Nagasaki mon amour
Nagasaki Mon Amour
There are moments when things become clear. A night, the Pacific Ocean was,
as its name, calm; I sat on deck and listened to the heartbeat of the ship,
which seemed to beat faster when one of the engineers opened the door and
came out on deck. I heard laughter from the mess-room they were playing
cards but I knew I would never be one of them, I had tried, the swagger and
the misogyny, living in a world where women were either whores or mothers.
The ship was bound for Nagasaki, which for the young crew meant little, but
I had been here before and visited a graveyard where Portuguese sailors had
died long time ago when Japan was an unknown land. At sixty I was a relic
and accepted that. Berthed. Walking down the gangway, I didn’t bother to look
back, didn’t shake anyone’s hand- it was dinner time anyway. Before flying back
to Europe I tried to find the Portuguese cemetery, it wasn’t there anymore;
another relic gone.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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Long Voyage
Long Voyage and a Chinese Lady.
Glittering ocean, there is no difference between the vast blue sky and the sea.
I’m in a bubble, there is no escape. I walk on a rusty deck know this voyage will
never end. Time is reduced to a trickle. The ship is bound for Nagasaki but we
will never get there. I feel a wave of dread, the difference between sunset and
dawn is but a whisper. Magazines, books and old newspapers have been read
and reread a thousand times, playing cards are filthy by overuse, I have fallen in
love with the print of the green Chinese lady in the salon. When voices are still
I sit and watch her and will her to smile, but she’s inscrutable. Seagulls, the sea
has changed colour, grey and foamy, air is no longer pure. Nagasaki has come
to our rescue and saved us from mortal weariness. The city will dock alongside
us in the afternoon.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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All Souls Day
All Souls Day
Suddenly a big hole opened up in the sea, the ship sank into it; the vessel
rests on the bottom where shiny star fish light up the dark before they are
swallowed by sharks.The captain on his bridge, cook in his galley, the first
engineer in the engine room, as it was dinner time when she sank, her crew
are in the mess room, dancing ghoulishly around as the sea gently sighs.
And sometimes the skeletal face of the deck boy peeks through a porthole
asks when the ship arrives in New York, a girlfriend waiting for him; there is
a moment of hilarity as dead sailors’ moves about free of man’s burden.
The cook rests in a in a large pot tells himself he must wake up, bake bread
and do the bloody the dishes as he tries to get his cigarette lighter to work.
Her captain bobs up and down trying to find his charts, maps of the oceans
currents and wonders why the radar isn’t working. The engineer is trying to
find out why the engine stalled. I knew them all, but dastardly left them in
Rio de Janeiro just because I met a girl called Maria.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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Homeland Africa
Ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi
Ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi
Ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi
Down the ocean a ship comes sailing through the waves
Filled with hundreds of men they take as slaves
Just long for their true homeland africa
And to be saved they want to be free
Men women and babyslaves
Coming to the land of liberty, liberty
Ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi...
They are tired of waiting for a brand new day
Some of them sing and chant some of them pray
And some men got a little tired too
No one knows if the journey pay
Men women and babyslaves
Coming to the land of liberty, liberty
Ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi ship ahoi...
song performed by by Boney M.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Welcome Onboard
Welcome onboard
I don’t care to read of other people dreams it has nothing to do with
me, so I will tell you a real story. The day after my anniversary I walked
along the docks of Faro saw a sign, a cargo ship needed a chief steward.
I walked up the gangway, spoke to the captain and got the job.
On deck when the provision arrived; I was in charge just like before.
The captain came he looked baffled; according to my passport I was 73
and far too old to join a ship. The master thanked me, getting victuals
onboard signing for them and getting the food stuff safely stored.
The ship left without me but her captain saluted me, it was raining no
one saw my tears. Whatever I do these days even driving a car there are
people telling me I’m too old. Yet in Japan their oldest porno star, a man
of 77 and still working, so why will they not let me go back to sea again?
poem by Oskar Hansen
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Casabianca
Love's the boy stood on the burning deck
trying to recite `The boy stood on
the burning deck.' Love's the son
stood stammering elocution
while the poor ship in flames went down.
Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,
even the swimming sailors, who
would like a schoolroom platform, too,
or an excuse to stay
on deck. And love's the burning boy.
poem by Elizabeth Bishop
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A Salty Dog
'all hands on deck, we've run afloat!' i heard the captain cry
'explore the ship, replace the cook: let no one leave alive!'
Across the straits, around the horn: how far can sailors fly?
A twisted path, our tortured course, and no one left alive
We sailed for parts unknown to man, where ships come home to die
No lofty peak, nor fortress bold, could match our captain's eye
Upon the seventh seasick day we made our port of call
A sand so white, and sea so blue, no mortal place at all
We fired the gun, and burnt the mast, and rowed from ship to shore
The captain cried, we sailors wept: our tears were tears of joy
Now many moons and many junes have passed since we made land
A salty dog, this seaman's log: your witness my own hand
song performed by by Styx
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Stand by the Engines
On the moonlighted decks there are children at play,
While smoothly the steamer is holding her way;
And the old folks are chatting on deck-seats and chairs,
And the lads and the lassies go strolling in pairs.
Some gaze half-entranced on the beautiful sea,
And wonder perhaps if a vision it be:
And surely their journeys no sorrow nor care,
For wealth, love, and beauty are passengers there.
But down underneath, ’mid the coal dust that smears
The face and the hands, work the ship’s engineers.
Whate’er be the duty of others, ’tis theirs
To stand by their engines whatever occurs.
The sailor may gaze on the sea and the sky;
The sailor may tell when the danger is nigh;
But when Death his black head o’er the waters uprears,
Unseen he is met by the ship’s engineers.
They are thrown from their feet by the force of a shock;
They know that their vessel has struck on a rock.
Now stand by your engines when danger appears,
For all may depend on the ship’s engineers!
No thought of their danger! No mad rush on deck!
They stand at their posts in the hull of a wreck,
Firm hands on the valves; and the white steam appears;
And down with their ship go the brave engineers!
poem by Henry Lawson
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Lost At Sea
Lost At Sea
It was a quiet night when I woke up in the small cabin I shared with
the other deck-boy. The porthole was open and brought a welcoming
cooling breeze and I fell asleep again wondering idly what the other
deck boy was up to. He was missed at eight o’clock by, the time his
watch began, the ship turned around and on the enormous sun sparkly
mirror, we looked for him. We knew this was hopeless but something
had to be written in the ship’s logbook.
His name was Terje, a puny little boy who cried a lot when shouted
at and therefore was an easy target to make fun of by the crew.
His steady masturbation had gone on my nerves, mostly because
he dried his fluid on the curtain that covered each bunk for privacy.
Crew, silent for a few days, feeling guilty for teasing him, I too felt
a nip of guilt I enjoyed having the cabin by myself, when we docked
in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Terje was all but forgotten.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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On Board Ship
It's like him, of course,
this little pencil portrait.
Hurriedly sketched, on the ship's deck,
the afternoon magical,
the Ionian Sea around us.
It's like him. But I remember him as better looking.
He was almost pathologically sensitive,
and this highlighted his expression.
He appears to me better looking
now that my soul brings him back, out of Time.
Out Of Time. All these things are very old
the sketch, the ship, the afternoon.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy
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Tell Me
Tell me I wasn't true
Tell me I didn't believe in you
Tell me a moment I didn't share
Tell me when I acted like I didn't care
Tell me a moment with me that was hard to bear
Tell me when I was fake
Tell me the time we spent wasn't great
Tell me I wasn't a good friend
Tell me I wouldn't have your back until the end
Tell me I treated you like a child
Tell me a time I couldn't make you smile
Tell me a time I didn't miss you
Tell me I never kissed you
Tell me a time I used you
Tell me a time I abused you
Tell me you're not all I have
Tell me when I didn't speak on your behalf
Tell me when I didn't have your back
What I'm seeing I feel like you're telling me all of that
poem by Daniel Chapman
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Shake It Off
*chorus*
i gotta shake you off
cause the lovin aint the same
and you keep on playing games
like you know im here to stay
i gotta shake you off
just like the calgon commercial
i really gotta get up out of here
and go somewhere
i gotta shake you off
gotta make that move
find somebody who
appriciates all the love i give
boy i gotta do whats best for me
baby and that means i gotta
shake you off
*verse 1*
by the time you get this message
its gonna be too late
so dont bother paging me
cause ill be on my way
see i grabbed all my diamonds and clothes
just ask your momma she knows
you're gonna miss me baby
hate to say i told you so
well at first i didn't know
but now its clear to me
you would cheat with all your freaks
and lie compulsively
so i packed up my louis vutton
jumped in your ride and took off
you"ll never ever find a girl
who loves you more than me
*chorus*
*bridge*
i gotta shake, shake,
shake ,shake, shake it off
*verse 2*
i found out about a gang
of your dirty little deeds
with this one and that one
by the pool, on beach, on the streets
heard yall was
hold up my phone's breakin up
i'ma hang up
and call the machine right back
i gotta get this off of my mind
you wasn't worth my time
so im leaving you behind
cause i need a real love in my life
save this recording because
im never comin back home
baby im gone
don't cha know
*chorus*
*bridge*
song performed by by Mariah Carey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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To Mother
In the old Strauss waltz for the first time
We had listened to your quiet call,
Since then all the living things are alien
And the knocking of the clock consoles.
We, like you, are gladly greeting sunsets,
And are drunk on nearness of the end.
All, with which on better nights we're wealthy
Is put in the hearts by your own hand.
Bowing to a child's dreams with no tire.
(Only crescent looked in them indeed
Without you)! You have led your kids past
Bitter lifetime of the thoughts and deeds.
From the early age the sad one's close to us,
Laughter bores and home we left behind..
Our ship not in good times left the harbor
And it sails by will of every wind!
Azure isle of childhood is paling,
On the deck of ship we stand alone.
It appears, oh mother, to your daughters
You've left an inheritance of woe.
poem by Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva
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The Heroine
The heroine stood up on the deck
The ship was out of control
The bow was being ripped to shreds
Men were fighting down below
The sea had pummeled the boat for so long
That they knew nothing but fear
And the babys in the box
He thinks the door is locked
The sea is in a state
The baby learns to wait for the heroine
Ohh, ohh, for the heroine
Locked in his defense, he waits for the heroine
The mast is cracking as he waves are slapping
Sailors roll across the deck
And when they thought none was looking
They would cut a weaker mans neck
While the heroine dressed in a virgin white dress
Tried to steer the mighty ship
But the raging storm wouldnt hear of it
They were in for a long trip
Babys in the box
He thinks the door is locked
He finds it hard to breathe
Drawing in the sea
And wheres the heroine to fire off the gun
To calm the raging seas
And let herself be seized, by the -
- baby in the box
The thinks the door is locked
The woman has the keys
But there is no moment she can seize
Heres to the heroine
Who transcends all the men
Who are locked inside the box
Will the lady let them out
Ohh, the heroine, ooohh, ooohhh, the heroine
Strapped to the mast, the pale ascendant heroine
Strapped to the mast, the pale ascendant heroine
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Got You Eye Baths As Well
I've went and dropped my I Pad,
It's really badly bent,
To you I couldn't lie Dad,
It definitely wasn't meant.
My Dad then said, no problem son,
Just leave it all to me,
He acted as if he was having fun,
The bent one he didn't see.
Before I knew it he was off,
He said to buy another,
If that's the case I couldn't scoff,
So I went to tell my brother.
He said Dads head was in the clouds,
The guy just didn't have a clue,
But I protested he had vowed,
That chaos would not ensue.
This then got me worried,
What would he bring me back?
So off to my room I scurried,
For disasters he had the knack.
Just at that his car arrived,
He had a box that was really large,
What in Gods name has he contrived?
What mess did he discharge?
He said I bought you fifty pieces,
They'll last forever more,
They don't have any dents or creases,
For you my son nothing's a chore.
Fifty of what I shouted out,
I Pads are expensive,
He said I had to use some clout,
But my contacts are extensive.
When he finally opened up the box,
Upon my back I fell,
He said, I didn't just get eye pads,
‘' I Got You Eye Baths As Well ‘'
A little Ghost Story
As I was going to bed
I turned out my light
tucked myself in
on a long winter's night
All of a sudden
I heard a door squeak
I thought someone was in my house
so I decided to take a peak
I heard the wind blow hard
and started to shiver with fear
and heard some noises again
but this time I knew I was near
I went into the living room
and noticed my door was opened wide
squeaking back and forth
I laughed so hard I almost cried
So I decided to go back up to my room
When I heard some terrible cries
I rushed to my room real quick
but a ghost stopped me in surprise
I ran and yelled
and I ran outside my house right then
and decided I would never
go back to that house again
At my new house
I turned out the light
you can probably guess
what went on that night
poem by Shaina Lloyd
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I Should Have Listened To Me
(tim hunt/steve bogard/rick giles)
(track 4 - time 3:30)
When you told me you needed a little time on your own
I kinda lied and said Id be alright all alone
My friends said hey man what can you do
Let her see whats missing and shell come back to you
They all said it was for the best
But I knew as I watched you leave
I shouldve listened to me, and gotten down on my knees
I heard the words in my heart, dont tear us apart
Come back baby please
I shouldve swallowed my pride, I shouldve broke down and cried
I was the one who knew that you and I were meant to be
I shouldve listened to me
Call it intuition, an instinctual feeling
When you know you bet it all and your gonna lose everything
Thats what I had when you walked out the door
And as each day passes Im feeling it more and more
Now that Im hear its all so clear
How could I have made you see
I shouldve listened to me, and gotten down on my knees
I heard the words in my heart, dont tear us apart
Come back baby please
I shouldve swallowed my pride, I shouldve broke down and cried
I was the one who knew that you and I were meant to be
I shouldve listened
I shouldve listened to me, and gotten down on my knees
I heard the words in my heart, dont tear us apart
Come back baby please
I shouldve swallowed my pride, I shouldve broke down and cried
I was the one who knew that you and I were meant to be
I shouldve listened to me
I shouldve listened to me
song performed by by Yankee Grey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Waving to moments passing by
Moments happy moments
people think about them
people write about them
people talk about them
people hope about them
I see moments
lots of moments
but I wave to my moments
as they pass me by...
My life is a ship
on an Ocean deep
passing by is the ship 'Could've been'
it holds all my moments in its keep
I stand on my lifes deck
waving to moments till they're just a speck
Moments happy moments
people live them
people grab them
people make them
people savour them
but I wave to my moments
as they pass me by...
Goodbye 'Could've been'
Goodbye moments...
poem by Michelle Melody
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My Best Friend Danny
I met him in nineteen fifty-six
he was my best friend
him and I, was always in a fix
of our fights, we always did mend.
There was the time
we painted the fence
wanted to do the job, real fine
used a whole gallon of paint
it didn't make sense
my brother dave asked,
'What happened to all the paint'?
when we told him, 'We used it all, '
he laughed, I thought, he was going to faint,
thru the years, with that story,
we have really had a ball
Then there was the time
we tried to chop down the tree
my brother got mad, but the three was mine
oh, we were so care-free
I never forget the racoon,
that followed us home,
he seemed to like our radio
that was playing a tune
the racoon, seemed so a lone
I never forgot the indian head
pennies, he sold me,
he stole them, of crime he led,
he had taken them from his dad
I should have known, he sold them so cheap
to get them back, his father was glad
He always did something
to me that was real mean
to make up, a present he would bring
of our friendship, he would lean
He taught me how to smoke
this you say, you call a friend.
when I could have had a stroke,
but he always had money to lend
When I didn't have any friends at all,
Danny was always, by my side
and it sure made me feel tall
if any one picked on me, he would
beat their hide
Every one called him and I a clown,
each one laughed so hard
that it, really brought them down,
at poker, he could really hide a card
Every morning before school
we played poker, he cheated a lot
and with him, I wanted to fight a duel
but he told me 'I cheat not.'
Of the down town loop, we did ride
in nine-teen fifty-nine
our car through the streets, would glide
trying to find girls
that would be his or mine
In nine-teen sixty, my dog shep died,
it was very depressing and sad
him and I, all day we cried
it made me unhappy and a little mad
In nine-teen sixty-two
he joined the army
I tried to join, but didn't make it
those days were very stormy
after what he went through,
I didn't mind a bit
In nine-teen sixty-seven
the army let him go,
at home at last, I thought I was
in heaven
but I soon found out, it wasn't so
The army had changed him, in many ways
Danny was not the same anymore
as I looked back, at those good old days
when I always heard him, knock on the door
All he wanted to do now, is go drink
he could'nt sit still very long
and he was really starting to sink
he had seen action, against the Viet Cong
Next to him one night
a man's throat was slashed, a man who was kind
it wasn't good, or right
and what it must have done, to Danny's mind
Over the years, I saw him, until eighty-one
hav'nt seen him since
remember well, good times and all the fun
Danny where ever you are,
you are still my best friend
does that make sense.
The Pearl Diver
Kanzo Makame, the diver, sturdy and small Japanee,
Seeker of pearls and of pearl-shell down in the depths of the sea,
Trudged o'er the bed of the ocean, searching industriously.
Over the pearl-grounds the lugger drifted -- a little white speck:
Joe Nagasaki, the "tender", holding the life-line on deck,
Talked through the rope to the diver, knew when to drift or to check.
Kanzo was king of his lugger, master and diver in one,
Diving wherever it pleased him, taking instructions from none;
Hither and thither he wandered, steering by stars and by sun.
Fearless he was beyond credence, looking at death eye to eye:
This was his formula always, "All man go dead by and by --
S'posing time come no can help it -- s'pose time no come, then no die."
Dived in the depths of the Darnleys, down twenty fathom and five;
Down where by law, and by reason, men are forbidden to dive;
Down in a pressure so awful that only the strongest survive:
Sweated four men at the air pumps, fast as the handles could go,
Forcing the air down that reached him heated and tainted, and slow --
Kanzo Makame the diver stayed seven minutes below;
Came up on deck like a dead man, paralysed body and brain;
Suffered, while blood was returning, infinite tortures of pain:
Sailed once again to the Darnleys -- laughed and descended again!
Scarce grew the shell in the shallows, rarely a patch could they touch;
Always the take was so little, always the labour so much;
Always they thought of the Islands held by the lumbering Dutch --
Islands where shell was in plenty lying in passage and bay,
Islands where divers could gather hundreds of shell in a day.
But the lumbering Dutch in their gunboats they hunted the divers away.
Joe Nagasaki, the "tender", finding the profits grow small,
Said, "Let us go to the Islands, try for a number one haul!
If we get caught, go to prison -- let them take lugger and all!"
Kanzo Makame, the diver -- knowing full well what it meant --
Fatalist, gambler, and stoic, smiled a broad smile of content,
Flattened in mainsail and foresail, and off to the Islands they went.
Close to the headlands they drifted, picking up shell by the ton,
Piled up on deck were the oysters, opening wide in the sun,
When, from the lee of the headland, boomed the report of a gun.
Then if the diver was sighted, pearl-shell and lugger must go --
Joe Nagasaki decided (quick was the word and the blow),
Cut both the pipe and the life-line, leaving the diver below!
Kanzo Makame, the diver, failing to quite understand,
Pulled the "haul up" on the life-line, found it was slack in his hand;
Then, like a little brown stoic, lay down and died on the sand.
Joe Nagasaki, the "tender", smiling a sanctified smile,
Headed her straight for the gunboat--throwing out shells all the while --
Then went aboard and reported, "No makee dive in three mile!
"Dress no have got and no helmet -- diver go shore on the spree;
Plenty wind come and break rudder -- lugger get blown out to sea:
Take me to Japanee Consul, he help a poor Japanee!"
So the Dutch let him go; but they watched him, as off from the Islands he ran,
Doubting him much -- but what would you? You have to be sure of your man
Ere you wake up that nest-ful of hornets -- the little brown men of Japan.
Down in the ooze and the coral, down where earth's wonders are spread,
Helmeted, ghastly, and swollen, Kanzo Makame lies dead.
Joe Nagasaki, his "tender", is owner and diver instead.
Wearer of pearls in your necklace, comfort yourself if you can.
These are the risks of the pearling -- these are the ways of Japan;
"Plenty more Japanee diver plenty more little brown man!"
poem by Andrew Barton Paterson
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What You Never Knew
I first remember you from way back, when I was just a kid. You stopped your life and reached down to spend time with me.
I guess I'm getting rather old now, as I look back and wistfully wish. Wish that things would go back to how they use to be.
Cause you ain't there no more, to spend some time with me, find something for me to do, walk beside me, catch me when I fall.
Now I find that I'm all alone in a cold cruel world, faltering, running scared. I'm tired of running, I don't want to run no more.
Now I think I've found what you felt. The loneliness, the desolation, the desire to belong: the longing for someone who adores everything you do.
Well that was me, I followed you round. My little eyes watched your every move. You were my idol, but you never knew, that I was following you.
I would be your slave, your servant, whatever you bid. Who cares, as long as I got to be your accomplice.
Come the good times, yeah, come the trouble, I'll be there, anything just to get on your 'good friend's list.
I guess I'll never really know, if you knew I was watching, or if you were ignorant. But sometimes I wish that I knew, cause ignorance ain't always bliss.
If only you knew, how each morning, I stared into the mist, waiting for you to appear, but after so long, it's all boiled down to this.
What you never knew, is I loved you with every fiber and being of my heart. If there ever was a thing as the perfect devotee, that was me. Nothing could stop me.
What you never knew, is that I would move heaven and earth to stay close, but you let the mountains and giants make you flee.
As time passed, things got in my way. You let them cloud your vision, I didn't clear them out fast enough. Don't really know how it all collapsed.
Maybe I wasn't hard enough. Maybe I was too caring. Maybe I should have been more point-on. Maybe I should have followed my heart, but now it's crashed.
What you never knew, is that I didn't care what inflicted you, because I would walk through hell, just to carry through.
What you never knew, is that all I really cared about was you.
Story behind the poem:
There are so many things that we 'never knew'. Perhaps if we actually took the time, we might be able to discover some of those things.: D
GZ
poem by Joses Tirtabudi
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