0034 Going to school to Rilke
We could not have counted on it,
those days when we were children young in years
but rich with a thousand hopes
jostling, pushed aside, forgotten in a day,
turned over in the mind in those few savoured moments
before a happy-tired sleep
nor did we think even to hope for it
or think how it would be to squeeze the honey of it
between our palms into our ready mouths
leaving the wax upon our hands and laughing
together or alone, in rainbow solitude
but now it’s here, we can savour the honey of it,
the future which we could not have had before
the days and years had closed like inexorable cupped petals,
into a summer evening’s sun-hazed past –
we could not have hoped or counted on nor dreamed -
these days when, all required work now done,
life’s evening hours and the late and lazy
golden leisure of fruit-filled autumn branches
stretches out in even though not endless measure –
today I choose to go to school to Rilke,
a choice as free as we think the birds are free,
the animals, the trees – yet know so little,
so very little, of their life –
and pick up the book of his poems at blissful random,
and read one single line –
‘I have great faith in all things not yet spoken’ –
and sit here, as the world falls, gently, as somewhere far away,
the book silent between my hands, having spoken,
like a honeycomb holding the honey
of some new, untrodden, unbelievably rich life.
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Related quotes
To be pitiably old
Besides parents and grand parents,
Aunts and uncles were counted on.
Besides father and mother,
Nephews and nieces were counted on.
Besides brothers and sisters,
Sons and daughters were counted on.
Then their children were contemplated on.
I count days, with no more to be counted on.
20.10.2010
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Of When My Days Were Young
I hear the whispering voices
from across the back roads of my mind.
The memories are calling me again
from a long forgotten time
of when my days were young.
I look blankly through the window
as images dance across my eyes
of when love first captured me
and seduced me with its warmth
of when my days were young.
Places and faces change with every scene
tantalizing my senses
with half-forgotten things
that had lain dormant
of when my days were young.
10 April 2011
poem by David Harris
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O Do Not Forsake Me (Demo)
O, do not forsake me, my indolent friends
O, do not forsake me for you know I must spend
All my darkest hours talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
One thousand years old
Sure you think that's old
ONe thousand years old, but what do you know?
In my darkest hour I'm talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
Oh, some have forgotten the flower of speech
And walks through the garden where
I go to defent misbegotten notions while talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
One thousand years old
Sure, I'd say that's old
ONe thousand years old, but what do I know?
In your darkest hour, my indolent friends, we'll be one thousand years old
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song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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O, Do Not Forsake Me
O, do not forsake me, my indolent friends
O, do not forsake me though you know I must spend
All my darkest hours talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
One thousand years old
Sure, you think thats old
One thousand years old
But what do you know?
In my darkest hour Im talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
Oh, some have forgotten the flower of speech
And walks through the garden where I go to defend
Misbegotten notions while talking like this
For I am one thousand years old
One thousand years old
Sure, Id say thats old
One thousand years old
But what do I know?
In your darkest hour, my indolent friends
Well be one thousand years old
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Song of a Thousand Years
Lift up your eyes desponding freemen!
Fling to the winds your needless fears!
He who unfurl'd your beauteous banner,
Says it shall wave a thousand years!
"A thousand years!" my own Columbia!
'Tis the glad day so long foretold!
'Tis the glad morn whose early twilight
Washington saw in times of old.
What if the clouds, one little moment,
Hide the blue sky where morn appears --
When the bright sun, that tints them crimson,
Rises to shine a thousand years?
Tell the great world those bless-ed tidings!
Yes, and be sure the bondman hears;
Tell the oppress'd of ev'ry nation,
Jubilee lasts a thousand years!
Fearless foes, beyond the ocean!
Little we heed your threat'ning sneers;
Little will they -- our children's children --
When you are gone a thousand years.
Rebels at home! go hide your faces --
Weep for your crimes with bitter tears;
_You_ could not bind the blessed daylight,
Though you should strive a thousand years.
Back to your dens, ye secret traitors!
Down to your own degraded spheres!
Ere the first blaze of dazzling sunshine
Shortens your lives a thousand years.
Haste thee along, this glorious Noonday!
Oh, for the eyes of ancient seers!
Oh, for the faith of Him who reckons
Each of his days a thousand years.
poem by Henry Clay Work
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Days Of Rust
Dirty money
Washed rich
Suck my honey
Its a cinch
Use your delusions
To get ahead
Im not faking
A single breath
You say these days are made of rust
Counted out
Counted out in loss
Ive got plans to prove them wrong
I got manners
Like a comedy
If you push too hard
Its a thin veneer
Got the new deal
Its like a wish
See me wanting
All of this
song performed by by INXS
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Don't Ever Call Here Again
Why did I call?
You have been on my mind.
You are there most of the time,
With thoughts of wishes
I hope you are fine.
Why is it you?
Doesn't my call to you provide a clue?
Perhaps one day,
Out of the 'blue'...
You will call me too!
Instead of seeming to be annoyed.
And giving me attitude!
'Yeah...
But you've called me five times in ten minutes.
You have the wrong number!
How long has it been since you have spoken to your mother? '
Mom I know this is you!
I apologize for not calling in twenty years.
I have fallen on hard times...
And I need your assistance.
'That's unfortunate, young man.
The only son I had told me to mind my business.
He moved out over twenty five years ago!
And I know that could not be you...
Because the last time I called 'him'
He told me where to go!
I went!
And my life has been wonderful ever since!
I would give you his number...
But I have forgotten his name!
I have forgotten I have had any children at all.
And I bet 'if' you were in my shoes,
You would do the same.
When you find your mama...
Give her a hug for me, baby!
And as for you...
Don't ever call here again.'
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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The Best Years Of Our Lives
Hey, listen to the working man
And can you hear the dream
That resides in his soul?
And when you hear that poor man singin'
Can you hear a story
That cries to be told?
Wanna hear you say "Oh yeah"
I need to hear you say "Oh yeah"
It's time to stand up and be counted
These are the days of our beginnings
This ain't the time for the faint of heart
No don't wanna lose
The chance we are given
These are the best years of our lives
The very best years of our lives
Oh yeah, hear the song of womankind
Carried 'til she ached
Now she's takin' her stand
Says she's got the right to be
Right beside and equal with ev'ry man
Wanna hear you say "Oh yeah"
Need to hear you say "Oh yeah"
It's time to stand up and be counted
These are the days of our beginnings
This ain't the time for the faint of heart
No don't wanna lose
The chance we're given
These are the best years of our lives
The very best years of our lives
Say "oh yeah"
(organ solo)
(guitar solo)
Say it now, and just say it right
If you truly believe it,
You'll be saying it right.
So say "oh yeah"
Gotta say "oh yeah"
It's time to stand up and be counted
Better days are just beginning.
There ain't no place to run and hide to
Don't throw away
The chance we're given.
These are the best years of our lives
The very best years of our lives
Say "Oh yeah"
"Oh yeah"
Say "Oh yeah"
Say "Oh yeah"
These are the best years of our lives
Lyrics Provided by Michael Hack
song performed by by Neil Diamond
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Passing
The change, it comes so slowly
Like the winter of our lives,
It encroaches while we're playing,
While we're laughing with our wives,
As the children wave goodbye
The first brief chill will still the air,
And that silence settles on us
As they turn, and close the door.
Then we stare long at each other
But we find no words to say,
You have been the faithful mother
That I married, back some way,
But I see your smile has faded
With the passing of the years,
And you turn your face away so I
Won't see that trace of tears.
Are you thinking of that moment
When you held that new born child,
Of the joy of those first steps, or of
The day your baby smiled?
And the schooling and the learning
And the knees they brought home skinned,
Or the pride you took each time you watched
That graduation film.
While I find my own thoughts turning
To those days before we wed,
To your awesome, breathless beauty
As you passed, and turned my head,
Of that first-time kiss I savoured
Out beneath the apple tree,
When I took you to my heart, and you
First said you wanted me.
Now we're grey, and more like shadows
Since the lust in us has died,
And we rarely touch each other
Since we turned to ash inside,
For the years of work and struggle
Took their toll on you and I,
And I hear you every evening as
You go outside to cry.
All those dreams that ended shattered,
All those hopes that turned to tears,
Here we sit, both disillusioned
With the tolling of the years,
And we pass our friends unseeing
As we wander in the street,
We are ghosts, a long time passing
Now our story is complete.
We are like the leaves of autumn
That have fallen from the trees,
Blowing through our days unspoken
With each passing, gentle breeze,
We will fade and be forgotten
In the long term way of things,
But we'll cling in desperation for
What each last moment brings.
25 November 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
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Memorial Day
Memories of those who are no longer here
are shared by millions who hold them dear.
Their faces so young that stay in the mind
of parents and wives and husbands that find
their loved ones were taken so young in their years.
Their children were left too young to cry tears,
never knowing their fathers or seeing their smile
or having them there as they walk down the aisle.
No war's ever worth their great sacrifice,
fought with their lives, they paid the great price.
And now we take time just one day a year
and pray somehow, somewhere they can hear
we miss them and honor them in memory
and hope their children's lives will turn out to be
ones that are filled with love and with peace.
So in their futures 'Memorial Days' will cease.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Children Say
I keep to myself
What I might share with others
But they dont seem to understand
I open my mouth
To rediscover
That I dont have the words at my command
Holding out
For a world so much better
But Im a stranger in a strangers land
All my friends have sold out
Couldnt handle the pressure
Counting their blessings trying to salvage what they can
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
But one more day - slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
When I overhear
My parents conversations
Well Im struck by the things they say
It seems they traded the years
For mere complications
Who ever thought it could end this way
They close the door
But they cant lock it
cause something of their childhood remains
And theyve felt it before
When the man in their pocket
Counted the cost of their material gains
Children say - come what may
Be strong for the friends youve known
But one fine day - (not) far away
Will we remember the love we used to own
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
As one more day slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
Well you knew what I was saying
But did you know what it meant
When you saw that look in my eye
Did you know it was heaven sent
Was it all a waking dream
All that time we must have spent
Well I guess it must have been
Somehow that feeling came and went
Children say - come what may
Be strong for the friends youve known
But one fine day - (not) far away
Will we remember the love we used to own
Children say - children say
We open our minds as one
As one more day - slips away
Why dont the dreams of the young never come to be
Children say - children say
We thought it would never go
As one more day - slips away
Who ever thought we could be so lonely
song performed by by Level 42
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Days Go By
Days go by
Years go by
We wonder where we are-
We are where we were years ago
Only older and less capable of believing our dreams will come true-
We are where we were
And yet somehow
If we look on the other side
We are not-
There are dreams that have come true-
There are children that have grown
And new lives that have begun-
Dreams have come true
And we are not only just older-
But days have gone by
And years have gone by
And we are where we are
In wonder in doubt in worry in hope
Of what this day will bring
Though it be only one of many
Already lived and yet to be forgotten.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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When Hopes Ran High
When hopes ran high the world was young,
We thought that we would never die,
And glorious were the songs we sung
In those grand days when hopes ran high.
When hopes ran high the world was true
We thought that friends could never lie—
There have been bitter truths for you
And me, since days when hopes ran high.
poem by Henry Lawson
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love Died Young
They met at the local library
One cold wintry day
They had nice conversation
And later met again at
A local party
He had hair of black
Blue eyes and a lovely smile
He was so handsome in her eyes
Her hair was golden like wheat
Her eyes were emerald green
Her beauty was rare
He adored her
They dated for 2 years
Then one day he fell to his
Knees all pride pushed aside
And he asked her to become his wife
She gratefully accepted his proposal
With God as the witness that day
Three years have passed
Two children came to them
A blessing from God
A boy and a girl-twins they were
Then three years later
The wife falls to the floor
She weakly said: “I am ok now” as
A hand was extended to help her to her feet
After the doctor’s exam
She was told she had a short
Time to live for she could not be healed
Love so young how could this be?
Her husband and two small children struggled
Wondering how could God let such a terrible thing
Happen to such a good family
Love died so young the husband
And children found strength to carry on
The mother lives on through them all
But how they long to find out in the end
Why love had to die so young?
©Copyright 2006 Becky LaPrarie
poem by Becky LaPrarie
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Thousand Years
I have lived out a thousand years,
And in them was tranquillity, peace
And various species, offering escape.
Soon the light from the sun shines
In the days and not the nights,
The never-ending life begins at home.
A thousand years have passed,
Underneath the sky of clouds
And stars shining brightly forever.
I have lived out my enemies
Forced by the military, affecting me.
This station of importance
Decides to turn into a cradle.
I walk among the clouds
After a thousand years of worry,
Filling everybody with awe and inspiration,
But not with nights and days of ancient kind.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Us Oldies
It is that time of the year,
when my birthday is looming in the air
and I begin to feel quite ancient.
I felt old when my children
presented me with their children
and made me a grandparent,
but when their children
started having children of their own
and stuck a great in front of grandparent
you really begin to feel ancient,
especially when you haven’t retired yet.
When we were young,
oh, those lovely blessed days
when the summers seem to last forever
and the sun always shone.
Life was much more laid back then.
Oh where have they all gone?
Then came the teenage years
opening up all our dreams
of being some kind of superstar.
Yes, I remember them so well,
the music and the romance in the air.
Sometimes I hark back
to those days way back then.
Next, you are an adult
with responsibilities and children of your own.
From there you are on a downward slope
at least that is what some people say.
Well, don’t you believe it;
you’re always as young as you feel.
You can still go out and play
those young kids games.
Personally, I never grew up,
as my friends will testify.
I still have my Peter Pan persona,
Hip Hip Hooray.
I may not drink,
but I can act as crazy as if I do
and that makes life much more fun
being like me a kind old fool.
Kid think they are the only ones
who can have fun,
don’t you believe it,
us oldies can have fun too.
13 June 2008
poem by David Harris
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The Jostling Crowed
Upon the edge of a deserted wide road,
Placed I was to see the dismal vision,
From the distant corner of the upper side,
Turned a procession, following rushingingly,
A coffin of the dead faith, wrapped in shroud,
Advanced it ahead as opaque floody water,
Passes through the banks, on the dry bottom.
In the jostling crowed I did find to see,
The men neither young nor too old,
Of all races, forms, colours and sizes,
With harrowed grisly faces jostling ahead,
Their rebellious legs hastened against their wills.
The crowed passed and passed by unendingly,
To fill the spacious belly of the infernal land,
Stood I stunned, horrified, engrossed in thoughts,
Indecisive, thinking upon my own plight,
“I am an observer or a member of the crowed? ”
poem by Muhammad Shanazar
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The Mirror Never Lies
The mirror once told me that
My face was smooth and cute
My chin as bare as the Sahara
As the Sun counted our days
The moon counted our nights
And seasons exchanged fortunes
The mirror told me something new
All the smoothness is gone
As if it has been different ever since
My chin has turned into a bush
The mirror showed me a total stranger
This morning!
1999
poem by Yusuf Adamu
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On Guard
The young
cannot believe that the old
were young
once.
The old
have quite forgotten
that the young
were once old.
Danger
comes from the worlds,
from the heavens,
from the hells.
Danger comes
through the sense doors.
Danger comes
to the body
which breaks and stumbles.
Every lungful of air
infiltrates microbes of destruction.
Every spadeful of earth
shelters a thousand enemies
that writhe and wriggle,
insinuate through cracks and fissures
in the tissue of the flesh
- and destroy.
Danger comes
to the mind
which absorbs the subtlest poisons
and provides a fertile, breeding ground
for the subtlest of poisonous plants;
to seed and germinate,
overspilling in the ten directions.
Danger comes
from having a body,
having a mind
wanting a body,
wanting a mind,
wanting.
poem by Brian Taylor
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Around And Around
Time as I've known it doesn't take much time to pass by me.
Minutes into days, turn into months turn into years, they hurry by me.
Still I love to see the sun go down and the world go around.
Dreams full of promises, hopes for the future I've had many.
Dreams I can't remember now, hopes that I've forgotten, faded memories.
Still I love to see the sun go down and the world go around.
And I love to see the morning as it steals across the sky,
I love to remember and I love to wonder why,
and I hope that I'm around so I can be there when I die, when I'm gone.
I hope that you will think of me in moments when you're happy and you're smiling.
that the thought will comfort you on cold and cloudy days if you are crying.
And that you'll love to see the sun go down and the world go around and around and around.
song performed by by John Denver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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