if not twenty years.
Fifteen years ago she left me and she went to live with younger bloke
She got more than half my assets for years to her haven't spoke
She turned my son and daughter against me and my six grandchildren I don't see
And I will spend my usual Christmas on my own watching T.V.
Kiwi Dave is a good person though just a little soured by life
And things for him would have been better had he had a faithful wife
'A woman she can make or break you' with that who could disagree
Dave could see the truth in those words for who would know better than he? .
For forty five years he's been working the hard worker Kiwi
Dave
And for his ex wife and his children for years he has been a slave
He looks older far than sixty the hard life has made him gray
Five more years left till retirement it's been uphill all the way.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Men
When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men sharp as mustard.
See them. Men are always
Going somewhere.
They knew I was there. Fifteen
Years old and starving for them.
Under my window, they would pauses,
Their shoulders high like the
Breasts of a young girl,
Jacket tails slapping over
Those behinds,
Men.
One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.
Soft into your defenselessness. A little
More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a
Smile that slides around the fear. When the
Air disappears,
Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,
Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.
It is your juice
That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.
When the earth rights itself again,
And taste tries to return to the tongue,
Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.
Then the window draws full upon
Your mind. There, just beyond
The sway of curtains, men walk.
Knowing something.
Going someplace.
But this time, I will simply
Stand and watch.
Maybe.
poem by Maya Angelou
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Poem for Molly's Fortieth Birthday
'Why do you
have stripes
in your forehead,
Mama?
Are you
old?'
Not old.
But not so
young
that I cannot
see
the world contracting
upon itself
& the circle
closing
at the end.
As the furrows
in my brow
deepen,
I can see
myself
sinking back
into that childhood
street
I walked along
with my grandfather,
thinking he was old
at sixty-three
since I was four,
as you are four
to my forty.
Forty years
to take
the road out . . .
Will another forty
take me
back?
Back to the street
I grew up on,
back to
my mother's breast.
back to the second
world war
of a second
child,
back
to the cradle
endlessly
rocking?
I am young
as you are
Molly-
yet with stripes
in my brow;
I earn my youth
as you must earn
your age.
These stripes
are decorations
for my valor-
forty years
of marching
to a war
I could not declare,
nor locate,
yet have somehow
won.
Now,
I begin
to unwin,
unravelling
the sleeves
of care
that have
stitched up
this brow,
unravelling
the threads
that have kept
me scared,
as I pranced
over the world,
seemingly fearless,
working
without a net,
knowing
if I fell
it would
only be
into that same
childhood street,
where I dreaded
to tread
on the lines-
not knowing
the lines
would someday
tread
on me.
Molly,
when you are forty,
read this poem
& tell me:
have we won
or lost
the war?
poem by Erica Jong
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Warmth Again
Icy heart
Warm heart.
The icy-hearted person feels nothing,
The warm-hearted person feels too much.
And most of the time, that person doesn't want to feel anymore.
I've an ice-cold heart, but I'm warm-hearted.
Why do I feel so cold?
I'm fifteen years old, but I feel like an old lady.
Why do I feel so old?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Why can't I feel warm again?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Why can't someone warm me up again?
Fifteen.
Back problems, foot problems, heart problems and more!
Asthma problems, leg problems, chest pain galore!
Help me out of this wreck of a body, kind sir...
Help me out of this wreck of a body, kind
Sir!
I'm fifteen years old, but I feel like an old lady.
Why do I feel so old?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Why can't I feel young again?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Can you make me feel myself again?
Dear Great One, please help me
Down here on Earth, sitting here I wait
to feel like myself again.
I've an ice-cold heart, but I'm warm-hearted.
Why do I feel so cold?
I'm fifteen years old, but I feel like an old lady.
Why do I feel so old?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Why can't I feel warm again?
Why can't I feel young again?
Cold heart,
Old heart,
Why can't someone warm me up again?
Can you make me myself again?
Maybe someday...I'll feel myself again.
poem by Raven Lightner
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Heaven And Hell
Fame costs - and right here's where you start paying
Have a drink - alcoholic
Grab a coat - shopaholic
Grab a bite - anorexic
Intellectual? i'm dyslexic
Feeling happy - could be gay
Maybe but not today
Right or wrong - either way
Whatever
So you think you want to be famous
So you think you want to drive my car
Don't you know you've gotta be shameless
Baby if you want to be a star
Ah ah
Ah ah
But i'm just a girl i wanna live for ever
I gonna to learn how to fly
Newsflash
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being geri halliwell
Get a job get a car
Get a life get a face
Get get a god get a man
Get some love and lose some weight
Extra extra read all about it
So you know you wanna be famous
You keep on knocking but you can't get in
And once you get it how you gonna keep it
Don't you know its not enough to win
Newsflash
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being geri halliwell
Fifteen minutes show em you can do it
Fifteen minutes are you gonna screw it
Seen it done it is there nothing to it
It's heaven - it's hell - being geri halliwell
I just want to be loved by you
I'm just a girl i wanna live for ever
I gonna to learn how to fly
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being geri halliwell
The only difference between you and me is
You get deadlines and i get headlines
You're so hip it hurts
You like me - you really really like me
song performed by by Geri Halliwell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Reel Around The Fountain
It's time the tale was told
of how you took a child
and you made him old
Reel around the fountain
slap me on the patio
I'll take it now
Fifteen minutes with you
well, I wouldn't say no
people said that you were virtually dead
and they were so wrong
fifteen minutes with you
well, i wouldn't say no
people said that you were easily led
and they were half-right
I dreamt about you last night
and i fell out of bed twice
you can pin and mount me like a butterfly
but take me to the haven of your bed
was something that you never said
two lumps, please
you're the bee's knees
but so am I
Meet me at the fountain
shove me on the patio
I'll take it slowly
Fifteen minutes with you
oh I wouldn't say no
people see no worth in you
oh but I do
song performed by by Smiths
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Heaven And Hell (Being Geri Haliwell)
Thanks to [email protected] for these lyrics.
Fame costs - and right here's where you start paying
Have a drink - alcoholic
Grab a coat - shopaholic
Grab a bite - anorexic
Intellectual? I'm dyslexic
Feeling happy - could be gay
Maybe but not today
Right or wrong - either way
Whatever
So you think you want to be famous
So you think you want to drive my car
Don't you know you've gotta be shameless
Baby if you want to be a star
Ah ah
Ah ah
But I'm just a girl I wanna live for ever
I gonna to learn how to fly
NEWSFLASH
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being Geri Halliwell
Get a job get a car
Get a life get a face
Get get a god get a man
Get some love and lose some weight
Extra extra read all about it
So you know you wanna be famous
You keep on knocking but you can't get in
And once you get it how you gonna keep it
Don't you know its not enough to win
NEWSFLASH
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being Geri Halliwell
Fifteen minutes show em you can do it
Fifteen minutes are you gonna screw it
Seen it done it is there nothing to it
It's heaven - it's hell - being Geri Halliwell
I just want to be loved by you
I'm just a girl I wanna live for ever
I gonna to learn how to fly
Fifteen minutes to show me what you're made of
Fifteen minutes what are you afraid of
I've seen it done it you wanna know the trade-off
It's heaven - it's hell - being Geri Halliwell
The only difference between you and me is
You get deadlines and I get headlines
You're so hip it hurts
You like me - you really really like me
song performed by by Geri Halliwell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On the March
So the time seems come at last,
And the drums go rolling past,
And above them in the sunlight Labour's banners float and flow;
They are marching with the sun,
But I look in vain for one
Of the men who fought for freedom more than fifteen years ago.
They were men who did the work
Out at Blackall, Hay, and Bourke –
They were men who fought the battle that the world shall never know;
And they vanished one by one
When their bitter task was done –
Men who worked and wrote for freedom more than fifteen years ago.
Some are scattered, some are dead,
By the shanty and the shed,
In the lignum and the mulga, by the river running low;
And I often wish in vain
I could call them back again –
Mates of mine who fought for freedom more than fifteen years ago.
From the country of their birth
Some have sailed and proved their worth;
Some have died on distant deserts, some have perished in the snow.
Some are gloomy, bitter men,
And I meet them now and then –
Men who'd give their lives for Labour more than fifteen years ago.
Oh, the drums come back to me,
And they beat for victory,
But my heart is scarcely quickened, and I never feel the glow;
For I've learnt the world since then,
And the hopelessness of men,
And the fire it burnt too fiercely more than fifteen years ago.
Lucky you who still are young,
When the rebel war-hymn's sung,
And the sons of slaves are marching with their faces all aglow,
When the revolution comes
And the blood is on the drums –
Oh! I wish the storm had found me more than fifteen years ago!
Bear the olden banner still!
Let the nations fight who will!
'Tis the flag of generations – the flag that all the peoples know;
And they'll bear it, brave and red,
Over ancient rebel dead,
In the future to the finish as a thousand years ago!
poem by Henry Lawson
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Meeting Salaried People
Hundred men and thousand women have applied,
But four I take on as weak and five I take on as fit.
Forty I find I like and fifty I want so tight, to be.
Yet the fifteen I try to see if I like, the rule does not say I like!
Only one or two can have found too soon the beautiful dream
come true.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Marie (unattainable love)
When I wake up in the morning my first thought is of Marie,
She’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
Her smile is so inviting, her eyes of full of glee,
She’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
Because she is so beautiful, I love her tenderly,
She’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
Though she is so far from me, so far across the sea,
She’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
At times I raise my head in prayer, Oh Lord please hear my plea,
She’s the girl I want to be with, she’s the girl I want for me.
My heart’s in Indiana, where the rest of me should be,
With the girl I think of all the time, with the girl I want for me.
And though I’ve never met her, to my heart she has the key,
She’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
And in my dreams she whispers that she’ll never set me free,
But she’s the girl I think of all the time, she’s the girl I want for me.
It really breaks my heart in two that my dream may never be,
With the girl I think of all the time, with the girl I want for me.
And when I close my eyes at night, my last thought is of Marie,
Of the girl I think of all the time, of the girl I want for me
poem by Stuart Rae
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