Thumbnails and finger ends
A book of learned scholarship,
open in my hands, at the first page…
and then I saw, to the right of it,
my thumb nail…and marvelled –
at its perfection, at its beauty,
and at my own ignorance –
which strangely, was all part
of that same beauteous perfection…
the thumbnail: curved, as a hollowed claw,
the curve I knew would give it added strength;
sitting as secure as any child of love,
within the folded mystery of skin and flesh;
three-coloured: pale rising moon
emerging from its secret nail-bed
as some goddess might appear;
then the subtle shades of rosy pink,
hinting at blood serving readily
the nail’s demands;
finally, the top (long, shaped, as best to gouge
potato’s eyes, and other kitchen tasks…) :
I looked at it, and marvelled:
the whole creation, conspiring to present
this perfect thing…
Fifty years and more ago, I wrote,
in those years when I despaired
of making sense of so-called ‘adult’ world,
sitting at the desk, to find myself
before setting off to earn my daily bread,
I wrote – in lines that never quite linked up
their visioned moments into complete poems,
on white and yearning pages like a life unwrit:
‘we know not our own finger ends…’
The wrinkled thumb and finger – they have lasted;
the holy mystery - praise God - remains.
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Universe at Finger-tip
Two or three months back
my little finger caught in a closing hinge;
could have been worse…
since then, the nail’s been
every shade of blackish-brown,
living some ancient, primitive life, of battered claw,
or shellfish, bruised by rock and ocean,
yet preserving, in its shell
such tender life
as heroes live to save..
every day, I watch this primeval drama
as, secretly, beneath the horny shell
so measured in its protectiveness,
dying slowly like a hero who enfolds
a baby life within his arms,
secretly beneath, there grows a new pink life;
its promise makes me look afresh
at its neighbour nails; and marvel
at the delicacy of their shade
from crescent moon to nail so practical..
what lacquer could ever hope to match
this living beauty?
and I fall silent, still; humbled at this scene
that brings the universe’s law and love
here to my finger-end. No name of god,
or evolution, or Intelligent Design,
may encompass my humility;
I who know not my own finger-end;
humility so still, it’s even beyond prayer.
If praise can be one, without form -
then this is praise.
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tooth And Nail
I'm tired of all this cheap talk
When you walk next to me
They say I ain't good enough for you
Why don't they come and tell me
When they see us out in the night
They can't wait to tear us apart
Now I hear them saying lovin' you ain't right
Well they'd better be ready 'cause honey I'll be there
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
They say I'm always breaking promises
And I'm just fooling with you
Then they try and come between the two of us
Man, that's a bad thing to do
I can say I had more than enough
But I ain't gonna take it too hard
I said hey, they want to play rough
Well let's see who backs down when the trouble starts
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
Come on try me, I won't give in
They take advantage, but they can't win
I'll be your man, baby, wait and see
Ain't nobody, nobody take your love from me
I will fight tooth and nail
I was wrong, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
I'll be your man, baby, wait and see
Ain't nobody, nowhere take your love away from me
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
Right now, tooth and nail
I am waiting for the fight
Tooth and nail
Right now, c'mon, tooth and nail
Right now, tooth and nail
C'mon, tooth and nail
Ah fight
Tooth and nail
Right now, c'mon, tooth and nail
C'mon, right now, tooth and nail
song performed by by Foreigner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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She Marvelled!
She marvelled! !
Because it was very sweet;
She marvelled! !
Because it was very strong;
She marvelled! !
Because it was very lovely;
She marvelled! !
Because it was very fresh;
She marvelled! !
Because it was a new thing to her;
She marvelled! !
Becuase it was very amusing;
She marvelled! !
Because it was very attractive;
She marvelled! !
Because it was very romantic;
And, the aroma of love was seen all around her face.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Technology - a thumbnail tribute to Martin Heidegger
Tekne’, to the Greeks
was the art of bringing-forth
from the true (and, it’s hoped, the good)
into the beautiful:
poetry; sculpture; machinery of wood and metal
such as that which raised the Parthenon;
raised Apollo, Venus, out of stone;
raised myth out of poetry.
And I, we, too have technology
forever at our finger-tips..
Did it happen through chance,
through procrastination,
or through attention given
to a task and needs,
this ‘beautiful’ solution
that mathematicians talk about?
it happened on one godgiven day,
scrubbing those shining new potatoes:
the right-hand thumbnail now grown long
suddenly a more efficient tool
for removing ‘eyes’ and hollowed dirt..
so now, this intimate and valued tool
carefully shaped between a v and u;
and from the fingertip to heart
arises wonder, awe: the gentle curve
of nail gives added strength.. how magnificent
the humblest, least worshipped fingerends
of these so precious hands…
Do I mimic man called ‘primitive’
as I depend on nature’s tools
to alert the inventive mind
by the attention which, taken so for granted
links us to the gods themselves…?
Tools first, then machines, then ‘technology’
have no limits under divine law:
call them, the exteriorisation
of our brain, our mind:
thumbnail, bridge, interstellar rocket
are thus one in wonder; every action
now to mind and heart, a sacrament;
the bringing-forth, the showing-forth
of Man – the tekne of the gods;
the gods who live, who wake from sleep,
only when Man rounds the circle with his praise.
“Questioning is the piety of thought.”
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tooth & Nail
Im tired of all this cheap talk
When you walk next to me
They say I aint good enough for you
Why dont they come and tell me
When they see us out in the night
They cant wait to tear us apart
Now I hear them saying lovin you aint right
Well theyd better be ready cause honey Ill be there
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
They say Im always breaking promises
And Im just fooling with you
Then they try and come between the two of us
Man, thats a bad thing to do
I can say I had more than enough
But I aint gonna take it too hard
I said hey, they want to play rough
Well lets see who backs down when the trouble starts
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
Come on try me, I wont give in
They take advantage, but they cant win
Ill be your man, baby, wait and see
Aint nobody, nobody take your love from me
I will fight tooth and nail
I was wrong, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
Ill be your man, baby, wait and see
Aint nobody, nowhere take your love away from me
I will fight tooth and nail
Count on me, I will not fail you
I will fight tooth and nail
Right now, tooth and nail
I am waiting for the fight
Tooth and nail
Right now, cmon, tooth and nail
Right now, tooth and nail
Cmon, tooth and nail
Ah fight
Tooth and nail
Right now, cmon, tooth and nail
Cmon, right now, tooth and nail
song performed by by Foreigner
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Princess's Finger-Nail: A Tale Of Nonsense Land
All through the Castle of High-bred Ease,
Where the chief employment was do-as-you-please,
Spread consternation and wild despair.
The queen was wringing her hands and hair;
The maids of honor were sad and solemn;
The pages looked blank as they stood in column;
The court-jester blubbered, 'Boo-hoo, boo-hoo';
The cook in the kitchen dropped tears in the stew;
And all through the castle went sob and wail,
For the princess had broken her finger-nail:
The beautiful Princess Red-as-a-Rose,
Bride-elect of the Lord High-Nose,
Broken her finger-nail down to the quick-
No wonder the queen and her court were sick.
Never sorrow so dread before
Had dared to enter that castle door.
Oh! what would my Lord His-High-Nose say
When she took off her glove on her wedding-day?
The fairest princess in Nonsense Land,
With a broken finger-nail on her hand!
'Twas a terrible, terrible accident,
And they called a meeting of parliament;
And never before that royal Court
Had come such question of grave import
As 'How could you hurry a nail to grow?'
And the skill of the kingdom was called to show.
They sent for Monsieur File-'em-off;
He smoothed down the corners so ragged and rough.
They sent for Madame la Diamond-Dust,
Who lived on the fingers of upper-crust;
They sent for Professor de Chamois-Skin,
Who took her powder and rubbed it in;
They sent for the pudgy nurse Fat-on-the-bone
To bathe her finger in eau de Cologne;
And they called the Court surgeon, Monsieur Red-Tape,
To hear what he thought of the new nail's shape.
Over the kingdom the telegrams flew
Which told how the finger-nail thrived and grew;
And all through the realm of Nonsense Land
They offered up prayers for the princess's hand.
At length the glad tidings were heard with a shout
That the princess's finger-nail had grown out:
Pointed and polished and pink and clean,
Befitting the hand of a some-day queen.
Salutes were fired all over the land
By the home-guard battery pop-gun band;
And great was the joy of my Lord High-Nose,
Who straightway ordered his wedding clothes,
And paid his tailor, Don Wait-for-aye,
Who died of amazement the self-same day.
My lord by a jury was judged insane;
For they said, and the truth of the saying was plain,
That a lord of such very high pedigree
Would never be paying his bills, you see,
Unless he was out of his head; and so
They locked him up without more ado.
And the beautiful Princess Red-as-a-Rose
Pined for her lover, my Lord High-Nose,
Till she entered a convent and took the veil-
And this is the end of my nonsense tale.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Harder Than A Coffin Nail
Harden than a coffin nail
Bend the heaven up into hell
Harden than a coffin nail
Hahahahahaha
Harden than a coffin nail
Harden than a coffin nail
Harden than a coffin nail
Harden than a coffin nail
Hahahaha
Harden than a coffin nail
Hahahahaha
Harden than a coffin nail
Avril Lavigne
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song performed by by Papa Roach
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Don't Bite Your Nail, Dame!
Whenever you bite your
Nail of your little finger,
However thy look and beauty
May increase,
All the dirt underneath thy fingers
Drains into thy stomach
E.coli enters in;
Amoebiasis you might get,
Your health will be spoiled,
Don't bite your nail, Dame!
poem by V.K. Kanniappan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Bad Day
Driving a nail through a finger, Then not able to extract the nail;
Dropping an anvil onto a reinforced-toe boot,
Then hobbling off,
All are bothersome.
Now I have been off liquor, pot, street drugs,
Lots of junk since '72.
But I retain the hubris of tobacco,
And I tried to sneak a cigar
At 3 AM, but I got busted.
There are mistakes lurking at every turn,
And at every turn
I must eat them.
My face is as cratered as the moon
With errors run into squarely.
The only light of day flowing if I do no thing.
poem by Stan Petrovich
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Chestnut Tree (For Anne Frank)
On a winter morning
you climbed the ladder to the attic with Peter.
He chopped wood for about a quarter of an hour
and you watched him silently.
Then you looked out
from the open window
and marvelled at the stunning views of the city,
the roofs, the streets and the canals of Amsterdam.
An azure sky curved down
kissing a pale blue horizon
and white seagulls with outstretched wings
were gliding on the wind.
Standing bare in the inner garden
Shiny silver drops perched on the branches
Of the lonely chestnut tree
near the house at Keizersgracht 188.
And you found comfort and solace
in all this simple beauty of nature.
As long as such beauty exists in the world,
You said, and you may live to see it,
‘this sunshine, the cloudless sky,
while this lasts’, you ‘cannot be unhappy’
you wrote in your Diary on February 23,1944.
By now, for almost two years,
you and your family lived in hiding
at the house behind the Prinsengracht.
I was still free in my native land then
and attended the public school.
poem by Paul Hartal
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Flesh And Blood
(ferry)
My friend's flesh and blood
She lies overtime
Youd nail her if you could
But she says
Love me for my mind
In my time
Im not that kind
My friend's flesh and blood
Night size - perfect ten
So rude - shes no good
But as she says
It pays to win
Play to win
She plays to win
My friend's flesh and blood
Street wise for her time
Youd nail her if you could
But she says
Love me for my mind
In my time
song performed by by Roxy Music
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Studio visit
Feet slightly apart, firm
as at stable ease, yet
ready for the glorious unexpected;
left thumb, pressured
white to pink under the nail,
hooked through wooden palette,
its organic shape summoning
some internal organ – heart,
lungs, kidneys, liver –
squeezed dabs of pure pigment,
waiting, vivid, muted, or in
a cosmic swirl of some new sight;
looked me in the eye and said,
ordinary is so beautiful… the studio silenced,
paint brush poised,
and the whole singing world, given
now a blessing, to be its ever
miracle of light and life and space,
of the ordained, of ordered
breath of life shaped as a palette,
shaped as an eye, sheds inner light
on outer, mind that knows only
present here and now; his gaze,
still on mine; waiting for the sight
of the miraculous in pupil of my eye,
mind as his canvas, waiting too
for the world made ever new;
‘only watch, and all else happens;
ordinary is so beautiful.’
poem by Michael Shepherd
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Thumbsucker
I met her on a corner in Duluth
(That’s the truth.)
She was tryin’ to fix her shoe in a telephone booth
(Her name was Ruth.)
She said she was just waiting for a bus
But I hid my thumb cause I knew just what she was,
And I ain’t gonna let no thumbsucker such my thumb.
It’ll drive you crazy and leave you deaf and dumb.
It’ll make you crawl and climb the wall
Leave you without no thumb at all.
So I ain’t gonna let no thumbsucker suck my thumb.
I’ll tell you what them thumbsuckers like to do.
They suck your thumb till it’s wrinkled like a prune
They’ll say you’ve got the sweetest thumb of all
But then they suck the thumb of the guy livin’ down the hall
That’s why I ain’t gonna let no thumbsucker suck my thumb
(etc. . . etc. . . until finally giving in.)
poem by Sheldon Allan Silverstein
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I've Got The World On A String
I've got the world on a string
Sitting on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
What a world, what a life - I'm in love
I've got a song that I sing
I can make the rain go
Any time I move my finger
Lucky me, can't you see - I'm in love
Life's is a beautiful thing
As long as I hold the string
I'd be a silly so-and-so
If I should ever let it go
I've got the world on a string
Sitting on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
What a world, what a life - I'm in love
Life's is a beautiful thing
As long as I hold the string
I'd be a silly so-and-so
If I should ever let it go
I've got the world on a string
Sitting on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
I'm walking around with my head in a clouds
And I'm feeling so good
I don't want to come down
And I'm shouting it out
I'm in love
song performed by by Barry Manilow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When You Come Back
before you go
you put three things
just three things
on the table of your room
a red rose, a yellow mongol pencil,
a nail cutter,
a nail cutter is nothing
but when you come back you find it missing.
you think about the nail cutter
that ordinary nail cutter that you can buy
at anytime
in any store,
it is not there anymore, the red rose wilted
and the yellow mongol pencil is untouched.
you still think about the nail cutter
where could it be? who took it?
your world revolves now around
the missing nail cutter.
it is like loving an ordinary person,
who is now
missing.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hammer And Nail
Clearing webs from the hovel
A blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
Ive been digging too deep
I always do
I see my face on the surface
I look a lot like narcissus
A dark abyss of an emptiness
Standing on the edge of a drowning blue
I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
I had a lot of good intentions
Sit around for fifty years
And then collect a pension
Started seeing the road to hell
And just where it starts
But my life is more than a vision
The sweetest part is acting
After making a decision
Started seeing the whole
As a sum of its parts
And I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
My life is part of the global life
Id found myself becoming more immobile
When Id think a little girl in the world
Cant do anything
A distant nation my community
And a street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world
I have a gift to bring
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hammer & A Nail
Clearing webs from the hovel
A blistered hand on the handle of a shovel
Ive been digging too deep
I always do
I see my face on the surface
I look a lot like narcissus
A dark abyss of an emptiness
Standing on the edge of a drowning blue
I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
I had a lot of good intentions
Sit around for fifty years
And then collect a pension
Started seeing the road to hell
And just where it starts
But my life is more than a vision
The sweetest part is acting
After making a decision
Started seeing the whole
As a sum of its parts
And I look behind my ears for the green
And even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
Gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
My life is part of the global life
Id found myself becoming more immobile
When Id think a little girl in the world
Cant do anything
A distant nation my community
And a street person my responsibility
If I have a care in the world
I have a gift to bring
I look behind my ears for the green
Even my sweat smells clean
Glare off the white hurts my eyes
I gotta get out of bed
Get a hammer and a nail
Learn how to use my hands
Not just my head
I think myself in a jail
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand
And a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth
If you want a rose
song performed by by Indigo Girls
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Perfection
Your cold and poor-spirited love
Was like running water upon my hands...
I did for your love, all that I could....
As an imperfect man that I am...
I offered you just possible things...
Warmth when you were cold,
And consolation when you felt hopeless...
You search for perfection
Which you will never find...
Perfect is the rain that falls
In the spring time...
Perfect are the flowers that grow
in a real garden of love....
Perfect is the smile in a child
Who plays with toys...
Perfection is a man
Who had it all
And now is getting tired and old...
Perfection are the memories
In your heart and mind...
Perfection is something
You shall never find
On me or any other man
Since perfection is just
In your dreams and imagination...
Now perfection becomes
Just like a story untold....
How sad it is
That my love you can no longer have
Neither my hands again hold...
o! Woman, wish you good luck
In your new try...
COPY WRITE©2009
poem by Romeo Della Valle
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Secret Of The Grail
What was magi mystery;
of mesmeric long-haired kings?
What was the mystery of the long-haired kings?
A secret the Cathars knew.
The Knights Templar their military arm,
did guard this secret well.
On pain of rack, through branding iron
And cruel thumb-screw,
they gritted teeth and suffered hell -
still none would tell.
The word San-Greal means Holy Grail
Sang-Real means of the blood.
A royal bloodline from the son -
heirs of a spirit pure and just.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Skies The Limit
Written by christine mcvie
If Ive been acting just a little strange
And you have noticed it too
Its cos my life has been rearranged
With the presence of you
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
Can you give me one reason why
Youd ever let me down
I wont believe it baby, but Ill try
The truths goin to come around
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
Sooner or later
Ill keep the promise
I made to you
Sooner or later
It will be greater
Then we ever knew
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
The sky is the limit now
We can hit it on the nail
And when we do
Ill think about you
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
Oh the sky is the limit
How can we fail
The sky is the limit
song performed by by Fleetwood Mac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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