Vespers
In your extended absence, you permit me
use of earth, anticipating
some return on investment. I must report
failure in my assignment, principally
regarding the tomato plants.
I think I should not be encouraged to grow
tomatoes. Or, if I am, you should withhold
the heavy rains, the cold nights that come
so often here, while other regions get
twelve weeks of summer. All this
belongs to you: on the other hand,
I planted the seeds, I watched the first shoots
like wings tearing the soil, and it was my heart
broken by the blight, the black spot so quickly
multiplying in the rows. I doubt
you have a heart, in our understanding of
that term. You who do not discriminate
between the dead and the living, who are, in consequence,
immune to foreshadowing, you may not know
how much terror we bear, the spotted leaf,
the red leaves of the maple falling
even in August, in early darkness: I am responsible
for these vines.
poem by Louise Gluck
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Related quotes
The greatest thing
I put the seed
into ground that I
mingled with dark black compost.
Rows of beans,
some carrots, some pumpkins
and spinach
I sowed into the orange brown earth.
Some small tomato plants,
I planted in blocks
and pressed small
frames of reeds
on top
for them to crawl over.
Every day I sprayed water
and tended the weeds
and in time
little green plants
sprang out of the ground
and the tomatoes crept
and crawled all over
their reeds.
It was great to be part
of spring and see
living things sprout
from the ground,
but a dog dug
some carrots out
and a flock of mice
came to eat
tomatoes from the plants.
Yet in time
some great vegetables
came to my table
and spring was awesome
and so was summer
and to tend my own garden
is the greatest thing.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Seeds with wings, between earth and sky
Seeds with wings, between earth and sky
Fluttering, flying;
Seeds of a lily with blood-red core
Breathing of myrrh and of giroflore:
Where winds drop them there must they lie,
Living or dying.
Some to the garden, some to the wall,
Fluttering, falling;
Some to the river, some to earth:
Those that reach the right soil get birth;
None of the rest have lived at all.—
Whose voice is calling:
'Here is soil for winged seeds that near,
Fluttering, fearing,
Where they shall root and burgeon and spread.
Lacking the heart-room the song lies dead:
Half is the song that reaches the ear,
Half is the hearing '?
poem by Augusta Davies Webster
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Last Rose Of Summer
Throughout the soft and timeless days of august
til now the shadows begin to grow much longer
The sunsets fire has deepened blood red
I give you this, the last rose of summer
A token of my unyielding love
So when the winters mantle stills the earth
And all around seems dead and cold
This rose reminds you of a time when all was warm and living
Do not despair, mother nature simply rests
In sleep she has well earned
til one day not so very far from now
With the opening of the first rose buds I shall return
A token of my unyielding love
So that when winters mettle steals the earth
And all around seems dead and cold
This rose reminds you of a time when all was warm and living
The last rose of summer
The last rose of summer
In your long shadows
The last rose of summer
In the sunset
The last rose of summer
Take this rose that I give you
The last rose of summer
The last rose of summer
Dont worry about the winter
The last rose of summer
I shall return
The last rose of summer
The last rose of summer
(fade)
song performed by by Judas Priest
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Leaf
to a non-poet a leaf is just a leaf
and when it falls
on the ground, there is nothing but a
fall
but to us who claim this art
a leaf is not just a leaf
but it can be you or i
falling and when i reach the ground
you feel the heart of the leaf
beating
for its falling, its failure as a leaf,
its surrender to a certain death
its claiming a portion of this earth
to rest and be part of this
world, it rots, and it speaks some line
before it rots
a poem, a valediction on an anthill,
an eulogy of the other leaves that
fell before the great falling
it can be a story of humanity written
on the lines of its face, it will have flesh
on its layers, some mouths on its
seams, and it will tell too
about the tree where it comes from
how the clouds drifted so close to its stalk
how the sun kissed it on top of everything
a leaf is a world. just as a poem is.
we live inside it. Through it. Even
outside it. Even in circles.
we make understanding so complicated.
yet we are so simple as you see us.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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My plants
My plants
are eaten
by all kinds of vermin.
There are golden beetles
that reaps
the leaves of the beans,
brown buzzing beetles turning in the air
around the tomatoes,
snails that can’t wait
and demolish the leaves
of beans, spinach
and tomatoes.
Indian miners
that feast in their beaks
as if every thing belongs to them.
Even poison that I spread out
doesn’t help a bit
and plants from Mrs. Roberts
that should keep such things in check
grows rampant
and after rains
there are weeds
everywhere,
as if my garden
was prepared only for them.
Even one of the taps breaks
causing water to spray without end
and I have trouble
to bind it down
and have to go to Builders
to get a new one
and this garden man gets fed up
and wants to pull
all of the vegetables out
one by one
and put something else
like flowers into that ground,
until my darling says:
“thank you for the beans,
spinach, carrots and tomatoes
that you placed in the bowls,
can I get a bit of parsley
to put in the salad? ”
poem by Gert Strydom
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When in winter summer is dead (cyhydedd fer sonnet)
When in winter summer is truly dead,
when the all flowers and leaves are shed
still I hear the dove's lovely coo and sing
as if they are whispering about spring.
Even when the cold winter winds sweep in
the ripe to the remaining plants death bring,
when birds to a distant summer have fled
to follow them your wings you do not spread.
There must be a kind of greatness, something
in romantically together living
there are icy and stripped days ahead,
promising a summer sun rising red
lies always somewhere in the near beyond,
like a dropp falling, falling in a pond.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Fall (Herbst)
The leaves are falling, falling as from far,
from wilting in the heavens' farthest gardens:
They're falling to negate the summer's mirth.
And in the nights the heavy Earth
falls into solitude from star to star.
We all are falling. This my hand here bends.
And look at others: Fall's in all their calling.
And yet there's One, who's holding all this falling
forever tender in His upturned hands...
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke (1902), translated by Walter Aue
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Planting African Marigolds (Cavatina Sequence)
Under the summer sun's harsh glare I hoed
and I weeded,
to and fro I planted the seed in rows,
flowers I needed
to like their mother grow almost waist high
but unheeded
of all my efforts not a single one
appeared as the soil turned to stone.
Some more seeds I harvested from dried buds
as spring came on,
some the weavers might as their food devour,
they may be gone
with the whispering churning rampant wind
but some alone
would burst through the earth, would no season mar,
like blazing flaming yellow and red stars.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Autumn
The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Tomato
My love is a tiny red cherry tomato
That has found it's way into my heart by way of,
'An omelette'
'A cheese sandwhich'
A kittenish quiche
A side salad, that slid in through the side entrance
A tiny glistening punnet that flirted with the light
A drink carton full of bloody juice
A red nose that passed itself off as a tomato
A tin of Italian agraphobic plum tomatoes
A pizza
A pie
A spicy tomato pasta
A bed of floating tomatoes in a home made punch
A seed which grew secretly from my garden bed
Into a vine
Ready to pick
This tomato love is mine
It also came into my heart by way of
A tin of soup
A bottle of ketchup
And alot of sauce
My love is born
Not yet filing for divorce
Yvette Smith march 09
poem by Yvette Smith
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Soil Is A Soul Of Life
Soil what is soil Lord?
soil is life seed
soil is a living organism
soil is a loom
from which you were made
dust you were dust you will be
Soil what is soil Scientist?
soil is a critical
part
of an ecosystem
soil provides
important nutrients
for plants in
an ecosystem
soil helps
anchor
plants
to keep
plants
in place
soil absorbs
holds water
for plants
soil absorbs
holds water
for animals
lakes rivers
to use
soil provides
a home
for many species
lots of living
organisms
soil
regenerates life
dust you were dust you will be
poem by Terence George Craddock
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GOD The Farmer
(4/14/12)
We live to love - we love to live
There is so much we have to give.
For every seed that GOD has planted
Another life has been granted.
Every seed on this earth
Will create a brand new birth.
He is the farmer - the giver of life
The crops he plants will suffice.
He planted the stars that shine at night
Gave us the sun - hot and bright.
He gave us water to quench our thirst
And gave us this water to cleanse the earth.
He planted seeds of knowledge in our brains
So if we had to - we could make the change.
He planted the seeds in the female wombs
So that life would not end to soon.
These are some of the things this farmer has given
He has made this life worth living.
poem by Louis Rams
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Tearing And Breaking
Tearing and breaking down
Tearing my heart
Tearing and breaking down
Tearing my heart
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
There goes my heart again
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
Watch my heart fly away
All the love that I have ever known
Came from the sweetest of hearts
Every time I was looking for love
I found it in you
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
There goes my heart again
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
Watch my heart fly away
All the tears you found in your eyes
I know that they were mine
All the love you were trying to disguise
I never could desert
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
There goes my heart again
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
Watch my heart fly away
Saw that look in the eyes and I felt so sorry for myself
I could've cried
Heard you saying goodbye and you know it felt so strange
Cause I know we'd tried
(With all the tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
There goes my heart again
(Tearing and breaking down)
(Tearing my heart)
I can watch it fly away
Tearing and breaking down
Tearing my heart
All the tearing and breaking down
(Tearing my heart)
There goes my heart again
Tearing and breaking down
Tearing my heart
Tearing and breaking down
(Tearing my heart)
Watch my heart fly away, fly away, fly again
Tearing and breaking down
Tearing my heart
song performed by by Phil Collins
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Desert Rain for M lady Tara
A myriad of silver spears.
The raindrops pierce the earth below.
They rarely come and quickly go.
Then as expected there appears
questing green shoots which quickly grow
into a great variety
of pretty flowers seen to be
as fine as any flower show.
Selected by men carefully
to demonstrate how much they know
of cultivation sure and slow
and always scientifically.
The desert flowers daren’t be slow.
Their growing season is too short.
They set their seed just as the ought
within the soil and wait below.
Until the silver spears report
in massed array once again.
Bombard the thirsty earth with rain
to nourish growth of every sort.
Across the lifeless desert plain.
The seed are waiting patiently
until the raindrops set them free
from the dry soil to bloom again.
4-Oct-08
http: // blog.myspace.com/poetic piers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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Ode to Tomatoes
The street
filled with tomatoes
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera,
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhausible,
pop ulates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.
poem by Pablo Neruda
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Gone To Seed
“If you plant honesty, you’ll reap trust”
Aye, the seeds of doubt have been planted,
But such doubts are a must,
If wisdom’s to be granted…..
Seeds of valor, seeds of passion,
Seeds of equanimity;
Seeds that suit every fashion,
Of learning and acuity.
Leaders who sow such seeds of doubt,
Are welcome and accounted,
Than those who’d love to flaunt,
Are ones that are so vaunted.
Where honesty is a truthful story,
Tests one’s heart and mind;
Now enough’s been said of this allegory,
Dear readers: this truth you can find!
Copyright © SC
10th July 2007
Mumbai.
poem by Subroto Chatterjee
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Down Below
When you're stuck down below,
And no one will let you grow,
What seeds are you going to sow?
And who will you try to know?
It's up to you now,
Who will you allow,
To step into your heart?
Close your eyes and don't you cry, I won't lie,
Can't you feel the fire,
Burning in your heart,
See the light so bright,
Feel the heat set your heart alight,
No one can blow that candle out!
You will never be alone,
While you sit on your throne,
Darkness brings a chance for you to shine,
Your heart gives peace to a shouting mind,
Stillness brings a chance for you to sing,
The gentle melody of your mind,
Allowing us all to re-align,
Away from the daily grind,
Take a deep breath and let go,
Float free in Spirit's river,
Remember, you have a message to deliver!
Cosmic winds gonna blow,
Allowing you to know, which seeds to sow!
So when you are down below,
Just allow your seeds to grow!
4 August 2012
poem by David Andre' Klopper
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Another On The Rise
I was taken by surprise
I was haunted by his eyes
And the drink I came her for
Doesnt matter anymore
And the night wind falls
With the moonlight from above
Is it winter is it summer or is it love
And its probably cold outside
But I dont really feel it no
Every hour that passes by
Is another heart healer
And you cant stop the rain from falling down
On the new leaves of summer on the ground
And for every bright star that falls from the sky
Theres another
Oh another on the rise
Ive been broken
Ive been blind
Been afraid to look inside
But his words were soft and warm
What did I come her for
An abandoned garden lost
In bittersweet and queen annes lace
Looked inside where a single rose grew
There I saw loves face
And its probably cold outside
But I dont really feel it
Every hour that passes by
Is another heart healer
And you cant stop the rain from falling down
On the new leaves of summer on the ground
And for every bright star that falls from the sky
Theres another
Oh another on the rise
And its probably cold outside
But I dont really feel it
Every hour that passes by
Is another heart healer
And you cant stop the rain from falling down
On the new leaves of summer on the ground
And for every bright star that falls from the sky
Theres another
Oh another on the rise
On the rise
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Limbo Leaf
Mr.Leaf, Lays still on the
Misty Soil has
A story to narrate
A song to sing
A poem to recite
Of the plants, of the trees
Of the herbs and
Of the shrubs...
Mr.Leaf began...
Past went apart; Leaving me alone
Present presented tears; For me to wipe out
Future away from nature; To turn me to a corpse
Tear droplets sat on leaf
Which appeared alike dewdrops
The half dead leaf sheds tears
Yes! A pinch of life
Stays awake
In this pale & yellow leaf
Striving to say more
Mr.Leaf realised: -
Time to leave the plant
Time to accompany the land
Time to dissolve in the soil
It flew away
With the rythm of the wind
Dancing & dazzling
To the blacky-rocky land
There it lies cold & still
Waiting to be vanished
Down the soil pores.
poem by Mariya M. Jos
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When plants die
A recent poem by Chumfo asked
“Where do plants go when they die?
I’m not sure what to answer
But this is my reply:
Plants go where old dogs go
Where fields of greenery lie
Plants wake up in enchanted mist
that’s where they go when they die
Where there’s ol dogs and children
And lot’s of fertilizer… to boot
fresh spring rains…Deep dark loam
And potting soil to take root
Where there’s no Jolly Green Giant
No blight and no aphids too
Just the sun… the rain…the bird’s refrain
And a lot of good cow poo
poem by David Whalen
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