April In September
WHAT song is in the sap of this brave oak-tree
That to the north-star faces,
Ravened each June by caterpillar masses
Till all its leaves are laces,
Poor shreds whose very shadow grieves the grasses?
I leave it then, but roses and the smoke-tree
Look from the lawn below it
And watch for that gold witch, Midsummer Weather,
With magic breath to blow it
Free of its foes, whose wings make mirth together.
Vital as Igdrasil, immortal folk-tree,
When I return, its losses
Are all restored, its fresh, soft foliage gleaming
With peach and citron glosses,
A Druid that is never done with dreaming.
poem by Katharine Lee Bates
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A Paraphrase Of Heine
(LYRIC INTERMEZZO)
There fell a star from realms above--
A glittering, glorious star to see!
Methought it was the star of love,
So sweetly it illumined me.
And from the apple branches fell
Blossoms and leaves that time in June;
The wanton breezes wooed them well
With soft caress and amorous tune.
The white swan proudly sailed along
And vied her beauty with her note--
The river, jealous of her song,
Threw up its arms to clasp her throat.
But now--oh, now the dream is past--
The blossoms and the leaves are dead,
The swan's sweet song is hushed at last,
And not a star burns overhead.
poem by Eugene Field
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To My Friend - Ode I
TRANSPLANT the beauteous tree!
Gardener, it gives me pain;
A happier resting-place
Its trunk deserved.
Yet the strength of its nature
To Earth's exhausting avarice,
To Air's destructive inroads,
An antidote opposed.
See how it in springtime
Coins its pale green leaves!
Their orange-fragrance
Poisons each flyblow straight.
The caterpillar's tooth
Is blunted by them;
With silv'ry hues they gleam
In the bright sunshine,
Its twigs the maiden
Fain would twine in
Her bridal-garland;
Youths its fruit are seeking.
See, the autumn cometh!
The caterpillar
Sighs to the crafty spider,--
Sighs that the tree will not fade.
Hov'ring thither
From out her yew-tree dwelling,
The gaudy foe advances
Against the kindly tree,
And cannot hurt it,
But the more artful one
Defiles with nauseous venom
Its silver leaves;
And sees with triumph
How the maiden shudders,
The youth, how mourns he,
On passing by.
Transplant the beauteous tree!
Gardener, it gives me pain;
Tree, thank the gardener
Who moves thee hence!
poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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The Sailor's Garden
There's a soft wind singing in the idle rigging,
High tide splashing, and a young pale moon,
Lights in a window and a fiddle jigging
Over and over there the same short tune.
Oh, was it the tide along the ship's side sighing,
Or was it the sighing wind that breaths and blows,
Came like a voice across the deep crying,
Set my heart a-thinking how my garden grows?
Five years ago it was I planted roses,
Five years ago (the bush is grown a tree):
Five years ago, and once I've seen my posies,
Five years ago - and once they bloomed for me!
I was home in Spring, bloom was in May then,
Birds all were building and buds were on the tree!
When the birds were flown, oh, I was far away then;
When the rose was open I was far at sea.
I was home in autumn; winds of cold November
Shaking the leaf that shivered on the tree;
Brown leaves that sighed of sorrow to remember
Flowers that had fallen and I far at sea.
Oh, many are the roads that lead you here and yonder,
Oh, many are the ways about the world that go;
But the longest way of all's the sailor's way to wander
To the good North Country and an Isle I know.
Oh, many are the winds about the seas a-singing,
Oh, many are the songs they sing both night and noon:
But whether it be good or ill that they come bringing
The best of all's the wind that blows us home in June.
Home, home in June - and soon to be a-going;
Home, home in June - we may not long remain;
Home, home in June, just to see the garden growing,
And then fare you well till you greet us home again.
poem by Cicely Fox Smith
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North star
Look at the north star
Look, North star is there
Only to run life's car
To run in a fixed and
Marvellous manner.
North star north star
I know why you are there
You are there to give
Right direction to the
Directionless
Right word to the wordless.
You are my centrestage
And my life'page
That I can turn
To attain liberation
And to remain fixed
Time's altenation.
North star, I sing
I hear I recite I study
Only your story
And try to acquire
Your qualities to reach
My Master
My Master is also
Your Master
And in this sense
We are brother.
Please help me my brother
I am yours for ever.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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Poor Little Bug
Poor little june bug floatin' in the pond
Poor little june bug not too fond
Of the water that he's floatin' on
For he's caught in a hydrogen bond.
Poor little moth floatin' in a lake
See 'em squirm, see 'em shake
Poor little moth floatin' in a lake
Sure could use a break
Poor little fly floatin' on by
We're watchin' 'em try to fly
Seein' 'em suffer kinda makes me cry
Put that in your stir fry
Poor little june bug floatin' in a fountain
Tryin' to swim's like climbin' a mountain
Poor little bug under a rug
Wish I could give 'em a hug.
poem by Adam Thoms
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The Chase
THE wind told the little leaves to hurry,
And chased them down the way,
While the mother tree laughed loud in glee,
For she thought her babes at play.
The cruel wind and the rain laughed loudly,
We'll bury them deep, they said,
And the old tree grieves, and the little leaves
Lie low, all chilled and dead.
poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar
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from A Fallen Tree All Make Kindling' (dutch Proverb)
Whenever I sit under a tree I’m in my grandpas arms
My grandpa was like a tree with his strong and silent charm
He would shelter the world under his shade
And in the harshest storm he just merely swayed
He was like a tree but not the ones with big flowers
For his beauty was endurance it lasted more than mere hours
My grandpa was a tree the kind with big leaves
The kind that when cut down the whole forest grieves
He was like a tree big and gentle
He sat there and listened kind and parental
And though he was the tallest tree all around
He never looked down on the ones on the ground
My grandpa was a tree his love ran deep like roots
So even when cut down we still have loves fruits
Shoe Laces
Shoe laces
Shoe laces
Don't come undone
Don't untie and stop all my fun.
I'm running with friends in this game of tag
To come undone would be such a drag.
Shoe laces
Shoe laces
Don't come undone
Don't untie and stop all my fun.
Trip me you'll do and skin my knee too
People will laugh and call me a foo.
Shoe laces
Shoe laces
Don't come undone
Don't untie and stop all my fun.
Look oh no you’re out of the knot
Unraveling and flaring, about to be caught
Under my foot as I step down
God oh no I'm falling...The ground!
Boom I hit and what do you know
My Knee is bleeding just like I told
People are laughing and pointing and staring
Why oh why did my shoe laces fail me?
Shoe laces
Shoe laces
Did come undone
Did untie and stop all my fun…
Moonlight Seranade
I stand at your gate
And the song that I sing is of moonlight
I stand and I wait
For the touch of your hand in the June light
The roses are side you
A moonlight serenade
The star's are a glow
And tonight how there light
Sets me dreaming
My love do you know
That your eyes, are like stars
Brightly beaming
I bring you, and sing you
A moonlight serenade
Let us stray, till break of day
In loves valley of dreams
Just you and I
A summer sky
A heavenly breeze
Kissing the trees
So don't let me wait
Come to me tenderly in the June night
I stand at your gate
And I sing you a song in the moonlight
A love song, my darlin
A moonlight serenade
So don't let me wait
Come to me tenderly in the June night
I stand at your gate
And I sing you a song in the moonlight
A love song, my darlin
A moonlight serenade
A moonlight serenade
song performed by by Barry Manilow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Song For A Star
This is a song for a star
If you really are a star
Here is a song for you all
Take a lesson before you fall
We're caught in the middle of everything
It's like trying to figure out which bell to ring
You think you'd made the start of it
But this is just the start of it now
Steppin' in time with your pace
Tho' we've never yet met face to face
This is a song for yourself
In the hopes that we don't do it wrong
We're caught in the middle of everything
Lookin' and turnin' out songs to sing
It could've been the start of it
But this is just the start of it now
You can be a star if you can climb
Just make sure you are in the nick of time
This is a song for a star (song for a star)
This is a song for a star (song for a star)
This is a song for a star
If you really are a star
This to whoever you are
If you really are a star
song performed by by Bryan Adams from Sweeney Todd
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Simply
'Simple grasses..'
The tree was said
Air was coming
fastly
broken
The tree...
One of the part..!
Grasses was
Looking stait
And tell
'simple tree'....
poem by Otteri Selvakumar
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The Caterpillar
Dangling down its silken thread,
A caterpillar came;
From atop a branch of tree,
After her feeding game.
Little did it think that there,
A leafy twig green stood,
While it began to descend down,
Dancing across the air.
It jumped in fright upwards from where
It attempted to fall;
The leafy branch too followed it,
And formed a bottom wall.
The Caterpillar sensed the leaves,
And found them succulent;
Alighting gently upon it,
It romped home happily!
Copyright by Dr John Celes 4-5-2008
poem by John Celes
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Generations
You are like the stem
Of a young beech-tree,
Straight and swaying,
Breaking out in golden leaves.
Your walk is like the blowing of a beech-tree
On a hill.
Your voice is like leaves
Softly struck upon by a South wind.
Your shadow is no shadow, but a scattered sunshine;
And at night you pull the sky down to you
And hood yourself in stars.
But I am like a great oak under a cloudy sky,
Watching a stripling beech grow up at my feet.
poem by Amy Lowell
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Head Treads upon Heart's Shreds
Set is dream star which once brightly,
clear, fearless, in firmament shone,
luck's slighted, insight's dimmed, Timets slight see
grieves sleeves, life's sheeved leaves waned. Wail wan!
Shred-wed, disillusion, stark spite see,
life's cancelled game, quest, aim, fête's fun;
in tatters Fate scatters forthrightly
grace pace aced in war no-one's won.
Hope's bedspread in shreds, bed of roses
Scope pined for before: shredded, done,
un-wedded from bliss hate-hiss poses
uncomfortable questions, would shun
trust's shine shrine unjust rust lines, lies hounded,
unprevailing as lies veil pale sun,
surrounded by life's leaves dis bound, fed
by woe where fair past fast flowed fun.
(27 November 2012)
poem by Jonathan Robin
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Little Waxy
Wake, little Waxy! Hunting-time again,
The short days and goodly, the clean Autumn rain:
In the old North country, in the grey open weather,
Hounds upon the moorland chiming all together.
This year in dough and hollow the stream's song sounds the same:
On every windy hillside the grasses burn like flame:
Where the empty air is loud with the peewit's lonely crying
And the call o' the moorland gale to the bird's call replying.
Wake, little Waxy! Voices that you know
Set the upland ringing where the hill-breezes blow;
In the brave North country, in the grey open weather,
Up and Join the chorus, hound and horn together!
Ah, little Waxy! Hunting days are done,
Nevermore the brown field and the rain and the sun -
Only the memories left, o'er the Autumn fields that hover,
Of the brave runs ended, lass, the good days over!
poem by Cicely Fox Smith
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Room 6: The Little Workgirl
Three gentlemen live close beside me --
A painter of pictures bizarre,
A poet whose virtues might guide me,
A singer who plays the guitar;
And there on my lintel is Cupid;
I leave my door open, and yet
These gentlemen, aren't they stupid!
They never make love to Babette.
I go to the shop every morning;
I work with my needle and thread;
Silk, satin and velvet adorning,
Then luncheon on coffee and bread.
Then sewing and sewing till seven;
Or else, if the order I get,
I toil and I toil till eleven --
And such is the day of Babette.
It doesn't seem cheerful, I fancy;
The wage is unthinkably small;
And yet there is one thing I can say:
I keep a bright face through it all.
I chaff though my head may be aching;
I sing a gay song to forget;
I laugh though my heart may be breaking --
It's all in the life of Babette.
That gown, O my lady of leisure,
You begged to be "finished in haste."
It gives you an exquisite pleasure,
Your lovers remark on its taste.
Yet . . . oh, the poor little white faces,
The tense midnight toil and the fret . . .
I fear that the foam of its laces
Is salt with the tears of Babette.
It takes a brave heart to be cheery
With no gleam of hope in the sky;
The future's so utterly dreary,
I'm laughing -- in case I should cry.
And if, where the gay lights are glowing,
I dine with a man I have met,
And snatch a bright moment -- who's going
To blame a poor little Babette?
And you, Friend beyond all the telling,
Although you're an ocean away,
Your pictures, they tell me, are selling,
You're married and settled, they say.
Such happiness one wouldn't barter;
Yet, oh, do you never regret
The Springtide, the roses, Montmartre,
Youth, poverty, love and -- Babette?
That blond-haired chap across the way
With sunny smile and voice so mellow,
He sings in some cheap cabaret,
Yet what a gay and charming fellow!
His breath with garlic may be strong,
What matters it? his laugh is jolly;
His day he gives to sleep and song:
His night's made up of song and folly.
poem by Robert William Service
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Rain Songs....
i have figured the sound
of tears
its rhythm from the moment
you turn red
and sob
and then i hear again
the songs
of rain
from that faraway
forest mountain
i, too, was all alone
figuring out myself the song of sorrow
how leaves fall
how grasses wilt
how the termites build their empire
upon the bones
of tree trunks
how the ants
eat the monkeys'
failures.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Pain Of Moving On
A tree looked up to one star and that one alone,
It didn't see any other stars but that one.
It was its bestfriend.
Its happiness.
Its everything.
The tree continued to grow taller.
Hoping, wishing that his height would bring him and the star closer.
Instead the taller the tree grew the further the star got.
The star tempted the tree on some nights, letting its star shine so bright...
so that it seemed closer.
Then it really was.
But the star just wanted to see its beautiful reflection on the tree.
Not to spend time with it.
And the tree watched.
Cried.
Hated.
As he watched the star shine for another tree and forget about him.
Wasted his time.
Cared too much.
For a star he had known all his life,
He watched put others before him.
The sadness was too much to bear.
So it wouldn't grow and was cut down
Down.
Down.
Down.
The star continued to move
Up.
Didn't even stop and think.
About what it had done.
poem by Aurelia Ivy
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Sonnet LXIX: Autumn Idleness
This sunlight shames November where he grieves
In dead red leaves, and will not let him shun
The day, though bough with bough be over-run.
But with a blessing every glade receives
High salutation; while from hillock-eaves
The deer gaze calling, dappled white and dun,
As if, being foresters of old, the sun
Had marked them with the shade of forest-leaves.
Here dawn to-day unveiled her magic glass;
Here noon now gives the thirst and takes the dew;
Till eve bring rest when other good things pass.
And here the lost hours the lost hours renew
While I still lead my shadow o'er the grass,
Nor know, for longing, that which I should do.
poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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The Spice-Tree
This is the song
The spice-tree sings:
"Hunger and fire,
Hunger and fire,
Sky-born Beauty—
Spice of desire,"
Under the spice-tree
Watch and wait,
Burning maidens
And lads that mate.
The spice-tree spreads
And its boughs come down
Shadowing village and farm and town.
And none can see
But the pure of heart
The great green leaves
And the boughs descending,
And hear the song that is never ending.
The deep roots whisper,
The branches say:—
"Love to-morrow,
And love to-day,
And till Heaven's day,
And till Heaven's day."
The moon is a bird's nest in its branches,
The moon is hung in its topmost spaces.
And there, to-night, two doves play house
While lovers watch with uplifted faces.
Two doves go home
To their nest, the moon.
It is woven of twigs of broken light,
With threads of scarlet and threads of gray
And a lining of down for silk delight.
To their Eden, the moon, fly home our doves,
Up through the boughs of the great spice-tree;—
And one is the kiss I took from you,
And one is the kiss you gave to me.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
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