Elephant's Graveyard
So, here it is:
the end of all journies, all that chilly sweat,
of quagmires breached, of tendrils torn and elbowed aside,
glassy centipedes, mosquitoes, sizey as birds,
able to drain small children in one draught,
turbine loud and wingeing with thirst;
Deadly snakes everywhere you step off,
pards clearing their throats, the glowing eyes
of hyenas circling the campfire;
flying foxes, living caprices out some equatorial Goya,
with good, sharp teeth and copious saliva.
Malaria, fever, hunger, diarrhea-
Harkening to hearsay, it being found on no map,
in a language not your own, by a treacherous guide.
All the stuff of legend, rather, even fantasy.
Suddenly,
though never before being there, you recognize it-
a clearing untapped by the fierce midday sun
where it's cool, blue-shadowed, and you hear the chanting of waters
like the heaven of Islam, and straightaway you see-nothing.
The floor sparkles with pinkish diamonds:
All is preternaturally still.
But then...
poem by Morgan Michaels
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Born With The Hunger
Hear the coyote howl
He's found his pray at last
In one moment of weakness
The chase is over so fast
He celebrates his kill
No mercy in his eyes
When you're born with the hunger
The hunger never dies
Midnight is on the prowl
And I hear it call my name
Danger lurks in the shadows
But it's all part of a game
Until I quench this thirst
I will not close these eyes
When you're born with the hunger
The hunger never dies
You and I, we're the same
We both carry this flame
To depths of our souls
Once the fever awakes
We can never escape
It's beyond our control
We're both born with the hunger
Oh with the hunger
Temptation bites your lip
One kiss ignites the fire
So begins the seduction
As we succumb to desire
Your body aches for more
Why are you so surprised
When you're born with the hunger
The hunger never dies
When you're born with the hunger
The hunger - it never dies
Never dies
When you're born with the hunger It never dies
When you're born with the hunger Oh, it never dies
He celebrates the kill
You're born with the hunger
It never dies
song performed by by Cher
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ancient Poeple
Ancient people
Filling their stomachs like a hippo
They lived by the delta
A thatched hut was there shelter
Living near the brink
Where they couldn't sink
In order to fish and drink
If they had known how crocodiles stink
Away from the river they would slink
To protect themselves in a wink
They were attached by malaria
And its sign was diarrhea
The river kept mosquitoes
And there were no hospitals
No one was abused
Hence no one was accused
Important rulers were not recognized
Were they organized?
poem by Walani Ndhlovu
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I Slipped And Fell In Love
A drunk man walking down a rainy street
A wood floor and new socks on your bare feet
You look down and suddenly you're looking up
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
A bald tire running on an icy road
A steep hill underneath a foot of snow
A greased pig fallen off a pickup truck
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
I hope that you're feeling the way that I feel
It's just like flying but you're standing still
The birds and the bees are sure powerful stuff
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
An ice cube hiding on your kitchen floor
A bad step leading up to your back door
How'd I wind up on my butt
Whoops, I slipped and feel in love
I hope that you're feeling the way that I feel
It's just like flying but you're standing still
The birds and the bees are sure powerful stuff
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
I hope that you're feeling the way that I feel
It's just like flying but you're standing still
The birds and the bees are sure powerful stuff
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
Help, I've fallen I can't getup
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love
song performed by by Alan Jackson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Longest Dream
It is always the same I take the bus in the morning
but I never get home, can’t tell the driver where to
stop as I have forgotten the name of my valley
I see it clearly when I close my eyes, a small cabin
in the forest’s clearing. My dog is there waiting
and she has waited long.
She hears the sound of a bus nearing the clearing,
but then it changes direction and the sound of its
diesel engine fades slowly away.
She goes back to sleep her patience is endless
she knows she’s not forsaken. I will return to her
when remembering where I live.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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Smilin'
The cover of a magazine, nothing but a paper dream
Just another fantasy for sale
Telling me what I need, what I should do, who I should be
That stuff don't matter to me at all
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
I'm free as a bird and my spirit's flying
That's enough to keep me smiling
Guru man on my TV set, selling the secrets to happiness
1-800-Change-Your-Life-Today
Dreams, I've got my own; I ain't looking for a yellow-brick-road
I'm just gonna go my own way
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
I'm free as a bird and my spirit's flying
That's enough to keep me smiling
Smiling (smiling), smiling (smiling)
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
I'm free as a bird and my spirit's flying
That's enough to keep me smiling
I'm still smiling, gotta keep on smiling
I'm still smiling
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Smiling
(bill luther, aimee mayo, chris lindsey, marv green)
The cover of a magazine, nothing but a paper dream
Just another fantasy for sale
Telling me what I need, what I should do, who I should be
That stuff dont matter to me at all
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
Im free as a bird and my spirits flying
Thats enough to keep me smiling
Guru man on my tv set, selling the secrets to happiness
1-800-change-your-life-today
Dreams, Ive got my own; I aint looking for a yellow-brick-road
Im just gonna go my own way
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
Im free as a bird and my spirits flying
Thats enough to keep me smiling
Smiling (smiling), smiling (smiling)
The sky is blue and the sun is shining
I feel like a bum with a pocket full of diamonds
Im free as a bird and my spirits flying
Thats enough to keep me smiling
Im still smiling, gotta keep on smiling
Im still smiling
song performed by by Tim McGraw
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Peaceable Kingdom
A waive toward the clearing the sky
All this time we're talking and sharing our rational view
A billion other voices are spreading other news
All this time we're living and trying to understand
Why a billion other choices are making their demands
Talk of a peaceable kingdom
Talk of a time without fear
The ones we wish would listen
Are never going to hear
Justice against the hanged man
Knight of Wands against the hour
Swords against the kingdom
Time against the tower
All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards
While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards
All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn
While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn
Dream of a peaceable kingdom
Dream of a time without war
The ones we wish would hear us
Have heard it all before
A wave toward the clearing sky
A wave toward the clearing sky
The hermit against the lovers
Or the devil against the fool
Swords against the kingdom
The wheel against the rules
All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark
A billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks
Every spark a drifting ember of desire
To fall upon the earth and spark another fire
A homeward angel on the fly
A wave toward the clearing sky
song performed by by Rush
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lovebog I
Love has no truer likeness than a bog
dissembling with a superficial sheen
the thirsty come to sip-alas, instead
a greater thirst, pre-empting, drinks them in.
Lightly they descend from proven banks
lured by the waters undulating smile
'my lap is luscious and my bed is warm-
here you may lay and slake your thirst awhile'.
But straightaway, the floor begins to boil
agitato, such is the water's taste
the mire ups and claps them to the knees
and uncontented, sucks them to the waist.
Swim then who can, them that must sink must-
oh terrified cries and desperate looks to shoreward
the wily water sucks them to the jaws
exacting three steps down for one step forward.
In at the mouth, in at the ears it pours
down the throat the caramel river flows-
certain tubers manacle their heels
as over their heads the guileful waters close.
Say good bye to the sky, you who fall
and flail in those thick shoals and drown
poem by Morgan Michaels
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Darkness Dream
i dreamed...
i was lost in the night,
making my way through the trees.
small branches lashed against my face,
i could feel stone beneath my feet.
and somewhere near, but far, the sound of water.
wrapped in the stillness of night,
that has its own sounds,
its own smells.
haunted by something i couldnt define,
almost the feeling of being stalked.
i finally made my way to a moonlit clearing.
a flock of small birds rose in front of me.
in the field were children,
different colors, different languages,
all different ages...
children, playing together.
i looked closer...
and noticed their eyes...
something wrong, something odd.
a steel hard voice spoke in my ear...
'these children have never seen daylight,
and never will...'
i awakened with a start.
one word on my lips...
CHOICES!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Wail Of Poverty
i hear the wail of poverty,
feel the constant pressure
in my chest...
staring with eyes,
hardened and hungry,
looking for a break.
working past the point
of numbness,
sleepless under the weight...
i hear the cries of small children,
with every step i take.
i smell the anger,
and it smells like me,
the cold sweat of desperation.
the bullet phone,
or papers served,
one step from the edge.
i taste the tears
that men dont cry,
and the cold silence
of the women.
the car that wont crank,
the lights shut off,
the eviction notice on the door.
i hear the prayers of poverty,
prayed to a god that doesnt hear.
see the faces, and know the names,
and recognize the footsteps at the door!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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My Visits to a Dental College Hospital
“ You are a mental…”,
my friends say,
when I go to a Self-financed Dental College,
to clean my teeth,
and say bye to the tooth
that has some rot.
“They are fools”,
My mind would murmur
For they waste money
Paying to a private clinic
To dlo such things quicker.
Learners in a college,
Wait at the gate, restless,
To catch a patient.
When on eis caught,
They guide him to anice seat
And do; cleaning for two hours,
Clearing their doubts with the seniors.
How much blood and
Broken pieces of steeth we belch out
Into the bowl nearby.!
“ You’re a miser”,
My friends comments, but I don’t care.
When the bad breath of sputum,
From the student doctors breeze over me,
I keep cool on the cushion,
for I am there to salt away some money.
The girl-students pull out tooth with ease
but the boys struggle
with all their might and sweat,
making me feel proud
that my teeth have strong roots.
Their fight goes at times unruly
and so much blood will be oozing out.
“ Don’t worry. It just needs one or two stitches”, they say.
“ You carry on the postmortem”,
I would say with a slight smile.
They’d be shocked first
but smiling a little later.
Before they consult the doctors
to prescribe tablets,
those dental experts would be out.
But the budding doctors will not let me down.
They consult among themselves
and scribble something to
save me from ensuing fever.
If I gulp some water now,
it gushes out of my nostrils.
Yet I have so much love
for the young nice scholars.
After all they break the teeth at times
and not our hearts with looks of anger.
-------------
poem by Rajendran Muthiah
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There Is A Swimming Pool In A Small Town (Orléans Rondel Prime)
There is a swimming pool in a small town
where water sparkles as blue as the sky,
where some bikini clad girls draw the eye,
with skin tanned to mahogany brown,
where from a diving board people dive down,
where time gets wings and quickly rushes by.
There is a swimming pool in a small town
where water sparkles as blue as the sky,
where a myriad of beautiful girls daily lie,
where the garden is somewhat overgrown
and children buy sweets, chips and pie,
while teens frolic until the sun does die.
There is a swimming pool in a small town
where water sparkles as blue as the sky.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Small Stuff
There's a little cafe' on the corner of town
Lucy works there 'til the sun goes down
It ain't very much but she brings home the bacon and the bread
We got a mortgage we pay just a little bit on
But it seems like all of our money is gone
Before we get a chance to get ahead
That's small stuff, we don't sweat the small stuff
Why worry about the mortgage and the minimum wage
Traffic and the taxes and the coming of age
Small stuff
There's a comfort in the knowing there's a spirit in us
Giving us the courage and the wisdom to trust
In a love that's so much greater than all the small stuff
So we don't sweat the small stuff
There's a little bitty hole in the ceiling above
Sometimes the rain drips down on our temple of love
We have to put a pot smack dab in the middle of the bed
Somebody hit my car at the diner last night
Had to drive it home with one taillight
When I went out this morning, the engine was dead
That's small stuff, we don't sweat the small stuff
Why worry about the mortgage and the minimum wage
Traffic and the taxes and the coming of age
Small stuff
There's a comfort in the knowing there's a spirit in us
Giving us the courage and the wisdom to trust
In a love that's so much greater than all the small stuff
So we don't sweat the small stuff
There's a little cafe' on the corner of town
Lucy works there 'til the sun goes down
And she don't sweat the small stuff
song performed by by Alabama
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Some of the generals are saying, 'We're making progress. We are clearing an area.' But you really don't defeat the Taliban by clearing an area. They move.
quote by Colin Powell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Miss Your Kiss
I've got my money
I've got it here in my hand
O.K. let me tell you
This is how we stand
I have waited so long
But a good thing's never too late
So don't take no chances
Leave nothing to fate
I want to walk tall
In midnight blue
Look good, oh so good
Step out in midnight blue
Midnight blue
I watch the razors
With their class and their style
Dressed to kill, man
Their lives is just one great big smile
And oh I want to be there
When they dish that stuff out
Cool and collected
Man that's what it's all about
So give me, give me...
I want midnight blue
I love midnight
I'm going to step out in midnight blue
Give me, give me, give me midnight blue
I'll walk tall in midnight blue
I'll look good, oh so good...
In midnight blue
song performed by by Chris Rea
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Midnight Blue
I got my money
I got it here in my hand
Ok let me tell you
This is how we stand
Ive waited so long
Good things, never too late
So dont take no chances
Leave nothing to faith
I wanna walk tall in midnight blue
Look good, oh so good
Step out in midnight blue
Midnight blue
I watch the razors with their class and their style
Dressed to kill, man
Their lives is just one great big smile
And oh I wanna be there
When they dish that stuff out
Cool and collected
Man thats what its all about
So gimme, gimme, gimme
I want midnight blue
I love midnight blue
Im gonna step out in midnight blue
So gimme, gimme, gimme midnight blue
Midnight blue
I walk tall in midnight blue
Look good, oh so good
In midnight blue
song performed by by Chris Rea
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Cool Living Waters
the cool living waters of spring
plunge in like a hot rod wanting pacification
flames of fire
cinders of desire
let us be calm and swim in the cool living waters
of divinity
nude we realize there is shame and we stand
and take the clothes of morality
then we rest under the cool shades of green trees
beside the brook
the winds from the mountains refresh what dimples we have
and we reflect upon the words of God
time moves and stays a while and this evil of boredom comes
idle moments craving for more
and then we stand and play under the sun
we run, we play, we sweat and those that watch us
begin to think
that we are sinners on the loose
cool living waters i ask
bathe and wash all their dirty minds
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Lightning Rod
So you say you like the way I look
So you say you like the way I look
When I fall and no one's there to catch me
So you say you like the way I move
So you say you like the way I move
Into every storm I see above me
'Cause everybody's doing what they like
And what they like is not enough for me
I do not feel the same
Here we go 'cause
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(everybody wants everybody)
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(and everybody wants more)
What you want is never what you get
Here comes the wall, better lower your head
What you want is never what you get
You're going to fast
So you say you like the way I move
So you say you like the way I move
Into every storm I see above me
Breaker breaker one two
Break out to break through
You can swim slash drift where the tides take you
It's about your attitude
Extension of your latitude
Rejection of gratitude
What up, whatcha thinking dude?
Who said every day's gonna be fun?
Keep an eye on the web
Other people have spun
Who said every day's gonna be fun?
Best recognize or betcha you'll come undone
'Cause everybody's doing what they like
And what they like is not enough for me
I do not feel the same
Here we go 'cause
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(everybody wants everybody)
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(and everybody wants more)
What you want is never what you get
Here comes the wall, better lower your head
What you want is never what you get
You're going to fast
Grit your teeth, this is gonna be a bumpy ride
Loud and clear
Hi-fi, lo-fi
Hand fist, shape shifts to electrify
Sure enough showing up trying to climb sky high
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(everybody wants everybody)
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(and everybody wants more)
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(everybody wants everybody)
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more but they never get it
Tell me why we always sweat it
Everybody wants more
(everybody wants more)
What you want is never what you get
Everybody wants more
What you want is never what you get
And everybody wants more
song performed by by Zebrahead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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From Now On
Monday has come around again
Im in the same old place
With the same old faces always watching me
Whe knows how long Ill have to stay
Could be a hundred years
Of sweat and tears
At the rate that I get paid
Sometimes I slowly drift away
From all the dull routine
Thats with me every day
A fantasy will come to me
Diamonds are what I really need
Think Ill rob a store, escape the law
And live in italy
Lately my luck has been so bad
You know the roulette wheels
A crooked deal
Im loosing all I had
Soon be like a man thats on the run
And live from day to day
Never needing anyone
Play hide and seek
Throughout the week
My life is full of romance
Guess Ill always have to be
Living in a fantasy
Thats the way its got to be
From now on
You think Im crazy I can see
Its you for you, and me for me
Living in a fantasy
From now on
song performed by by Supertramp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When The Late Night Burns Away
When the late night burns away with the morning sun
and darkness disappears
in the game of the blue sky
there is a kind of kindness,
suddenly some peace that falls on earth,
then all pain is missing
and you are suddenly amazed when you awake,
when the first rays of heat falls over your body;
then the sun is like a Godly flame
and on the floor
the splashing rays draw patterns,
when they peep in;
then suddenly you know that you are truly living,
when the birds stir,
you hear the first jubilant cries,
then you want to bow down before the presence of God.
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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