Oscar Wilde

Impressions I. Les Silhouettes

THE sea is flecked with bars of grey
The dull dead wind is out of tune,
And like a withered leaf the moon
Is blown across the stormy bay.

Etched clear upon the pallid sand
The black boat lies: a sailor boy
Clambers aboard in careless joy
With laughing face and gleaming hand.

And overhead the curlews cry,
Where through the dusky upland grass
The young brown-throated reapers pass,
Like silhouettes against the sky.

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Oscar Wilde

Les Silhouettes

The sea is flecked with bars of grey,
The dull dead wind is out of tune,
And like a withered leaf the moon
Is blown across the stormy bay.

Etched clear upon the pallid sand
Lies the black boat: a sailor boy
Clambers aboard in careless joy
With laughing face and gleaming hand.

And overhead the curlews cry,
Where through the dusky upland grass
The young brown-throated reapers pass,
Like silhouettes against the sky.

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Song - Sea of Sand

You sent me to the moon
Across a silent sea of sand
I was reaching for your hand
But you were standing on a hill

You launched me to the moon
Across the wind between the stars
I was reaching through the sand
But I was fading out of view

I was just a photograph
An old fading black and white
Taken by a passer-by
When the sun was out of sight


You sent me to the moon
I caught the desolation bus
There was no-one there but us
I saw your shadow on the sand

You sent me to the moon
Down every road we’ve ever walked
Every place we strayed or talked
When we were higher than the wind

I went searching all the stars
Between the avenues and bars
You were everywhere I went
In a different universe


You sent me to the moon
Across the frozen wastes of old
Where the howling wind blew cold
Where I lost you in the snow

You sent me to the moon
Although I didn’t want to know
But I built myself a home
Between the rainbow and the stones

I was frozen to the bone
In the icy wind of truth
I was free and on my own
In my castle on the moon


You sent me to the moon
Across a silent sea of sand
I was reaching for your hand
But you were standing on a hill

(Thanks to Tailor Bell for 'higher than the wind')

poem by Jim HoggReport problemRelated quotes
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At the salt march

When the wind is adrift
not a pebble of sand is stirring
at the salt marsh vapours lift

snipes, sandpipers, curlews run
racing out before you
as brown grey spots in the early morning sun,

the flat stretches of sand glisten shining
waves ripple in gently from the sea
in the distance a ship’s horn is whining

and sea and sky meets at the horizon,
seagulls fill the air in screeching flocks
while some fly on and on until they are gone.

poem by Gert StrydomReport problemRelated quotes
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Black Throated Wind

Youre bringing me down, Im running aground,
Blind in the lights of the interstate cars,
Passing me by, the busses and the semis,
Plugging like stones from a slingshot from mars.
But Im here on the road, bound to the load,
That I picked up in ten thousand cafes and bars.
Alone with the rush of the drivers that wont pick me up,
The highway, the moon, and clouds and the stars.
Black throated wind, keeps on pourin in,
With its words of a life where nothing is new,
Ah, mother american night, I pass from the light,
Ah, Im drownin in you.
I left st. louie, city of blues,
In the midst of a storm Id rather forget.
I tried to pretend it came to an end,
Cause you werent the women I once thought Id met.
But I cant deny, times have gone by,
Well I never had doubts or thoughts of regret,
And I was a man when all this began,
Who wouldnt think twice about being there yet.
Black throated wind, whisper in sin,
And speaking on life that passes like dew.
Its forced me to see youve done better by me,
Better by me that Ive done by you.
Now whats to be found by racing around,
You carry your pain wherever you go,
Full of blues, and tryin to lose,
You aint gonna learn what you dont wanna know.
So I give you my eyes and all of their lies,
Please help them to learn as well as to see.
Capture a glance, and make it dance,
But looking at you is looking at me.
Black throated wind, keeps on pourin in,
With its words of a life that could almost be true,
Ah, mother american night, here comes a light.
Im turning around, thats what Im gonna do.
Going back home thats what Im gonna do.
Im turning around, thats what Im gonna do.
Going back home thats what Im gonna do.
Cause youve done better by me than Ive done by you,
Im drowning in you.

song performed by by Grateful DeadReport problemRelated quotes
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Oscar Wilde

Serenade

THE western wind is blowing fair
Across the dark Ægean sea,
And at the secret marble stair
My Tyrian galley waits for thee.
Come down! the purple sail is spread,
The watchman sleeps within the town,
O leave thy lily-flowered bed,
O Lady mine come down, come down!

She will not come, I know her well,
Of lover's vows she hath no care,
And little good a man can tell
Of one so cruel and so fair.
True love is but a woman's toy,
They never know the lover's pain,
And I who loved as loves a boy
Must love in vain, must love in vain.

O noble pilot tell me true
Is that the sheen of golden hair?
Or is it but the tangled dew
That binds the passion-flowers there?
Good sailor come and tell me now
Is that my Lady's lily hand?
Or is it but the gleaming prow,
Or is it but the silver sand?

No! no! 'tis not the tangled dew,
'Tis not the silver-fretted sand,
It is my own dear Lady true
With golden hair and lily hand!
O noble pilot steer for Troy,
Good sailor ply the labouring oar,
This is the Queen of life and joy
Whom we must bear from Grecian shore!

The waning sky grows faint and blue,
It wants an hour still of day,
Aboard! aboard! my gallant crew,
O Lady mine away! away!
O noble pilot steer for Troy,
Good sailor ply the labouring oar,
O loved as only loves a boy!
O loved for ever evermore!

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Morse Moose & The Grey Goose

Right on down at the bottom of the sea
Tell me are you receiving me?
My name is morse moose and Im calling you
The grey goose was a steady boat
People said shes never float
One night when the moon was high
The grey goose flew away
As we were sailing round the rocks
The mate took out his compass box
And said the wind is like a fox
But the grey goose flew away
When out upon the open sea
The admiral, the mate and me
Prepared to face eternity
But the grey goose flew away
She flew into the stormy sea
Davy jones was calling me
But heading for tranquility
The grey goose flew away

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Missing

In the cool, sweet hush of a wooded nook,
Where the May buds sprinkle the green old mound,
And the winds and the birds and the limpid brook,
Murmur their dreams with a drowsy sound;
Who lies so still in the plushy moss,
With his pale cheek pressed on a breezy pillow,
Couched where the light and the shadow cross.
Through the flickering fringe of the willow?
Who lies, alas!
So still, so chill, in the whispering grass?

A soldier clad in the Zouave dress,
A bright-haired man with his lips apart,
One hand thrown up o'er his frank, dead face,
And the other clutching his pulseless heart,
Lies here in the shadows, cool and dim,
His musket swept by a trailing bough,
With a careless grace in each quiet limb,
And a wound on his manly brow
A wound, alas!
Whence the warm blood drips on the quiet grass.

The violets peer from their dusky beds
With a tearful dew in their great pure eyes;
The lilies quiver their shining heads,
Their pale lips full of a sad surprise;
And the lizard darts through the glistening fern -
And the squirrel rustles the branches hoary;
Strange birds fly out, with a cry, to bathe
Their wings in the sunset glory;
While the shadows pass
O'er the quiet face and the dewy grass.

God pity the bride who waits at home.
With her lily cheeks and her violet eyes,
Dreaming the sweet old dreams of love,
While her lover is walking in Paradise;
God strengthen her heart as the days go by,
And the long, drear nights of her vigil follow,
Nor bird, nor moon, nor whispering wind,
May breathe the tale of the hollow;
Alas! Alas!
The secret is safe with the woodland grass.

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Sometimes Wind Moves In Secret

Sometimes wind moves in secret
Like a lover or a moon
Sometimes a board will answer
Or a shutter or a loon
Sometimes wind answers itself
Like a woman at the mirror
And sometimes no one's present
Or unwilling to hear

Wind moans over graveyards
As if weeping for the dead
Wind howls at the windows
Like it wants you, in your bed
Wind steals kites of children
Without making any sound
And wind tears off your head scarf
But lifts hair, like a crown

Wind sighs round a lighthouse
Like a sailor blown off course
Wind whispers in the rigging
Like a breeze has lost its voice
Wind dies in the harbor
When the moon is sailing high
But wind sings before morning
When the twilight blush is nigh

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Silhouette (live)

Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Took a walk and passed your house late last night,
All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight.
From within the dim light cast two silhouettes on the shade.
Oh what a lovely couple they made.
Put his arms around your waist, held you tight.
Kisses i could almost taste, in the night.
Wondered why i'm not the guy whose silhouettes on the shade.
I couldn't hide the tears in my eyes.
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Lost control and rang your bell, i was sore,
"let me in or else i'll beat down your door".
Saw two strangers who had been two silhouettes on the shade,
My heart skipped a beat i was on the wrong street.
Rushed down to your house with wings on my feet,
Loved you like i've never loved you my sweet.
Vowed that you and i would be, two silhouettes on the shade.
All of our days two silhouettes on the shade.
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Two silhouettes on the shade.

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Silhouettes

Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Took a walk and passed your house late last night,
All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight.
From within the dim light cast two silhouettes on the shade.
Oh what a lovely couple they made.
Put his arms around your waist, held you tight.
Kisses I could almost taste, in the night.
Wondered why Im not the guy whose silhouettes on the shade.
I couldnt hide the tears in my eyes.
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Lost control and rang your bell, I was sore,
Let me in or else Ill beat down your door.
Saw two strangers who had been two silhouettes on the shade,
My heart skipped a beat I was on the wrong street.
Rushed down to your house with wings on my feet,
Loved you like Ive never loved you my sweet.
Vowed that you and I would be, two silhouettes on the shade.
All of our days two silhouettes on the shade.
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes,
Silhouettes, silhouettes, silhouettes.
Two silhouettes on the shade.

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The Fairy Clock

Silver clock! O silver clock! tell to me the time o' day!
Is there yet a little hour left for us to work and play?
Tell me when the sun will set--tiny globe of silver-grey.

It has been so glad a world since the coming of the morn,
Oft I wondered when I met any souls who seemed forlorn--
And I scarce gave heed to those who were old or travel worn.

Mayhap I have loved too well the merry fleeting things;
Run too lightly with the wind--chased too many shining wings;
Thought too seldom of the night, and the silence that it brings.

Well I fear me I have been but an idler in the sun--
All unfinished are the tasks long and long ago begun--
In the dark perchance they weep, who have left their work undone.

And I know each black-frocked friar preacheth sermons that, alas!
Fain would halt the dancing feet of those careless ones who pass
Down a sweet and primrose path, through the ribbons of the grass.

Silver-clock! O Silver-clock! It was only yesterday
Dandelions flecked the field, starry bright, and gold and gay;
You are but the ghost of one--little globe of silver-grey!

Tell me--tell me of the hour--for there is so much to do!
Is it early? Is it late? Fairy clock! 0 tell me true,
As I blow you down the wind, out upon a road of blue.

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A Testament

The decomposing wall I see
That encompasses the long dead
Lies interspersed among the trees
Whose living, fingered roots are fed
with nourishment of sublimed faith.

I pause a moment…

Panning the surroundings I see
Row after row of unknown dead
Whose tombstones depict family trees
Whose living relatives are fed
The same promises of blind faith.

Why must I lament?

The brown withered leaves that I see
Wind-blown atop the buried dead
Should I mourn provenance: the trees?
Why then the promise that is fed:
Life after death by keeping faith.

A fool is content.

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How to Accompany The Moon Without Walking

Harsh, harsh, the maram grass on the salt dune,
seen by the cricket’s eye against the harbor moon,
anchor-frost and seaward, the lighthouse moon—

the bellbuoy-beating moon, the tiderip bronze
ringing above deep channels and old bones,
the hawsehole moon, where blood and money runs—

foremast and mainmast moon, up harbor still,
island and smokestack moon, and the wind-spill
falling from the sail-throat for the moon to fill—

up harbor, the old wharf moon, the capstan moon,
and round it the capstan bars, the heeling tune,
India Wharf, we'll bring you to Rio soon—

the shipyard moon, the grain-elevator moon,
derrick and gantry, and the turbine croon
sweet under seafoam as a bird in June—

red-warehouse moon, yacht-basin moon, where spars
tangle and telegraph with stays and stars—
hi ho, the queen of accordions and guitars—

ship-chandler moon, sea-boots and Wharf Street shine,
the ropewalk moon that spins in turpentine,
sail-loft invaded with a pour of silver twine—

and high! up spinning! skyscraper tipped on purple!
skyscraper moon, and high! for the stare of people—
skysign and belltower moon, moon for the steeple—

bells breaking bronze, gold, down, the scattered tinkle,
silver-bell moon, cornice and rooftop twinkle,
Christmas and graveyard moon, the tinsel sprinkle—

and dead, the stockyard moon, where blood drips down,
dead longhorn and mute snout; the barrelhouse moon,
moonmusic doubling, rigadoon, jigadoon—

so down, and down, who will be darkened soon,
red and green lights, the pallid airport moon—
ah! on the flying field, the captive balloon!

and cold; for the rim of night, the earth’s black arc,
swings up, blots out the stars, to the last spark;
while, underworld, the moon drowns dead and dark.

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The Robe of Grass

HERE lies the woven garb he wore
Of grass he gathered by the shore
Whereon the phantom waves still fret and foam
And sigh along the visionary sand.
‘Where is he now?’ you cry; ‘What desolate land
Gleams round him in dull mockery of home?’

You knew him by the robe he cast
About him, grey and worn at last.
‘It fades,’ you murmur, ‘changes, lives and dies.
Why has he vanished? Whither is he fled?
And is there any light among the dead?
Can any dream come singing where he lies?’

Ah peace! lift up your clouded eyes,
Nor where this curious relic lies
Grope in the blown dust for the print of feet.
Dim, tottering, ghastly sounds are these; but he
Laughs now as ever, still aloof and free,
Eager and wild and passionate and fleet.

Because he has dropped the part he played,
Shall love be baffled and dismayed?
Let the frail earth and all its visions melt,
And let the heart that loves, the eye that sees,
Seek him amid immortal mysteries,
For lo, he dwells where he has ever dwelt.

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The Song Of Where Were We

Riding on a boat
They sailed One Night
Three of Them
Singing
Where Are We?

And then when the MOON
came full above their Heads
They begin to Sing
fULL mOON i SEE you Standing There

And then the MOON
RESTS on the leaf of the banana
Like a little Bird

And then they came out from the Boat
And drank Wine
And then They sand and dance
Till Morning

The NEighbors simply
Miss them All

They all love the charivari
And sympathy

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Walt Whitman

Here, Sailor

WHAT ship, puzzled at sea, cons for the true reckoning?
Or, coming in, to avoid the bars, and follow the channel, a perfect
pilot needs?
Here, sailor! Here, ship! take aboard the most perfect pilot,
Whom, in a little boat, putting off, and rowing, I, hailing you,
offer.

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Ouyang Xiu

Scraps of Cloud in Rosy Dusk

Scrap rosy cloud evening rays west lake good
Flower bank duckweed sandbar
Ten qing ripple peaceful
Wild bank without person boat self line

West south moon on float cloud scatter
Veranda railing cool born
Lotus scent clear
Water face wind come wine face sober
Scraps of cloud in rosy dusk- West Lake is good.
Flowers on the bank, duckweed on sand,
A hundred acres of peaceful ripples,
On the overgrown bank, no man- just the stroke of a boat.

South-west, across the moon, scattered clouds are drifting.
Cool rises at the terrace rail,
Lotus flowers' scent is clear,
Wind from the water's face makes the wine face sober.

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Watch The Wind Blow By

Creek goes rippling by
Ive been barefoot and all day with my baby
Brown leaves have started falling
Leading the way
I like it best just like this
Doing nothing all the way
So lets lay down in the tall grass
Dreaming away
And all I wanna do is let it be and be with you
And watch the wind blow by
And all I wanna see is you and me go on forever
Like the clear blue sky
Slowly, theres only
You and i
And all I want to do is watch the wind blow by
Girl, you know you told me not so long ago
To let it come, then let it pass
And all your troubles and your sorrows
They wont last
So let me kiss you now, little darling
Beneath this autumn moon
Cold wind, another season
Will be here soon
And all I wanna do is let it be and be with you
And watch the wind blow by
And all I wanna see is you and me go on forever
Like the clear blue sky
Slowly, theres only
You and i
And all I want to do is watch the wind blow by

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Like A Leaf

i will pass this world
like a blown leaf
to the north by the south winds
there will be abrupt changes
just the ripening of the life
of a leaf
from green to yellow
to orange and then to gray
to dryness crumpling
into dust

who will not be dust?
we all are
but all of you are leaving traces
like a footstep
a child a parcel of land
a will

how can i make some traces
on the path of the
wind?

there shall be none
for a whisper has no bars to hold on
a sound has no box to stay
a spoken word
has no room for sleeping.

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Day that I have Loved

Tenderly, day that I have loved, I close your eyes,
And smooth your quiet brow, and fold your thin dead hands.
The grey veils of the half-light deepen; colour dies.
I bear you, a light burden, to the shrouded sands,

Where lies your waiting boat, by wreaths of the sea's making
Mist-garlanded, with all grey weeds of the water crowned.
There you'll be laid, past fear of sleep or hope of waking;
And over the unmoving sea, without a sound,

Faint hands will row you outward, out beyond our sight,
Us with stretched arms and empty eyes on the far-gleaming
And marble sand. . . .
Beyond the shifting cold twilight,
Further than laughter goes, or tears, further than dreaming,

There'll be no port, no dawn-lit islands! But the drear
Waste darkening, and, at length, flame ultimate on the deep.
Oh, the last fire - and you, unkissed, unfriended there!
Oh, the lone way's red ending, and we not there to weep!

(We found you pale and quiet, and strangely crowned with flowers,
Lovely and secret as a child. You came with us,
Came happily, hand in hand with the young dancing hours,
High on the downs at dawn!) Void now and tenebrous,

The grey sands curve before me. . . .
From the inland meadows,
Fragrant of June and clover, floats the dark, and fills
The hollow sea's dead face with little creeping shadows,
And the white silence brims the hollow of the hills.

Close in the nest is folded every weary wing,
Hushed all the joyful voices; and we, who held you dear,
Eastward we turn and homeward, alone, remembering . . .
Day that I loved, day that I loved, the Night is here!

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