An Old Book Store
There is an old bookstore, on the other side of town.
The owner, a man of gentle disposition and kindly mold,
Changed an empty, cold, commercial store into a warm
And friendly shop.
With faith, hope and trust, he stirred a pound
Of old Americana with a cup of European flare.
Then, he added good old Texas charm to complement the mix.
The symmetry of shelves gives one a feeling of congenial Cordiality. Their polished woods, mahogany and oak, colored by The hand of age, exposes one to welcome warmth and shades of Soothing calm. It is a grand repository, holding silent urns of Moldered learning, side by side, with tomes of modern thought.
So come, indulge yourself and spend a guiltless hour seeking
Out a seldom-read old book found back in some secluded niche.
Imbibe the long, settled wine of knowledge poured from ancient
Literary ewers, filled with vintage scholarship.
Walk the paths of knowing, knowing they were walked
Before by half-remembered authors, with half-forgotten names.
Allow the spirit of the hour to pass unfettered through the Mind, where re-awakened literature supplies the substance of the Past and gives insight unto the future.
Rise to the superior society of your own thoughts,
Where memory turns to gaze on time gone by,
Illuminated by the flame of Future's dawn.
poem by Lynn W. Petty

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Related quotes
Walking together
Long back
When you were you
And I was I
We walked together side by side
Trying to keep our thoughts
Hand in hand
Fumbling for sameness
And painting for an abstract future
We walked together awake or in slumber
Holding the thought of togetherness
In the midst of a vortex
Then
We walked together
Step in step
When I became you
And you became me
We walked miles together
Having together a sip of life
Even if it was sweet or elixir
Bitter or with venom
Tasting each other's tears
imaging inner souls and
flying high and falling down to hell
we walked together
Suddenly
a thought of teasing
you vanish as a dewdropp
but still we walk together
it's not for others but I feel your touch
holding my little finger
to transfer unseen strength
to complete the journey
we walk together
my slow steps in your long strides
my tired soul
getting consoled in your unseen hands
my feathery body
leaning on your shoulder
we walk together
day and night
till the twilight of life
we walk together
poem by Swatee Sripada

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Inward Burning Fire
It's a dark path now - I don't know where it leads.
I only know you're not on it.
Insufficient light comes from the flame in my heart.
The fire you started.
This flame rages seeking fuel to burn and survive.
Give me some coal dust from your hair.
Just some green driftwood shavings from your eyes.
Your oaken wood hands warming mine - they're so cold now.
Better yet, an answering warmth
from the fire burning in your heart for mine.
Nothing serves to heal a dying flame as that meeting would.
But that's my fire seeking what will not be found on this path.
So, the flame turns inward to die out.
I hide the smoke.
It was always enough for you alone to know of this kindling within.
In the flame's death it must be secret still.
The fire consumes internally,
seeking out each memory hidden away.
Consuming every thought I ever had of you.
No one knows the fire's rage
until it turns to them and touches.
It will burn on inward
until it has devoured every memory, every feeling
with sustenance left in it.
It's a painful death,
but once the fire exists
it can only consume until it dies.
I know this science. I accept.
I accepted long ago.
The fire is so warm when first kindled.
Soon, I hope and fear,
only ash will be left.
The pain will be over.
I know I'll be cold but I'll rest.
As for now, while it's still burning,
I will make one vow.
I will save one tiny ember.
I will try to keep it warm and safe.
Just in case the path turns - and there you are.
And if a spark still remains within you too
this dear and dreaded fire can rise again.
Though more likely I know -
my little ember will serve only to remind me what warmth was
and burn my fingers.
poem by Meli Secret

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Knowing you
Exhausted and tired, I met you,
All the right reasons I saw,
Asked for a hand you gave me both,
Called for care I received love,
Knowing you knowing love
Shivering without any hope,
I asked for warmth i got heat,
In your tender arms i rested,
Darling give me more
Knowing you is knowing love
You took me by the hand,
Whispered in my ear,
You called me to your side,
You loved so dearly,
Take my hand you will see,
Love is becoming us,
Knowing you is knowing love
Tell me you love me,
With words im healed,
With the gentle touch im in ecstacy,
Knowing you was a fortune,
Like a beggar finding gold,
Knowing you was knowing love
poem by Gaylord Munemo

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By Your Side
I wasn't myself for so many years it seemed
Cold and confused my mind lost in the shadows
When I awoke I could see so much clearer
Held high it seems I won't be there to hear her
And I won't be by your side
No way of knowing
And I won't be by your side
Well I'll take my chances
In this place I was left for dead
Held down and mocked by all eyes watching
Now free well I'll be standing much taller
What won't kill me makes me stronger
And I won't be by your side
No way of knowing
And I won't be your side
Well I'll take my chances
And I won't be by your side
I'm free from you chains
And I won't be by your side
There's no time to cry
song performed by by Default from Fallout

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Not Saying Goodbye at Gate 21
(Wellington NZ: September 2010)
The final call
for boarding
hand-luggage scanned,
the last, forgotten,
canned drink binned.
I watch him through the glass
walk to the door and hand
over his printed pass.
He waves,
makes the clown's face
that means 'Cheer up,
this time, I won't be gone
for long'. He turns,
then turns back, lifts one hand
to the terrorist-proof glass. We place
palm to palm
remembered skin
on either side of the cold surface.
Abruptly,
already past tense,
he has wheeled off towards
the journey and, unlike Orpheus,
not looking back.
I watch the swerve
of his head, his coat flap. Then
the screen says
'Gate closed. Boarded' and
I walk away with his absence.
poem by Kathleen Jones

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Love Comes From The Other Side Of Town
(Fred J. Freiling)
When things get bad at home, you don't feel like being alone,
And you find yourself inclined to look around.
For the feelings we once shared are just no longer there,
And love comes from the other side of town.
Where love means just an hour with your stand in,
And not an empty house where love just has been.
Since everything we've built with love was not on solid ground,
Now love comes from the other side of town.
The life I'm livin' now just don't seem right somehow,
But it's the best way to get by that I've found.
There's no love left at home, we're both just hangin' on,
And love comes from the other side of town.
Where love means just an hour with your stand in,
And not an empty house where love just has been.
Since everything we've built with love was not on solid ground,
Now love comes from the other side of town.
Love comes from the other side of town
song performed by by George Strait

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Have Gone Long, Long Time
I have gone long, long time
Not knowing where to find you-
Peace was never meant for me,
Only heartache and tears-
I have gone long, long time
Without you, darling,
Losing hope that we'll ever
Be together,
But I walked alone and stayed
The course-
I have gone long, long time
Thinking of you, knowing
It was you who would be
There in the end-
The light that would lead me
Back home.
I have gone long, long time
Loving you and missing you,
Knowing well that the path
Would be winding and filled
With pain.
I have gone long, long time
Through the rivers of solitude,
Through the nights of despair,
Through the crowds of anonymity-
Just to hear your voice crystal clear,
Just to touch your lips and feel
The warmth of your hands,
Embracing me.
I have gone long, long time
Through the hills of pain
And the deserts of banality,
Through the corridors filled
With empty laughter and ignorance.
I have gone long, long time
Just to tell you I love you, darling.
March 7,2006
poem by Alexander Shaumyan

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My Side Of Town
(wade hayes/chick rains)
Well I heard it through the grapevine
I guess it must be true
I heard that crowd youre running with
Has changed your attitude
Its been a month of sundays
Since youve been around
But you always had a good time
On my side of town
I knew that you were born to
The finer things in life
Caviar and foreign cars and bright big city lights
Now youre out there dancin
In a fancy evening gown
But you always had a good time
On my side of town
Dont forget the one who really loves you
When the glamour starts to let you down
And Ill be right there waitin
til you come back around
cause you always had a good time
On my side of town
I still dream about you
Every time the music starts
I still hold you close to me
Even though were far apart
If I ever cross your mind
You know where Im bound
cause you always had a good time
On my side of town
Dont forget the one who really loves you
When the glamour starts to let you down
Ill be right here waitin
till you come back around
cause you always had a good time
On my side of town
You always had a good time
On my side of town
song performed by by Wade Hayes

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Written In Stone
I'm gonna take you down to the riverside
Where the water runs slow and wide
There's a big ole rock out in the middle
And I took my hammer and chisel
And worked all night so you could see
Just how much you mean to me
I carved your name right next to mine
And it'll be there till the end of time
And my love will last at least that long
It's written in stone how I feel for you
It's written in stone what I want to do
Spend my life and life hereafter loving you
And darling if we live to be 100
Or if we don't make it half that long
I want you to know how I feel for you
Is written in stone
There's a place on the edge of town
When I was a kid I found
Two names on a stone together
Lying side by side forever
And it was then and there I knew
If I ever thought a love was true
I'd surely want to write it down
On something that would be around
When all the spoken words have come and gone
It's written in stone how I feel for you
It's written in stone what I want to do
Spend my life and life hereafter loving you
And darling if we live to be 100
Or if we don't make it half that long
I want you to know what I feel for you
Is written in stone
And when this life has come and gone
Our love will still be
Written in stone how I feel for you
Written in stone what I want to do
Spend my life and life hereafter loving you
And darling if we live to be 100
Or if we don't make it half that long
I want you to know how I feel for you
Is written in stone
song performed by by Randy Travis

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Survival Of Love
On a mid-winter's night
when the stars were bright
a stranger came into town.
As he looked around
it was then that he found
that all of the ground was white.
It was beautiful to see
and he wondered if she
would be looking out at the snow?
All the time he'd been gone
as he approached the front lawn,
he prayed that there she would be.
His hands were so cold.
They were wrinkled and old
but they remembered the feel of her face.
So much time had passed by.
Many tears they did cry,
not knowing what their future did hold,
In between all the years
there'd been so many tears
not knowing where he did go?
He'd been hit on the head
robbed and then left for dead.
but survived and as his head clears
He cannot recall
who he is at all.
No memories of whom he had been.
What was his name?
Was he insane?
Amnesia had created a wall.
He had a wife
who prayed for his life,
never giving up hope he'd return.
Every day she would go
and look out at the snow
as the years had brought nothing but strife.
Not knowing at all that his amnesia's wall
came suddenly crumbling down.
He remembered his past.
He traveled there fast
and he came to the town of snowfall.
As he approached in the snow
she was at the window,
looking at what she thought was a ghost.
Trembling to see
Was it really he?
She opened the door very slow.
She felt his hand.
His hand held a strand
of her hair that was white like the snow.
They couldn't let go
for they both did know
that their lives ended just as God planned.
poem by Edwina Reizer

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Listen
I hear the
Whispering of the ocean’s waves and
The rhythm of the rays of the sun
Striking the pathways upon
Which I walk while
I try to find
Who I am and when
My spirit shall rise from
Memories of the past that
Sear my very soul and
Above the screaming of
My thoughts that echo throughout
The chambers of my madness;
I search for an answer to my silent tears that have
Filled my eyes so that I am blinded and
Cannot see what the future holds-
Past memories of abuse, pain and
Terrifying delusions are fading and disappearing
And carried away within a gentle breeze-
I may never touch the sky or
Find myself a saint or crowned a queen and
I will surely die someday and
Never be remembered-
I am content inside the world of my thoughts,
The changing of the seasons is musical and
Magical to me-
As the sun throws its rays in every direction
And as I feel my spirit rising and escaping from
The depths of past nightmares,
I look up at the sky and see that
All of the clouds have vanished-
Angels are singing each their own arias as
I am grateful and satisfied to be
Hearing the whispering of the ocean’s waves,
As I believe I have found who I am-
The pathway upon which I walk carries me
Towards the new life filled with hope and joy that awaits me-
I may not know what the future holds but in my own way-
I have touched the sky as the ocean’s waves have washed my tears away-
I shall live my life to its fullest as I am rewarded to be here
Just listening to the ocean’s waves whispering as they
Lap against the shore to carry the sadness of past memories away…
poem by Claudia Krizay

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How Can You Sleep?
How can you sleep, knowing that the one who Really do Loves you Feels Bad He Let You Go?
How can you sleep, knowing that the one who Really Loves you cant sleep at night?
How can you sleep, knowing that the one who Really do Loves you cant Eat Because you are no longer there?
How Can you sleep, knowing that all he wants to do is hear your voice every night before he goes to sleep?
How can you sleep, knowing that everyday all he do is long for your touch and the warmth of your Lips?
How can you sleep, knowing that your on his mind everyday, Minute, Hour, Second?
How can you sleep, knowing your his one and only, even when your not together?
How can you sleep, telling him truth about him but not being true to yourself?
How can you sleep, not telling him what you know you want him to know?
How can you sleep, knowing he put his trust in you and you let him down?
How can you know so much yet so little?
How Would You Sleep Knowing That One Day Soon Will Be The Last Day You Ever See Him Again Knowing He Did You So Good And Yet One Day You Let Him Down?
poem by Nathaniel Hayes

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Sleep is Where We Venture
into the realm of an unconscious experience
where dreams are places that take us
through dervish wishes, whirling hopes and
creative feverish elixir
brewing fantasy and lusting envision
beings of no significant magnificence
an awakened spirit of time-less thought
spent of that which conjures the future
past and poetic unpredictable rhetoric
hear thee, the silent chatter of mind
fathoming the depths of where creative
fragrance elude their recipe of words
passion and conscious perturbation
Love sanctions warmth, in the chill
quill offering of this half awakening
evening of - literary, orgasmic passion
2.26.2008
4: 32 AM
poem by Louie Levy

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Father, Son
Father, son
Locked as one
In this empty room
Spine against spine
Yours against mine
Till the warmth comes through
Remember the breakwaters down by the waves
I first found my courage
Knowing daddy could save
I could hold back the tide
With my dad by my side
Dogs, plows and bows
We move through each pose
Struggling in our seperate ways
Mantras and hymns
Unfolding limbs
Looking for release through the pain
And the yogi's eyes are open
Looking up above
He too is dreaming of his daddy's love
With his dad by his side
Got his dad by his side
Can you recall
How you took me to school
We couldn't talk much at all
It's been so many years
And now these tears
Guess I'm still a child
Out on the moors
We take a pause
See how far we have come
You're moving quite slow
How far can we go
Father and son
With my dad by my side
With my dad by my side
Got my dad by my side
With me
song performed by by Peter Gabriel

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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That Last Time
That was the last time
you saw her alive
going into a store
with some guy
you assumed
was her husband
and she looked over at you
as you sat opposite the store
and smiled her smile
like she used to
way back in 62
when it was just
she and you
sitting by the pond
or walking through
the small wood
talking as you used to
with youth on your side
and love hanging on
a chain about your neck
and that was back then
that day you were just
an observer outside
a store watching her
walk by with some other
not knowing Mr Death
was trailing her
even then
that cancer
maybe even as she walked
touching her
with its oily finger
oh how men love and lose
but the great memory
of her will hold
and ever linger.
poem by Terry Collett

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Empty Can
An empty can all alone
Wandering the street with fleshless bone
Only the artist design bluff on the surface
But still rust peeped, praying to grab his whole face
It linger up and down the town on careless heads
I was clean and fit polished and neath when my owner first helds
Now I sleeps out side the house under market table
I'm empty and baseless with nowhere to go or no one to call my people
Whole night I stand and lay thinking how important it had been
When I was holding water, endless love is the best I had seen
They bath me twice every day and poured water on me which is only safe to drink
If anyone careless me, my mother will spill his skin ink
but since water started passing through my anus and purse
There even mother started being careless saying I've ran my course
I'm an empty can rattling my way aimlessly
I'm a ball I'm being kicked everywhere Uselessly
I'm an empty can I will lift battling feet who cannot stand
Since I can no more hold climax of knowledge hand
I'm an empty I wish I had all to gain knowledge
And I swear i'll help anyone who had his whole heart pledge
poem by Kemurl Fofanah

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Victorious Living
My friend all Believers need to grow, in their Savior whom they know,
For when troubles do abound, you need a faith that’s sure and sound.
As many people believe my friend, however saving faith isn’t the end,
The enemy prowls each day and hour, looking for men he can devour.
We need to be close to God’s side, where in His shadow we can hide,
And as you walk close to The Lord, The Holy Spirit can use you more.
To comfort a dear friend or a brother, one who’s been hurt by another,
Taking them to God’s healing place, that’s in the shadow of His Grace.
God did much more for us when, through His Son we were Born Again,
He want’s us now to walk with Him, The One who died for all of our sin.
To walk with Christ in God’s Love, filled with the knowledge from above,
Knowledge from The Eternal Source, to help us stay His narrow course.
All things we can truly do, through Christ who strengthens me and you,
God helps us walk a higher plane, gaining power through Christ’s name.
Power men receive from Jesus Christ, who died to give men a New Life,
So against the devil we can stand, when we fully rely on the Son of Man.
He who is in you is Greater than, the one who is in this world my friend,
But we need to tap The Spirit’s power, daily friend each and every hour,
And this as we allow The Word of God, to light the pilgrim paths we trod.
Only then can we live in Victory, through the One who died you and me.
(Copyright ©10/2006)
I Need Your Love
Something deep inside of me
Keeps holding on to your memory
How I've tried to find someone new
But everywhere I look
It's you that I see
Don't you know
That my whole life has changed
I can't look in the past
Without feeling the pain
And that night all alone I just cried
And I hope and I pray
You'll be back by my side
I need your love
Everyday seems forever without you
I need your love
Tell me that you'll come back to me
All my friends tell me I'll be ok
That someday I'll forget you
And I love once again
But someday seems so far away
And I know I won't make it
Without you in the end
Tell me how can I go on this way
Knowing that someone else
Could be taken my place
Tell me where in the world could I be
If I wake up each morning
And you're not there with me
I need your love
Everyday seems forever without you
I need your love
Tell me that you'll come back to me
song performed by by Miami Sound Machine from Eyes Of Innocence

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Changed By Love
I have seen the full moon breakin'
From behind the raging storm
Saw a rainbow in the makin'
Watched my baby being born
But I never saw the seventh wonder
Watched a hawk turn to a dove
'till I saw a cold heart....
Changed By Love.
Now I'm Changed By Love.
I have been a disbeliever
A doubting Thomas in my time
Did he walk upon the water?
Did the water turn to wine?
I threw my head back to the thunder
Asked for proof from high above
And then I saw a family
Changed By Love.
Now I'm Changed By Love.
(Bridge)
Now we will open our hearts
Put an end to this madness, my friend
If we hold on to each other and walk side by side
There's no battle on earth we can't win........together
From a father to a daughter
From a mother to a son
Let their love shine up to Heaven
Let it shine for everyone
Whisper to a hopeless stranger
Tie a message to a dove
Let him fly into a future
Changed By Love.
(Refrain)
Whisper to a hopeless stranger
Tie a message to a dove
Send him off into a future
Changed By Love.
...now we're Changed By Love.....
Now the Heavens surrendered the answer to me
I'm Changed By Love.
(Repeat)
song performed by by 38 Special

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hard Luck
I left the course, and by my side
There walked a ruined tout --
A hungry creature, evil-eyed,
Who poured this story out.
"You see," he said, "there came a swell
To Kensington today,
And, if I picked the winners well,
A crown at least he's pay.
"I picked three winners straight, I did;
I filled his purse with pelf,
And then he gave me half-a-quid
To back one for myself.
"A half-a-quid to me he cast --
I wanted it indeed;
So help me Bob, for two days past
I haven't had a feed.
"But still I thought my luck was in,
I couldn't go astray --
I put it all on Little Min,
And lost it straightaway.
"I haven't got a bite or bed,
I'm absolutely stuck;
So keep this lesson in your head:
Don't over-trust your luck!"
The folks went homeward, near and far,
The tout, oh! where is he?
Ask where the empty boilers are
Beside the Circular Quay.
poem by Andrew Barton Paterson

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