The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
poem by Randall Jarrell

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Related quotes
Gunner
Did they send me away from my cat and my wife
To a doctor who poked me and counted my teeth,
To a line on a plain, to a stove in a tent?
Did I nod in the flies of the schools?
And the fighters rolled into the tracer like rabbits,
The blood froze over my splints like a scab --
Did I snore, all still and grey in the turret,
Till the palms rose out of the sea with my death?
And the world ends here, in the sand of a grave,
All my wars over? How easy it was to die!
Has my wife a pension of so many mice?
Did the medals go home to my cat?
poem by Randall Jarrell

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Tonight I Sleep With Mother Earth
Seventy more years must pass,
To plus these ones gone past,
My eyelids, before they may close
Before Mother Earth opens up her core
To take my body in once more,
Before I sleep with Mother Earth.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth,
My castles strewn across the sky
Shall come down to the earth,
And grow up to scrape the sky.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth,
Life shall answer all questions posed,
I shall plaster all precious stones
Around my name, in umeasured fold.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth.
I shall grow tall and strong like a giant,
I shall be elephated from ant to elephant.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth,
All ears that hear must hear,
And those that can't must read,
And those that can't must feed,
Ingest by all means, the words that I speak.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth,
I must sleep with Success,
From that whore, I shall receive suck-sex
A crowned head, I'll not settle for any less.
I shall drink from the brooks of plenty,
I shall autograph the books of many.
Before I sleep with Mother Earth,
All my toils shall be brought to boil,
My labour shall bring forth fruit,
Truth and Life shall birth through me, Poetry
All my impregnations shall get expression,
I shall pour out my soul upon all flesh,
And still erect, I shall come, into Mother Earth.
Then I shall say:
'Seventy more years have gone past,
Many more tears have flushed past,
My eyelids, and now they may close,
As Mother Earth opens up her core,
For the time has come, as I said afore,
Tonight I sleep wiith Mother Earth.'
poem by Joba Akinola

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I Froze Up (live From Webcast)
I Froze Up Lyrics
You're the light wiping out my batteries
You're the cream in my airport-coffees
I don't know why I stick with you
If I had a choice
Like lambs into the slaughter
Like cows to the storm above
You're the Genie of my lamp
I could have in anyone
But one day I froze up
But one day I froze up
But one day I froze up
But one day I froze up
Like this...
Oh, little boy...
Little boy, little boy
Oh, little boy...
Little boy, little boy
If you try to strangle the skylark
Try to cut it up, to see how it works
Stalactites and stalagmites
Rows of never open doors
Coz one day I froze up
Coz one day I froze up
Coz one day I froze up
Coz one day I froze up
I did...
song performed by by Radiohead

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Collection Of Short Poems
MEANINGLESS
I looked into my soul
And saw a great emptiness that enswallowed me.
It was strange and it was dark.
A darkness so vast I fall into it.
Terrified, my heart froze
As fear’s ice hands griped it.
Big dreams and ambitions cut short by the shortness of life
My life now a black deep ocean to drown in
For this is now my fate for mine had being a vain pursuit for self.
DREAMS
The dreams,
These dreams that I dream when I sleep in my sleep.
Are so scary so dark that I awake to only find
That am trapped in the dusty dream of dreaminglessness.
Am lost like a codeless soul flowing in space.
Like a fading painting I evaporate losing myself in the mystic shadows of life.
I don’t know me;
I don’t feel me,
Am I dreaming or is this real?
The dreams,
These dreams that I dream when I sleep in my sleep.
These dreams that I dream are when my eyes are closed yet open
Are not for the faint hearted,
The dreams.
MIRROR, MIRROR, MIRROR
Internal reflections of my soul
Looking deep where I have never being before
I stand mouth agap at the images I see below.
Distorted images,
I can’t see me.
Is the mirror broken or is it the state f my soul?
Mirror, mirror, mirror!
Is there any hope at all?
Tell me now for I fear that I have completely lost my way.
Mirror…?
poem by Tigana Chileshe

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Daddy's Falling Angel
Pull these scars off my eyes
Lost from the world
A child searching for her dad
You left me there alone
With hime to rape my world
And I lived through the years a girl
Pleading why
In my dreams last night I saw your face
You held me and washed away my tears
Then I woke to realize you're gone
I'm drowning in solitude again
I thank God for my mother's love
Through years of broken innocence
She carried me through the light
In my dreams last night I saw your face
You held me and washed away my tears
Then I woke to realize you're gone
I'm drowning in solitude again
When you realize that fate is gone
Just look at me and say goodbye
So tell me how you fell
So tell me how
As these years and time go racing by
I'm drowning in solitude again
No, this won't kill me
In my dreams last night I saw your face
You held me and washed away my tears
Then I woke to realize you're gone
I'm drowning in solitude again
This won't kill me
poem by Bootiful Kid

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I Woke This Morning As If I W
BLACK SKY
Black sky
Rain to come
Will my life be over
Before my work is done?
I WOKE THIS MORNING AS IF WERE COMPLETELY WELL
I woke this morning as if I were completely well
In the course of the day I will know something else-
Sleep blessed sleep
When it can be had
Makes the morning
Serene
Silently glad.
poem by Shalom Freedman

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The Day I Died
The air was close, but it would not rain
The day I died.
And smog enshrouded Gotham town
The day I died..
I should have stayed in Oceanside
The day I died.
Instead of a hellish subway ride
The day I died.
It started with a stabbing pain
The day I died.
Then waves of nausea deep inside
The day I died.
I fell to earth, I could not breathe
The day I died.
Co workers rushing to my side
The day I died.
Sirens scream on distant streets
The day I died.
bringing hosts of E.M.T.’s
The day I died..
Too late for me, this proud heart fails
The day I died.
I thought” This is the last of Earth”
The day I died.
poem by John F. McCullagh

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Weird Nightmare
Weird nightmare
You haunt my every dream
Weird nightmare
Tell me whats your scheme?
Can it be that youre a part
Of a lonely broken heart?
Weird nightmare
Why must you torment me?
Weird nightmare
Pain and misery
In a heart thats loved and lost
Take away the grief youve caused
Cant sleep at night
Twist, turn in fright
With the fear that Ill live it all again
In my dreams
Youre there to haunt me
When you say she doesnt want me
Ive been hurt
Do you know what that means?
Weird nightmare
Take away this dream youve born
Weird nightmare
Mend a heart thats torn
That has paid the price of love
A thousand fold
Bring me a love
With a heart of gold
Weird nightmare
song performed by by Elvis Costello

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Darkness
I can dream up schemes when I'm sitting in my seat
I don't see any flaws 'till I get to my feet
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was pouring
I could make a mark if it weren't so dark
I could be replaced by any bright spark
But darkness makes me fumble
For a key
To a door
That's wide open
Instead of worrying about my clothes
I could be someone that nobody knows
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was pouring
I can dream up schemes when I'm sitting in my seat
I don't see any flaws 'till I get to my feet
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was pouring
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was pouring
song performed by by Police

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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This night is irredeemable
This night is irredeemable.
Where you are, it is still bright.
At the gates of Jerusalem,
a black sun is alight.
The yellow sun is hurting,
sleep, baby, sleep.
The Jews in the Temple’s burning
buried my mother deep.
Without rabbi, without blessing,
over her ashes, there,
the Jews in the Temple’s burning
chanted the prayer.
Over this mother,
Israel’s voice was sung.
I woke in a glittering cradle,
lit by a black sun.
poem by Osip Emilevich Mandelstam

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State Of Dreams
Woke up at the break of day
Something chased my dreams away
Isnt it quite strange the way we live
Youre so pretty, youre so sweet
I like to watch you in your sleep
Id give a million if I knew your name
And all I need is to be with you
In a state of dreams - a state of dreams
Thats where I want it to be with you
In a state of dreams - a state of dreams
Love is such a fractured thing
Its splinters slither in our skin
Isnt it quite strange the way we play
Turn off the lights and come to bed
Forget the dreadful things Ive said
Lets wait until the stars come up and we will go our way
Cause all I need is to be with you
In a state of dreams - a state of dreams
Thats where I want it to be with you
In a state of dreams - a state of dreams
Woke up at the break of day...
Something chased my dreams away...
song performed by by Alphaville

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Nightmare That Set Me Free
There once was a dream I was fooled into thinking was reality
Because in that dream
You and me was something I wanted
But knew could never be
In that dream you stole my heart
And part of my sanity
In that dream my common sense
Unfortunately
Ran away from me
In that dream you captivated me
In that dream I was blinded
And the stars in your eyes
Were the only things I could see
But then that dream morphed into a nightmare
And I saw you for what you really were
I realized in that nightmare
I was nothing but the prey you were trying lure
In that nightmare I realized
This was nothing but a game to you
In that nightmare you had come oh so close to trapping me too
But I tossed and turned until I was freed
And when I opened my eyes from that nightmare
That I foolishly wanted to be you and me
I was the one who learned a lesson
That the sweetest of dreams
Can be nightmares in diguise
And because of that lesson I was set free
Never again to believe all those blinding lies
poem by Tiger Lily Love

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Heaven
Everynight I go to sleep, youre there baby inside my head
Whats the secret that you keep
Its not fair baby, I toss in bed
One night I had the strangest dream
Dreamt I made love to you
You better believe it, it felt so real
Spent the night in the sea of love
Its crazy the attraction that I feel, now baby
It hit like a heart attack, I feel in my soul
But the trains running off the track and I cant get control
Sleepwalking in the house of love
I heard saint peter was calling
As I was making love to you
Dreamed that Id died and gone to heaven
I woke up in your arms
Dreamed that I died and gone to heaven
Nothing now will ever be the same
Saint peter call me back again
Take me there baby, you got me good
I want to hear his choir of angels sing
I say a prayer baby, I knock on wood
That every night I wake up restless from the heat
You got to believe I never had such a physical dream baby
Its built on sacred ground, your image in my head
So I lay my body down on the alter of my bed
I wait in the house of love and hope for sleep to come calling
So Ill be making love to you
Dreamed that Id died and gone to heaven
I woke up in your arms
Dreamed that I died and gone to heaven
Nothing now will ever be the same
Dreamed Id died and gone to heaven
Dreamed my life was through
Dreamed Id died and gone to heaven, woke in love with you
It hit like a heart attack, it came from out of nowhere
But the trains running off the track on a fragile wing and a prayer
Sleepwalking in the house of love I heard saint peter was calling
As I was making love to you
song performed by by Rick Springfield

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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13 Years
Woke up sweating in the sun
Sprawled across my big brothers grave
Shaking and drunk with sleep
I crawled to my feet and walked up into the shade
Of a young elm tree that must have been planted since the last we came
Vicki, my mom, and me, cleaned the dirt
From the plaque that says his name
Walking to my girlfriends car
Came back down on me
Yeah, I guess I fell to my knees
To keep from falling face-first into the dream
The vision that had had me twisting out under the afternoon sky
I didnt know it then
But it was thirteen years to the day he died
He held his hand in me
Like brothers we walked
Through the colorless world of an alcohol dream
I talked for hours
Trying the break through the silence
That he held over me
Then he started away, turned his head
Keep it up so you can die like me
Ever since my brother odied
Ive drifted all over from town to town to town
Every place I go its always the same
I keep doing junk, I keep going down
My mama got religion and my sisters gave up
Man I just gave up too
I just died inside
Dont wanna die like george
Everybody says theres things to see
Everybodys pointing their fingers at me
I woke up driving
After another blackout from another bad drug
I cant shake this hell that I made for myself
For every other life I took
See my sisters son walk the line I walked
Hes only sixteen
If he dont learn from my mistakes
Hes gonna waste away
Hes gonna die like me
song performed by by Everclear

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Nativity
1914-18
The Babe was laid in the Manger
Between the gentle kine --
All safe from cold and danger --
"But it was not so with mine,
(With mine! With mine!)
"Is it well with the child, is it well?"
The waiting mother prayed.
"For I know not how he fell,
And I know not where he is laid."
A Star stood forth in Heaven;
The Watchers ran to see
The Sign of the Promise given --
"But there comes no sign to me.
(To me! To me!)
"My child died in the dark.
Is it well with the child, is it well?
There was none to tend him or mark,
And I know not how he fell."
The Cross was raised on high;
The Mother grieved beside --
"But the Mother saw Him die
And took Him when He died.
(He died! He died!)
"Seemly and undefiled
His burial-place was made --
Is it well, is it well with the child?
For I know not where he is laid."
On the dawning of Easter Day
Comes Mary Magdalene;
But the Stone was rolled away,
And the Body was not within --
(Within! Within!)
"Ah, who will answer my word?
The broken mother prayed.
"They have taken away my Lord,
And I know not where He is laid."
. . . . .
"The Star stands forth in Heaven.
The watchers watch in vain
For Sign of the Promise given
Of peace on Earth again --
(Again! Again!)
"But I know for Whom he fell" --
The steadfast mother smiled,
"Is it well with the child -- is it well?
It is well -- it is well with the child!"
poem by Rudyard Kipling

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What Made The Baby Cry?
On a cold night, late December
As the snow fell to earth
That's the one night, we remember
When a woman gave birth
And for miles and miles around
The baby's cry was the only sound
Did He know the world was filled with pain
Could He feel all the hunger and the shame
Or did He know about the way He would die
And the reason why
Is that what made the baby cry?
Is that what made the baby cry?
As his Mother turned to hold Him
Her face filled with joy
He grew quiet when She told Him
He was more than just her baby boy
And for miles and miles around
Her lullaby was the only sound
Did She know the world was filled with pain
Could She feel all the hunger and the shame
Or did She know about the way He would die
And the reason why
Is that what made Her baby cry?
Is that what made Her baby cry?
And as He fell asleep
She wiped away His tears
But the question still remains
Have we changed in two thousand years
Don't you know the world is still in pain
Can't you feel all the hunger and the shame
Did we forget about the way that He died
And the reason why
Would we still make the baby cry?
Would we still make the baby cry?
song performed by by Toby Keith

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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40 Miles From the Sun
There is nowhere left to hide
There is nothing to be done
No people to be saved
No pets we've never names
40 miles from the sun
As darkness craves the mind
We come undone without our pride
No time on the earth to come
All the pleasures just begun
40 miles from the sun
In our coats beneath the layers
Wash my skin of all the hate
We should sleep late
Everything just kind of grates
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
I need to lose to make it right
I'll confront the stars tonight
I will babble I will bite
You will never know how much you shine
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
40 miles from the sun
song performed by by Bush from The Science Of Things

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I dream my own dream
When I dream of love,
I dream about you..
When I dream about happiness,
I dream about my families..
When I dream of pain,
I dream about all the sadness inside me..
When I dream of horror,
I dream about the nightmare that would
wake me up in the middle of night..
When I dream about the death,
I dream myself crying in sleep..
When I dream a dream,
I dream all those thing
that are real and not real..
I dream about all the thing
that are in my mind,
I dream about all the thing
that I desire for..
I dream my own dream..
poem by Heather Moyer

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If Only I Could Dream
TELL ME, GOD!
that you'l let me dream,
that I'l dream of a heaven
I shall never see,
that I'l dream of a hell
that has no pain.
that I'l dream that one day
that I'l dream that I wake!
TELL ME I'L DREAM
that my mother never died!
Tell me I'l dream
there were tears in her eyes!
Tell me I'l dream
of the first light of day,
TELL ME I'L DREAM!
and I'l dream that I wake!
For in a grave!
all the rest of my time,
In a grave!
in the hell where I lie!
In a grave!
where forever I'l sleep,
I'd dream of God,
..........If only I could dream
poem by Cemetery man

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The Mother's Son
I have a dream -- a dreadful dream --
A dream that is never done.
I watch a man go out of his mind,
And he is My Mother's Son.
They pushed him into a Mental Home,
And that is like the grave:
For they do not let you sleep upstairs,
And you aren't allowed to shave.
And it was not disease or crime
Which got him landed there,
But because They laid on My Mother's Son
More than a man could bear.
What with noise, and fear of death,
Waking, and wounds and cold,
They filled the Cup for My Mother's Son
Fuller than it could hold.
They broke his body and his mind
And yet They made him live,
And They asked more of My Mother's Son
Than any man could give.
For, just because he had not died,
Nor been discharged nor sick,
They dragged it out with My Mother's Son
Longer than he could stick....
And no one knows when he'll get well --
So, there he'll have to be:
And, 'spite of the beard in the looking-glass,
I know that man is me!
poem by Rudyard Kipling

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