Forward
I've tinkered at my bits of rhymes
In weary, woeful, waiting times;
In doleful hours of battle-din,
Ere yet they brought the wounded in;
Through vigils of the fateful night,
In lousy barns by candle-light;
In dug-outs, sagging and aflood,
On stretchers stiff and bleared with blood;
By ragged grove, by ruined road,
By hearths accurst where Love abode;
By broken altars, blackened shrines
I've tinkered at my bits of rhymes.
I've solaced me with scraps of song
The desolated ways along:
Through sickly fields all shrapnel-sown,
And meadows reaped by death alone;
By blazing cross and splintered spire,
By headless Virgin in the mire;
By gardens gashed amid their bloom,
By gutted grave, by shattered tomb;
Beside the dying and the dead,
Where rocket green and rocket red,
In trembling pools of poising light,
With flowers of flame festoon the night.
Ah me! by what dark ways of wrong
I've cheered my heart with scraps of song.
So here's my sheaf of war-won verse,
And some is bad, and some is worse.
And if at times I curse a bit,
You needn't read that part of it;
For through it all like horror runs
The red resentment of the guns.
And you yourself would mutter when
You took the things that once were men,
And sped them through that zone of hate
To where the dripping surgeons wait;
And wonder too if in God's sight
War ever, ever can be right.
Yet may it not be, crime and war
But effort misdirected are?
And if there's good in war and crime,
There may be in my bits of rhyme,
My songs from out the slaughter mill:
So take or leave them as you will.
poem by Robert William Service
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Little Bits Of Lightning
(robin lerner/steve booker)
I have listen to the sound
Of a lonely night
Gone a thousand miles
Through a storm-filled sky
Looking for some light
Never dreamed of turning back
But faced the wind instead
cause I knew somewhere
Youd be waiting there
Down the road ahead
All throught the longest night
Your burning light did shine
Like little bits of lightning
Lighting up the whole world with your flame
Every day to make it better
Strong enough to carry the weight
Your love became my saving grace
Like little bits of lightning
Shining through the rain
If I should ever lose my way
Find the strength in me is gone
I wont worry what to do
cause darlin I know you
Will come and take me home
All throught the longest night
Your burning light did shine
Like little bits of lightning
Lighting up the whole world with your flame
Every day to make it better
Strong enough to carry the weight
Your love became my saving grace
Like little bits of lightning
Shining through the rain
Strong enough to carry the weight
Your love became my saving grace
The kind of feelin words cant explain
Like little bits of lightning
Shining through the rain
Like little bits of lightning
Shining through the rain
song performed by by Martina Mcbride
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You Are My Light Through The Dark!
You are my light through the dark of night,
That guides me to the light of day.
When my light fades from day,
You help me in the dark.
For awhile now my heart’s been in the dark,
But you came along and brought in the light.
It’s been shattered and lost,
Until you found the pieces and put them back together again.
Sometimes the dark is scary,
Other times it’s calming.
Sometimes the light is nice,
Other times it hurts.
When the dark is scary and comes creeping in,
You’re always there in more ways then one,
Keeping me calm.
When the dark is calming and I’m asleep,
I picture you there with me,
Holding me close.
When the light is nice,
You make me laugh,
Happy with joy.
When the light hurts me so,
You also feel the pain I feel,
But still help me to relax.
In many ways you’re my light through the dark.
poem by Sara Tober
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Dancehall
You could lose your mind
easier than you would like to think
your best friend could up and leave you
playing tricks and cold deceive you
standing there people stare
let down by your own mind
Day of appreciation
for ways your mind has not yet let you down
the truth is that we will all go
maybe five minutes after the show
you know you are a shooting star
a blazing flash then gone
Are we advancing
or a collapsing visionary
are we really here
are we imaginary
as my thoughts separates
into the many frayed parts
torn shattered bits
my mind falling apart
Are we advancing
or a collapsing visionary
are we really here
are we imaginary
as my thoughts separates
into the many frayed parts
torn shattered bits
my mind falling apart
What if there was such a thing
what if theres such a thing as dependence day
there's no self congratulation
just a day of appreciation
quietly humbly
for things that have not gone wrong
Imagine the frustration
of losing bearing of the simplest thing
so come with your best
and do your worst before
you cant remember what you came for
Are we advancing
or a collapsing visionary
are we really here
are we imaginary
as my thoughts separates
into the many frayed parts
torn shattered bits
my mind falling apart
Blazing out the mains
hungry flames consume all that I see
Are we advancing
or a collapsing visionary
are we really here
are we imaginary
as my thoughts separates
into the many frayed parts
torn shattered bits
my mind falling apart
Are we advancing
or a collapsing visionary
are we really here-ac
song performed by by 311
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hello Candice, Are You Sure Of Yourself?
you speak of some bits, bits and bits
of bits buried underneath our hearts and
bones and you want them
to be unraveled bit by bit
that there is always a way, a manner
a process, some means
to an end, to find that light at the end of the tunnel
i am born on a complicated day.
And then i have grown hairs on my head
They too are complications
and my fingers do not have the same lengths
and shapes
That is also another complication
And my feet are not straight
And my face is not proportional
There are angles of deflection
There are lights in me which are refracted
And i may appear so far
And my hands may bend a little
It is because of the difference in our index
I am myself sometimes. I am not myself most of the times.
I ask you then: Are you sure of yourself?
Is that you? If yes, I am telling you
I am not me. I am somebody else.
If No, do not mind me at all.
I am having the tantrums of the poet
A dough with yeast. A grapefruit sour to your lips.
I am irony. I am another riddle.
I like to make myself readable. How many syllables do you
need? Tell me.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
poem by Dylan Thomas
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Rocket 88
Yea I think I know
I really hate it when it gets too slow
I gotta try and keep myself amused
I love the way my rocket purrs
I like it best when I see blurs
You gotta love to watch me light my fuse
No more lookin back to yesterday
I got the thing to blow us both away
All I need is you to navigate
So come and ride my rocket 88
Call it chump change, I think not
cause I got sumpn no one else has got
Its no look like and it aint no protege
Its nuclear my rocket 88
Well get down on the darkside of the moon
And leave a little somthin on the dune
This home by ten is gonna have to wait
cause we got a rocket 88
Light years honey thats how far well go
Lets fire it up and watch the rockets glow
Gee suit, g-spot, gee I really must admit
I got my rocket 88, honey this is it
So no more up against the wall
Just come with me and watch the earth get small
I swear you never will come down at all
So if you like it in your face
Ill rub your nose into outer space
And turn into a red hot fireball
song performed by by Aerosmith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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God’s Eternal Ways
The sun will rise and the sun will set, this my friend, is a sure bet.
For soon the day turns into night, and the sun will go out of sight.
Without any effort on man’s part, the light of day turns into dark.
But soon we see the morning skies, as again the sun begins to rise.
My friend, even in the sky at night, we can see above a lesser light.
Friend, so precise is God’s design that we use the moon to keep time.
For by watching each lunar phase, we can count off a month of days.
God’s ways are certain my friend, and on Him you can surely depend.
As you live through all your days, do you take note of His many ways?
For these are but two my friend, of His many ways, that have no end.
And all eternal are God’s ways, and God will receive Eternal Praise.
But as the sun does set and rise, man my friend, he lives and dies.
For God to receive man’s praise, man also, must have eternal days.
Though man received God’s Breath, sin brought upon man certain death.
However, through God’s Eternal ways, He lengthened man’s mortal days.
And through the death of Jesus Christ, man can inherit Eternal Life.
Soon we will need the moon no more, when we enter Eternity’s Door.
And there will be no more night and Christ The Lamb will be the Light.
Friend, time itself will be no more, as we live with Christ forevermore,
Living with Christ in Eternal Ways, while giving God Eternal Praise.
(Copyright ©11/2004)
The Black Birds
I
Once, only once, I saw it clear, --
That Eden every human heart has dreamed
A hundred times, but always far away!
Ah, well do I remember how it seemed,
Through the still atmosphere
Of that enchanted day,
To lie wide open to my weary feet:
A little land of love and joy and rest,
With meadows of soft green,
Rosy with cyclamen, and sweet
With delicate breath of violets unseen, --
And, tranquil 'mid the bloom
As if it waited for a coming guest,
A little house of peace and joy and love
Was nested like a snow-white dove
From the rough mountain where I stood,
Homesick for happiness,
Only a narrow valley and a darkling wood
To cross, and then the long distress
Of solitude would be forever past, --
I should be home at last.
But not too soon! oh, let me linger here
And feed my eyes, hungry with sorrow,
On all this loveliness, so near,
And mine to-morrow!
Then, from the wood, across the silvery blue,
A dark bird flew,
Silent, with sable wings.
Close in his wake another came, --
Fragments of midnight floating through
The sunset flame, --
Another and another, weaving rings
Of blackness on the primrose sky, --
Another, and another, look, a score,
A hundred, yes, a thousand rising heavily
From that accursed, dumb, and ancient wood, --
They boiled into the lucid air
Like smoke from some deep caldron of despair!
And more, and more, and ever more,
The numberless, ill-omened brood,
Flapping their ragged plumes,
Possessed the landscape and the evening light
With menaces and glooms.
Oh, dark, dark, dark they hovered o'er the place
Where once I saw the little house so white
Amid the flowers, covering every trace
Of beauty from my troubled sight, --
And suddenly it was night!
II
At break of day I crossed the wooded vale;
And while the morning made
A trembling light among the tree-tops pale,
I saw the sable birds on every limb,
Clinging together closely in the shade,
And croaking placidly their surly hymn.
But, oh, the little land of peace and love
That those night-loving wings had poised above, --
Where was it gone?
Lost, lost forevermore!
Only a cottage, dull and gray,
In the cold light of dawn,
With iron bars across the door:
Only a garden where the withering heads
Of flowers, presaging decay,
Hung over barren beds:
Only a desolate field that lay
Untilled beneath the desolate day, --
Where Eden seemed to bloom I found but these!
So, wondering, I passed along my way,
With anger in my heart, too deep for words,
Against that grove of evil-sheltering trees,
And the black magic of the croaking birds.
poem by Henry Van Dyke
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Weird Science
(weird science)
Plastic tubes and pots and pans
Bits and pieces and
Magic from the hand
Were makin
(weird science)
Things Ive never seen before
Behind bolted doors
Talent and imagination
(weird science)
Not what teacher said to do
Makin dreams come true
Living tissue, warm flesh
(weird science)
Plastic tubes and pots and pans
Bits and pieces (and)
Bits and pieces (and)
Chorus
(bits of) my creation--is it real?
Its my creation--i do not know
No hesitation--no heart of gold
Just flesh and blood--i do not know
From my heart and from my hand
Why dont people understand
My intentions . . . . oooh, weird . . . .
Weird science!!
(weird science)
Magic and technology
Voodoo dolls and chants
Electricity
Were makin
(weird science)
Fantasy and microchips
Shooting from the hip
Something different
Were makin
(weird science)
Pictures from a magazine
Diagrams and charts
Mending broken hearts (and makin)
(weird science)
Something like a recipe
Bits and pieces . . . .
Bits and pieces . . . .
song performed by by Oingo Boingo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Further On
Where the road is dark
and the seat is soaked
where the gun is cocked
and the bullet's cold
where the miles are marked in blood and gold
I'll meet you further on up the road
Got on my dead man's suit
and my smilin' skull ring
my lucky graveyard boots
and a song to sing
I got a song to sing, keep me out of the cold
and I'll meet you further on up the road
Further on up the road
further on up the road
where the way is dark
and the night is cold
but one sunny morning we'll rise, I know
and I'll meet you further on up the road
Well I been out in the desert
was doin' my time
searching through the dust
looking for a sign
if there's a light up ahead
well, buddy, I don't know
but I got this fever
burning in my soul
so let's take the good times as they come
and I'll meet you further on up the road
Further on up the road
further on up the road
where the way is dark
and the night is cold
one sunny morning we'll rise, I know
and I'll meet you further on up the road
one sunny morning we'll rise, I know
and I'll meet you further on up the road
yeah I'll meet you further on up the road
well I'll meet you further on up the road
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Further On (Up The Road)
Where the road is dark
And the seat is soaked
Where the gun is cocked
And the bullets cold
Where the miles are marked in blood and gold
Ill meet you further on up the road
Got on my dead mans suit
And my smilin skull ring
My lucky graveyard boots
And a song to sing
I got a song to sing, keep me out of the cold
And Ill meet you further on up the road
Further on up the road
Further on up the road
Where the way is dark
And the night is cold
But one sunny morning well rise, I know
And Ill meet you further on up the road
Well I been out in the desert
Was doin my time
Searching through the dust
Looking for a sign
If theres a light up ahead
Well, buddy, I dont know
But I got this fever
Burning in my soul
So lets take the good times as they come
And Ill meet you further on up the road
Further on up the road
Further on up the road
Where the way is dark
And the night is cold
One sunny morning well rise, I know
And Ill meet you further on up the road
One sunny morning well rise, I know
And Ill meet you further on up the road
Yeah Ill meet you further on up the road
Well Ill meet you further on up the road
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Basket of Flowers
From Dawn to Dusk
DAWN
ON skies still and starlit
White lustres take hold,
And grey flushes scarlet,
And red flashes gold.
And sun-glories cover
The rose, shed above her,
Like lover and lover
They flame and unfold.
. . . . . . .
Still bloom in the garden
Green grass-plot, fresh lawn,
Though pasture lands harden
And drought fissures yawn.
While leaves not a few fall,
Let rose-leaves for you fall
Leaves pearl-strung with dew-fall,
And gold shot with dawn.
Does the grass-plot remember
The fall of your feet
In Autumn's red ember
When drought leagues with heat,
When the last of the roses
Despairingly closes
In the lull that reposes
Ere storm winds wax fleet ?
Love's melodies languish
In 'Chastelard's' strain,
And 'Abelard's' anguish
Is love's pleasant pain !
And 'Sappho' rehearses
Love's blessings and curses
In passionate verses
Again and again.
And I !—I have heard of
All these long ago,
Yet never one word of
Their song-lore I know ;
Not under my finger
In songs of the singer
Love's litanies linger,
Love's rhapsodies flow.
Fresh flowers in a basket—
An offering to you—
Though you did not ask it,
Unbidden I strew ;
With heat and drought striving
Some blossoms still living
May render thanksgiving
For dawn and for dew.
The garlands I gather,
The rhymes I string fast,
Are hurriedly rather
Then heedlessly cast.
Yon tree's shady awning
Is short'ning, and warning,
Far spent is the morning,
And I must ride fast.
Songs empty, yet airy,
I've striven to write,
For failure, dear Mary !
Forgive me—Good-night !
Songs and flowers may beset you,
I can only regret you,
While the soil where I met you
Recedes from my sight.
For the sake of past hours,
For the love of old times,
Take 'A Basket of Flowers,'
And a bundle of rhymes ;
Though all the bloom perish
E'en your hand can cherish,
While churlish and bearish
The verse-jingle chimes.
And Eastward by Nor'ward
Looms sadly my track,
And I must ride forward,
And still I look back,—
Look back—Ah, how vainly !
For while I see plainly,
My hands on the reins lie
Uncertain and slack.
The warm wind breathes strong breath,
The dust dims mine eye,
And I draw one long breath,
And stifle one sigh.
Green slopes softly shaded,
Have flitted and faded—
My dreams flit as they did—
Good-night !—and—Good-bye !
. . . . . . .
DUSK
Lost rose ! end my story !
Dead core and dry husk—
Departed thy glory
And tainted thy musk.
Night spreads her dark limbs on
The face of the dim sun,
So flame fades to crimson
And crimson to dusk.
poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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In The Night
(m&l - kiske)
In the night Im calling you!
Be my guide help me through!
In the night I call your name
Youre the light in times of shame
The songs I sing
All my love I bring for you
I always try to make the things better
Everything that has go gone wrong
Mighty plans in the right direction
But very lottle has been done
Everyday when I try to get foward
I find myself another mile back
Help me fighting!
Help me breathing!
Why am I falling down instead?
Evry useful minute
Seems to be the thought of you
Evry hour seems like wasted,
Filled with things that I might do
Without love my reactions
Seems the saddest thing, buts true!
In the night Im calling you!
Be my guide help me through!
In the night I call your name
Youre the light in times of shame
Sometimes I cried after all
I lied for you
Free from ourselves and free
From this world we may find
The freedom we search
cause all that we need is inside!
The hours I waste
We may not get back for a while
And when it gets dark
No chance will be there for a try
When I wake up early morning
I catch a book and jump inside
I fill my head with a millon wonders
And try to fill the night with light
The moment when I get things clearer
I see another mountain to climb
And always when I think Im nearer
I realise there is no time
In the night Im calling you!
Be my guide help me through!
In the night I call your name
Youre the light in times of shame
This song I sing
All my love I bring for you
song performed by by Helloween
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love and Hate
A part of me
Loves him to
Bits.
A part of me
Hates him to
Shreds.
With these bits
And shreds -
I love and hate
Him.
Sometimes
I love him,
Sometimes
I loathe him.
poem by Aparna Chatterjee
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Play
I could wait all night and day,
To go to a party sit down and wait,
Give my request to the DJ,
Cuz my song hes gotta play.
And when i hear that beat,
I get my body up out my seat
I grab a guy and move my feet,
He's playin my song!
Play,
Come on play that song,
Play it all night long,
Just turn it up and turn it on!
Play,
Come on Dj play that song.
You know it turns me on.
(DJ just play that song)
Just turn it up and turn it on!
Dj just play that song,
Cuz i wanna be dancin all night long
Just play my, play my, play my,
Play my, play my favorite song!
I dont care if everybody's gone.
Turn it up cuz it turns me on.
Keep dancin all night long,
Feels so right that it cant be wrong.
I get chills up and down my spine,
Whenever I hear that song of mine.
When it stops better press rewind.
Let me hear it one more time!
Play,
Come on play that song,
Play it all night long,
Cuz I wanna be dancin' all night long!
Play,
Come on Dj play that song.
You know it turns me on.
(DJ just play that song)
Cuz I wanna be dancin' all night long!
I just wanna dance.
Is that a crime?
Alright then.
Play..Play..Play..Play..Play
Now Mr. DJ,
I've asked you three times..
Play My Mother f*ckin song!!
Play,
Come on play that song,
Play it all night long,
Just turn it up and turn it on!
Play,
Come on Dj play that song.
You know it turns me on.
(DJ just play that song)
Just turn it up and turn it on
song performed by by Prince
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Rainbow
Watch the white dawn gleam,
To the thunder of hidden guns.
I hear the hot shells scream
Through skies as sweet as a dream
Where the silver dawn-break runs.
And stabbing of light
Scorches the virginal white.
But I feel in my being the old, high, sanctified thrill,
And I thank the gods that the dawn is beautiful still.
From death that hurtles by
I crouch in the trench day-long,
But up to a cloudless sky
From the ground where our dead men lie
A brown lark soars in song.
Through the tortured air,
Rent by the shrapnel's flare,
Over the troubleless dead he carols his fill,
And I thank the gods that the birds are beautiful still.
Where the parapet is low
And level with the eye
Poppies and cornflowers glow
And the corn sways to and fro
In a pattern against the sky.
The gold stalks hide
Bodies of men who died
Charging at dawn through the dew to be killed or to kill.
I thank the gods that the flowers are beautiful still.
When night falls dark we creep
In silence to our dead.
We dig a few feet deep
And leave them there to sleep -
But blood at night is red,
Yea, even at night,
And a dead man's face is white.
And I dry my hands, that are also trained to kill,
And I look at the stars - for the stars are beautiful still.
poem by Leslie Coulson
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Hard Times
(stephen foster)
Let us pause in lifes pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor.
Theres a song that will linger forever in our ears,
Oh, hard times, come again no more
tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay.
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
Theres a pale drooping maiden who foils her life away
With a worn out heart, whose better days are oer.
Though her voice it would be merry, tis sighing all the day,
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more.
tis the song, the sigh of the weary.
Hard times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered all around my door.
Oh, hard times, come again no more
song performed by by Emmylou Harris
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Coast Of Barbary
My lad is on the water and far away from me,
And I pray God be good to him wherever he may be,
Up the sea and down the sea,
And along the coast of Barbary.
Oh, night and day ships come in, the ships both great and small,
But never one among them brings a word of him at all,
From Port o' Spain and Trinidad, from Rio or Funchal,
And along the coast of Barbary.
If I must think he comes no more across yon seas forlorn,
If I must think there is no tide may bring him night or morn,
I'd curse the light that I look on, and the day that I was born,
And the cruel coast of Barbary.
But well I know that soon or late he'll come back blithe and brown,
When the fire's a good thing to see, and the dark drawing down,
From many a wild and stormy sea, and many a foreign town,
And along the coast of Barbary.
With a green silk handkerchief and a parrot red and green,
And shells and bits o' things to show from the places where he's been,
Up the sea and down the sea,
And along the coast of Barbary.
poem by Cicely Fox Smith
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Tracks I Leave Behind
We leave tracks in everything we do
and as a writer; I leave tracks
within everything I write.
Little bits of me within the lines
as I write along.
Sometime in the future
people will read what I write
and find the little bits of me.
They will find my sorrows and my joy,
the love that burns within my heart
and the sorrows in my soul.
They are all in there within
the tracks that I leave behind.
Sometimes fiction can be more fact
and if you read the signs,
you will see the way I act.
There is something of me
in all the tracks I leave behind.
27 September 2008
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Song Of A Rhyming Man
I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
This modern verse too much for me it's way above my head
Though modern poets are now the rage and Rhyme is with the dead.
I love the sound of rhyming words, I love the verse that rhyme
To blank or free or non rhyme verse prefer it every time
And there's many who will disagree and most will say I'm wrong
But give me ballad or rhyme verse or good old rhyming song.
You may say I am limited and with you most will agree
That I'm not into modern verse of twenty first century
But I've been an old style rhyming man since nineteen seventy three
And I am in my sixties now and there's no changing me.
I love the sound of rhyming words like Dan will rhyme with Ann
And I could never be a poet just call me rhyming man
And I am guilty of no sin and I can't see no crime
In liking sound of rhyming verse and loving words that rhyme
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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