folding cranes
dad and son talk about
lost opportunities
haiku by John Tiong Chunghoo

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The Waradgery Tribe
Harried we were, and spent,
broken and falling,
ere as the cranes we went,
crying and calling.
Summer shall see the bird
backward returning;
never shall there be heard
those, who went yearning.
Emptied of us the land;
ghostly our going;
fallen like spears the hand
dropped in the throwing.
We are the lost who went,
like the cranes, crying;
hunted, lonely and spent
broken and dying.
poem by Dame Mary Gilmore

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88
i just had the number
88
inside my head.
it is not a grade
not money.
it is a mark of what i have done
on the other side
of my life.
i outlive 3,000
going on to 4,000
i clap my hands, give myself a toast
of red wine
when i had my first 1,000
you must remember my 1,000 cranes
paper cranes
paper poems on cranes and other creatures
like butterflies and birds and wind and dust
they have taken upon themselves the burden of flight
they promise me
and i have it now.
88, is my new number now.
i am inside an elevator and i am going up with you
to the nth floor.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Men never moan over the opportunities lost to do good, only the opportunities to be bad.
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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Cranes carry this heavy mystical baggage. They're icons of fidelity and happiness. The Vietnamese believe cranes cart our souls up to heaven on our wings.
quote by Mitchell Burgess

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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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If only I could find a guy who wasn't in his 70s to talk to me about white cranes, I'd be madly in love.
quote by Leelee Sobieski

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Recalling The Thousand Cranes
if you recall i made a thousand
paper cranes too
hoping to save a soul
from the body of the burning
flesh
the ten thousand cranes
were useless
she died.i live.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Time/Opportunity
My
childhood passed asking for the moon
youth made exit trying to enslave it soon
middle age slipped in expectations
to atone misdeeds, old age made preparations.
Old age made the TIME also to tremble
donated itself to enable
me
to come out of shamble
but by then
excitement was lost
enthusiasm was gone
courage could not defrost
to grab the lost opportunities even at a cost.
Helpless
beaten by the time
waiting for the eventual destiny
embraced death ultimately
laughed The TIME
watching me
in eternal sleep
(a body of lost opportunities)
poem by Tribhawan Kaul

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You travel across the country, you visit departments, you give talks, you talk about the work at your laboratory - what's going on, what the opportunities are there - you talk about your own research.
quote by Frank Press

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Precisely
There are those who oppose your decisions made.
And say you do not operate with their best interests,
In your heart.
And others talk amongst themselves,
How they are not pleased.
And wish from them you would disappear,
To leave.
'This is for you and anyone who feels that way,
I stood up because I had something to say.
And what did the others do? '
They sat and watched quietly listening to you.
'Precisely!
I'm not the only who has these opportunities.
When opportunities knock...
I don't wait in hesitation to open the door.
Whatever the intention meant,
I am not one to deny myself the experience of it.
Tell that to your people you are here to represent.'
Could you do that?
I fear how they may react.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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Malaysiana - Lost in Direction
sarawak bumis so subtly they carry the tag
with them i dont even feel deprivileged among them
definitely not as an affronts this tag for them
peninsula bumis everywhere i go the glaring
overstatement of a status that makes a society
unsettled, even lost in direction at times
sarawak bumis every other race they view
as opportunities to reap talking to them with
a sincerity and friendship no words can muster
you can even call them a family
peninsula bumis every other race some sort
of a threat, and when they talk, talk to them with
a kris dangled between their words
sarawak bumis they see a destiny clearly
beyond the horizon of friendship
the other, a clouded vision marred
by a metastasis of biases and insecurities
i pray the cancer will not spread
(the third stanza can also be written thus)
sarawak bumis every other race they view
as opportunities that only friendship can earn
they speak to them with a sincerity
no words can muster
you can even call them a family
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo

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Last Chance Lost
Last chance lost--
In the tyranny of a long good-bye
Last chance lost--
We talk of us with deadly earnest eyes
Last chance lost--
We talk of love in terms of sacrifice and compromise
Last chance--
Last chance lost
Last chance lost--
The hero cannot make the change
Last chance lost--
The shrew will not be tamed
Last chance lost--
They bicker on the rifle range
Blame takes aim
Last chance--
Last chance lost
song performed by by Joni Mitchell

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Skeletons
Between yellow cranes groaning and bended
I saw people small as ants,
I saw people gather at skeletons of steel and concrete,
lost between ovens that cook glowing,
between hell-hot fires of iron and metal
I saw people struggle in the dusk
and this morning I came
past huge, long pipes that hiss like snakes
between yellow cranes groaning and bended.
Where white smoke are stoked through round chimneys
people were trapped and caged
between hell-hot fires of iron and metal
busy with their work as if dumb,
as if only machines with their humanity missing
I saw people gather at skeletons of steel and concrete,
through walls, doors and roofs that block off
lost in the circles that the city draws,
people were trapped and caged
with crying, screaming, gnashing machines everywhere
without any natural refreshment or relief
between yellow cranes groaning and bended
with tiredness, disconcert, alienation on every feature
they kept building
lost in the circles that the city draws.
Like beings coming from another planet,
ghosts just waiting for a coffin,
I saw people gather at skeletons of steel and concrete,
while some were clinging to black pipes
and children were laughing without concern
they kept building
on terrains with danger signs on the outside
without worrying, with there destiny determined.
Between yellow cranes groaning and bended
I saw people gather at skeletons of steel and concrete,
with their lives tinned, day and night
lost between ovens that cook glowing
and children were laughing without concern,
I saw people struggle in the dusk.
[Reference: Past skeletons of steel and concrete by Gert Strydom.]
poem by Gert Strydom

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Savvy Minds Seize Opportunities
equal not often opportunities
opportunities lacking required degrees
of savvy as strike out scenarios
trajectory implies reality conflicts
prospect improvement requires changes
savvy minds utilize world opportunities
poem by Terence George Craddock

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Origami Me....
the way you fold a piece of paper
to make those cups and flowers and cranes
never stops to amaze me,
you know how to make use of mere scraps
into art, into something as useful as a cup
into something more meaningful as
those hundred cranes flying in the skies
on the minds of excited children
origami me, make me more artistic,
more useful
i am a mere scrap of paper flat on the table of this universe
Oh God...
poem by Ric S. Bastasa

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Ive Lost You
(words & music by howard - blaikly)
Lying by your side I watch you sleeping
And in your face the sweetness of a child
Murmuring the dreams you wont recapture
Though it will haunt the corners of you mind
Ive lost though youre near me
And your bodys still this kind
Ive lost you on a journey,
But I cant remember where or when
Who can tell when summer turns to autumn
And who can point the moment love grows cold
Softly without pain the joy is over
Though why its gone will neither of us know
Oh, Ive lost you yes, Ive lost you
I cant reach you anymore
We ought to talk it over now
But reason cant stand in for feeling, oh
Six oclock the baby will be crying
And you will stumble, sleeping to the door
In the chill and solemn gray of morning
We play the parts that we have learned to well
Oh Ive lost you, oh, Ive lost you
Oh, you wont admit it so
Ive lost you on a journey,
But I cant remember where or when no more
Oh, Ive lost you yes, Ive lost you
I cant reach you anymore
We ought to talk it over now
But reason cant stand in for feeling, oh
Oh, Ive lost you yes, Ive lost you
I cant reach you anymore
We ought to talk it over now
But reason cant stand in for feeling, oh
song performed by by Elvis Presley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Talk To Me
When I see you, girl you turn my head, you make me dizzy
I get a good vibration
When I look into your big blue eyes, I start to quiver and shake
I get a strange sensation
When you walk by me you strut around, you make me crazy, I get no relaxation
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation, talk to me
People tell me that you run around and that youre no good
You got a bad reputation
I dont care what all the people say, you know they talk too much
Its a fascination
All I wanna do is talk to you and maybe go out, and form some kind of relation
So talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me, talk to me - why dont you
Talk to me - cmon and talk to me
I just wanna talk to you
Girl I wish you knew the way I felt, you think Im silly, that its infatuation
So we better get together soon, because I need you girl
I cant stand the frustration, so
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, all I want is a little conversation
Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me, talk to me - why dont you
Talk to me - cmon and talk to me
Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me - I just wanna talk to you
(repeats out)
song performed by by Kiss

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Elephant Talk
Talk, its only talk
Arguments, agreements, advice, answers,
Articulate announcements
Its only talk
Talk, its only talk
Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker
Brouhaha, boulderdash, ballyhoo
Its only talk
Back talk
Talk talk talk, its only talk
Comments, cliches, commentary, controversy
Chatter, chit-chat, chit-chat, chit-chat,
Conversation, contradiction, criticism
Its only talk
Cheap talk
Talk, talk, its only talk
Debates, discussions
These are words with a d this time
Dialogue, dualogue, diatribe,
Dissention, declamation
Double talk, double talk
Talk, talk, its all talk
Too much talk
Small talk
Talk that trash
Expressions, editorials, expugnations, exclamations, enfadulations
Its all talk
Elephant talk, elephant talk, elephant talk
song performed by by King Crimson

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But we have created a society that does not allow opportunities for those people to take care of themselves because we have denied them those opportunities.
quote by Muhammad Yunus

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