The Man Who Was Standing Behind
I was in a conference centre full of people,
and a man called out my name.
His voice was louder than the chattering,
and he shouted it out again.
His voice wasn’t at all familiar,
and no one knew I was here.
This was a lonely hearts club meeting
for singles who also enjoyed a beer.
For a third time he called out my name,
and my I.D. tag gave me away.
The woman with whom I was talking
waved her arms and shouted “Hey.”
I left her presence quite quickly
and became lost in the crowd.
I didn’t look to see who was calling,
but he was persistent and shouting loud.
People all around me were fainting,
for no reason they dropped like flies,
but then I heard leather to wood footsteps
above the peoples’ sighs and cries.
I slowly looked all around me
and somehow I knew it was my time,
I was leaving one way or another,
with the man who was standing behind.
poem by Orlando Belo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Dont
Walking round this metropolis
With its buildings that reach to the clouds
There must be millions of people out there
Walking round with their heads bowed
This city kills me, but it thrills me
Now somethings gone and held up the crowd
Theyre pointing at a man standing high on a ledge
And somebody just cried out loud
Dont look down at the people below, oh
Dont look down
Its a long way to fall and Id sure like to know
What made it happen, sure makes you think
Must have been something special
To send him to the brink
Down here on the sidewalk, hes clearly in view
Then a voice shouts up to him
Try thinking it through but whatever you do
Chorus:
Dont look down
At the people below, oh
Dont look down, things might start looking up
You just never know
Hes heard the cries of the lunatics facing defeat
The cheers of the winners
Who are dancing in the street
Perhaps the crime and corruption finally got through
And the violence of the city
Just broke him in two
Now a voice from the queue shouts
Chorus
Dont look down, dont look down
Down here on the sidewalk
Its stopped all our lives
People are talking instead of just walking by
Before this happened it was just another day
Now people are talking instead of walking away
Now were gripped by this tragedy
Our blood starts to pump as we all shout together
Dont jump, dont jump
Chorus
Dont look down, we all shouted out, oh
Dont look down
Its a long way to fall and Id sure like to know
What made it happen, guess well never know
Now the suns come out
Looks like hes standing on a rainbow
Hes in the heavens, Im standing on the ground
Saying dont look down
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Are You Going To See Your Mom?
'Mom,
I come back again.'
I shouted
in my mind.
It is said that
Plane flies fast.
But my heart
flew to my Mom
before the plane landed.
I knew
that my sisters come here
in turn everyday.
Now this day
I would be on duty.
When I stepped into the nursing home,
I saw Mom in a wheel chair,
with more white hair,
and more wrinkles on face.
I gave her a hug,
'Hi, Mom.' I shouted near her ear.
Mom stared me with dull sight,
then held my hands,
'Sister' she called me,
She couldn't recognize me!
I couldn't hold my tears any more.
Mom didn't cry,
just wiped out my tears
using her hand.
When lunch was ready,
I fed her one spoon after another;
Mom nodded her head while she's chewing;
A little smile showed up at the edge of her lips.
I hated that It's time to leave,
I stood up, and said
'Good bye, Mom.'
She looked at me,
held my hands, and asked me:
'Are you going to see your Mom? '
* Mom had dementia two years before and moved into a nursing home.
Also, she has hearing problem.
Are You Going To See Your Mom? *
poem by Jade Huang
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Meeting of Sighs
YOUR voice was the rugged
old voice that I knew;
I gave the best grip of
my greeting to you.
I knew not of your lips—
you knew not of mine;
Of travel and travail
we gave not a sign.
We drank and we chorused
with quips in our eyes;
But under our song was
the meeting of sighs.
I knew not of your lips—
you knew not of mine;
For lean years and lone years
had watered the wine.
poem by John Shaw Neilson
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How Could They Dare To Kill The Crowd?
I stood completely straight,
Legs one foot wide apart,
Fingers one inch wide apart...
I threw my hands up suddenly.
The controllers might be racist,
The controllers might be fascist,
Yet there I was, in front of them,
Daring them to kill me first.
They shouted at me! I shouted louder!
They went away from me out of fear...
I knew each was but a coward,
As they came at me, clustered in a crowd...
I thundered protests, alone, out loud,
Like a frightening lightning cloud!
If they could not kill me alone...
Defiantly I watched and wondered...
How could they dare to kill the crowd?
poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Each To His Or To Her Own
I only came into the pub for to have a quiet beer
But talk of football all I hear I ask what brought me here
And I thought there was more to life than talking of football
But with that at the Local Pub few would agree at all.
One fellow said my team doing well with stress on the word my
Methought he thinks he owns the team or so he seems to imply
And then he sang a line from the anthem of his club 'When the Saints go marching in'
His voice was booming loud and clear above the bar room din.
Suppose it beats talking of war or politics maybe
Though football a boring subject or so 'twould seem to me
But each to his or her own as they say and those words seem so true
And to them I seemed a boring man one of the unenlightened few.
One asked me what team do you barrack for mate, I said who win or lose
Won't matter much to you or I it won't pay for our booze
At which he only laughed aloud saying you must have a team
Or in your present company you are out of place 'twould seem.
Indeed I said how right you are on this we can agree
For you are you and I are I we see things differently
He shouted to the barman give the man a beer he's not a bad old boy
Though on a few important things we do not see eye to eye.
I bought him a beer before I left, thank you old boy he said
And he started to sing 'Good Old Collingwood' the booze had gone to his head
And as I walked out in the night the moon shone in the sky
And a boobook owl called on a gum in the Parkland nearby.
poem by Francis Duggan
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How Could They Dare To Kill The Crowd?
I stood straight
Legs were one foot wide
Fingers were one inch apart
Suddenly, I threw my hands up.
They might be racist
They might be fascist
I was in front of them
And asked them to kill me first.
They shouted at me but I shouted louder
They went away from me out of fear
I knew each and every one of them but a coward
They always move and come in crowd
So I thundered alone like a lightening cloud.
To every one it became well known
If they could not kill me alone
So I sat down to ponder and wondered!
How could they dare to kill the crowd?
poem by Abdul Wahab
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I Hurt Someone Last Night
I hurt someone last night
I didn't use a stick
I didn't use a club
I didn't use a knife
I'd never use a gun
I hurt someone last night
It wasn't intentional I swear
Doesn't make it any better
They were left bleeding
In the cold night air
I hurt someone last night
No one heard a sound
No police came
No ambulance called
No one knew at all
I hurt someone last night
She knew, she felt it
She knew, who had dealt it
She knew, how much it hurt
She knew, I hurt her
I hurt someone last night
I love her very much
There was no object weapon used
I used a word instead
The deadliest weapon of them all
I hurt someone last night
Perhaps I should put some words away
And the tone I used
To frighten her away
I think I should apologize now
Because I hurt someone last night
And I love her very much
poem by Barbara Vanier
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hearts Healing
I called your name
you weren't there
I waited for you
You passed me by
I asked you to dance
You asked someone else
I loved you
You didn't love me
I said hello
You said good-bye
You broke my heart
I couldn't fix it
I wanted revenge
You lauged at me
I cried
You loved someone else
No one heard my cries
My heart was aching
You moved on
I didn't
You were happy
I was sad
I had no one
You had someone
I got lost
lost
lost
In the dark was I
alone alone alone....
my heart still aching
the memoires of us still waking
help help help
no one heard
alone alone alone
forever forever forever
it seemed
the pain was intolerable
I was going insane
my heart was still broken and pain
then then then
I saw
a bright light
i heard a calming voice
calling me....
it was someone who loved me
more than you,
I felt a strong
loving embrace
It was an angel you see
He loved me very much
He told me to go on
That I wasn't alone
I was healed
I felt happy again
and I knew I was loved
and I would never have to wait for love again.....
poem by Bella Ravenstar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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An Inscrutable Silence
The no message message
A space without a frame
No sound or a syllable
leaving behind a name
Inscrutable silence
Wrong number didn't dare?
Nothing in particular
Though someone had been there...
For they tried more than once,
To see if I was home,
I was of course, they knew it
By not answering the phone...
Perhaps it was destiny
I left hanging on the line,
'Why didn't you answer?
We called time after time'
'We could not reach you
So we gave up the cause,
Is misery the resting place
You go to just because...?
'No' I tried to defend
The weakness in my ego
Hesitating to answer
The calling of long ago...
'You will have to explain someday
And face yourself, 'then,
The voice added:
'You will have to face us as well'...
'I know, ' I said, 'I was
The blank space on the tape,
The one who wished to say something
No recording device could ever replay!
©All Rights Reserved-2011
poem by Romeo Della Valle
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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(V - 2004) The Lad who was called Mad
People called him mad.
Many a days
He came to my mother
He would then say
‘There is fire in my stomach’
My mother would then hurry her cooking
Soon she would serve
Rice and curry
Spiced with love and care.
He would eat to his full
And at the very next door
He would again say
‘There is fire in my stomach –
I am hungry still’
And so one day
I looked deep into him
Wondered what his hunger was for
And saw fire in his heart.
Still, he little knew that
He simply said, ‘there is fire in my stomach’
And people called him mad.
He was a sensitive lad
Some had led him astray
So he lost his senses,
Lost his way
And people called him mad.
This hurt him more
Still he had them guide him.
So, finally one day
Into the temple pond
He drowned himself
To quell for ever
The fire in him
And then the people
Who had called him mad
Said with pity, ‘Oh, how sad! ’
Without Lip Or Sucking Of Tongue
Of course I know 'how' I arrived.
And the length of time it took,
For anyone to notice my presence.
Although it was not my presence,
Or reason why...
That I began this journey to be noticed.
I was much too young.
Like a puppy first seeing its tail for the first time...
And curious as to where it came from.
Who knew?
I didn't!
Until I began following an attraction,
That seemed always in my mind.
Of course I 'know' how I arrived.
I first heard my voice.
And my parents noticed it.
I learned if I used it in certain ways,
They were there.
I was a baby them.
Then I connected my voice to words.
I was in awe that letters were attached.
And those letters attached used in different ways,
Made those words I said more or less effective.
Then I began to see those letters change,
As I began to print them by hand slowly.
I was amazed! .
Then I discovered certain words I shouldn't say!
I should never have been told that.
Because even today...
I will use those same words to chase people away.
Of course I know 'how' I arrived.
And I used a lot of cussing along the way.
Trust me.
But I stopped when it was pointed out to me,
I 'seemed' to have had more intelligence than that.
And whoever said that to me,
Had no clue as to how curious I was.
'Ma?
What's intelligence? '
~Someobody who asks too many questions.
And is about to get on my last nerve.~
'You talking about me? '
~Are you or are you not in my face? ~
'Why can't I ask you anything,
Before it's turned into a test? '
~And if you want to pass,
You know what to do.
Without lip or sucking of tongue.
You got that, mister? ~
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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That lonely girl
Somewhere 'neath the blue sky
But a little above the deep
Somewhere in this little universe
My ears can hear something
Yes my ears can hear a voice
Stranger than every familiar thing
Better than that butterfly injured wing
Nicer than that crying droplet
More beautiful than my old love song
Louder than the firefly whisper
Quieter than the moon cry
My eyes are searching that voice
May be someone is shouting
No
No, that’s a cry
Someone in this world is crying
Someone is weeping
But no one can hear
No one can see
People don’t hear
People don’t see
People are not people
People inhale love
But exhale nothing
People's hearts are full of nothing
Love is dead in their hearts
Love is where, the stars with weepy eyes are
Love is where, whenever you look down you see nothing but red roses
Love is where, the sky is simply blue and the rainbow's smile has seven colors
Love is in that lonely girl's heart
A lonely girl nigh the pond in rain
Yes it rains
Yes it rains to wash only her eyes
Yes it rains to cover people's colorless hearts
Yes it rains, cause after that, when the rainbow comes
People will know black is not the only color
I can think
I can feel
I can hear
I can understand
I can love
She is still crying
She is crying to prove that people are harder than meteor
But softer than nothing
No feeling
No understanding
She is crying
poem by Reihaneh Jalalian
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Flashs Confession
Ive just had a dream that I never will forget,
And I wish I could erase.
I was standing on the street with a whole crowd of people
And no one knew my name.
And I was just another face
No one looked at me or touched me
Spoke to or acknowledged me.
I had no identity or individuality
No thoughts of my own, no mind or personality.
I was just a no one, a total nonentity
Im just a number waiting to be called.
It is time for confessing it all,
Im just another face,
Yes, its time for confessing it all.
Been a cheat, been a crook,
Never gave I always took.
Crushed people to acquire
Anything that I desired.
Been deceitful and a liar
Now Im facing hell fire.
I cant believe that my time has come
For confessing all the evil
And the wrong that Ive done.
The reckonings come
And now Im just a no one.
I confess to the timid and the meek
To the cripples and the beggars
And the tramps in the street.
I confess my cruelty, my ego and conceit,
Ive opened up my body and looked inside
And Im everything that I once despised.
I confess for the thieves,
The affected and deranged,
I confess for the muggers and incurably insane,
I confess to the ugly for being vain,
I confess to those I hurt for causing them pain.
Im just a number
Waiting to be called
And its time for confessing it all,
And Im just another face,
And it is time for confessing it all,
Yes, its time for confessing it all,
Yes, its time for confessing it all.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Still Smiling........
Smiled When Mother Took Me Into Her Arms For The First Time,
Smiled When Saw World Outside The Hospital For The First Time,
Smiled Whenever Went To School,
Smiled Even Being Laughed At....
And Called A Fool....
Smiled When Stood First In The Class,
Smiled When I Wasn't Misunderstood..... At Last!
Smiled When My Poem Was Said Wow!
Smiled When Realised That Only Day Is Today....
And Time Is Now......
Smiled When Got My 'True' Love,
Smiled As I Always Felt We Are Two Doves,
Smiled Even When Came To Know He's Not Mine,
Smiled Even When He Married My Friend.....
And Raised A Toast Of Wine,
Smiled Even When Lost Every Hope,
Smiled Even When Wasn't Able To Cope,
Smiled Even When Knew My End Is Near,
Smiled And Enjoyed Cutting My Nerve.......
No Fear...............
Smiled At Every Moment Of My Life,
Whenever, Wherever And Never Cried.............
But Now, I'm Lying Under A White Cover,
Father Putting Me On Fire.........
With No Blessings Left To Shower.....
People Around Have Nothing To Do With My Death
But Are Crying.........
And I'm............
Still Smiling.................................
poem by Apurva Jain
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Back For Good
gonna do something you might know,
But don't worry it gets better at the chorus"
I guess now it's time for me to throw up
I feel it's time
Got a picture of you beside me
Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup,
Wash it off
Got a fist of pure emotion
Got a head of shattered dreams
Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind me now
[chorus shouted loud & excitedly!]whatever i said, whatever i did i didn't mean it
I just want you back for good
Whenever i'm wrong just tell me the song and i'll sing it
You'll be right and understood
Unaware but underlined i figured out the story
It wasn't good
And in the corner of a mind i celebrated glory
But it wasn't to be
In the twist of separation you excelled at being free
Can't you find a little room inside for me
[chorus shouted loud & excitedly!]whatever i said, whatever i did i didn't mean it
I just want you back for good
Whenever i'm wrong just tell me the song and i'll sing it
You'll be right and understood
And we'll be together, this time is forever
(ed note: rob forgot the words again *g*)
So complete in our love
We will never be uncovered again
Mosh!
[chorus shouted loud & excitedly!]whatever i said, whatever i did i didn't mean it
I just want you back for good
Whenever i'm wrong just tell me the song and i'll sing it
You'll be right and understood
song performed by by Robbie Williams
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fabian
My name is Fabian and,
There was a time that i loved a woman;
But she kept growing and never looked back.
There was a day that i made love to this woman and,
She kept smiling and never looked back;
For i never knew that she was very lonely.
She cried for love and i satisfied her,
But after some time she went back into the thin air!
She never called back and she never wrote to me;
Then i knew what was wrong,
For this lovely lonely lady who suppose to be mine is gone forever!
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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The Day That Time Would Stop!
The passageway was longer than he thought
He would have said,
It seemed to go forever,
But the words stayed in his head.
That drumming in his ears was surely
Just the lack of sound,
And could it be, he floated,
With his feet just off the ground?
The ambulance had called for him at just
On half past three,
He'd told his wife: ‘Don't bother,
It will go away, you'll see! '
His wife was more determined than she'd
Ever been before,
She dialled up on her mobile
And she waved him, at the door.
‘It's all just fuss and bother, this, ' he thought,
And flushed quite red,
The fellow in the ambulance
Looked grim, and shook his head.
He tried to give him oxygen, then
Called out to his mate:
‘You'd better put your foot down,
Or we might be there too late! '
He felt the lurch of speed, and heard the
Sirens start to wail,
He only felt embarrassment,
‘Such fuss! Beyond the pale! '
But then the light had faded in the
Middle of the day,
And that was when he found himself
Deep in that passageway!
The light became much brighter, at the end
He saw a door,
It slowly started opening,
He couldn't see much more,
But then he floated through it, standing
Stark within this room
Filled wall to wall with flowers that
Had just begun to bloom!
He stood there for a moment, he could not
Believe his eyes,
A crowd of happy people jumped
On out, and yelled: ‘Surprise! '
Then streamers and balloons appeared
And tangled round his feet,
He stared at them in wonder as
His heart had ceased to beat!
His father stood there grinning, he had died
Before his time
While his mother wiped a tear away,
She'd left when he was nine,
And all the aunts and uncles from
His distant memories,
Now stood and charged a glass to him,
And smiled, and shouted: ‘Cheers! '
‘He doesn't know what's happened, give him time, '
Said Uncle Ron,
‘We're just so glad to see you - My!
The weight that you've put on!
You must have seen it coming, all
That pain before you drop;
It's common to us all, you know,
The Day that Time would Stop! '
He paused to think about his wife, and
Wondered if she cried,
Or simply shrugged her shoulders when
She heard that he had died,
The heart that he no longer had
He knew would never mend;
He stood erect and dignified -
A funeral to attend!
poem by David Lewis Paget
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Misconception
Hmm I just called to hear your voice
Can’t hear what you’re saying (because) you’re drowned by the background noise
What? Huh? I can’t hear you speak up a little louder
Damn! Can you hear me now? Is that better?
I called to confess feelings of love for you
But as time goes by our words became few
Now you ain’t saying nothing
Got me here wondering if I’m annoying
Hey I’m out so I guess this is good-bye
No baby way u going or why…
Hmmm all you said was ‘Alright’
I mean what am I suppose to do
Afterwards, then send me a text ‘love you’
I guess that makes everything crystal blue
‘Lost in time, time in you’
We all need our spaces
Trying to figure out all these phases
It’s too much my memory can’t take this
Sitting here trying to erase shit
Misconception is what I’m speaking about
Can’t say what I think can’t think what I’ll do
I’m here clustered with doubts
I mean ‘love you’ that’s all you can say beau
Now my thoughts are going in a different direction
Making sentence from these words compilation
Hoping for no misinterpretations
Looking for misconceptions so I can make my corrections
I called to have a good time
Enjoy the feeling that you are mine
It didn’t happen so I’ll take my leave I hope I wasn’t annoying you
I left because I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of you
Enjoy your day … and oh yeah I love you to.
poem by Anita Khelawan
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We Knew But Didn’t Know
Occasionally people come into our lives,
people we knew but didn’t know.
We knew them from our early years
before life sent us in different directions.
Years would pass before we met again
with this person we knew but didn’t know.
The passing years had changed us both,
wiser but strangers no less.
In the exchanges that follows a friendship grows.
A friendship that was never there before
with this person we knew but didn’t know.
Everything happens for a reason
and the reason is not for us to know.
In meeting it changes us, ignites a flame within,
a flame of caring given a chance should have been.
Now in maturity we get to know that person
we knew but didn’t know.
What the future holds is as uncertain as tomorrow,
but we walk towards it with this friend,
a person we knew but didn’t know.
27 March 2009
poem by David Harris
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Forever Friend
For Mike Bird
1943 - 2005
My forever friend.
I never though I’d have to say
The words I did over you
As they lowered you slowly into the ground
But there was one else
To say them, only me.
We’d been friends
For over forty years
At times we were almost brothers
Many happy Christmases you spent with my wife and me.
You became part of our extended family
You were an only child
and when your parents passed away
We befriended each other
During troubles and hardships
Through the years that came our way
Our friendship was strong
Even when for some reason or another
We didn’t see each other for a while
We never argued or raised our voices
Whenever we disagreed
Which I recall, wasn’t often
I remember you only getting heated
When some publisher rejected me
Saying “The fools, can’t they see.”
They were my failures, but you took them to heart.
Whenever you succeeded
I was first to congratulate you
I am so proud to have had you as my friend
Words can’t express the sorrow that I felt
When they said you had gone
I wanted to be on my own
Go somewhere and cry
Unfortunately responsibilities made me pass that by
Your cousins all the time you were alive
They stayed away from you
Didn’t even want you in their homes
Then they heard you were dying
Out of the wood work they came
To see what they could get
Oh, what a shame
They never knew
You didn’t have a penny to your name
He wasn’t religious they proclaimed
So no priest was sought
We gathered in the chapel
Only seven people came
Someone read a eulogy
But they didn’t know the real you
And that was that
I was asked to say a few words
As they lowered your coffin into the ground
With a lump in my throat, eyes full of tears
In a voice choked and low
I asked God to look after and protect
Your immortal soul
I held your wake at my house
Where you had spent so many happy times
I talked about you to your cousins
And they found out more about you
Than they ever knew
When they left and I was alone with my thoughts
I said a silent prayer for you
You my forever friend
26-27 Jan 2007
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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