The Dead Feast of the Kol-Folk
We have opened the door,
Once, twice, thrice!
We have swept the floor,
We have boiled the rice.
Come hither, come hither!
Come from the far lands,
Come from the star lands,
Come as before!
We lived long together,
We loved one another;
Come back to our life.
Come father, come mother,
Come sister and brother,
Child, husband, and wife,
For you we are sighing.
Come take your old places,
Come look in our faces,
The dead on the dying,
Come home!
We have opened the door,
Once, twice, thrice!
We have kindled the coals,
And we boil the rice
For the feast of souls.
Come hither, come hither!
Think not we fear you,
Whose hearts are so near you.
Come tenderly thought on,
Come all unforgotten,
Come from the shadow-lands,
From the dim meadow-lands
Where the pale grasses bend
Low to our sighing.
Come father, come mother,
Come sister and brother,
Come husband and friend,
The dead to the dying,
Come home!
We have opened the door
You entered so oft;
For the feast of souls
We have kindled the coals,
And we boil the rice soft.
Come you who are dearest
To us who are nearest,
Come hither, come hither,
From out the wild weather;
The storm clouds are flying,
The peepul is sighing;
Come in from the rain.
Come father, come mother,
Come sister and brother,
Come husband and lover,
Beneath our roof-cover.
Look on us again,
The dead on the dying,
Come home!
We have opened the door!
For the feast of souls
We have kindled the coals
We may kindle no more!
Snake, fever, and famine,
The curse of the Brahmin,
The sun and the dew,
They burn us, they bite us,
They waste us and smite us;
Our days are but few
In strange lands far yonder
To wonder and wander
We hasten to you.
List then to our sighing,
While yet we are here
Nor seeing nor hearing,
We wait without fearing,
To feel you draw near.
O dead, to the dying
Come home!
poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
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Related quotes
Peace Everywhere
Peace, everywhere, peace today!
Peace in lands of scruffy trees and pine,
Peace in lands of olives and wine,
Peace in lands where peaks are white,
Peace in lands where fields are bright.
Peace in lands of oasis and sand,
Peace in lands where people band,
Peace in lands where children play,
Peace in lands where people pray,
Peace in lands in the thick of the fight,
Peace in lands ruled by force and might.
Everywhere, everywhere, peace this day!
Pray that all world leaders lead the way,
Encouraging moral people to stand proud and tall,
No government too great, no nation too small.
poem by Joseph T. Renaldi
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The White Heron
flying low
it circles a spot
thrice
it flaps its wide wings
retreats its head
stops a while
then lands in perfect
silence
on the rice paddy.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Melting Snow
Melting snow runs down from high peaks, into creeks,
over flowing waters, carry off layers of the forest floor,
nutrients, twigs, leafs and insects are all swept clean,
little creeks bulge into violent streams, and mighty rivers
churning, tumbling, and roaring down waves, into the ocean's mouth.
Melting snow on the forest floor uncovers chains of small islands,
spreading under pines and oaks and elms, low lands and high lands,
contrasting, the dark colored ground against the white melting snow,
the season of change calls to awaken the forest floor,
with a splash of melting snow, and a degree of heat,
natures cycle is complete.
poem by Michael Andrew
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Lightnin Hopkins
When I lay myself to sleep pray that I dont go too deep
Lightnin won lightnin won
Because its cold down gold down there, crow!
Flat lands low lands on the track
Shows the water pan the track
Lightnin won lightnin won
Close up hands to silhouette, crow!
Lightnin won, lightnin won
Hound bark on the track
Hound crow hold onto your hat
Lightnin won lightnin won
Low lands timberlands bad lands bird lands
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My parents are wrong
They bought lands
Built houses
Expanded their territories
Saved money
Sent all of us to school
They sacrificed a lot
Lived miserable lives
Lived as misers
For our future
Look at us now
We sell these lands
We sell these houses
We squander money
We were never educated
We give away these vast fields
We do not care
And worst we are ungrateful
We think ill of them
We think they were greedy
We think they were land grabbers
We do not want to wear their family names
We do not want to be like them
We are us, the next generation of their consciences
Lazarus is heard speaking in tongues.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Secretary - Bird
Out of the air it lands
with wings flapping
before the snake can stop it.
Out of the air it lands
strikes deadly at the poisonous adder
with a razor sharp beak that injures,
out of the air it lands
with wings flapping.
poem by Gert Strydom
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The Lady’s Lament
Never happy any more!
Aye, turn the saying o'er and o'er,
It says but what it said before,
And heart and life are just as sore.
The wet leaves blow aslant the floor
In the rain through the open door.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
The eyes are weary and give o'er,
But still the soul weeps as before.
And always must each one deplore
Each once, nor bear what others bore?
This is now as it was of yore.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
Is it not but a sorry lore
That says, “Take strength, the worst is o'er”?
Shall the stars seem as heretofore?
The day wears on more and more—
While I was weeping the day wore.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
In the cold behind the door
That was the dial striking four:
One for joy the past hours bore,
Two for hope and will cast o'er,
One for the naked dark before.
No, no more.
Never happy any more!
Put the light out, shut the door,
Sweep the wet leaves from the floor.
Even thus Fate's hand has swept her floor,
Even thus Love's hand has shut the door
Through which his warm feet passed of yore.
Shall it be opened any more?
No, no, no more.
poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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A Ninth Birthday
Three times thrice hath winter's rough white wing
Crossed and curdled wells and streams with ice
Since his birth whose praises love would sing
Three times thrice.
Earth nor sea bears flower nor pearl of price
Fit to crown the forehead of my king,
Honey meet to please him, balm, nor spice.
Love can think of nought but love to bring
Fit to serve or do him sacrifice
Ere his eyes have looked upon the spring
Three times thrice.
II.
Three times thrice the world has fallen on slumber,
Shone and waned and withered in a trice,
Frost has fettered Thames and Tyne and Humber
Three times thrice,
Fogs have swoln too thick for steel to slice,
Cloud and mud have soiled with grime and umber
Earth and heaven, defaced as souls with vice,
Winds have risen to wreck, snows fallen to cumber,
Ships and chariots, trapped like rats or mice,
Since my king first smiled, whose years now number
Three times thrice.
III.
Three times thrice, in wine of song full-flowing,
Pledge, my heart, the child whose eyes suffice,
Once beheld, to set thy joy-bells going
Three times thrice.
Not the lands of palm and date and rice
Glow more bright when summer leaves them glowing,
Laugh more light when suns and winds entice.
Noon and eve and midnight and cock-crowing,
Child whose love makes life as paradise,
Love should sound your praise with clarions blowing
Three times thrice.
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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Upon The Blades
upon the blades of rice plants
the light of the sun lands
completing the silence of the
red dragonfly
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Rice
On table plateful cooked rice,
Still the steam emits.
On chair I did cling,
Waited my wife curry to bring.
Beyond the plate, I behold
The farm wet with solicitude
Where the peasants
Sow the seeds.
Hot rice brings to the mind,
The paddy plants pined,
And the debt cankered peasants,
Whose sweats the balm to welted awns.
Held the rusty scythes,
And bent like the scythes,
The darkened women sang throat opened,
And the folk song my core vibrated.
Cooked rice still steamy,
And white purely,
As the mind of farmer,
The climate and price fall boiled ever.
Born to toil in the soil,
Farmers return to the soil,
To feed the worms,
Hanging on a rope hopeless.
When my dear curry brought,
I painfully thought:
No life without rice,
And without the peasant no rice.
poem by Fabiyas M V
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Lands
I’ve seen lands sunken by sun
In yellow and the pools of saltbush
Change to pavements swept in restless
And magic powders of snow
I’ve seen my body change with lands
From a free-swaying gazelle in the heat-wind
Into a suit of warmth, woven by my lover
And the drink in my hand from juice to coffee
And I’ve wondered how a tropic people
Would wake to receive a snow-covered land
Or a virgin morning’s people’s government
Unviolated by the footprints of power.
poem by Frank Bana
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In The End
I Saw Red
Warrant
Oo it must be magic
How inside your eyes I see my destiny Every time we kiss
I feel you breathe your love to deep inside of me
And if the moon and stars should fall
They'd be east to replace
I would lift you up to heaven
And you would take their place
Then I saw red
When I opened up the door
I saw red
Heart just spilled on to the floor
And I didn't need to see his face
I saw yours
I saw red then I closed the door
I don't think I'm gonna love you anymore
Everyday I wake up
I thank God that you are
Still a part of me
Opened up the door to which
So many people never find the way
Snd if the sun
Should ever fail to send its light
We will burn a thousand candles
And make everything alright
Then I saw red
Wnen I opened up the door
I saw red
Heart just spilled onto the floor
And I didn't need to see his face
I saw yours
I saw red then I closed the door
I don't think I'm gonna love you anymore
I've been hurt
And I've been blind
I'm not sure that I'll be fine
I never thought it would
End this way
Oo it must be magic
song performed by by Warrant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Saw Red
Ooh, it must be magic
How inside your eyes, I see my destiny
And every time we kiss, I feel you
Breathe your love so deep inside of me
If the moon and stars should fall
They'd be easy to replace
I would lift you up to heaven
And you would take their place
(Chorus): And I saw red when I opened up the door
I saw red, my heart just spilled onto the floor
And I didn't need to see his face...
Cause I saw yours
I saw red and then I closed the door
And I don't think I'm gonna love you anymore
And every day I wake up
I thank God that you are still a part of me
We've opened up the door to it
So many people never find the key
And if the sun should ever fail to send its light
We would burn a thousand candles
And make everything alright
Chorus
I've been hurt, I've been blind
I'm not sure that I'll be fine
I never thought it would end this way
Cause I saw red when I opened up the door
I saw red, my heart just spilled onto the floor
And I didn't need to see his face
Oh, I saw yours
I saw red and then I closed the door
And I don't think I'm gonna love you anymore...
Yeah... ooh, it must be magic...
song performed by by Warrant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Song Of Wandering Aengus
I WENT out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands.
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
poem by William Butler Yeats
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As Simple As Closing The Door And Opening Another One
don't you worry about what
recently happened,
it is nothing much to be
talked about,
no one wants to recall
a sad subject matter,
but i want to tell you,
before she went away
she stood up
opened a door and
walked a little farther
about a meter away and
she opened another
door against too much light
someone guided her
i saw that and then
without looking back
she dissolved like ice
on the floor of sand
then we pretend we do not
forget her
oh, we have other topics
in our lives
love, for instance.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Shadowlands
The Shadow-lands are here about,
hidden from even the most devout.
There those who were, then ceased to be,
enjoy post mortem revelry.
Their ghostly visage sight unseen
by downcast kin that sob and keen.
They linger but a moment, then.
they head off to the shadow-lands.
There they are young and strong and free,
much more than simple memories.
When their earthy foibles are recalled
they laugh hardest of us all.
They’re close whenever called to mind;
The shadow folk are calm and kind.
For they who were, then ceased to be,
well know what mortals fail to see.
Only they can understand
who’ve traveled to the shadow-lands.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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When the prophet, a complacent fat man
When the prophet, a complacent fat man,
Arrived at the mountain-top,
He cried: "Woe to my knowledge!
I intended to see good white lands
And bad black lands,
But the scene is grey."
poem by Stephen Crane
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Off From Our Lands!
know not why we ran away from home lands,
know not how to fit in the new lands!
in the depths of our hearts still there must be a beat,
that no one cares to understand or to repeat it!
it is only we feel the pain of it all,
yet.. it is all hard to find some one to make it full-fill!
we are lost nomads from home lands off a cause for sure,
but surely were not on our way to conquer!
still holding on those lost strands of that culture,
we sure have so much to offer in all this mixture!
give us a little space too here, of a life,
for we never really make someone unsafe!
seems like in the very nature of our ancestral culture,
just to make sure that every life gets it's nurture!
(in respect to Roma and their history)
poem by Siddartha Montik
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On Seeing An Infant's Photograph
what enchanting lands
are let loose behind
those eyes?
the smile tells me
several stories of
those far away lands
that have been
so much part of your world, now
my first lesson to you, my love
lose not that smile
filling your world and mine
with bliss unbound
come what may
my second lesson to you, my love
when stress and strain
wears you down
close those eyes
just as you do now
even for a wink
to revisit those lands
of your blissful infancy
for revival and rejuvination...
*a wonderful photograph with a unique smile on the infant's face... Thomas Horton's 'First Lesson'
21sep2009
07.35hrs
poem by Indira Babbellapati
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Second Watcher: The country here is such a very cheerless place... Where I lived before it was less cheerless. In the evening I sat by the window spinning. The window looked out to the sea and at times there was an island in the distance... Many times, I stopped spinning; just looked out to the sea and forgot living. I don’t know if I was happy. Now I shall not be something that maybe I never was...
First Watcher: Apart from here, I had never seen the sea. There, from that window, is the only place where the sea can be seen and can be seen so little of it! Is the sea in other lands beautiful?
Second Watcher: Only the sea from other lands is beautiful. That one which we see always makes us miss the one we shall never see...
line from The Sailor, script by Fernando Pessoa (1913), translated by Dan Costinaș
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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