En.Citatepedia^®.ro

Back From A Two-years' Sentence

Back from a two-years' sentence!
And though it had been ten,
You think, I were scarred no deeper
In the eyes of my fellow-men.
'My fellow-men--?' Sounds like a satire,
You think-- and I so allow,
Here in my home since childhood,
Yet more than a stranger now!

Pardon--! Not wholly a stranger--,
For I have a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled--!
Smiled, as I leapt from the platform
Of the midnight train, and then--
All that I knew was that smile of hers,
And our babe in my arms again!

Back from a two-years' sentence--
But I've thought the whole thing through--,
A hint of it came when the bars swung back
And I looked straight up in the blue
Of the blessed skies with my hat off!
O-ho! I've a wife and child:
That woman has wept for two long years,
And yet last night she smiled!

poem by James Whitcomb Riley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The man called My Father

My sister pointed a man on the road calling him our father
She had a faint smile hoping he would turn and smile back
I saw him walking away in a busy market wearing a suit
Perhaps a man on business while we stood like a failed investments

I asked my mother about the man called My father
She weakly smiled and kissed my chubby childhood cheeks
Years went by and that man often crossed my way, often smiled too
And i smiled back to the stranger who everyone called my father

We met once a while at his place greeting his new family
A mandatory yearly visits like paying homage to gods for life living
The man called my father looking at me with his guilty eyes
And i smiling at the stranger to the man who called himself my father

poem by Dechen Doma Sherpa
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I Thought I Was A Child

Its such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery
As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought I knew where I was going until I heard your laughter flowing
And came upon the wisdom in your eyes
Surprise--
Ive spent my whole life running round
Chasing songs from town to town
Thinking Id be free so long as I never let love slow me down
So lonely and so wild until you turned and smiled
By now I should have long been gone
But here I am still looking on
As if I didnt know which way to run
Its such a clever innocence with which you show myself to me
As if you know how it feels to never be who you wanted to be
I thought I was a child until you turned and smiled
I thought that I was free but Im just one more prisoner of time
Alone within the boundaries of my mind
I thought I was a child

song performed by by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Constancy

Dull were the days and sober,
The mountains were brown and bare,
For the season was sad October
And a dirge was in the air.

The mated starlings flew over
To the isles of the southern sea.
She wept for her warrior lover
Wept and exclaimed: 'Ah, me!

'Long years have I mourned my darling
In his battle-bed at rest;
And it's O, to be a starling,
With a mate to share my nest!'

The angels pitied her sorrow,
Restoring her warrior's life;
And he came to her arms on the morrow
To claim her and take her to wife.

An aged lover-a portly,
Bald lover, a trifle too stiff,
With manners that would have been courtly,
And would have been graceful, if

If the angels had only restored him
Without the additional years
That had passed since the enemy bored him
To death with their long, sharp spears.

As it was, he bored her, and she rambled
Away with her father's young groom,
And the old lover smiled as he ambled
Contentedly back to the tomb.

poem by Ambrose Bierce
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The Best Smile

It was a portrait
Of six feet height
Full size Lady Grace,
Minus lips on her face.

With all his skill
The artist failed still,
To give her a smile,
Free from any style.

He scanned every mile,
For that unseen smile,
One lovely to admire,
Forever, the world over.

Smiles, smiles every where,
But not a smile there,
New, true and plain,
His lady should own.

His wife smiled.
His girl smiled.
His servant smiled.
His boss smiled.

The milkmaid smiled.
The cartman smiled.
The beggar smiled.
The neighbour smiled.

The dandy smiled.
The waiter smiled.
The grocer smiled.
The councilor smiled.

He saw an ambitious smile,
Not an aesthetic smile,
And a cunning smile,
Not a winning smile.

He saw a dubious smile,
Not a divine smile,
And a greedy smile,
Not a graceful smile.

He saw a mischievous smile,
Not a magnanimous smile,
And a voluptuous smile,
Not a virtuous smile.

Smiles, with strings, he found,
Wherever he went round,
But not the best one,
The Lady Grace won.

The smile, the best,
He found at last,
From his own child,
Rocking in the cradle.

Now the Lady Grace smiled.
Thanks to the child.
The portrait was acclaimed,
The best of its kind.

(Longest word in English is 'Smiles'
Because there is a mile between 'S' and 'S')

poem by Rajaram Ramachandran
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The Photograph

She sat on the platform bench
waiting for a train to arrive.
Waiting to see her brother
who left to start a new life
twenty-five years ago.
She brought a photograph of herself
for him to have when he went back home.

Stillness engulfed the station
as she waited alone there.
The hiss of an old steam train
filled the quiet air
as along the track it came
like a dinosaur from the past
and stopped at the station.

A group of young soldiers
disembarked to stretch their legs
and grab some fresh air.
One young soldier approached her.
He was sixteen if he was a day.
He smiled as he sat beside her.
“You’re a pretty lady.” He said.

“Thank you.” She replied. “Off to fight some battles? ”
“Yes, but I am not really sure where.
They say a lot of us might not be coming back”
“That is sad.” She replied.
“Especially when you have no one
to think of you.”

“You see I am an orphan
and have no family or a girlfriend come to that.
No one to think of me
when the great battles come.”
“Now that is sad, ” She said looking at him.
Then she realized the photograph
for her brother was in her handbag.

She reached in and removed it.
“Take this and think of me
when your great battles come.”
“I will keep it with me always.
Now I must get back on the train.”
As the train whistle blew.
He waved goodbye as the steam engulfed him.

Then the train was gone
as quickly as it had come.
The stillness that had engulfed the station
now dissipated to.
Suddenly there was noise everywhere.
She looked around
as if waking from a dream.
She looked back down the tracks.

The mournful hoot of the electric horn
herald the arriving electric train.
She watched it intensely
as it slowed to stop at the station.
Two passengers alighted,
a man and a woman.
Her brother and his wife.

She greeted them with a smile,
but her brother’s wife looked at her in shock
as if she had seen a ghost.
They hugged one another,
and then left the station
to go to her home.
Arriving at her home
her sister-in-law looked at her again.

“Sorry if I look mystified when I look at you.
I have something I must tell you.
My grandfather before he died
asked me to find any relatives
to a lady in a photograph.
It was given to him
when he was leaving to go to war
over seventy years ago.

He carried it with him everywhere he went.
He said the photograph protected him
like a good luck charm.
He swore one day to return it,
but events made that impossible.
He immigrated when the war was over
and never got the chance.

He wanted to let her family know
of the kind deed she did”
“But that does not explain
the way you looked at me.”
She removed the photograph
and handed it to her.
It was the photograph
she had given the young soldier
only hours before.

9 April 2009

poem by David Harris
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Five Long Years

(by eddie boyd)
Have you ever been mistreated? you know just what Im talking about.
Have you ever been mistreated? you know just what Im talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve to put me out.
I got a job in a steel mill, shucking steel like a slave.
Five long years, every friday I come straight back home with all my pay.
Have you ever been mistreated? you know just what Im talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve to put me out.
I finally learned my lesson, should a long time ago.
The next woman that I marry, she gonna work and bring me the dough.
Have you ever been mistreated? you know just what Im talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve,
She had the nerve,
She had the nerve,
She had the nerve to put me out.

song performed by by Eric Clapton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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On The Jail Steps

I've won the race.
Young man, I'm new!
Old Sallow-face
Good luck to you!

I've turned about,
And paid for sin.
And you come out,
As I go in.

Ten years! but mark,
I am free, free!
Ten years of dark
Shall gather me.

My wife long-while
She wept her pain.
She cannot smile;
She weeps again.

My little one
Shall know my call.
Child is there none
For sin grows tall.

Now who are you,
Spar of hell's flood?
And who, and who,
But your own blood?

poem by Eleanor Agnes Lee
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1000 Years

If only we talked it out a little more
You might never have gone away
If only I tried
Instead of making for the door
Youd be loving me still today
And if Id only been a little wiser
You knew I knew the lies you told
But you thought I didnt care
And if Id only shown my love
In so many different ways
If only youd stayed
And in 1000 years
Ill still be thinking of you
Though in 1000 years
My love will have gone
But in a 1000 years
Well probably be together
But right now youre gone
If only I had you back again right now
Wouldnt ask for a thing, I know
Except to say Im sorry, and how
And the wisdom to let it show
And if Id only looked a little deeper
Each time I saw you weeping
And how I wished I held you close
Cause if I only shown my love
In so many different ways
Baby youd want to stay
And in 1000 years
Ill still be thinking of you
Though in 1000 years
My love will have gone
But in a 1000 years
Well probably be together
But right now youre gone
And in 1000 years
(Ill still be thinking of you)
1000 years
(my love will be long gone)
1000 years
(well probably be together forever)
1000 years
(Ill still be thinking of you)
1000 years
(whaaa whooo)

song performed by by Rick Springfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What The Chimney Sang

Over the chimney the night-wind sang
And chanted a melody no one knew;
And the Woman stopped, as her babe she tossed,
And thought of the one she had long since lost,
And said, as her teardrops back she forced,
'I hate the wind in the chimney.'

Over the chimney the night-wind sang
And chanted a melody no one knew;
And the Children said, as they closer drew,
'`Tis some witch that is cleaving the black night through,
`Tis a fairy trumpet that just then blew,
And we fear the wind in the chimney.'

Over the chimney the night-wind sang
And chanted a melody no one knew;
And the Man, as he sat on his hearth below,
Said to himself, 'It will surely snow,
And fuel is dear and wages low,
And I`ll stop the leak in the chimney.'

Over the chimney the night-wind sang
And chanted a melody no one knew;
But the Poet listened and smiled, for he
Was Man and Woman and Child, all three,
And said, 'It is God`s own harmony,
This wind we hear in the chimney.'

poem by Francis Bret Harte
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The Innocence of Infancy

With gentle words and gracious look,
The loving Saviour spoke and smiled;
When in His welcoming arms He took
A happy child, and blessed the child.

For childhood's earliest day begins
In the bright heaven of innocence,
Ere wand'ring thoughts or tempting sins
Seduce its erring footsteps thence.

Would that, as following years roll on,
Life's infant brightness might endure,
And leave us, when those years are gone,
Pure, as a happy child is pure!

O God! who veil'st the future o'er,
Through whose thick darkness none can see,
Protect, preserve, redeem, restore
The innocence of infancy.

poem by John Bowring
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Only A Dream

METHOUGHT I saw thee yesternight
Sit by me in the olden guise,
The white robes and the pain foregone,
Weaving instead of amaranth crown
A web of mortal dyes.

I cried, 'Where hast thou been so long?'
(The mild eyes turned and mutely smiled
'Why dwellest thou in far-off lands?
What is that web within thy hands?'
--'I work for thee, my child.'

I clasped thee in my arms and wept;
I kissed thee oft with passion wild:
I poured fond questions, tender blame;
Still thy sole answer was the same,--
'I work for thee, my child.'

'Come and walk with me as of old.'
Then camest thou, silent as before;
We passed along that churchyard way
We used to tread each Sabbath day,
Till one trod earth no more.

I felt thy hand upon my arm,
Beside me thy meek face I saw,
Yet through the sweet familiar grace
A something spiritual could trace
That left a nameless awe.

Trembling I said, 'Long years have passed
Since thou wert from my side beguiled;
Now thou'rt returned and all shall be
As was before.'--Half-pensively
Thou answered'st--'Nay, my child.'

I pleaded sore: 'Hadst thou forgot
The love wherewith we loved of old,--
The long sweet days of converse blest,
The nights of slumber on thy breast,--
Wert thou to me grown cold?'

There beamed on me those eyes of heaven
That wept no more, but ever smiled;
'Love only is love in that Home
Where I abide--where, till thou come,
I work for thee, my child.'

If from my sight thou passedst then,
Or if my sobs the dream exiled,
I know not: but in memory clear
I seem these strange words still to hear,
'I work for thee, my child.'

poem by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
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My Wife's Only Rival

I've stood bathed in the limelight,
Standing listening to the screams.
My guitar and I soared to the heights,
Yes I have lived my dreams.

Up on the stage Robert and I,
Drove all the teeny boppers wild.
While she tried to hide from my brown eyes,
So long ago my woman child.

All over we played, reached number one,
When most of you weren't even born.
And then one day it came undone,
And I was broken and forlorn.

The band broke up, I lost a girl,
One that I never could say was mine.
So I went back home to my little world,
Back with my people, my own kind.

My woman child awaited me,
And she took back this guitar man.
Yes I was back where I needed to be,
Away from the limelight and all my fans.

I never went back on the road,
She never let me leave again.
And she took from me my heavy load,
And gave me love to kill the pain.

It's been a long time forty years,
My woman child one rival had.
My son now has her, and I fight back tears,
When I see her framed above his bed.

For my son J.J. the best guitar player I ever made. I love you gordo.

10/09/10 Alton Texas

poem by Juan Olivarez
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Long Arm Of The Law

In cumberland kentucky
On a cool hot evening
Billy lay in love with marrianne
She was a rich judges daughter
He was a son of a miner
But that night their love was more than they could stand
The judge said to his daughter
That son of that coal miner
Is someone youll go hell to leave alone
She knew his dad so well
She knew she couldnt tell
But the truth was bound in show before too long
Their love had started growing on its own
You cant out run the long arm of the law
No, you cant out run the long arm of the law
Billy placed his hand on mary
And he felt the babys moving
Kissed her and said Ill see you when I can
The judge had made a promise
When he caught up with billy
Hed sent him far away from marianne
The whole town knew hed do it
Too many times hed proved it
To at least a hundred men behind the wall
Hed smiled behind that frown
And when he brought that gavel down
He called himself the long arm of the law
And hed set his mind on seeing billy fall
In a hot humid mine shack
A mid-white pulled the sheet back
And placed cool damp towel on marianne
Billys eyes were wide with wonder
From the spell he was under
When she placed the new born baby in his hands
He didnt hear the siren
Just a babys crying
That miracle of love was all he saw
When the door came crashing down
And billy turned around
He felt the heart and soul inside him fall
He stood face to face
With the long arm of the law
You cant out run the long arm of the law
No, you cant out run the long arm of the law
You can hide out for a while
He says with a smile
But you cant out run the long arm of the law
Seemed like everybody down in cumberland kentucky
Came out that day to see poor billys trial
The court was called to order
There sat the judges daughter
She looked so proud
Holding billys child
When they brought billy to him
The judge just look right thru him
As he held that holy Bible in his hand
And he smiled at his grandson
Then his eyes cut back to billy
And said I think this time
The law will understand
Son, I sentence you to live with marianne
You cant out run the long arm of the law
No, you cant out run the long arm of the law
He said to billy with a smile
I know you hide out for a while
Ah but you cant out run the long arm of the law
No you cant out run the long arm of the law

song performed by by Kenny Rogers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby

Last night, my tears they were fallin'
I went to bed so sad and blue
Then I had a dream of you
I dreamed I was strollin' in the evenin'
Underneath the harvest moon
I was thinkin' about you
And then you met me in the moonlight
The stars were shining in your eyes
But another was there too
I don't believe you've met my baby
You looked at her, you looked at me
I wondered who you were talkin' to
I shook the hand of your stranger
But I was shaking more inside
Cause I was still wonderin' who
Your arm was restin' on her shoulder
You smiled at her, she smiled at you
Her eyes were filled with victory
She said my brother wants to marry
And then my heart was filled with ease
I knew that you would marry me
Oh, I don't believe you've met my baby
You looked at her, you looked at me
I knew that you would marry me
I don't believe you've met my baby

song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Still Smiling........

Smiled When Mother Took Me Into Her Arms For The First Time,
Smiled When Saw World Outside The Hospital For The First Time,
Smiled Whenever Went To School,
Smiled Even Being Laughed At....
And Called A Fool....
Smiled When Stood First In The Class,
Smiled When I Wasn't Misunderstood..... At Last!
Smiled When My Poem Was Said Wow!
Smiled When Realised That Only Day Is Today....
And Time Is Now......
Smiled When Got My 'True' Love,
Smiled As I Always Felt We Are Two Doves,
Smiled Even When Came To Know He's Not Mine,
Smiled Even When He Married My Friend.....
And Raised A Toast Of Wine,
Smiled Even When Lost Every Hope,
Smiled Even When Wasn't Able To Cope,
Smiled Even When Knew My End Is Near,
Smiled And Enjoyed Cutting My Nerve.......
No Fear...............
Smiled At Every Moment Of My Life,
Whenever, Wherever And Never Cried.............

But Now, I'm Lying Under A White Cover,
Father Putting Me On Fire.........
With No Blessings Left To Shower.....
People Around Have Nothing To Do With My Death
But Are Crying.........
And I'm............
Still Smiling.................................

poem by Apurva Jain
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I Looked At That Fool And Smiled

There is nothing like being in love.
Especially with someone who has not a clue,
As to who you are.
And shows as much respect...
As a passing stranger.

I was once told many years ago,
I could be a bank president...
If I put my mind to it.
I agreed!

But my mind wasn't set,
On the credits and debts that others kept.
I needed and wanted to 'own' my destiny.
And 'if' I wanted someone to monitor my resources...
I would select a bank.
And I would pay that bank president,
To oversee...
My property.

But happy am I,
To have those days pass me by.
And I am blessed to continue to fly.
With my ultimate ambition,
YET to be realized.
Oh...
But it my sights,
It is becoming clarified.

And 'if' you happen to be reading this...
From wherever in the world,
You may have my words interpreted.
Wherever in the 'world' you may sit.
You may 'already' have a hint of it!

The thing I own I am most proudest of...
Is a bus pass.
That's right!
The proudest thing I am 'going' to do?
Is to have my words read...
From 'wherever' you locate them,
To go directly into your head.
Enough said!

I am not bragging about that.
It will become fact.
And I knew that as a child!
I kicked other things around for a while.
Hey...
Life is a learning process.
Is it not?

That is why when I was told,
Many years ago...
I could be a bank president,
I looked at that fool and smiled.

I did not have to earn a Master's in Business.
I was 'born' a Master OF Business.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A Savage

DIXON, a Choctaw, twenty years of age,
Had killed a miner in a Leadville brawl;
Tried and condemned, the rough-beards curb their rage,
And watch him stride in freedom from the hall.

'Return on Friday, to be shot to death!'
So ran the sentence—it was Monday night.
The dead man's comrades drew a well-pleased breath;
Then all night long the gambling dens were bright.

The days sped slowly; but the Friday came,
And flocked the miners to the shooting-ground;
They chose six riflemen of deadly aim,
And with low voices sat and lounged around.

'He will not come.' 'He's not a fool.' 'The men
Who set the savage free must face the blame.'
A Choctaw brave smiled bitterly, and then
Smiled proudly, with raised head, as Dixon came.

Silent and stern—a woman at his heels;
He motions to the brave, who stays her tread.
Next minute—flame the guns: the woman reels
And drops without a moan—Dixon is dead.

poem by John Boyle O'Reilly
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In The Way Back Then

Seven years ago,
I went back to Canada
after forty-two years.
I walked down a road
to show my wife where I used to live.
The road was built on rolling hills
and as I came over one,
I knew instantly where I was.
Things had changed
in those forty-two years,
some would say
it was unrecognisable
from what I used to know,
but as soon as I started down the hill
things came back like yesterday.
It was as if I had never been away.
Memories of my childhood
instantly sprang to mind.
I found myself seeing things
not as the now,
but there were changes
from the way back then.
The memory flashes
brought a smile to my face
as I could visualise
all the friends I knew then,
the funny incidents that over my life
in the way back then.
All too soon, time
has a way of taking things back
and my memory reclined them
to the back door of my mind.

30 April 2008

poem by David Harris
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The snake was in the tree

The snake was in the tree
and watched the woman and man
and both of them were free
and at the woman he looked
and both were innocent and happy.

He wanted the woman for himself
as she was beautiful
and had some grace
and in his plans
the man had no place,
but of all of this
Eve heard never a word.

She was on her back
and looked at the blue sky
and the shadow of Adam
fell over her
and his smile he couldn’t hide.

His hands was like magic
and he spoke of love
and of God
and they were one
with the setting sun
and God smiled
and blessed all lovers
in His new world
called earth.

poem by Gert Strydom
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She Wrote About Our Mother.

She wrote about our mother and it took me far away
And many, many years in time back home to Claraghatlea
And as I read her letter I fought to choke the tears
For Millstreet, Cork and Ireland and happy childhood years.

She wrote about our mother long under Tanyard soil
And memories flooded back to me of one with ready smile
Of woman who worked hard for us for no reward or pay
The heroine of our childhood years of happy by gone day.

She wrote about our mother with sense of love and pride
And memories flooded back to me and tears welled up inside
For one who done her best for us her very best she tried
And I still feel she is with us her spirit never died.

A letter from my sister in east Rockaway in New York
Reminding me of childhood years in Millstreet County Cork
She wrote about our mother whose passing left a void
And memories flooded back to me and tears welled up inside.

poem by Francis Duggan
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