The Functions Of Poesy
mend the anguish
protect the thin line
between sanity
and intellectuality
express in words
what you cannot say
fertilize imagination
with metaphors
you display in some ways
what you conceal
dreams become alive
like dead resuscitated
you create a world
you have the key
to that only door and
you enter smiling
understanding the language
you invented for yourself
freed from the usual worries
of the day released from
the walls of your limits
you fly as a swift bird
uncaught by the hands of
time the cruelty of the
present you stretch your
sight far beyond their clutches.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Related quotes
Freed...
freed from having to eat only
twice a day,
from having to walk for a day
just to learn to read in school
from fetching water five mountains away
from washing my body
in that river where stones are slimy
where accidents are not seldom
from ignorance
and hunger and thirst and
indifference
from a room with triple deck beds
from a rotten dormitory
from teachers with narrow minds
from religious intolerance
from a belief that only we can be saved when this world ends
freed from a belief
that there is an ending to life
that there is only death that makes this life a meaningful stay
freed from the tradition of strong family ties that minds every detail of
how life must be lived
how funerals are conducted
what colors of candles what light is necessary
freed from Spanish rule from English domination
from from brothers of superior minds who think that only they know
where we must go
and stay
freed at last from myself who thinks that there is no more possibility
for growth
freed from an insecure living
freed from all those prisons that still lurk inside my mind
freed at last
from freedom itself
freed from fire and cold
from paradoxes and ironies
freed at last from cliches and constantly invoked metaphors
freed at last from the clutches of words
into the limitless thoughts
into sunless seas
into moonless nights
into inconceivable eternities
freed at last from the nucleus of my atom
into the mysteries of more explosions
mushrooming into space
beyond the bars of my
imagination
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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So that you will hear me
So that you will hear me
my words
sometimes grow thin
as the tracks of the gulls on the beaches.
Necklace, drunken bell
for your hands smooth as grapes.
And I watch my words from a long way off.
They are more yours than mine.
They climb on my old suffering like ivy.
It climbs the same way on damp walls.
You are to blame for this cruel sport.
They are fleeing from my dark lair.
You fill everything, you fill everything.
Before you they peopled the solitude that you occupy,
and they are more used to my sadness than you are.
Now I want them to say what I want to say to you
to make you hear as I want you to hear me.
The wind of anguish still hauls on them as usual.
Sometimes hurricanes of dreams still knock them over.
You listen to other voices in my painful voice.
Lament of old mouths, blood of old supplications.
Love me, companion. Don't forsake me. Follow me.
Follow me, companion, on this wave of anguish.
But my words become stained with your love.
You occupy everything, you occupy everything.
I am making them into an endless necklace
for your white hands, smooth as grapes.
poem by Pablo Neruda
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Get Closer To You
We graduated
From school
From college
To understand
The natural laws
That drive the happenings around
And to discover
And invent
New technology
And present to the world
New correlations
Between causes and effects
It is an understanding of
Well defined realities
We got employed
To serve the community first
And make a living in the process
And importantly
To understand others
Of their expectations from us
Based on our knowledge
Skill and experience
And to create friendship
Most of us aim at
Enhancing our living ways
And end up
Extending our reach
It is an understanding of
The world around you
We choose our life partners
And enter into relationships
Contribute to the
Continuation of human chain
We get exposed to
Understanding of
Relatives and
Social customs
Prevailing in the
Tradition you belong to
It is an understanding
Of bonds and emotions therein
We are left alone at times
During it-is-all-your-time
We keep scheming
On how-to-go-abouts
In respect of any of the
Above three
Hardly we find time
To understand ourselves
To explore ourselves
To observe ourselves
To scan and monitor ourselves
To discover our in-built new potentials
Find time to do these
It is an understanding
of thyself
And
Get closer to you
poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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Let's Protect Them
Those animals who are so badly abused,
Please everyone, let's protect them;
For those scared puppies and kittens confused,
Let's all agree, and really protect them.
For those poor whales swimming and are caught,
Let's please, stick with me to protect them;
To stop the cruelty to them, for their bodies are they bought,
Yes'. Please every one, agree to protect them.
For those seals so far away, of whom are killed,
Please everyone do try with me to protect them;
To stop the cruelty of how their blood is spilt,
Please most certainly agree to protect them.
For the bears and cubs, locked in chains,
Let's all agree to really go to protect them;
The cruel owners, and no one explains,
Let's try all, to get help to protect them.
For the dogs and cats, away in a farm,
Lets each one say no, but protect them;
Each time we hear of this cruelty, ring the alarm,
Then agree everybody, yes! We will protect them.
poem by Margaret Haig
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In This New Year....
New Year is coming …….
This time I will not open my eyes
I will see world though the eyes of my child,
i will be happy in all the things she cherish upon
…try to match to her intellect
I will try to make my own language like hers
We both will create our own culture
We will create our own religion
And will not be paranoid
towards sub culture we don’t understand
We will be smiling to everyone we know
And we don’t know,
We will welcome anyone in this earth, who smiles,
We are scared of noisy things,
And will stay away from them,
We will be pleasant to see people blissful
If we express love, we will not call them gullible
We will create a paradise of emotional fools!
poem by Tara Chettur
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Ennui (whatever)
there are four corners of this room
(as usual, us usual,
we are here again, both
on a togetherness
since the early days of our
union)
i want to go away, remember the flight
of the little bird, away from its mother's nest?
but i can't, your tears are holding me
like a mother,
and so how can a son get away?
how can a lover go away and be stripped
from its beloved?
the vinyl floors are dusty
the curtains unwashed for weeks
the door creaks like a man complaining
for its usual work
to close and open
to open and close
the door has always been closed in here
there is no exit
but i shall not scream, that is too much for this
harrowing experience
there is no tv, no ref, just the sound of an AM/FM radio
that i bought from a cheap department store
i hold your hands
that is enough for me now.
i stare at the ceiling, and then i get so weary and i close my eyes
asking shelter
in the colored world of dreams.
are you happy now?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Knowing Your Perimeters
knowing your perimeters is not an easy job,
not really expensive, but it takes the mind of the pensive man,
the wiles of the wise and the wit of the wounded
who am i? where am I? what am i?
where am i heeded? where i will stop?
what can i do? what i cannot do?
knowing the length of your arms and feet
the distance of your vision
and knowing what you can touch and
see, and knowing what you cannot
even touch and see no matter how
wide you open your eyes
knowing your place, your fences, the limits
of your garden, the source of your water,
your air, your food, the quiet imagination
knowing what you can give and you can hold,
knowing what you can let go
and what you must keep in your heart forever
knowing the limits of your mind
the stretch of your hands, the number of times that
you can blink your eye,
the right time to fear and the right time to kill
the right time to love and the right time to hate
or just be the foolish man who is so indifferent
i know my limits and i mark my boundaries.
please do not go any further. i am just staying
within the bounds of my hands and feet.
i am seeing you and i am warning you.
i have this detonator. My finger is ready.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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At the Window
I have not always had this certainty, this pessimism which reassures the best among us. There was
a time when my friends laughed at me. I was not the master of my words. A certain indifference, I
have not always known well what I wanted to say, but most often it was because I had nothing to
say. The necessity of speaking and the desire not to be heard. My life hanging only by a thread.
There was a time when I seemed to understand nothing. My chains floated on the water.
All my desires are born of my dreams. And I have proven my love with words. To what fantastic
creatures have I entrusted myself, in what dolorous and ravishing world has my imagination
enclosed me? I am sure of having been loved in the most mysterious of domains, my own. The
language of my love does not belong to human language, my human body does not touch the flesh
of my love. My amorous imagination has always been constant and high enough so that nothing
could attempt to convince me of error.
poem by Paul Eluard
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At The Window
I have not always had this certainty, this pessimism which reassures the best among us. There was
a time when my friends laughed at me. I was not the master of my words. A certain indifference, I
have not always known well what I wanted to say, but most often it was because I had nothing to
say. The necessity of speaking and the desire not to be heard. My life hanging only by a thread.
There was a time when I seemed to understand nothing. My chains floated on the water.
All my desires are born of my dreams. And I have proven my love with words. To what fantastic
creatures have I entrusted myself, in what dolorous and ravishing world has my imagination
enclosed me? I am sure of having been loved in the most mysterious of domains, my own. The
language of my love does not belong to human language, my human body does not touch the flesh
of my love. My amorous imagination has always been constant and high enough so that nothing
could attempt to convince me of error.
poem by Paul Eluard
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The progress
Cooking invented, I have lost my teeth.
Tools invented, I have lost my hands
Carts invented, I have lost my legs
Electricity invented, I have lost my sight.
Calculator invented, I have lost counting.
Computer invented, I have lost faculty
Internet come, I lost neigbours.
Is mankind on march to stability?
08.05.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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A Magic Door
There is a magic door
we all often enter
where what lie beyond
is fill with magic and adventure.
We enter in our daydreams
to dispel the boredom that my surround us.
We pass through the doorway
that opens our imagination.
Were we can be anything we like
whether it be large or small.
We visit the magic isle that stretches
as far as our imagination wants to see.
We can travel to different worlds
within the blink of an eye
whenever we open
that magic door to our imagination.
31 August 2011
poem by David Harris
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Intro
Now the time has come
The music's between us
Though the night seems young
Is at an end
Only change will bring
You out of the darkness
In this moment everything is born again
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Now the fireball burns
We go round together
As the planet turns into the light
Something more than dreams to
Watch out for each other
Coz we know what it means to be alive
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Feel the new day enter your life
Feel the new day
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
Reach up for the sunrise
Put your hands into the big sky
You can touch the sunrise
Feel the new day enter your life
song performed by by Duran Duran
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hymn 18
Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.
Rev. 14:13.
Hear what the voice from heav'n proclaims,
For all the pious dead;
Sweet is the savor of their names,
And soft their sleeping bed.
They die in Jesus, and are blest;
How kind their slumbers are!
From suff'rings and from sins released,
And freed from every snare.
Far from this world of toil and strife,
They're present with the Lord;
The labors of their mortal life
End in a large reward.
poem by Isaac Watts
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Our Limited Nature
our limited nature is obvious
our hands only wish for the sky
they cannot touch them short of length as they are
and so our eyes too
they cannot pierce what is behind the mist and the frost
just like our feet
that stamp only some footprints on the grass
and leave some anger behind a path
our hearts can only love what they see
our skin for what it feels
i wish to tell you
that we can go somewhere in the world of imagination
even enter the doors of fantasy
where all our senses ride on the wings of infinity
there are no limits there is no time
too much bliss that we soon forget
about us.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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60 Second Song For A Bank, With The Words, may We Help You Today?
This song was first released on the aerie album. it is the only album it has been released on.
Oh I love the changing seasons
Green and growing all around
Smiling faces laughing children
Making such a joyful sound
In my dreams I see tomorrow
Time and children of my own
Someone who will stand beside me
Helping me to make ourselves a home
If your eyes can see tomorrow
Though it might seem far away
If you have some dreams to build on
May we help you today
Words and music by john denver
song performed by by John Denver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Around & Around
This song was first released on the poems, prayers and promises album. it is the only album it has been released on.
Time as Ive known it
Doesnt take much time to pass by me
Minutes into days turn into months turn into years
They hurry by me
Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around
Dreams full of promises
Hopes for the future
Ive had many
Dreams I cant remember now
Hopes that Ive forgotten
Faded memories
Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around
And I love to see the morning
As it steals across the sky
I love to remember
And I love to wonder why
And I hope that Im around
So I can be there when I die
When Im gone
I hope that you will think of me
In moments when youre happy
And youre smiling
That a thought will comfort you
On cold and cloudy days
If you are crying
Still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around
And around and around
Words and music by john denver
song performed by by John Denver
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Thin Walls
she was tall
blonde hair
not especially beautiful
unmarried
early forties
and through
thin walls
came to know
her existence
mostly alone
two years
my next door neighbor
but for a three month stretch
laughter with a man
love making with a man
perhaps happy
don’t know
then gone for awhile
came back
no hair
gaunt
Alice
the super’s wife
visiting often
speaking words
of comfort
hope
but there was
none
dead a month later
wept
really wept
we never talked.
poem by Charles Chaim Wax
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What I have in my hands
What I have in my hands
Are few petals
Of flowers in different colors
Some pure white, without odors
What I have in my hands too
Are little birds with some dreams
Wanting to fly to heights
Wanting to erase frights
What I have are some things plain
Something direct nothing to explain
Call them an essay or prologue to a play
No metaphors inserted nothing to display
Wisdom plain and simple
A tribute to a child’s dimple
There is no complication
There is no sophistication
Who makes them a poem is you
What makes them alive is you too
There is no other
There is no bother
There is no other who gives them a feel
Except you and one long electrical eel
What I have in my hands are all yours
They are not mine they are free they are all for free
They are meant to be
To be free for you
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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In That Common Room Where You Are No Longer Alone
your eyes are open
as you are fully alive when you go
back to that old house
by the river
named after
sin,
you open the door
your hands are too willing
and you enter
a dusty room
where you shall be alone
for a while
you smell sin there
and you
get to know it better
beyond its name and
place of origin
you identify with it
and there is no fear now
you talk for a while
and then
it urges you to go naked
and close your eyes
to enter upon
a world where everyone is
welcome
you drink and dance and
become tipsy
lights begin to play
and shouts of joy are heard
in this totally
transformed world
you are not alone now
in this indulgence
you have become counted
without
any hesitation
your mind explodes into
four seasons
compressed in time
and the guarantee of
total satisfaction is handed to you
like a key to
your permanent room
since then
you are so alive
and death has become
too irrelevant
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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I'm Alive (That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned To Save My Life)
I was just kicking down the street
And the sun was in my eyes
So I couldn't see the truck
That was sixty times my size
And just seconds off from splattering me
Let me tell you
I was so scared I couldn't move
Like my boots were full of glue
Then I felt a little tug
And I thought of good Old Blue
And he pulled me from that catastrophe
That was the day
My dead pet returned to save my life
I'm alive
He's alive
I'm alive
I was spitting in the canyon
Near the cliff up on the mountain
When an unexpected sneeze
Hung me in the breeze
At forty five degrees in the sky
Suddenly I felt something
Had me by the belt
And in between my praying
Swore I heard a stallion neighing
Was the ghost of my horse
And I cried, yes I cried
That was the day
My dead pet returned to save my life
That was the day
My dead pet returned to save my life
I'm alive
He's alive
Hey, I'm alive
Things were getting gory
Got caught on territory
Belonging to the Crutches
In an alley in their clutches
Looking kind of dismal that night
Well the leader's name was Fats
Swinging broken baseball bats
Things got really frantic
Starting jumping in their panic
That was the day
My dead pet returned to save my life
That was the day
My dead pet returned to save my life
I'm alive, I'm alive, real alive
That was the day my dead pet returned
That was the day my dead pet returned
That was the day my dead pet returned
That was the day my dead pet returned
To save my life
Hallucinating billions of rats
Lots of rats
I'm alive, I'm alive
He's alive, he's alive, he's alive
I'm alive, yeah
He's alive, he's alive
I'm alive, real alive
Alive, alive, alive
Alive, alive, alive, alive
Alive, alive, alive, alive
I'm alive
song performed by by Alice Cooper
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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