Homage to the Common Man
Step aside,
Kings and princes-
Hamlet, Lear and Othello,
Fictional tragic heroes,
For long
You have kept us
Mesmerised.
Here comes the common man,
Who watches in stupor
As his family is burnt alive.
The last time
He heard his
Dear wife’s voice
Was on the mobile,
Cinema hall is on fire,
There is no way
we can survive.
So this is goodbye.
He wondered,
Is it first April?
No she wouldn’t play
Such a practical joke,
He realised with shock
He maniacally charged,
And helplessly watched
Flames leaping in the sky,
Panic struck, people
Jumping, just to die.
Later, in the mortuary,
He couldn’t find
His son or wife
Burnt beyond recognition,
He walked out
Like an apparition,
Saying to no one,
They are gone
And I live
Am overcome with guilt…
Tragedy peeping
Out of his eyes
Those windows to the soul-
Having aged overnight
Unabashedly crying
I couldn’t even
Perform their last rites...
Who wrote
Their infernal destiny?
Piteously he cried.
He is the common man
He survives.
He doesn't have the luxury
Of indulging in existential
Soliloquies-
To be or not to be
Like Hamlet,
And rises like a proverbial
Phoenix, and finds
A reason to live,
And smile through his tears.
This poem is dedicated to all those who lost their families to a cruel fate, in a fire that engulfed a cinema hall in Delhi, almost a decade ago
and all everyday heroes who have lost loved ones in man made and natural disasters. They are the real heroes who reconstruct their lives, and stoically move on, even smile and rediscover laughter and joy.
23.09.08
Mamta
poem by Mamta Agarwal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Heroes Live Forever
You are the light that shines in everyone
The truth that's there for all to see
You are the voice that speaks to everyone
You're the heroes we'd all like to be
You live the dreams that lie within our soul
With a passion that cannot be denied
You bring the whole world together as one
And we'll always be by your side
And all the world will join in celebration
And all the world will share the joy you bring
And all the power, the hope and inspiration
In all their glory the nations all will sing
Heroes live forever
Heroes live forever
Always we'll remember
Heroes live forever
Since the dawn of history
(Since the dawn of history)
In searching for our destiny
(In searching for our destiny)
To be the best that we can be
(To be the best that we can be)
Heroes...
Heroes live forever
Heroes live forever
Always we'll remember
Heroes live forever
Heroes live forever
Heroes live forever
Always we'll remember
Heroes live forever...
song performed by by Vanessa Amorosi
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The real heroes
Bearing the rage of elements
Far from their loved ones
Exposing their lives to danger
Yet remain firm and dedicated
To the safety of the country
They are real heroes who wake up in the night
When we are in the bed
They toil at the border
When we enjoy with our family
They also have families and friends
They also pine for them
But country is a priority for them
They forget everything for the sake of the country
They live for the country
And they die for the country
They are not among them who never miss
A single chance to earn money
And yet called heroes
These so called heroes put the honour
Of the country at stake
But our soldiers put their live at stake
To save the country from embarrassment
They are the pillars of the country.
poem by Mohammad Akmal Nazir
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heroes
There are no super heroes in this world,
but there are heroes abound.
They are ordinary people
just like you and I.
They cannot leap tall buildings
with a single bound,
or scale walls with their fingertips.
They cannot fly without wings,
nor stop speeding cars
just by standing in front of them.
What they can do and do
is go out of their way to save lives.
They want no recognition
for the risks they sometimes take.
A spur of the moment action
is all their bravery takes.
They put their lives on the line
so others may live,
and then walk away from it
when it is all over
as if nothing happened at all.
These heroes have names and faces,
but are hardly known at all.
They are never out for fame,
just to help another living thing
that may be in distress.
Some are recognised and honoured;
others just go on their way
becoming unsung heroes
who just saved the day.
For all those unsung heroes
who are around us every day
this poem is my tribute
to you one and all
with a big thank you from us all.
You have shown us what real courage is.
You may not be known to many,
but to those you’ve helped
they will always remember you
as being the hero there
when they needed one the most.
20 July 2008
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heroes Dont Cry
Music :rudolf schenker
Lyrics:klaus meine
Heroes dont cry
Heroes dont cry
Standing here in front of you
A wave of joy and sadness fills the room
Your soul has crashed into a wall
Your world just broke to pieces after all
The days of your life
Leave the world standing outside
But you find the strength for a smile
Because heroes like you wouldnt cry
Heroes dont cry
Heroes dont cry
The judge decided its your right
To wake up from the dream of your life
The curtain is about to fall
No need for words, your eyes just say it all
The days of your life
Leave the world standing outside
You find the strength for a smile
Because heroes like you wouldnt cry
Heroes dont cry
There are days of your life
Leave the world standing outside
You find the strength for a smile
Because heroes like you wouldnt cry
Heroes dont cry
I cant forget that afternoon
So many times Ive been thinking of you
Im happy that youve decided to live
And what touches me most is what you said
Heaven can wait, can wait, can wait, ...
song performed by by Scorpions
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Your Hero
The heroes of the masses they live for their renown
And the masses create their heroes and then drag their heroes down
And the masses are unpredictable they change from day to day
And some of their heroes like the Autumn flowers are quick to fade away.
Yet there are millions of unsung heroes and they live on every street
And every day a hero I feel privileged to meet
True heroes male and female yet by the masses unsung
The World is full of heroes of heroes old and young.
Some heroes of the masses are arrogant and proud
And their egos over-swollen from the adulation of the crowd
But give me the unsung heroes who go their own quiet way
Who out of the kindness of their hearts perform one good deed every day.
Many heroes of the masses are not heroes to me
Though every day I walk the street some true hero I do see
Your hero is chauffeur driven and drinks the most expensive wine
And you can have your hero but your hero isn't mine.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Anna Nicole
In beauty and kindness, she was truly blessed
More often than not, put through life’s cruel test
Lost her son, her life she couldn’t recover
Couldn’t let her mourn alone, always they had to hover
People used and abused her, wouldn’t leave her alone
But when it came down to it, always on her own
One wealthy man, fell in love with the person she was
Tabloids and gossip were all the buzz
Maybe he was kind, and she loved him a lot
Don’t really think evil and greed were the plot
Everyone around, wanted all she could give
They made it so hard for her to live
Happiness doesn’t come to all that easy
They fed on her blood, so utterly sleazy
She had a new daughter, a light in her life
They fought over that, wanted to make her his wife
Did he love her, or need for much control
In her sons death, did he play a role
Did she die of an overdose, who played a part in that
Who would gain from her death is all the chat
A beautiful young troubled woman has lost her life
So many who knew her, in her back put a knife
Let’s pray for the family, and daughter she left behind
Let them live their life, can’t all be kind
They say she was on drugs, what does this matter now
Can’t they let her lie in piece, spare her loved ones some how
I shall mourn for her, a life so sadly lost
Money doesn’t matter now, she paid the ultimate cost!
poem by Donna Nimmo
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September 11
September 11 an ordinary day, wake up to the sound of the alarm.
A husband says goodbye to a wife, a wife says goodbye to husband. A dad says goodbye to his kids, a mother says goodbye to her kids, heading to their final destinations not realising that will be goodbye for ever.
A man, a woman arrives at the towers of doom. To them another tuesday just like every other tuesday, filling out paperworks, answering phones not knowing their lives were about to be deprived from them.
The simple joy of existing, not being able to feel the warmt of the
summer breeze, the touch of a loved one, the sweet songs of the birds,
the beauty of the sunset or all such wonders which we take for granted. Then suddenly BOOM, all those simple joys were gone along with the victims, no heroes of september 11, although gone they will never be forgetten, because they still exist through the hearts of their loved ones.
Dedicated to the Victims/Heroes of September 11
poem by Chrispin Johnson
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Here In Higglytown
(Theme to Higglytown Heroes)
Here in Higglytown
Things all jump around
Just like the Higglytown heroes
(Our heroes)
They all work together
Making fun together
Come see the Higglytown heroes
Eubie, Wayne, Twinkle, Kip and Fran
All hop and pop around
Soon they'll learn about real heroes
Who and why and how
Now
Here in Higglytown
We'll all jump around
And meet the Higglytown heroes
(Our heroes)
We'll all work together
Having fun together
With all the Higglytown heroes
Let's all play together
Save the day together
Come join the Higglytown heroes
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When I Heard That You Died
I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral.
I couldn’t look at your lifeless body, because it wasn’t you.
It was an empty shell, the empty shell of my best friend.
I couldn’t look at your peaceful face without crying, and I had cried enough.
I cried a lifetimes worth of tears when I heard that you died.
So, I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral.
But I did go down to the river, remember?
Where we liked to play and relax when we were younger.
I went down to the river and threw a flower in the water.
I watched it get sucked under and dragged away, and I thought of you flying up to heaven.
A brief smile crossed my face, until the tears once again began to cloud my vision.
Happy you are safe, but sad to say goodbye.
So, it turns out, even though I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral,
The tears will come, and will always come when I think about this day.
The day when I heard that you died.
poem by Rachel Brewer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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White Boys & Heroes
Were in the movies
Were heroes
We sparkle at night
Love among puppets
And one day
Ill pull all the strings
White boys and heroes
White boys and heroes
See boys say Im mayhem
Was my wife the doctor
The patient
Or something obscene
A history of nothing
Like a see-through song in disguise
Heroes are tough
And have no time
For women and boys
I wont cry
Till this thing is over
And someone agrees
White boys and heroes
White boys and heroes
See boys say Im mayhem
White boys and heroes
We have no time for celebration
We have no time left at all
White boys and heroes
song performed by by Gary Numan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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White Boys And Heroes
We're in the movies
We're heroes
We sparkle at night
Love among puppets
And one day
I'll pull all the strings
White boys and heroes
White boys and heroes
See boys say I'm mayhem
Was my wife the doctor
The patient
Or something obscene
A history of nothing
Like a see-through song in disguise
Heroes are tough
And have no time
For women and boys
I won't cry
Till this thing is over
And someone agrees
White boys and heroes
White boys and heroes
See boys say I'm mayhem
White boys and heroes
We have no time for celebration
We have no time left at all
White boys and heroes
G. Webb Jan '82
song performed by by Gary Numan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Heroes And Friends
I ain't live forever but i've lived enough
and i've learned to be gentle and i've learned to be tough
I've found only two things that last to the end
One is your heroes and the other your friends
Your heroes will help you find good in yourself
Your friends won't forsake you for somebody else
They'll both stand beside you thru thick and thru thin
and that's how it goes with heroes and friends
I grew up with cowboys i watched on tv
My friends and i sometimes pretended to be
Years have gone by but now and again
my heart rides the range with my heroes and friends
Your heroes will help you find good in yourself
Your friends won't forsake you for somebody else
They'll both stand beside you thru thick and thru thin
and that's how it goes with heroes and friends
Your heroes will help you find good in yourself
Your friends won't forsake you for somebody else
They'll both stand beside you thru thick and thru thin
and that's how it goes with heroes and friends
that's how it goes with heroes and friends
song performed by by Randy Travis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Unsung
Dead heroes hold an honoured place
in histories of the human race.
But I am forced to wonder why
we only honour those who die.
To live and raise a family
would seem to me to be.
A much more worthwhile thing to do.
Just common folk like me and you.
Who in their quiet way contrive
to keep the human race alive.
The heroes leave behind their fame
But I pass on the family name
ensuring immortality
at least for some small part of me.
(17-Jun-07)
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Cockatoo Twelve Years On '1995
It's been more than twelve years so they tell me since the flames of death passed through
Since the fire that caused destruction burnt it's way through Cockatoo
Lives were lost and houses burnt down blackened miles of countryside
And people wept for lost possessions for their life time work destroyed.
Tears for houses burnt to ashes, tears for lives lost in fierce flame
Tears for trees and paddocks blackened some say 'fire bug '
was to blame
Cockatoo a place of mourning only blackness to be seen
Only smell of smoke and burn out not one sign of Nature's green.
Twelve years on things seem so different Cockatoo looks green today
And who'd believe if you had not known that huge fire had burnt this way
Some still talk of their great losses and the hardships they'd been through
But they recovered built new houses and still live in Cockatoo.
Nature is her own best healer, Nature the true friend of man
Blackness caused by fire and burn out only last for a brief span
Cockatoo is one example what a change twelve years can bring
On green gum tree by the rail track i can hear the shrike thrush sing.
Here in cockatoo this morning fresh and pure the mountain air
Green the trees and green the paddocks green as i've seen anywhere
Twelve years back a blackened wasteland see how green she looks today
Nature is her own best healer and nature always has her way.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Calamity in London
'Twas in the year of 1897, and on the night of Christmas day,
That ten persons' lives were taken sway,
By a destructive fire in London, at No. 9 Dixie Street,
Alas! so great was the fire, the victims couldn't retreat.
In Dixie Street, No. 9, if was occupied by two families,
Who were all quite happy, and sitting at their ease;
One of these was a labourer, David Barber and his wife,
And a dear little child, he loved as his life.
Barber's mother and three sisters were living on the ground floor,
And in the upper two rooms lived a family who were very poor,
And all had retired to rest, on the night of Christmas day,
Never dreaming that by ~e their lives would be taken away.
Barber got up on Sunday morning to prepare breakfast for his family,
And a most appalling sight he then did see;
For he found the room was full of smoke,
So dense, indeed, that it nearly did him choke.
Then fearlessly to the room door he did creep,
And tried to aronse the inmates, who were asleep;
And succeeded in getting his own family out into the street,
And to him the thought thereof was surely very sweet.
And by this time the heroic Barber's strength was failing,
And his efforts to warn the family upstairs were unavailing;
And, before the alarm was given, the house was in flames,
Which prevented anything being done, after all his pains.
Oh! it was a horrible and heart-rending sight
To see the house in a blaze of lurid light,
And the roof fallen in, and the windows burnt out,
Alas! 'tis pitiful to relate, without any doubt.
Oh, Heaven! 'tis a dreadful calamity to narrate,
Because the victims have met with a cruel fate;
Little did they think they were going to lose their lives by fire,
On that night when to their beds they did retire.
It was sometime before the gutted house could be entered in,
Then to search for the bodies the officers in charge did begin;
And a horrifying spectacle met their gaze,
Which made them stand aghast in a fit of amaze.
Sometime before the firemen arrived,
Ten persons of their lives had been deprived,
By the choking smoke, and merciless flame,
Which will long in the memory of their relatives remain.
Oh, Heaven! if was a frightful and pitiful sight to see
Seven bodies charred of the Jarvis' family;
And Mrs Jarvis was found with her child, and both carbonised,
And as the searchers gazed thereon they were surprised.
And these were lying beside the fragments of the bed,
And in a chair the tenth victim was sitting dead;
Oh, Horrible! Oh, Horrible! what a sight to behold,
The charred and burnt bodies of young and old.
Good people of high and low degree,
Oh! think of this sad catastrophe,
And pray to God to protect ye from fire,
Every night before to your beds ye retire.
poem by William Topaz McGonagall
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Heroes & Friends
I aint live forever but Ive lived e-nough
I grew up with cowboys I watched on t-v
And Ive learned to be gentle and Ive learned to be tough
My friends and I sometimes pre-tended to be
Ive found only two things that last to the end
Years have gone by but now and again
One is your heroes the other your friends
My heart rides the range with my heroes and friends
Your heroes will help you find good in yourself
Your friends wont forsake you for somebody else.
Theyll both stand beside you thru thick and thru thin
And thats how it goes with heroes and friends
song performed by by Randy Travis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Heroes And Villains
I've been in this town so long that back in the city
I've been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long long time
Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the spanish and indian home
Home of the heroes and villains
Once at night catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually brought her down
But she's still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude'll do in a town full of heroes and villains
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Stand or fall i know there
Shall be peace in the valley
And it's all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains
My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow long ago
Head to toe healthy weathy and wise
I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff i'm alright
By the heroes and
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
song performed by by Beach Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Light of the Fire
As the daytime sun draws closer to rest
The light still lingers
The loving heat of a sun loved bliss turning cold
My heat refrained by my fire
My fire now alight
The crackle and snap of the wood so burnt
It provides my heat that the day sun will not
My friend in this increasing darkness
My companion whilst I tread upon my thoughts and memories
My item of the real world in my abundance of life
I see in my mind a many things lit by my fire
My friends the ones whom shall never judge me only love me
My partner the one who I shall always love and hope she does in return
My family particular to my cousins so young and unprepared
Waiting for me to help them through
And also my enemies the people who would hurt me and I would be happy to hurt in return
But I smile upon them, for if not for them how would I know what trust is
All my thoughts relate to a fire as for one spark and the whole thing can be burnt
But without the burning of flames ignited how would I live my Life?
Time to return now to tend my fire large it has grown such has life
Both need tending to see them continue and to keep me warm and satisfied for at least a bit longer.
poem by Daniel Laurence
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No Respect Dude
No respect dude the teenager said
Unhappy with me for not honouring the war dead
But his idea of what is respect is quite different to mine
He has his opinions and that suits me fine.
The making of a young soldier in some future day
To fight in a war from his homeland far away
For by his own admission that is all he aspires for to be
The heroes to him are not heroes to me.
Perhaps of emulating his ancestor the teenager does dream
But those he sees as heroes are not mine it does seem
My heroes believe in live and let live
And any perceived wrongs of the past are happy to forgive.
No respect dude words from one quite young
Perhaps one day too his praises will be sung
And though he may not survive to march in the war parade
At his grave site the last post for him will be played.
My advice to no respect dude is live long as you can
And forget about war live to be an old man
And watch your great grandchildren in the children's playground play
For life is for living as some are known to say.
poem by Francis Duggan
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What If
What if I couldn’t see?
I wouldn’t know how to be.
What if I couldn’t walk?
I wouldn’t be able to go to the park.
What if I couldn’t smell?
I wouldn’t know early monsoon shower smell.
What if I couldn’t feel?
I wouldn’t even know how to heal.
What if I couldn’t taste?
All the gourmet food would go to waste.
What if I couldn’t touch?
I wouldn’t know love as such.
What if I couldn’t cry?
I wouldn’t be able to let go of grief even if I try.
What if I couldn’t smile?
I wouldn’t be able to feel light even for a while.
I can do all of these things
Lord, it’s a blessing.
, These are the gifts
We realize when we are unfit.
I have really no clue
How the less privileged do.
I guess with courage and acceptance
They go on with grace.
poem by Mamta Agarwal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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