The Torrent
OH torrent, roaring in thy giant fall,
And thund'ring grandly o'er th' opposing blocks,
Thy voice, far louder than the lion's call,
Through trackless forests shakes the heart of rocks,
Runs through the marrow of the earth with shocks,
Lashes the clouds with terror, for they fly
Along the high wide blue with streaming locks,
And round thee foam white dazzling flashes high
And with forked water-flames half licks the central sky.
Oh, what a storm of waters! Oh, what chasms
Of foam! what seething hills! what whirling rain!
Billows on billows press, though torn by spasms;
Wounded and bleeding, yet defying pain!
They grappled with the stones, that gnash in vain
Their cruel teeth, for smarting wounds they brave,
And toss in scorn their wildly flowing mane,
When with exulting cries big wave on wave
Rolls with a mighty sweep o'er a slain foeman's grave.
Roll on, great torrent, with triumphal song,
Through caverned cliff, through rock and mountain roll;
Force all the barriers that around thee throng,
Thou know'st th' eternal ocean for thy goal.
Hence thine impetuous rush, and roar, and roll;
Hence thy wild heavings as thou flow'st amain;
Hence thy far-reaching and tempestuous call
For stream and river, brook and rill and rain,
Thou on thy Titan breast would'st carry to the main.
Roll on! The heavens are with thee, for they fling
Their lovely rainbows round thy gleaming brow;
Rainbows, that like the crown of heroes cling
For ever round thee with their magic glow;
Or like the wondrous halo which will flow
Around the martyr's head; for those sweet hues,
They hover round thee in thy weal and woe,
Like love, that with its tender tears bedews
And heals the bitter pain of ev'ry earthly bruise!
Roll on! with a white heat upon thy way!
Lo yon, a little tiny woodland bird
Flits on wet wing through all the surf and spray,
And settles on a jagged rock unscared,
Round whose grim base a billowy din is heard;
A bright amazèd ray from its black eyes
It darts around, and listens not afeared--
Then diamond-powdered to the woods it flies,
And sings to forest ears the mighty melodies.
E'en thus thou art! for that Titanic stream
But a material symbol was of thee!
A dim reflection of thy being did seem
Thou man, high-souled as son of man can be!
Into whose mind, vast, noble, pure, and free,
Flash awful revelations light-like in:
Unveiling spiritual laws to thee;
Great central truths, that glow all life within,
That move the nations on, and make the planets spin.
Thou hero! for through prejudice's walls,
That lock up earth against the quick'ning floods,
And 'gainst the fresh regenerating falls
Of young ideas, that in sprouting mood
Seethe like new wine, stirred by the grape's hot blood,
In the old bottles; thou, oh, brave and bold!
Didst force thy way, crushing night's deathly brood,
As George the sainted, in the days of old--
The dragon, who beneath his footstep writhing roll'd.
Dragons, alas! still darken the green earth,
War with the good, the beautiful, the wise;
From gulfs of ancient night they've issued forth,
And with their shadowy wings blot out the skies;
Old creeds that gasp forth curses, tyrannies
All foul with feeding on their own decay,
Old cramping forms, and crippling social lies,
Whose venomous breathing with corruption slay,
Like loathsome rattlesnakes that glut upon their prey.
But thou assail'st them, fearless, though they spurt
Their reeking poison in thy smarting face;
And careless of thy bruises and thy hurt,
Thou still press'st on with an undaunted pace;
A bold path-finder for the coming race,
And in thy faith, strong as the morning star,
Piercing the welt'ring clouds with lucent rays;
Thy voice, a light above time's din and war,
Proclaimeth to mankind the rosy dawn afar!
Thou martyr! for the world it knows thee not,
Scoffs at thee, scorns thee, rails and laughs and sneers;
With barbèd darts embitters thy hard lot,
As oft of old to prophets and to seers;
With its bleared sight the veil it cannot pierce,
And see the future rise upon the days!
Thus persecutes with hatred blind and fierce,
And, 'stead of crowns plucked from the living bays,
It binds thy brows with thorns--thorns that will turn to rays!
Still from thy heart's vast deeps the shouts arise,
And swell along, a rushing lava stream--
A lava stream of burning melodies,
Shaking thy brethren from a sluggish dream,
To strive and be the thing they fain would seem;
With thee, false custom's cramping bounds to leap,
To trust the rising of the virgin beam,
And at thy call through death and danger sweep
Towards the free, the pure, the renovating deep.
And still around thee, thro' the battle's roar,
Shimmers in splendour and unfading bloom,
Brighter than moonlight on the seething shore,
Sweeter than roses clust'ring round the tomb,
Born of the struggle with the fatal gloom;
A subtle gleam, fleeting 'mid tears and ruth,
A dewy prophecy of days to come,
When one great rainbow, love, and light and truth,
Encircle will the world with an eternal youth!
But I, behold, like to the tiny thing,
The forest bird; I feel a magic spell,
That draws me strongly on uncertain wing
Away from all the violet woodland smell,
To hear the words that from thy spirit well:
Enchained, entranced, oh! let me list, while flame
And dazzling light in billows round me swell;
Then flying back to shades from whence I came
I will heroic deeds, prophetic words, proclaim.
poem by Mathilde Blind

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The Love Sonnets Of Proteus. Part IV: Vita Nova: CVI
THE SUBLIME
To stand upon a windy pinnacle,
Beneath the infinite blue of the blue noon,
And underfoot a valley terrible
As that dim gulf, where sense and being swoon
When the soul parts; a giant valley strewn
With giant rocks; asleep, and vast, and still,
And far away. The torrent, which has hewn
His pathway through the entrails of the hill,
Now crawls along the bottom and anon
Lifts up his voice, a muffled tremulous roar,
Borne on the wind an instant, and then gone
Back to the caverns of the middle air;
A voice as of a nation overthrown
With beat of drums, when hosts have marched to war.
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

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By The Rosanna--To F.M. Stanzer Thal, Tyrol
The old grey Alp has caught the cloud,
And the torrent river sings aloud;
The glacier-green Rosanna sings
An organ song of its upper springs.
Foaming under the tiers of pine,
I see it dash down the dark ravine,
And it tumbles the rocks in boisterous play,
With an earnest will to find its way.
Sharp it throws out an emerald shoulder,
And, thundering ever of the mountain,
Slaps in sport some giant boulder,
And tops it in a silver fountain.
A chain of foam from end to end,
And a solitude so deep, my friend,
You may forget that man abides
Beyond the great mute mountain-sides.
Yet to me, in this high-walled solitude
Of river and rock and forest rude,
The roaring voice through the long white chain
Is the voice of the world of bubble and brain.
poem by George Meredith

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Rallying song for freedom in the north to
Dishonored by the higher, but loved by all the low,-
Say, is it not the pathway that the new has to go?
By those who ought to guard it betrayed, oh yes, betrayed,-
Say, is it not thus truth ever progress has made?
Some summer day beginning, a murmur in the grain,
It grows to be a roaring through the forests amain,
Until the sea shall bear it with thunder-trumpets' tone,
Where nothing, nothing's heard but it alone, it alone.
With Northern allies warring we take the Northern
For God and for our freedom-is the watchword we bring.
That God, who gave us country and language, and all,
We find Him in our doing, if we hear and heed His call.
That doing we will forward, we many, although weak,
'Gainst all in fearless fighting, who the truth will not seek:-
Some summer day beginning, a murmur in the grain,
It goes now as a roaring through the forests amain.
'T will grow to be a storm ere men think that this can be,
With voice of thunder sweeping o'er the infinite sea.
What nation God's call follows, earth's greatest power shall show,
And carry all before it, though it high stand or low.
poem by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

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I Hear Your Voice
So many nights thought that I was doing fine
Thought that time had chased your picture from my mind
So many times thought my heart was finally strong
Now I find this heart of mine was so wrong
I thought Id finally learned to get on with my life
I hear your voice-(call)
Your voice (call)
Your voice (call)
The way it used to do
I feel my heart (fall)
I try to keep you off my mind
But every time I do, I hear your voice
So many days I thought that I could love again
But any fool in love would know thats all pretend
You always seem to find your way
Back in my dreams and I cant break free
Chorus
You know I tried so many times just to forget you
Ive tried to walk away from you
Oh girl, its just no use
I hear your voice (call)
Your voice (call)
Your voice (call)
Calling me.. calling me the way...
I feel my heart (fall)
I try to keep you off my mind
But every time I do,
I hear your voice
I hear your voice
I hear your voice
song performed by by Lionel Richie

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lion
LION
A MAN WALKED DOWN A LONELY AVENUE AND SUDDENLY HE SAW A LION! HE RAN OFF SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE! LION! LION! !
AND A MAN SITTING AT A CORNER KIOSK HEARD HIM SHOUTING LION! LION! ! AS HE RAN PAST THE CORNER KIOSK! WHAT A WAY TO CALL TO THY PET! I ALSO HAVE A DOG NAMED TIGER! STATED THE MAN!
poem by Overlord Don Manuel Ihcakeyno

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Ring Ring
I was sitting by the phone
I was waiting all alone
Baby by myself I sit and wait and wonder about you
Its a dark and dreary night
Seems like nothings going right
Wont you tell me honey how can I go on here without you?
Yes Im down and feeling blue
And I dont know what to do, oh-oh
Ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all
Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall
And I sit all alone impatiently
Wont you please understand the need in me
So, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
So, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
You were here and now youre gone
Hey did I do something wrong?
I just cant believe that I could be so badly mistaken
Was it me or was it you?
Tell me, are we really through?
Wont you hear me cry and you will know that my heart is breaking
Please forgive and then forget
Or maybe darling better yet, oh-oh
Ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all
Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall
And I sit all alone impatiently
Wont you please understand the need in me
So, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
So, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
Oh-oh, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
So, ring, ring, why dont you give me a call?
song performed by by ABBA

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Giant Thunder
Giant Thunder, striking hard
I wonder if anyone's heard
Its not raining hard
But this Thunder is roaring louder
Women, children runing
Helter skelter
Not done yet? This roaring Thunder is shouting even louder
I fright at the sight
I want to join the women
Children running
Even the trees and wind have
Joined in this chaos
Women, children, men, even
Wind, trees running helter skelter
The Thunder never stops striking
And the Cloud, never stops crying.
poem by Efe Benjamin

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Where Are The Lionheart
Destiny took me in her arms and told me:
"You're a little lost on the fall.
You fall for all the men
You shouldn't fall for all at all."
Ooh, I know she knows, but still I go on,
Well, I'm a fool.
Climbing up the ladders
To slide down the adders
On the rocks,
On the rocks,
On the rocks,
On the rocks...
Joan of Arc walks into my mirror,
A burning sword.
I'd like to cry.
I look into her eyes.
I see she's seen the long days and night.
"Ooh," she says,
"The games are still the same, I see,
But they've changed the names now.
Are all Lionhearts put in parks, apart?"
Lionhearts in the asylums,
Lionhearts tossed at sea,
Lionhearts who've lived their lives, like Arthur.
Lionhearts in cathedrals,
Lionhearts at mournings,
Lionhearts in every seed
But they're sown
On the rocks,
On the rocks,
On the rocks,
On the rocks...
Somebody I couldn't see
Tied me up and put me away,
Here on the rocks,
Here on the rocks,
Here on the rocks...
song performed by by Kate Bush

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Fantasy Is Reality/bells Of Madness
Sunset blood drained from the sky
Desires found the night to die
But when I hear the bells of madness ring
I will listen to the silence
Love is louder than anything
And peaceful in its violence
Serious in making chains
The voices of greed all sound the same
But when I hear the bells of madness ring
I will listen to the silence
Love is louder than anything
And peaceful in its violence
Fantasy is reality
I love my fantasy
Reality is fantasy
Just dont call it reality, oh no
Tunnel pain is falling fast
Into the fear that time will last
But when I hear the bells of madness ring
I will listen to the silence
Love is louder than anything
And peaceful in its violence
Im so tired of the lies they tell
Find the truth they cant buy or sell
But when I hear the bells of madness ring
I will listen to the silence
Love is louder than anything
And peaceful in its violence
Fantasy is reality
I love my fantasy
Reality is fantasy
Just dont call it reality, oh no
song performed by by Wilsons

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Tryst
I.
I went, alone, to the old familiar place
Where we often met,--
When the twilight soften'd thy bright and radiant face
And the sun had set.
All things around seem'd whispering of the past,
With thine image blent--
Even the changeful spray which the torrent cast
As it downward went!
I stood and gazed with a sad and heavy eye
On the waterfall--
And with a shouting voice of agony
On thy name did call!
II.
With a yearning hope, from my wrung and aching heart
I call'd on thee--
And the lonely echoes from the rocks above
They answer'd me!
Glad and familiar as a household word
Was that cherish'd name
But in that grieving hour, faintly heard,
'T was not the same!
Solemn and sad, with a distant knelling cry,
On my heart it fell--
'T was as if the word 'Welcome' had been answer'd by
The word 'FAREWELL!'
poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

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The Call
I hear an Army!
Millions of men coming up from the edge of the world,
The ring of unnumbered feet ever louder and louder
Comes on and an like a mighty untameable tide,
Steady, implacable, out of the North and the South,
Out of the East, and the West, they answer the call
Of her who stands, her eyes towards God and the stars,
Liberty, daughter of God, calling her men.
What manner of men are these? Like the desert sands
Uncounted, many as locusts, darkening the sky?
White men, black men, men of the tawny gold,
Golden-eyed like the lion, sons of the sun,
Men from the snow, their eyes like frost or a sword:
They have but one heart, one desire, they run one way.
Hurrying, hurrying to the shrill trumpet call.
Men from the ice-floes, men from the jungles come;
This from the arms of his bride, that from his dead.
Men from the plough, the mart, the mill and the street
They run: they are heroes: the fire fuses them all.
Head uplifted and proud, like heroes they step,
Singing their battle song in the troubled dawn
Of the day of Liberty, flaming torch of the world.
I hear an Army!
poem by Katharine Tynan

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Roaring higher
My fire in heart is aggressive
Keeps burring all time
Roaring higher! Roaring higher!
My fire can destruct the jealous world
Till it end fortunate and convenient
Roaring higher! Roaring higher!
My fire can create the ability
To create the gentle heart with success
Roaring higher! Roaring higher!
My fire can be the spirit
To light up the heart in the darkness
Roaring higher! Roaring higher!
poem by Swetha Reddy

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A Passing Bell
Mournfully to and fro, to and fro the trees are waving;
What did you say, my dear?
The rain-bruised leaves are suddenly shaken, as a child
Asleep still shakes in the clutch of a sob—
Yes, my love, I hear.
One lonely bell, one only, the storm-tossed afternoon is braving,
Why not let it ring?
The roses lean down when they hear it, the tender, mild
Flowers of the bleeding-heart fall to the throb—
It is such a little thing!
A wet bird walks on the lawn, call to the boy to come and look,
Yes, it is over now.
Call to him out of the silence, call him to see
The starling shaking its head as it walks in the grass—
Ah, who knows how?
He cannot see it, I can never show it him, how it shook—
Don’t disturb him, darling.
—Its head as it walked: I can never call him to me,
Never, he is not, whatever shall come to pass.
No, look at the wet starling.
poem by David Herbert Lawrence

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You Hear Nature's Voice
You hear Nature's voice in the river that ever flows on towards the sea
A voice destined to live forever that has lived for untold centuries
From the foothills of the high country it babbles downhill night and day
By groves and by ditches and hedgerows to saltwater it winds it's way.
You hear Nature's voice in her birdsong their music carrying in the breeze
The sounds that the freshening winds make rustling in the leaves of the trees
Some of the happier sounds of Nature though to Nature there's another side
When Nature she shouts out her anger all others from her seek a safe place to hide.
When Nature she grows very angry the fear of the World is in her cry
She shakes the Earth flattens great buildings she roars and her lightning flashes in the sky
She crackles when her forests burn leaving blackness and smoke everywhere
With the power of Nature in a fury none other can hope to compare.
You hear Nature's voice in all Seasons Winter, Spring and Summer and Fall
And you hear Nature's voice in the night-time when her nocturnal creatures do call
Nature's voice will live on forever 'tis something not destined to die
As Nature herself does not have a time span as such are for mortals such as I.
poem by Francis Duggan

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Hammer To Fall
Words and music by brian may
Here we stand or here we fall
History wont care at all
Make the bed light the light
Lady mercy wont be home tonight yeah
You dont waste no time at all
Dont hear the bell but you answer the call
It comes to you as to us all
Were just waiting
For the hammer to fall
Oh evry night and every day
A little piece of you is falling away
But lift your face the western way
Build your muscles as your body decays yeah
Toe your line and play their game yeah
Let the anaesthetic cover it all
Till one day they call your name
You know its time for the hammer to fall
Rich or poor or famous
For your truth its all the same (oh no oh no)
Lock your door the rain is pouring
Through your window pane (oh no)
Baby now your struggles all in vain
For we who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices cant be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder louder
What the hell we fighting for?
Just surrender and it wont hurt at all
You just got time to say your prayers
While your waiting for the hammer to hammer to fall
Its gonna fall
Hammer..you know..hammer to fall
Waiting for the hammer to fall now baby
While youre waiting for the hammer to fall
Give it to me one more time
song performed by by Queen

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Sonnet LVI.
IF, by his torturing, savage foes untraced,
The breathless captive gain some trackless glade,
Yet hears the war-whoop howl along the waste,
And dreads the reptile-monsters of the shade;
The giant reeds that murmur round the flood,
Seem to conceal some hideous form beneath;
And every hollow blast that shakes the wood,
Speaks to his trembling heart of woe and death.
With horror fraught, and desolate dismay,
On such a wanderer falls the starless night;
But if, far streaming, a propitious ray
Leads to some amicable fort his sight,
He hails the beam benign that guides his way,
As I, my Harriet, bless thy friendship's cheering light.
poem by Charlotte Smith

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The Wind that Shakes the Barley
There's music in my heart all day,
I hear it late and early,
It comes from fields are far away,
The wind that shakes the barley.
Above the uplands drenched with dew
The sky hangs soft and pearly,
An emerald world is listening to
The wind that shakes the barley.
Above the bluest mountain crest
The lark is singing rarely,
It rocks the singer into rest,
The wind that shakes the barley.
Oh, still through summers and through springs
It calls me late and early.
Come home, come home, come home, it sings,
The wind that shakes the barley.
poem by Katharine Tynan

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The River Kern
While I walk the pavement sooty
In the town,
Tread the stony path of duty
Up and down,
Oh, the Kern, all clad in beauty—
Silver sheen
On blue and green—
Down his canon goes cascading,
Cavalcading,
Cannonading,
Seizing all the brooks and fountains
How they beat
Their crystal feet!—
Shouting to the haughty mountains,
Giant peaks that frown !
Oh, my heart runs with the river
Far away,
Though through wintry streets I shiver
Day by day!
Oh, I see the sunshine quiver—
Shafts of light
That pause in flight!—
While the Kern, with white feet prancing,
Downward dancing,
Gaily glancing,
Shakes the massive earth from under—
How he shocks
The solemn rocks!—
Shoves the mighty cliffs asunder,
Bids them guard his play!
Now I hear the horns a-blowing
From the height,
And I see white garments flowing
Sheer and bright!
Down the hills the Kern is going—
Hear him call
His legions all!
Ye intrepid, oh come leaping!
Leave your sleeping
Swords from scabbards—hark, the clamor!
Swift and free
Oh would you be?—
In the glory, in the glamour,
Follow day and night !
poem by Harriet Monroe

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In the spirit of Rumi 4
In the war-torn city, O My dearest one,
I hear a voice,
louder than the gunfire,
louder than the bombs
calling to Me; it is
a man who kneels in prayer
he does not name his nationality,
he does not name his faith,
he does not name Me as his god
how clear his voice is
as he calls to me
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Be A Lion
(charlie smalls)
There is a place well go
Where there is mostly quiet
Flowers and butterflies
A rainbow lives beside it
And from a velvet sky
A summer storm
You can feel the coolness in the air
But youre still warm
And then a mighty roar
Will start the sky to cryin
But not even lightning
Will be frightening my lion
And with no fear inside
No need to run
No need to hide
Youre standing strong and tall
Youre the bravest of them all
If on courage you must call
Then just keep on tryin
And tryin, and tryin
Youre a lion
In your own way, be a lion
Come on be a lion
I am standing strong and tall
Youre the bravest of them all
If on courage you must call
Keep on tryin
And tryin, and tryin
Im a lion
In my own way
Im a lion
A lion
A lion
A lion
song performed by by Diana Ross

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