The Sonnets To Orpheus: Book 2: VI
Rose, you majesty-once, to the ancients, you were
just a calyx with the simplest of rims.
But for us, you are the full, the numberless flower,
the inexhaustible countenance.
In your wealth you seem to be wearing gown upon gown
upon a body of nothing but light;
yet each seperate petal is at the same time the negation
of all clothing and the refusal of it.
Your fragrance has been calling its sweetest names
in our direction, for hundreds of years;
suddenly it hangs in the air like fame.
Even so, we have never known what to call it; we guess...
And memory is filled with it unawares
which we prayed for from hours that belong to us.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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The Wedding Gown
She put her wedding-gown away
As tenderly as one might close,
With kissing lips and finger-tips,
The petals of a rose
Still held for the Belovèd's sake—
The loveliest that blows.
She put her wedding-gown away
The quiet place was all astir
With vague perfume that filled the room,
Cedar and lavender,
Yet sweeter still about it clung
The fragrant thoughts of her.
She put her wedding-gown away
Yet lingered where its whiteness gleamed
As one above a sleeping Love,
Oh, thus it was she seemed,
Reluctant still to turn and go
And leave him as he dreamed.
poem by Theodosia Garrison
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Did I Really See That?
A woman on our bed wearing my gown with ma woman
Sleeping on my side of the bed?
Am I replaced?
So quick?
I thought we were going to talk
About it
Try to work it out
I cancelled all my plans
In a manner to surprise you
I didn't like the way things went
The other day
And now I get home
To find this?
A woman on our bed
Wearing my gown with ma woman on ma side of da bed
Am I replaced?
Just like that?
I thought what we had meant
Something to you
I thought we had a connection
I thought fate had brought us
Together
I thought our future
Was written somewhere
In heaven
Most of all I thought the feeling
Was mutual
For 5years I was relaxed
Thinking I'm in the right place
Where my soul belongs
Wasn't looking
Wasn't searching
Was content
And now I find
A woman on our bed wearing my gown with ma woman
On my side of the bed
Am I replaced?
Already!
I had always been loyal
You cheated more than I could remember
And I kept forgiving n forgetting
I kept loving you like you
Never wronged me
I Kept on trusting you
but to you all that was just a blur
I bet you thought I was fool
I bet you thought I'd never leave you
I bet you thought you were ma life
That's why you cheated
That's why you lied
That's why now I find
A woman on our bed wearing my gown with ma woman
On my side of the bed
Am I replaced?
I know you are
I have ran out of tears
I cried for so long*difedile*
I have ran out of Forgiveness
I forgiven you more than the
Bibble Says I should
I have ran out of space for you
The place I used to keep you is shuttered
And I have ran out of love for you
What I thought was mine
Is now ours
What I thought I owned
It turned out
We own
What I thought was true to me
It was all a lie
A woman on our bed
Wearing my gown
With my woman
On my side of the bed
She can stay
I'll leave..
poem by Diopelo King
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A Dying Flower
Each Flower Petal Slowly Dying
Light Whispers Of Death
Hanging In The Brisk Afternoon Air
Lightly A Petal Floats Towards The Ground
A Gust Of Wind Quickly Whisks It Away
One By One The Flower Becomes Bearer
As Each Petal Vanishes.
The Day's Become Darker
The Nights Lighten
And The Flower Becomes Lonely
Till Eventually Only A Stem Remains
To Show It's Cycle Of Life.
The Flower Willows Towards It's End
The Petals Become Scarce
What Once Used To Be A Colour Delight
Now Hangs In Deaths Mist
As An Emerald Waiting...
Waiting For The Last Petal To Die.
Finally The Emerald Stem Dies Away
And Slowly Decay
For Again One Day
It Shall Show Its Colours
And Whistle In The Wind
With All It's Petals In Full Bloom...
poem by Ian Humphreys
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Petals
Life is a stream
On which we strew
Petal by petal the flower of our heart;
The end lost in dream,
They float past our view,
We only watch their glad, early start.
Freighted with hope,
Crimsoned with joy,
We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;
Their widening scope,
Their distant employ,
We never shall know. And the stream as it flows
Sweeps them away,
Each one is gone
Ever beyond into infinite ways.
We alone stay
While years hurry on,
The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.
poem by Amy Lowell
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World Was In The Face Of The Beloved
World was in the face of the beloved--,
but suddenly it poured out and was gone:
world is outside, world can not be grasped.
Why didn't I, from the full, beloved face
as I raised it to my lips, why didn't I drink
world, so near that I couldn't almost taste it?
Ah, I drank. Insatiably I drank.
But I was filled up also, with too much
world, and, drinking, I myself ran over.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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There Must Be No Words Left For You To Say
i guess you must be full,
everything in you, first your mouth
it must be full, since it is not talking,
shut, or filled with the sweets of life,
so you feel there is no use talking
like you are a very loud drum sounding
Tarzan's sound proclaiming the emptiness
of his own forest kingdom
withou a Jane. I guess your eyes are filled
with all the wonderful scenes
of your life, you do not see me anymore.
I guess your body is full of all the happy
moments, i have not seen it move
or dance, i have not seen it take
another chance to touch my body again.
i guess you must be happy now.
you never call my name again.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Seventh Heaven (triolets)
The moon hangs almost solitary
shining like a searchlight
while it reflects on the sea
The moon hangs almost solitary
triggers a memory
before the blackness of the fall of night,
the moon hangs almost solitary
shining like a searchlight
reminding me of the way
which things between us once used to be,
before you went away,
reminding me of the way
we used to kiss and play,
emotions come quite suddenly,
reminding me of the way
which things between us once used to be.
One we were in spirit and body.
Two persons falling for one another,
and immediately we were very happy and giddy.
One we were in spirit and body,
much happier than everybody,
going everywhere together,
one we were in spirit and body.
two persons falling for one another.
Three in a relationship to you,
to you seemed much better
but at the end it caused us to be through.
Three in a relationship to you
unfastened our glue,
and suddenly I get your letter,
three in a relationship to you,
to you seemed much better.
Four gulls fly past screeching,
but there’s something familiar in your smile,
your eyes are bright and touching.
Four gulls fly past screeching,
and this can be far-reaching
as it’s obvious that you want to reconcile,
four gulls fly past screeching,
but there’s something familiar in your smile.
Five years ago when we unexpectedly met again
I saw your face light up like the sun
on a winter day full of sieving rain.
Five years ago when we unexpectedly met again
I was still full of pain
and here you are just after the new day have begun,
five years ago when we unexpectedly met again
I saw your face light up like the sun.
Six times we have been in touch
over the last twenty years
but then you did not care much.
Six times we have been in touch
and our feelings are now such
that you drive away my fears,
six times we have been in touch
over the last twenty years.
Seven diamonds were in your ring
and I still owe you a honeymoon
which we did not have with our wedding.
Seven diamonds were in your ring,
we feel as if our love is blossoming
and this time I will not let you leave soon,
seven diamonds were in your ring
and I still owe you a honeymoon.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Invocation II
COME to-night in a dream to-night,
Come as you used to do,
Come in the gown, in the gown of white,
Come in the ribbon of blue;
Come in the virgin's colours you wear,
Come through the dark and the dew,
Come with the scent of the night in your hair,
Come as you used to do.
Blue and white of your eyes and your face,
White of your gown and blue,
Will you not come from the happy place,
Come as you used to do?
Tears so many, so many tears
Where there were once so few--
Can they not wash the gray of the years
From the white of your gown and blue?
poem by Edith Nesbit
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The Sonnets To Orpheus: XXV
But you now, dear girl, whom I loved like a flower whose
name
I didn't know, you who so early were taken away:
I will once more call up your image and show it to them,
beautiful companion of the unsubduable cry.
Dancer whose body filled with your hesitant fate,
pausing, as though your young flesh had been cast in bronze;
grieving and listening--. Then, from the high dominions,
unearthly music fell into your altered heart.
Already possessed by shadows, with illness near,
your blood flowed darkly; yet, though for a moment
suspicious,
it burst out into the natural pulses of spring.
Again and again interrupted by downfall and darkness,
earthly, it gleamed. Till, after a terrible pounding,
it entered the inconsolably open door.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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Nature Has Donned Her Dressing Gown
Snow is falling all around
like the shaking from a heavenly sieve while
Nature has donned her dressing gown.
Silently, it cascades down
for one and all to see, and smile
Snow is falling all around.
The beauty has arrived in our little town,
And all around the countryside for miles
Nature has donned her dressing gown.
Miss Kitty peers from the snowy mound
leaping and prancing like a ballet dancer, while
Snow is falling all around.
The pond is shimmering on level ground
the reflection of her majesty, she styles
Nature has donned her dressing gown.
There is not even heard a faint sound
As she hurries down the miles
Snow is falling all around
Nature has donned her dressing gown.
(12/17/08)
(Style - Villanelle)
poem by Doris McGohon
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The Stranger
There’s a stranger in my house
I have seen him mope around
In some fuzzy bedroom slippers
and a faded dressing gown.
He somehow seems familiar
Though I cannot place the face
My memory retrieval seems
lost without a trace
Every time I see him
He is staring back intently
As if he too is searching
for a clue within his memory.
This morning he was back again
In a faded emerald robe-
You know, I have one like it-
Did he steal it, you suppose?
But that can’t be, I’m wearing it
I look up with a start
What a curse are full length mirrors
to a senescent aging fart.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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La Derniere Robe De Soi
OH, silken gown, all pink and pretty,
Bought, quite a bargain, in the City,
Your ill-trained soul full false has played me--
No Paris gown would have betrayed me.
You knew, my pretty silken treasure,
I must not wed for love or pleasure,
But for a settlement and title;
Yet you encouraged his recital!
He said--oh, faithless gown, you listened
While on your sheen two tear drops glistened--
He said . . . let love to music set it,
I'll never speak it--nor forget it!
'No, no!' I cried, I tried to save you--
False gown, you showed the tears I gave you!
You looked discreet when first I found you.
How could you let his arm go round you?
You darling dress--I'll smooth your creases,
I'll wear you till you drop to pieces;
But poor men's wives wear cotton only--
Dear gown--I hope you won't feel lonely!
poem by Edith Nesbit
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The Wedding Day
Love has such a great way of growing,
Often by leaps and hounds the lovers say
loving hearts has a way of knowing,
With joy she heads to her wedding day..
She puts her wedding-gown away,
As tenderly as one might close,
With kissing lips and finger-tips,
And the petals of a red rose..
She puts her wedding-gown away,
The quiet place was all a stir
With vague perfume that filled the room,
Cedar and lavender and fragrant thoughts of her..
She puts her wedding- gown away,
Yet lingered with its whiteness gleamed
As one above a sleeping Love,
oh, thus it was so she seemed..
As she walked in beauty down the aisle in the room,
When it was time for her to kiss the groom
The wedding bells rang until she was out of sight,
The wind appeared and the white doves were in flight..
To enjoy the every moment that will come,
There's not really much more I need to say
Two hearts would rejoice at one home,
Having heart-picked their own 'wedding day'...
poem by Arijit Mandal
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The Petal Game
pick a flower
to play the petal game
pluck a petal
he loves me
pluck a petal
I don't love him
pluck a petal
he keeps getting closer
pluck a petal
I keep pushing him away
pluck a petal
he is always around me
pluck a petal
I hide away from him
pluck a petal
he is always protecting me
pluck a petal
I just punch him in the gut
pluck a petal
he never seems to get it
pluck a petal
I really hate his guts
pluck a petal
he just really bugs me
pluck a petal
I need a new flower now
pick a flower
to play the petal game
poem by Amber Lyn Charneski
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And You Are My Everything
You are my everything---
Night whispers in full bloom...
A fragrance garden radiating...
The brillance of the moon...
You are my endless sea--
No river of regret--
My still waters ever deep with thought...
A most brillant sunset...
You are my time within time--
Each moment an hours embrace...
Your tender touch-a necessity...
Your sweet lips upon my face...
You are the longing breath---
Upon my neck and spine...
The ever longed for-caress of my flesh...
A bliss-filled moment in time---
You are my everything--
My daylight reverie--
A thought of love-turned real my dove...
You are my sweetest memory---
The Essence
July,2010
poem by Theodora Onken
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Again And Again, However We Know The Landscape Of Love
Again and again, however we know the landscape of love
and the little churchyard there, with its sorrowing names,
and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others
fall: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lie down again and again
among the flowers, face to face with the sky.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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The White Rose
A lonely kid had no friends,
within his home his world ends.
He used to dream about colorful roses,
his love for roses was in heavy doses.
His nights filled with fears and tears,
days rolled like million years.
His mom took him to a rose garden one day,
she wanted to buy him a rose plant for his birthday.
The rose plants giggled about the boys face.
Their words wiped his happiness without a trace.
A dropp of his tear fell on a white rose's petal.
The petal turned red like a rare earth metal.
The plant pleaded him 'please don't cry'.
The words of the rose plant made him fly.
He took that plant to his garden.
From then his life was a gladden.
He took care of the white rose like a baby.
Loving that white rose was his full-time hobby.
His dreams and heart were filled with love.
His heart was pure like the whitest dove.
At an evening the rose looked dull and dry.
The kid was full of cry and wondering why,
he didn't stopped his painful weep,
that whole night he didn't sleep.
His tired eyes slept for a minute in a doze,
a voice in his dream told something about the rose,
the dawn broke with the rose blooming,
but the kid was gone missing.
He was never been found not even a hint.
His heart was beating under the roots of the rose plant.
Because in his dream he heard that,
the rose can live forever with a human heart.
So he left his heart and he depart.
poem by Vimal Kumar N
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Your Memory Keeps Calling Me Back
Years ago, we came to the end of the line,
both went our separate ways,
but your memory keeps calling me back.
Calling to me from a distant shore,
back to your arms once more.
I try to resist and carry on,
but your memory keeps calling me back,
like some overplayed song.
I have a different life now,
the life we had is now over and gone.
Traces of our love they still remain,
but I cannot go back, I don’t feel the same.
Each day it gets harder fighting the urge,
for your memory keeps calling me back,
saying with you is where I belong.
8 August 2007
poem by David Harris
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She is Like A Flower.......
She is like a flower,
a flower that gives me a smile
a smile that enlightens my inner soul.
she is the one with whom i can share my sorrows and joys
Her company is like sweet fragrance of a flower,
a fragrance that freshens me.
she is the one whose love is undesirable for me.
Her each care about me is like a each petal of a flower
a care that i love the most.
she is the one who motivate me in every sphere of life.
her presence is like a color of flower,
a presence that brightens me.
she is the one who is everything for me
She is like a flower...........
poem by Suniya Garg
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There Was a Heart that Burnt Out: Light
There was a heart that burnt out: light
Light O god, O god light
Flower, perfume, stars, breeze: light
These are your names, no matter how we shape you
When afternoon rose on the evening's horizon
Who was it in my heart who said: light
Now there is no point in adorning the stars
The season of meeting him is gone: light
Dawn broke on a dream in which
I wrote simply by looking: light
The two curses we are trapped between:
How we live in darkness, how we imagine: light
[Translated by Nukhbah Langah and Lavinia Greenlaw]
poem by Noshi Gilani
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