The Gum-Gatherer
There overtook me and drew me in
To his down-hill, early-morning stride,
And set me five miles on my road
Better than if he had had me ride,
A man with a swinging bag for'load
And half the bag wound round his hand.
We talked like barking above the din
Of water we walked along beside.
And for my telling him where I'd been
And where I lived in mountain land
To be coming home the way I was,
He told me a little about himself.
He came from higher up in the pass
Where the grist of the new-beginning brooks
Is blocks split off the mountain mass --
And hop. eless grist enough it looks
Ever to grind to soil for grass.
(The way it is will do for moss.)
There he had built his stolen shack.
It had to be a stolen shack
Because of the fears of fire and logs
That trouble the sleep of lumber folk:
Visions of half the world burned black
And the sun shrunken yellow in smoke.
We know who when they come to town
Bring berries under the wagon seat,
Or a basket of eggs between their feet;
What this man brought in a cotton sack
Was gum, the gum of the mountain spruce.
He showed me lumps of the scented stuff
Like uncut jewels, dull and rough
It comes to market golden brown;
But turns to pink between the teeth.
I told him this is a pleasant life
To set your breast to the bark of trees
That all your days are dim beneath,
And reaching up with a little knife,
To loose the resin and take it down
And bring it to market when you please
poem by Robert Frost
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Mountain Woman
They lived together in a dirty old shack
At the edge of the black rocky mountain
And they drank mountain dew and they lived on the food
That they grew at the side of the mountain
Shes a mountain woman, hes her mountain man
They [? ] down the valley
Shes a mountain woman, hes her mountain man
Uneducated but theyre happy
Mountain woman couldnt read nor write
But she knew good from evil, she know wrong from right
When the government tried to buy her water rights
Her intuition was her only guide
Shes a mountain woman, hes her mountain man
They [? ] by the valley
Shes a mountain woman, hes her mountain man
Uneducated but theyre happy
Spend my life with my mountain woman
Were uneducated by were happy
The civil servant used compulsory purchase
To acquire the [? ] for the nation
Theyll dig up the land, theyre gonna make a dam
And build a hydroelectric power station
And now she lives on the 33rd floor
Of a man-made concrete mountain
She got an elevator and refrigerator
And an automobile to run around in
Fast talkin lawyers from the government
Went and beat proud mountain woman down
Hey mountain woman, take your mountain man
They took your land and flood your valley
Spend my life with my mountain woman
Theyre uneducated by theyre happy
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rock The Shack
Ive been accused of everything
From tombuctu to old berlin
I need some armor for my flesh
I need to stop and take a rest
Ive been wide-eyed but couldnt see
I stand accused of being me
I believe in politics
I believe in everything
I believe this world of ours is giving me adrenaline
When I hear a baby cry
When I see an old man die
Thats just the way it is
Rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack
Rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack
Yeah thats the way it is
I took each day the way it came
I put my future out of frame
The signs were there for all to see
Like blue eyed mind to you and me
My head laid on my beating breast
I swear to you I pass the test
I walked one hundred thousand miles
And youre the judge whos been my trial
? ? ? my trial
I believe in politics
I believe in everything
I believe this world of ours is just a den of vice and sins
And even on the darkest night
We could reach for the light
And we could get it right
Get it right, get it right, get it right, get it right
Get it right, get it right, get it right, get it right
I believe in politics
I believe in everything
I believe this world of ours is giving me adrenaline
Ten thousand year ago
Crawling on the floor
Well get up jack
Its time to rock the shack
Rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack
Rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack, rock the shack
Its time to get up
song performed by by New Order
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Mountain Road
COMING down the mountain road
Light of heart and all alone,
I caught from every rill that flowed
A rapture of its own.
Heart and mind sang on together,
Rhymes began to meet and run
In the windy mountain weather
And the winter sun.
Clad in freshest light and sweet
Far and far the city lay
With her suburbs at her feet
Round the laughing bay.
Like an eagle lifted high
Half the radiant world I scanned,
Till the deep unclouded sky
Circled sea and land.
No more was thought a weary load,
Older comforts stirred within,
Coming down the mountain road
The earth and I were kin.
poem by Enid Derham
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Took Her To The Moon
(mark nesler/byron hill)
Im not sure what I did just yet
But something kicked in on the night we met
Looks like her hearts out of control
What shes gonna do next, I dont know
Shes already dreaming about a house on the hill
How does she think were gonna pay those bills
When all I can afford is a two room shack
I took her to the moon and I cant bring her back
Now where did my fishing magazines go
Everywhere I look theres another cosmo
Flowers in the kitchen and a new bedspread
Now you tell me, was it something I said
Even old blues taking it rough
She clipped his nails and powdered him up
Her minds running on a one way track
I took her to the moon and I cant bring her back
Wheres that girl that I used to know
The one who said wed better take it slow
What on earth do I do now
To put her feet back on the ground
She goes to the mall but she never says why
She brings home things that a man wont buy
Ive already told her enoughs enough
Now what are we gonna do with all this stuff
She bought a bunch of soap that she wont let me use
A toilet seat cover and hand towels too
The kind you dont touch, just leave em on the rack
I took her to the moon and I cant bring her back
Wheres that girl that I used to know
The one who said wed better take it slow
What on earth do I do now
To put her feet back on the ground
Shes already dreaming about a house on the hill
Now how does she think were gonna pay those bills
When all I can afford is a two room shack
I took her to the moon and I cant bring her back
Lord, I took her to the moon and I cant bring her back
song performed by by Trace Adkins
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Mountain Of Hope
He had climbed the highest mountain this
World had ever known.
He had climbed the highest mountain
On maps it can’t be shown.
It was a mountain of tears, suffering and pain
And no ones life would ever be the same.
Then a second mountain was built
And it was higher than the first.
This mountain was built with the
strongest material known to man.
HOPE! In our hearts and our minds it will stand.
Each time hope is fed, there lies another bed.
And as each bed is filled
The mountain gets higher still.
But it was he who climbed the mountain
Of tears, suffering and pain.
And because of it he took away the shame.
And this mountain came to be.
because CHRIST Made a sacrifice
for you and for me.
And if we was able to put HOPE
Into a color scheme
It would be the most beautiful
Rainbow that you’ve ever seen.
So every time you see a rainbow
Without a beginning and without a end
It’s because hope is building up
And that’s a guarantee my friend.
poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy
From a shack by a mountain stream
To a room in new orleans
So far from my blue ridge mountain home
The men I meet aint warm and friendly
Like the one in old virginie
Oh they aint real like my blue ridge mountain boy
I was just a little past eighteen
When I came to new orleans
Id never been beyond my home state line
There was a boy who loved me dearly
But I broke his heart severely
When I left my blue ridge mountain boy
Life was dull in my hometown
Lights were out when the sun went down
And I thought that city life was more my style
But nights get lonely away from home
And its easy to go wrong
The men aint kind like my blue ridge mountain boy
New orleans held things in store
Things Id never bargained for
And every night a different man knocks on my door
But late at night when all is still
I can hear a whippoorwill
As I cry for my blue ridge mountain boy
Oh but I can never go back home
Since the boy I love is gone
He grew tired of waiting for me to return
They say he married last october
But I never will get over
Oh the sweet love of my blue ridge mountain boy
Blue ridge mountain boy
song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Joshua
Well a good ways down the railroad track
There was this little old rundown shack
And in it lived a man Id never seen
Folks said he was a mean and a vicious man
And you better not set foot on his land
I didnt think nobody could be that mean
So I took me out walking down the railroad track
I was a-gonna go down to that little old shack
And just find out if all them things Id heard was true
There was a big black dog laying out in the yard
And it growled at me and I swallowed hard
And I heard somebody say well who are you
Oh and there he stood in the door of that shack
His beard and his hair was long and black
And he was the biggest man Id ever seen
When he spoke his voice was low and deep
But he just didnt frighten me
cause somehow I just knew he wasnt mean
He said what you doing snooping round my place
And I saw a smile come across his face
So I smiled back and I told him who I was
He said come on in and pull you up a chair
You might as well since you already here
And he said you can call me joshua
Joshua joshua
Whatcha doing living here all alone
Joshua joshua
Aint you got nobody to call your own
No no no no
We talked til the sun was clean out of sight
And we still talking when it come daylight
And there was just so much we had to say hey
Id spent my life in an orphans home
And just like him I was all alone
So I said yeah when he asked if Id stay
Oh we grew closer as time went on
And that little old shack it was a happy home
And we just couldnt help but fall in love
That big black dog and that little old shack
Sitting down by the railroad track
Its plenty good enough for me and joshua
Joshua joshua
Why youre just what Ive been looking for
Joshua joshua
You aint gonna be lonesome anymore
No no
Yodel-a-he-ho
Me and joshua
Me and joshua
Me and joshua yeah yeah
Me and joshua
song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In Search Of Meanings
they search meanings:
a bike on top of a mountain
mists below
fog and smoke
and trees thick with leaves
some hands
reaching for the clouds
while you watch
from the top with a friend
telling you
that you have been a fool
on borrowed
sneakers stolen by
a kindergarten
mountain kid whose
grandma is sick
and dying and
looking for eternal
herbs
the climb has been
hard
all efforts spent
like wasted
time of an old man
childless
till the end
now it is time to go down
slipping like
water of the drain
down down
and you feel like
shrinking
looking for meanings
seeking for something that heals
like art
and yes, poetry, this daily breakfast
on words
fat and sickening
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The Mushera Fog
It steals down the mountain the Mushera fog
Across the mountain road and cloaks Togher Bog
On damp and wet days in Winter and the latter Fall
The traffic goes up and down road at a crawl
From the high road a steep dropp down the mountain side
And to drive fast there in the fog is a wish for suicide
But what a beautiful drive on a pleasant Spring day
When the hawthorns are in their white flowers of the May
A beautiful view of the countryside for miles around
As you drive up and down the high road on the higher ground
But from mid Fall to early Spring on damp weather of low cloud
The high Mushera road is cloaked in a gray shroud
As the low clouds of rain down the mountain side blow
For to cloak Togher Bog and the valley below.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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King Of The Mountain
Walking through the high dry grass, pushing my way through slow
Yellow belly black snake, sleeping on a red rock
Waiting for the stranger to go
Sugar train stops at the crossing, cane cockies cursing below
Bad storm coming, better run to the top of the mountain
Mountain in the shadow of light, rain in the valley below
Well you can say youre peter, say youre paul
Dont put me up on your bedroom wall, call me the king of the mountain
Blacksmith fires up the bellows, cane cutters burning the load
Workers of the world, run to the top of the mountain
Mountain in the...
I cant take my hands from my face, there are some things we cant replace
Mountain in the...
Over liquid tarmac wastelands of cactus and heat
Down cobblestone alleyways of washing day sheets
Up ghost prairie mountains of sunset and space
Down the road at a familiar place, across the wilderness
Out further than the bush I will follow you
(hirst/moginie)
song performed by by Midnight Oil
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Man On The Silver Mountain (Live)
I'm a wheel,I'm a wheel
I can roll,I can feel
And you can't stop me turning
Cause I'm the sun,I'm the sun
I can move,I can run
But you'll never stop me burning
Come down with fire
Life my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the day,I'm the day
I can show you the way
And look I'm right beside you
I'm the night,I'm the night
I'm the dark and the light
With eyes that see inside you
Come down with fire
Life my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
Come down with fire
Life my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
Just look at me and listen
I'm the man,the man,give you my hand
Come down with fire
Life my spirit higher
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the night and the light
I'm the black and the white
The man on the silver mountain
song performed by by Rainbow
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bluebirds Over The Mountain
Bluebirds over the mountain
Seagulls over the sea-ea-ea
Bluebirds over the mountain
Bring my baby to me
A boy and a girl they once found love
To each it seemed like heaven above
He looked into her eyes and said
Ooo wee baby youre so good for my head
Bluebirds over the mountain
Seagulls over the sea-ea-ea
Bluebirds over the mountain
Bring my baby to me
Oh everyone in every land
Please give me a helping hand
If you see her all alone
Oh tell my baby wont you please come home?
Bluebirds over the mountain
Seagulls over the sea-ea-ea
Bluebirds over the mountain
Bring my baby to me
Oh bring my baby back
I dont know why shes been so long
But all I know is that shes gone
Oh bring my baby back to me
Well Im in pain cant you see
A boy and a girl they once found love
To each it seemed like heaven above
I guess thats why we fell in love
And now shes gone and all I have to say is
Bluebirds over the mountain
Seagulls over the sea yeah
Bluebirds over the mountain
Bring my baby to me
Bring my baby
Oooo baby
Oooo oooo oooo oooo
song performed by by Beach Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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New Speedway Boogie
Please dont dominate the rap, jack, if youve got nothing new to say.
If you please, dont back up the track this trains got to run today.
I spent a little time on the mountain, I spent a little time on the hill
I heard someone say better run away, others say better stand still.
Now I dont know, but I been told its hard to run with the weight of gold,
Other hand I have heard it said, its just as hard with the weight of lead.
Who can deny, who can deny, its not just a change in style?
One step down and another begun and I wonder how many miles.
I spent a little time on the mountain, I spent a little time on the hill
Things went down we dont understand, but I think in time we will.
Now, I dont know but I was told in the heat of the sun a man died of cold.
Keep on coming or stand and wait, with the sun so dark and the hour so late.
You cant overlook the lack, jack, of any other highway to ride.
Its got no signs or dividing lines and very few rule to guide.
I saw things getting out of hand, I guess they always will.
Now I dont know but I been told
If the horse dont pull you got to carry the load.
I dont know whose backs that strong, maybe find out before too long.
One way or another, one way or another,
One way or another, this darkness got to give.
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black Mountain Blues
Old black mountain
Tried to spit in your face
Old black mountain
Tried to spit in your face
Babys grubbing whiskey
Oh shes practising ? ? ?
Old black mountain
Mean as they can be
Old black mountain
Mean as they can be
They use ground butter
Just to sweeten the tea
Had a girl in black mountain
Sweetest girl in town
Had a girl in black mountain
Sweetest girl in town
But she met a sweet black man
Then she threw me down
Well, old black mountain
Cant keep man in jail
Well, old black mountain
Cant keep man in jail
Sure to call him guilty
Judge will cry and bail
Im bound for black mountain
Me and my razor and my gun
Im bound for black mountain
Me and my razor and my gun
Gonna cut her if she stands there
And shoot her if she runs
song performed by by Nick Drake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Touch
The house of the body
is a stately manor
open for nothing
never to the public.
But
for the owner of the house,
the key-holder-
the body swings open
like Ali Baba's mountain
glistening with soft gold
& red jewels.
These cannot be stolen
or sold for money.
They only glisten
when the mountain opens
by magic
or its own accord.
The gold triangle of hair,
its gentle ping,
the pink quartz crystals
of the skin,
the ruby nipples,
the lapis
of the veins
that swim the breast. . .
The key-holder
is recognized
by the way he holds
the body.
He is recognized
by touch.
Touch is the first sense to awaken
after the body's little death
in sleep.
Touch is the first sense
to alert the raw red infant
to a world of pain.
The body glimmers
on its dark mountain
pretending ignorance of this.
poem by Erica Jong
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Man On The Silver Mountain
I'm a wheel, I'm a wheel
I can roll, I can feel
And you can't stop me turning
Cause I'm the sun, I'm the sun
I can move, I can run
But you'll never stop me burning
Come down with fire
Lift my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the day, I'm the day
I can show you the way
And look, I'm right beside you
I'm the night, I'm the night
I'm the dark and the light
With eyes that see inside you
Come down with fire
Lift my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
Come down with fire
And lift my spirit higher
Someone's screaming my name
Come and make me holy again
Well, I can help you, you know I can
I'm the man on the silver mountain
I'm the man on the silver mountain
Just look at me and listen
I'm the man, the man, give you my hand
I'm the man on the silver mountain
Come down with fire
And lift your spirit higher
I'm the man on the mountain
The man on the silver mountain
I'm the night, the light
The black and the white
The man on the silver mountain
song performed by by Hammerfall
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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With the Cattle
The drought is down on field and flock,
The river-bed is dry;
And we must shift the starving stock
Before the cattle die.
We muster up with weary hearts
At breaking of the day,
And turn our heads to foreign parts,
To take the stock away.
And it’s hunt ‘em up and dog ‘em,
And it’s get the whip and flog ‘em,
For it’s weary work, is droving, when they’re dying every day;
By stock routes bare and eaten,
On dusty roads and beaten,
With half a chance to save their lives we take the stock away.
We cannot use the whip for shame
On beasts that crawl along;
We have to drop the weak and lame,
And try to save the strong;
The wrath of God is on the track,
The drought fiend holds his sway;
With blows and cries the stockwhip crack
We take the stock away.
As they fall we leave them lying,
With the crows to watch them dying,
Grim sextons of the Overland that fasten on their prey;
By the fiery dust-storm drifting,
And the mocking mirage shifting,
In heat and drought and hopeless pain we take the stock away.
In dull despair the days go by
With never hope of change,
But every stage we feel more nigh
The distant mountain range;
And some may live to climb the pass,
And reach the great plateau,
And revel in the mountain grass
By streamlets fed with snow.
As the mountain wind is blowing
It starts the cattle lowing
And calling to each other down the dusty long array;
And there speaks a grizzled drover:
“Well, thank God, the worst is over,
The creatures smell the mountain grass that’s twenty miles away.”
They press towards the mountain grass,
They look with eager eyes
Along the rugged stony pass
That slopes towards the skies;
Their feet may bleed from rocks and stones,
But, though the blood-drop starts,
They struggle on with stifled groans,
For hope is in their hearts.
And the cattle that are leading,
Though their feet are worn and bleeding,
Are breaking to a kind of run – pull up, and let them go!
For the mountain wind is blowing,
And the mountain grass is growing,
They’ll settle down by running streams ice-cold with melted snow.
The days are gone of heat and drought
Upon the stricken plain;
The wind has shifted right about,
And brought the welcome rain;
The river runs with sullen roar,
All flecked with yellow foam,
And we must take the road once more
To bring the cattle home.
And it’s “Lads! We’ll raise a chorus,
There’s a pleasant trip before us.”
And the horses bound beneath us as we start them down the track;
And the drovers canter, singing,
Through the sweet green grasses springing
Towards the far-off mountain-land, to bring the cattle back.
Are these the beasts we brought away
That move so lively now?
They scatter off like flying spray
Across the mountain’s brow;
And dashing down the rugged range
We hear the stockwhips crack –
Good faith, it is a welcome change
To bring such cattle back.
And it’s “Steady down the lead there!”
And it’s “Let ‘em stop and feed there!”
For they’re wild as mountain eagles, and their sides are all afoam;
But they’re settling down already,
And they’ll travel nice and steady;
With cheery call and jest and song we fetch the cattle home.
We have to watch them close at night
For fear they’ll make a rush,
And break away in headlong flight
Across the open bush;
And by the camp-fire’s cheery blaze,
With mellow voice and strong,
We hear the lonely watchman raise the Overlander’s song:
“Oh, it’s when we’re done with roving,
With the camping and the droving,
It’s homeward down the Bland we’ll go, and never more we’ll roam”;
While the stars shine out above us,
Like the eyes of those who love us –
The eyes of those who watch and wait to greet the cattle home.
The plains are all awave with grass,
The skies are deepest blue;
And leisurely the cattle pass
And feed the long day through;
But when we sight the station gate
We make the stockwhips crack,
A welcome sound to those who wait
To greet the cattle back:
And through the twilight falling
We hear their voices calling,
As the cattle splash across the ford and churn it into foam;
And the children run to meet us,
And our wives and sweethearts greet us,
Their heroes from the Overland who brought the cattle home.
poem by Andrew Barton Paterson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Jackie Brown
Is this your life, jackie brown?
Poorly educated and forced to live on the poor side of town.
Is this your daughter, jackie brown?
This pretty little girl
In the worn out clothes
That have been hand-me down.
Is this your wife, jackie brown?
With sad blue eyes, walking on eggshells so you dont see her frown.
Is this your family, jackie brown?
Dream of vacationing on a mountain stream
And giving the world more than it gave you.
What ugly truths freedom brings
And it hasnt been very kind to you.
Is this your life, jackie brown?
Is this your meal, jackie brown?
Barely enough, Ive seen people throw away more than this out.
Is this your home, jackie brown?
This three room shack
With no running water
And the bathroom out back.
Is this your grave, jackie brown?
This little piece of limestone that says another desperate man took
Himself out.
Is this your dream, jackie brown?
Going nowhere and nowhere fast
We shame ourselves to watch people like this live.
But who gives a damn about jackie brown?
Just another lazy man who couldnt take what was his.
One helluva life jackie brown.
Forevermore, jackie brown
Amen and amen - jackie brown?
song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Black Mountain Blues
Out in black mountain a child will smack your face.
Im saying out on black mountain a child will smack your face.
The babies cryin for liquor, and all the birds sing bass.
Well, those people in black mountain are mean as they can be.
And those people in black mountain are mean as they can be.
Now they uses gun powder just to sweeten up their tea.
Well, out in black mountain you cant keep a good man in jail.
Yeah, out in black mountain you cant keep a good man in jail
cause if the jury convicts him, the judge will pay his bail.
I had a man in black mountain, the sweetest man in town.
I had a man in black mountain, the sweetest man in the town.
But then he met a city gal, thats when he throwed me down.
Lord, Im bound for black mountain, me and my razor and my gun,
Im going back to black mountain, me and my razor and my gun.
Im gonna fire him if he stands still, Ill just cut him if he runs.
Lord, now youve heard my story, now youve heard my news.
Lord, now youve heard my story, now youve heard my news.
Now my man can clear off, Ive got the blackest mountain blues.
song performed by by Janis Joplin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Bonfire
OH, let’s go up the hill and scare ourselves,
As reckless as the best of them to-night,
By setting fire to all the brush we piled
With pitchy hands to wait for rain or snow.
Oh, let’s not wait for rain to make it safe.
The pile is ours: we dragged it bough on bough
Down dark converging paths between the pines.
Let’s not care what we do with it to-night.
Divide it? No! But burn it as one pile
The way we piled it. And let’s be the talk
Of people brought to windows by a light
Thrown from somewhere against their wall-paper.
Rouse them all, both the free and not so free
With saying what they’d like to do to us
For what they’d better wait till we have done.
Let’s all but bring to life this old volcano,
If that is what the mountain ever was—
And scare ourselves. Let wild fire loose we will….”
“And scare you too?” the children said together.
“Why wouldn’t it scare me to have a fire
Begin in smudge with ropy smoke and know
That still, if I repent, I may recall it,
But in a moment not: a little spurt
Of burning fatness, and then nothing but
The fire itself can put it out, and that
By burning out, and before it burns out
It will have roared first and mixed sparks with stars,
And sweeping round it with a flaming sword,
Made the dim trees stand back in wider circle—
Done so much and I know not how much more
I mean it shall not do if I can bind it.
Well if it doesn’t with its draft bring on
A wind to blow in earnest from some quarter,
As once it did with me upon an April.
The breezes were so spent with winter blowing
They seemed to fail the bluebirds under them
Short of the perch their languid flight was toward;
And my flame made a pinnacle to heaven
As I walked once round it in possession.
But the wind out of doors—you know the saying.
There came a gust. You used to think the trees
Made wind by fanning since you never knew
It blow but that you saw the trees in motion.
Something or someone watching made that gust.
It put the flame tip-down and dabbed the grass
Of over-winter with the least tip-touch
Your tongue gives salt or sugar in your hand.
The place it reached to blackened instantly.
The black was all there was by day-light,
That and the merest curl of cigarette smoke—
And a flame slender as the hepaticas,
Blood-root, and violets so soon to be now.
But the black spread like black death on the ground,
And I think the sky darkened with a cloud
Like winter and evening coming on together.
There were enough things to be thought of then.
Where the field stretches toward the north
And setting sun to Hyla brook, I gave it
To flames without twice thinking, where it verges
Upon the road, to flames too, though in fear
They might find fuel there, in withered brake,
Grass its full length, old silver golden-rod,
And alder and grape vine entanglement,
To leap the dusty deadline. For my own
I took what front there was beside. I knelt
And thrust hands in and held my face away.
Fight such a fire by rubbing not by beating.
A board is the best weapon if you have it.
I had my coat. And oh, I knew, I knew,
And said out loud, I couldn’t bide the smother
And heat so close in; but the thought of all
The woods and town on fire by me, and all
The town turned out to fight for me—that held me.
I trusted the brook barrier, but feared
The road would fail; and on that side the fire
Died not without a noise of crackling wood—
Of something more than tinder-grass and weed—
That brought me to my feet to hold it back
By leaning back myself, as if the reins
Were round my neck and I was at the plough.
I won! But I’m sure no one ever spread
Another color over a tenth the space
That I spread coal-black over in the time
It took me. Neighbors coming home from town
Couldn’t believe that so much black had come there
While they had backs turned, that it hadn’t been there
When they had passed an hour or so before
Going the other way and they not seen it.
They looked about for someone to have done it.
But there was no one. I was somewhere wondering
Where all my weariness had gone and why
I walked so light on air in heavy shoes
In spite of a scorched Fourth-of-July feeling.
Why wouldn’t I be scared remembering that?”
“If it scares you, what will it do to us?”
“Scare you. But if you shrink from being scared,
What would you say to war if it should come?
That’s what for reasons I should like to know—
If you can comfort me by any answer.”
“Oh, but war’s not for children—it’s for men.”
“Now we are digging almost down to China.
My dears, my dears, you thought that—we all thought it.
So your mistake was ours. Haven’t you heard, though,
About the ships where war has found them out
At sea, about the towns where war has come
Through opening clouds at night with droning speed
Further o’erhead than all but stars and angels,—
And children in the ships and in the towns?
Haven’t you heard what we have lived to learn?
Nothing so new—something we had forgotten:
War is for everyone, for children too.
I wasn’t going to tell you and I mustn’t.
The best way is to come up hill with me
And have our fire and laugh and be afraid.”
poem by Robert Frost
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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