Before Summer Rain
Suddenly, from all the green around you,
something-you don't know what-has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence. From the nearby wood
you hear the urgent whistling of a plover,
reminding you of someone's Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour
will grant. The walls, with their ancient portraits, glide
away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren't supposed to hear what we are saying.
And reflected on the faded tapestries now;
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid.
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Related quotes
Silence
I got a feeling
Everything's gonna be alright
And I still find my way
And I heard
It's always darkest before the storm
So come on let it rain
Everything was different when I was seventeen
The world was so much brighter
Now I finally found the truth
Of what they hid for me
That world was so much kinder
Silence
Don't hear a sound
But my own voice
Silence
Is what it is
By my own choice
I believe
That we were meant to learn from our mistakes
And stumble along the way
Now I know
That people are gonna grap what they can take
Then just turn away
Everybody's searching
But no one really knows the truth
The world is upside down
What it's all about right now
Will soon turn to gray
Their promises have faded
Silence
Silence
Silence
Don't hear a sound
But my own voice
Silence
Don't hear a sound
But my own voice
Silence
Is what it is
By my own choice
All my little merry friends
Have turned their backs on me
Excuse me if I'm jaded
I'm so tired of people telling me
How it should be
Their promises have faded
Silence
Silence
Silence
Don't hear a sound
But my own voice
Silence
Don't hear a sound
But my own voice
Silence
Is what it is
By my own choice
Silence
song performed by by Tiffany
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Your Love Lingers On
Long after your touch has faded from my body
And the scent of your sweet perfume has gone
Long after your kiss is faded from my lips
Your love lingers on.
Chorus:
It's still in the air, it's everywhere.
It never disappears, it surrounds me like a melody
Reminding me you were here.
Long after the glow has faded from the moonlight
And the stars have given way to greet the dawn
Long after the night has faded to sunlight
You love lingers on.
Chorus:
It's still in the air, it's everywhere.
It never disappears, it surrounds me like a melody
Reminding me you were here.
Long after your whisper has faded from my ears
And the curtains are no longer drawn
Long after the passion fades into memories
Your love lingers on.
Chorus:
It's still in the air, it's everywhere.
It never disappears, it surrounds me like a melody
Reminding me you were here.
Your love lingers on.
Your love lingers on.
song performed by by John Michael Montgomery
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Through The Wood
THROUGH the wood, the green wood, the wet wood, the light wood,
Love and I went maying a thousand lives ago;
Shafts of golden sunlight had made a golden bright wood
In my heart reflected, because I loved you so.
Through the wood, the chill wood, the brown wood, the bare wood,
I alone went lonely no later than last year,
What had thinned the branches, and wrecked my dear and fair wood,
Killed the pale wild roses and left the rose-thorns sere?
Through the wood, the dead wood, the sad wood, the lone wood,
Winds of winter shiver through lichens old and grey,
You ride past forgetting the wood that was our own wood
All our own--and withered as ever a flower of May.
poem by Edith Nesbit
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In Silence
In silence, you can hear
the scratching of a pen across paper.
In silence, you can hear
the rhythmic sound
of your heart beating
telling you you are alive.
In silence, you can hear
the screech of a demon call.
In silence, you can hear
the murmur of a baby
just moments before
they begin to awake.
In silence, you can hear
your memories calling.
In silence, you are transported
back in your life
into days long gone by
under sun-drenched skies.
In silence, you can hear
your voice of loneliness.
In silence, you are there
within the confines
of your inner self
and forever alone in silence.
11 May 2012
poem by David Harris
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The Next Voice You Hear
Gather your deeds and your possessions,
Whatever certainty youve known,
Forget your heroes,
You dont really need those lasting lessons.
Stand in the open;
The next voice you hear will be your own.
But, alright, they knew how they could hurt you,
And you let them cut you to the bone.
But God forbid,
You allow them to rid you of your virtue!
Forget their laughter;
The next voice you hear will be your own.
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear will be your own.
Throw down your truth and check your weapons.
Dont look to see if youre alone,
Just stand your ground,
And dont turn around -- whatever happens.
Dont ask directions;
The next voice you hear will be your own.
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear...
The next voice you hear will be your own.
song performed by by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Hear
(diana ross/stan scates)
What is this i hear
Falling softly in my ears
Quietly telling me to wipe away my tears
Yesterdays are gone
And love has cleared the way
No matter who you are
You can touch the stars
Life's interactions can make you smile
Just listen to the voice in your heart
The voice is near you, it's never too far
The voice is with you, where ever you are
It's closer than close, calling to your heart
I hear the voice of love
I hear the voice of love
The voice will never leave you
It lives deep down inside
It's calling you, asking you
To open up your heart
All things are achievable
Nothing is impossible
You can reach your highest high
You can make it if you try
Life's interactions can make you smile
Just listen to the voice in your heart
The voice is near you, it's never too far
The voice is with you, where ever you are
It's closer than close, calling to your heart
I hear the voice of love
I hear the voice of love
Follow where it leads you in the dark
The voice will guide your heart
The voice is always near
I hear the voice, i found the voice
From the mountains to the sea
The voice of love is calling me
Where ever you are, the voice is near you
It's never too far, the voice is with you
I hear the voice of love
I hear the voice of love
I hear the voice of love
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ebony Life
A frightening stillness will mark that day
And the shadow of streetlights and fire-alarms will exhaust the light
All things, the quietest and the loudest, will be silent
The suckling brats will die
The tugboats the locomotives the wind will glide by in silence
We will hear the great voice which coming from far away will pass over the city
We will wait a long time for it
Then at the rich man's time of day
When the dust the stones the missing tears
form the sun's robe on the huge deserted squares
We shall finally hear the voice.
It will growl at doors for a long while
It will pass over the town tearing up flags and breaking windowpanes.
We will hear it
What silence before it, but still greater the silence
it will not disturb but will hold guilty will brand and denounce
Day of sorrows and joys
The day the day to come when the voice will pass over the city
A ghostly seagull told me she loved me as much as I loved her
That this great terrible silence was my love
That the wind carrying the voice was the great revolt of the world
And that the voice would look kindly on me.
poem by Robert Desnos
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He Does Not Sleep That Well At Night
He does not sleep that well at night though his troubles are small
The possums walking on his roof the rats squeak in the wall,
The boobook owl is crying mopoke on the trees across the way
He used to sleep without once waking till after break of day.
He does not sleep that well at night his wife beside him snore
He lay beside her wide awake for three hours sometimes more
The moon shines through the window pane he hear the plover cry
And the hunting fox is barking in the old paddock nearby.
He does not sleep that well at night he lay in bed awake
And the voices of the nocturnal creatures he cannot mistake
The frogs are singing in the ponds to tell that rain is near
And occasionally the barking of the neighbourhood dogs he hear.
He goes to bed at ten o clock but he doesn't get to sleep till around two
Although he must get up to go to work at seven still his worries seem so few
Compared to some who do sleep well with him it used not to be this way
He often slept for ten hours straight till after break of day.
poem by Francis Duggan
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In Solitude
A glass of red wine spent
Recalling life's events
Crowded in my skin
In Solitude
Relishing a melody of lament
Drifting through my window
Gliding in uninvited
In solitude
Last night I cried out loud
For the sake of hearing a sound
Though I did not hear me
In solitude
Gawking at my naked fear
Of living a life unseen
Yearning to belong
In solitude
I woke up in the evening
Read a book out loud
My voice wavering
In Solitude
As the heroine yearned
In an isolated crowd
To be loved
In solitude
I walked around naked
In my new home
My skin in flames
In solitude
Every molecule of air
Brushing against me
Scorched in vain
In solitude
It was raining that morn
When I came to life
My throat stinging
In solitude
I see no soul
I hear no breathing
I smell no skin
In solitude
I mourn not waking up
Next to my beloved
To warm my frozen hind
In solitude
Yet, I feel no cold
And life goes on
As I bury myself
In solitude
poem by Deva De Silva
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Hands Clean
If it weren't for your maturity none of this would have happened
If you weren't so wise beyond your years I would've been able to control myself
If it weren't for my attention you wouldn't have been successful and
If it weren't for me you would never have amounted to very much
Ooh this could be messy
But you don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime
We'll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you've washed your hands clean of this
You're essentially an employee and I like you having to depend on me
You're kind of my protege and one day you'll say you learned all you know from me
I know you depend on me like a young thing would to a guardian
I know you sexualize me like a young thing would and I think I like it
Ooh this could get messy
But you don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime
We'll fast forward to a few years later
And no one knows except the both of us
And I have honored your request for silence
And you've washed your hands clean of this
what part of our history's reinvented and under rug swept?
what part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?
what with this distance it seems so obvious?
Just make sure you don't tell on me especially to members of your family
We best keep this to ourselves and not tell any members of our inner posse
I wish I could tell the world cuz you're such a pretty thing when you're done up properly
I might want to marry you one day if you watch that weight and keep your firm body
Ooh this could be messy and
Ooh I don't seem to mind
Ooh don't go telling everybody
And overlook this supposed crime
song performed by by Alanis Morissette from Under Rug Swept
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Calling You
I had a dream that you stood right in front of me
And called to me in black and white
Though I could see you / I couldnt reach you
You faded into the light
And when the sun turns a dream to reality
Im left with such an empty space
I feel your spirit / know that Im near it
I swear I can see your face
Hear me calling you / calling you
But you just dont seem to answer anymore
Am I supposed to pretend I dont feel the pain
Like it happened only yesterday
No use in trying / to stop the crying
I cant make it go away
Hear me calling you / calling you
But you just dont seem to answer anymore
Im calling you / calling you
And Im afraid you wont answer anymore
Where is the healing you promised me
Maybe this feeling will burn in me forever
Hear me calling you / calling you
But you just dont seem to answer anymore
Im calling you / calling you
And Im afraid you wont answer anymore
Calling you and Im afraid that you wont answer anymore
song performed by by Richard Marx
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Don't Do Demands
I don't do demands!
I 'may' take a request,
Every now and then.
Very cautiously.
At one time...
I would dropp whatever I was doing,
To be at someone's beck-and-call.
I had to put an end to that.
Some folks began making suggestions,
As to how I could do for them...
A better job!
YES.
'Maybe you should do it this way.
So and so said...'
I don't do demands!
I 'may' take a request,
Every now and then.
Very cautiously.
And...
Very cautiously,
I ask myself...
IF I am prepared to receive critique,
By the one who has asked for my assistance.
I don't do demands.
Especially made by those who say...
'Will you do this for me.
AND make comments.'
~I feel very appreciative,
You are demanding of my time.
AND...
You would like my comments,
As to how that time of mine I've spent...
Was enjoyed.
I'm getting goosebumps already.
I am shivering all over with just the thought of it.~
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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It's Just Me!
do you hear...
the stranger's voice,
singing softly,
as he sweeps the floor
of your room?
do you hear
the whirr of
the butterfly's wings,
flying just outside your window?
do you hear
the silence of the rain,
falling just outside your door?
do you hear
the beating of the heart,
rhyming yours,
filling the void with light?
it's just me...
let me in!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Severance
It was in
The late afternoon
On this sultry day in late summer, that
I heard
The sirens
Screaming,
At that time
I heard
A voice
Call from afar.
Not one sound was present, except
For the singing of crickets
And the sighing of maple trees;
Late summer, it was the time
Of the rising of the dead,
The falling of the leaves,
Stark, green, and envious,
Though shamelessly transforming into a
Putrid, mottled brown mass
Falling haphazardly into a heap onto the
Yellowing grass below.
Hiding beneath were the sparrows,
Playing their flutist’s music,
As wild violets wafting in the gentle breeze
Sang their tune in accordance.
The screams of the sirens were shrill and high pitched.
Closer and closer
They became, though they did not muffle the voices
I could still hear from afar-
Quiescence was shattered, as
Flutist’s music intensified,
Church bells sounded at vespers-Almost cacophonously,
Nearly off-key, they were, in their sound.
Crickets carried their tune,
Leaves –sea green and as damp as new moss
Metamorphosis into gold and red,
Not regal, though, daunting
As insects skated across the nearby creek,
Elusive as they could be, they lived without a care.
In that nearby churchyard, I stood, where
I could hear my calling,
A voice invoked my name, - my mission…
Sirens, shrill, were still shrieking,
Closer they came, as
Summer turned to autumn,
I was surrounded by the
Dancing of high reeds intertwining and
Towering fir trees.
Within this late summer’s squall
I was to be swept away.
I could still hear voices calling from afar,
No one was present- although
Always obedient, I was to their lurid commands.
Stark, green and never envious
Was the foliage upon the trees
Where I would hide in solitude behind a thicket,
Listening to the sparrows’ flutist’s music of the
First born.
Thunder would clap and obliterate the sound
Of the approaching sirens, no matter how close,
I could always hear that voice calling from afar,
Church bells were ringing.
Somewhere in that churchyard
I would hide- at vespers praying for severance
From fear, at that hour,
I heard my calling,
At that moment they had come to
Carry me home…
Claudia Krizay
poem by Claudia Krizay
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Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours
YET, yet, ye downcast hours, I know ye also;
Weights of lead, how ye clog and cling at my ankles!
Earth to a chamber of mourning turns--I hear the o'erweening, mocking
voice,
Matter is conqueror--matter, triumphant only, continues onward.
Despairing cries float ceaselessly toward me,
The call of my nearest lover, putting forth, alarm'd, uncertain,
The Sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me,
Come tell me where I am speeding--tell me my destination.
I understand your anguish, but I cannot help you,
I approach, hear, behold--the sad mouth, the look out of the eyes,
your mute inquiry, 10
Whither I go from the bed I recline on, come tell me:
Old age, alarm'd, uncertain--A young woman's voice, appealing to me
for comfort;
A young man's voice, Shall I not escape?
poem by Walt Whitman
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Closer To You
How soft a whisper can get
When youre walking through a crowded space
I hear every word being said
And I remember that everyday
I get a little bit closer to you
How long an hour can take
When youre starting into open space
When I feel Im slipping further away
I remember that everyday
I get a little bit closer to you
These are the days
That I wont get back
I wont hear you cry
Or hear you laugh
And when its quite
And I dont hear a thing
I can always hear you breathe
You know theres nowhere else
Ive wanted to be
Than be there when you need me
Im sorry too
But dont give up on me
And just remember that when you get asleep
I got a little bit closer to you
song performed by by Wallflowers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Was Away From The Poems
I was away from the Poems
I could not hear them within myself -
There were many sounds
Many different kinds of words
And speakers and ranters and shouters
And all kinds of false music also
And even beautiful music and prayer-
But there were no poems
I could hear no poems
And within myself suddenly there came such ‘longing’
And such ‘anxiety’-
‘Where is the Poem? And where can I possibly be if there is none?
And how can I find it again? ’
And all I needed I thought was some long long long silence
Some being alone and away
Some forever waiting to hear
Some listening to the true voice
And then somehow somehow the Poems would come again –
And here here here it is now
The poem
Quiet and sure and happy and light and singing
As if it were the one music God wanted me to hear
And repeat always as if it truly were mine and yours
Dear imagined reader,
Alone.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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The House Of Dust: Part 04: 05: The Bitter Love-Song
No, I shall not say why it is that I love you—
Why do you ask me, save for vanity?
Surely you would not have me, like a mirror,
Say 'yes,—your hair curls darkly back from the temples,
Your mouth has a humorous, tremulous, half-shy sweetness,
Your eyes are April grey. . . .with jonquils in them?'
No, if I tell at all, I shall tell in silence . . .
I'll say—my childhood broke through chords of music
—Or were they chords of sun?—wherein fell shadows,
Or silences; I rose through seas of sunlight;
Or sometimes found a darkness stooped above me
With wings of death, and a face of cold clear beauty. .
I lay in the warm sweet grass on a blue May morning,
My chin in a dandelion, my hands in clover,
And drowsed there like a bee. . . .blue days behind me
Stretched like a chain of deep blue pools of magic,
Enchanted, silent, timeless. . . .days before me
Murmured of blue-sea mornings, noons of gold,
Green evenings streaked with lilac, bee-starred nights.
Confused soft clouds of music fled above me.
Sharp shafts of music dazzled my eyes and pierced me.
I ran and turned and spun and danced in the sunlight,
Shrank, sometimes, from the freezing silence of beauty,
Or crept once more to the warm white cave of sleep.
No, I shall not say 'this is why I praise you—
Because you say such wise things, or such foolish. . .'
You would not have me say what you know better?
Let me instead be silent, only saying—:
My childhood lives in me—or half-lives, rather—
And, if I close my eyes cool chords of music
Flow up to me . . . long chords of wind and sunlight. . . .
Shadows of intricate vines on sunlit walls,
Deep bells beating, with aeons of blue between them,
Grass blades leagues apart with worlds between them,
Walls rushing up to heaven with stars upon them. . .
I lay in my bed and through the tall night window
Saw the green lightning plunging among the clouds,
And heard the harsh rain storm at the panes and roof. . . .
How should I know—how should I now remember—
What half-dreamed great wings curved and sang above me?
What wings like swords? What eyes with the dread night in them?
This I shall say.—I lay by the hot white sand-dunes. .
Small yellow flowers, sapless and squat and spiny,
Stared at the sky. And silently there above us
Day after day, beyond our dreams and knowledge,
Presences swept, and over us streamed their shadows,
Swift and blue, or dark. . . .What did they mean?
What sinister threat of power? What hint of beauty?
Prelude to what gigantic music, or subtle?
Only I know these things leaned over me,
Brooded upon me, paused, went flowing softly,
Glided and passed. I loved, I desired, I hated,
I struggled, I yielded and loved, was warmed to blossom . . .
You, when your eyes have evening sunlight in them,
Set these dunes before me, these salt bright flowers,
These presences. . . .I drowse, they stream above me,
I struggle, I yield and love, I am warmed to dream.
You are the window (if I could tell I'd tell you)
Through which I see a clear far world of sunlight.
You are the silence (if you could hear you'd hear me)
In which I remember a thin still whisper of singing.
It is not you I laugh for, you I touch!
My hands, that touch you, suddenly touch white cobwebs,
Coldly silvered, heavily silvered with dewdrops;
And clover, heavy with rain; and cold green grass. . .
poem by Conrad Potter Aiken
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Encounter In The Chestnut Avenue
He felt the entrance's green darkness
wrapped cooly round him like a silken cloak
that he was still accepting and arranging;
when at the opposite transparent end, far off,
through green sunlight, as through green window panes,
whitely a solitary shape
flared up, long remaining distant
and then finally, the downdriving light
boiling over it at every step,
bearing on itself a bright pulsation,
which in the blond ran shyly to the back.
But suddenly the shade was deep,
and nearby eyes lay gazing
from a clear new unselfconscious face,
which, as in a portrait, lived intensely
in the instant things split off again:
first there forever, and then not at all.
Translated by Edward Snow
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Dark
What will I do with a fountain
of time
my silence
is a well without a dropp of water
I can weep in the dark
weep and its silence will hear me
but it will close its eyes
it will not speak
the evening will tread on
quietly an old man
it will walk on without looking back
without seeing where its shadow
sleeps
and I can say wait where
are you going
and I can think of all the places I can think of
I can think of walls walls walls
of walls behind which anything lurks
I can lock myself
in a closet full of clothes not my size
fill my pockets with dust
or take off my clothes and imagine
my skin is ice
and I will be standing here
where I am standing stepping on moments
that sharpen into hours like thorns
into my feet
the wound in my heart is deep
the pain does not answer to any name
where is the door
the window the door
*reprinted from a friend
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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