The Changelings
R.N.V.R, Sea Constables
Or ever the battered liners sank
With their passengers to the dark
I was head of a Walworth Bank,
And you were a grocer's clerk.
I was a dealer in stocks and shares,
And you in butters and teas;
And we both abandoned our own affairs
And took to the dreadful seas.
Wet and worry about our ways--
Panic, onset and flight--
Had us in charge for a thousand days
And thousand-year-long night.
We saw more than the nights could hide--
More than the waves could keep--
And--certain faces over the side
Which do not go from our sleep.
We were more tired than words can tell
While the pied craft fled by,
And the swinging mounds of the Western swell
Hoisted us Heavens-high...
Now there is nothing -- not even our rank--
To witness what we have been;
And I am returned to my Walworth Bank
And you to your margarine!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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Related quotes
Riding High on Insomnia
And on nights
When panic strikes
And sleep eludes
Even the slightest sound
Conjures to descend
On the unsettling nerves
The indiscernible depth in the belly
Expands to gorge on the self
And on nights
When panic strikes
And sleep eludes
Moving from room to room
Darkness dispels at a click
And follows at another click
To stay put within
Awaiting another ‘click’
And on nights
When panic strikes
And sleep eludes
The emptiness drowned in vain in long gulps
Stretches its tentacles to grip
The body in greed as if
A hungry tide on a dark sea
On a fateful night
And on nights
When panic strikes
And sleep eludes
Panic and sleep connive
To beat life out of the outer shell
And to throw the inner out of its gear
(24 May 2011)
poem by Indira Babbellapati
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In A Thousand Words
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD TELL YOU MY FEELINGS.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD TELL YOU I'M WILLING.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD EXPLAIN MY PERSONA.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD TALK LIKE MY MAMA.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD SING YOU A LYRIC.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD SELL YOU A GIMMICK.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD TELL YOU IT ALL.
IN A THOUSAND WORDS I COULD SAY NOTHING AT ALL.
poem by LaQuandra Baskin
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The River and The Bank
I'm the river
I'm the bank too
There're times the
Bank revolts
Times when the
River overflows
Can't help...!
I struggle
And try reconcile
But when the river side of me flow
Into the sea
I'm an abandoned bank
And a lonely tear
Among the many tears
Flowing in the sea!
poem by Indira Babbellapati
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The Gloucester Mother
When autumn winds are high,
They wake and trouble me
With thoughts of people lost
A-coming on the coast,
And all the ships at sea.
How dark, how dark and cold
And fearful in the waves,
Are tired folk who lie not still
And quiet in their graves
In moving waters deep
That will not let men sleep
As they may sleep on any hills,
May sleep ashore till time is old
And all the earth is frosty cold.
Under the flowers a thousand springs
They sleep and dream of many things.
God bless them all who die at sea!
If they must sleep in restless waves,
God make them dream they are ashore
With grass above their graves!
poem by Sarah Orne Jewett
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How Can I Sleep?
How can I sleep when the nights are long,
too long to be in bed?
The pull of the pen is calling me,
too many words in my head.
There's not enough time. Why waste it on sleep?
too many things to write.
I hear the words call out to me
too often in the night.
But what care I about the time?
It's the words I care about.
For the body when tired can always sleep
and my thoughts would probably doubt
my sincerity to this purposeful quest
to connect my mind with the page.
I have dedicated my waking hours
too often as I age.
How can I sleep when the nights are long,
too long to be in bed?
That can be left for a future time
when I've nothing left to be said.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Long Way Home
J. spinks, r. difonzo
I drive these streets alone in silence
Another ride trying to clear my head
But all I hear is just the beat of my heart
I think of her but I see you instead
(chorus)
And theres a thousand little lies
A thousand little reasons
For me to stay - for me to go
And theres a thousand little voices
Inside my head saying
Take the long way home
I tell myself that its all over
But then I see you and I just dont know
What should I listen to my heart or my mind
Too tired to think about the way I should go
(chorus)
Theres no one out there when you need to decide
And youre on your own
You keep on thinking bout the wrong that youve done
You try to hide but theres no place to run
(chorus)
song performed by by Outfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ten Thousand Men A Day
All the world was wearying,
All the world was sad;
Everything was shadow-filled;
Things were going bad.
Then a rumour stirred all hearts
As a wind stirs trees-
Ten thousand men a day
Coming over seas!
Soon we saw them marching by-
God! what a sight!-
Shoulders back, and heads erect,
Faces full of light.
Smiling like a morn in May,
Moving like a breeze,
Ten thousand men a day
Coming over seas.
Weary soldiers worn with war
Lifted up their eyes,
Shadows seemed to lift a bit,
Dawn was in the skies.
Hope sprang to troubled hearts,
Strength to tired knees:
Ten thousand men a day
Were coming over seas.
France and England swarmed with them,
Khaki-clad and young,
Filled with all the joy of life-
Into line they swung.
Waning valour rose anew
At the sight of these
Ten thousand men a day
Coming over seas.
Still they come-and still they come
In their strength and pride.
Victory with radiant mien
Marches on beside.
Victory is here to stay,
Every heart agrees,
With ten thousand men a day
Coming over seas.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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The Good Thief
We die each night,
to sleep succumb.
Perhaps to dream,
remembering none.
Yet as we wait for
sleep to come,
we believe
we'll see
the morning sun.
Ten thousand million
days saw dawn
before the day
when I was born.
Ten thousand million
nights might end
ere ever I see home again.
If Being sees
in me no worth
perhaps this is
the last of Earth.
But as the Son
for mercy, dies.
Perhaps this good thief
too may rise.
poem by John F. McCullagh
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The Promise
Those tears on a gaping voice
Whos stretching arms match the hunger of mine
There lips will they never join
But always draw me closer and further entwined
With a promise dealer understand all freedoms fade away
To a point of view where many different pathways meet
And were standing on this precipice with nothing much to save
But the deep blue screams of falling dreams with our next move
Heaven hide your eyes (heaven hide your eyes)
Heavens eyes will never dry (heavens eyes will never dry)
The shades of a thousand steel
Come flashing by my face in the fury of war
In desolation and abandoned fields
The hungry make their stand when theyll stand for no more
Hear the passion in their voices see the heaven in their eyes
Their hopes and schemes are waiting dreams of less than paradise
And sometimes we make promises we never mean to keep
For blackmail is the only deal a promise dealer sees
(chorus) (chorus)
(chorus) (chorus) (chorus)
song performed by by Duran Duran
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Thousand Years
I have lived out a thousand years,
And in them was tranquillity, peace
And various species, offering escape.
Soon the light from the sun shines
In the days and not the nights,
The never-ending life begins at home.
A thousand years have passed,
Underneath the sky of clouds
And stars shining brightly forever.
I have lived out my enemies
Forced by the military, affecting me.
This station of importance
Decides to turn into a cradle.
I walk among the clouds
After a thousand years of worry,
Filling everybody with awe and inspiration,
But not with nights and days of ancient kind.
poem by Naveed Akram
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It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk.
quote by Bertolt Brecht
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bank On Your Love
One lonely eye faces the queen
How far she goes remains to be seen
She can be hard and she knows it
She plays her heart and doesnt show it
Cold night cold like me
No lov elost betting on the king
And its a hard unknown
Before the hand is showing
The con is out when the eagle flies
If you know the hand is quicker than the eye
Can I bank on your love
Hands down left high and dry
Games in the night are quicker than the eye
That aint love or affection
The dealer changed direction
Bets are high and Im losing enough
Wont anybody play fair with my love
cause its hard not knowing
And my heart is showing
The king is out and the eagle flies
Dont you know the hand is quicker than the eye
Can I bank on your love
song performed by by Hall & Oates
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Battle of Red Cliff
The Yangtze flows east
Washing away
A thousand ages of great men
West of the ramparts --
People say --
Are the fabled Red Cliffs of young Chou of the Three Kingdoms
Rebellious rocks pierce the sky
Frightening waves rip the bank
The backwash churns vast snowy swells --
River and mountains like a painting
how many heroes passed them, once ...
Think back to those years, Chou Yu --
Just married to the younger Chiao --
Brave, brilliant
With plumed fan, silk kerchief
Laughed and talked
While masts and oars vanished to flying ash and smoke!
I roam through ancient realms
Absurdly moved
Turn gray too soon --
A man's life passes like a dream --
Pour out a cup then, to the river, and the moon
Translation 2
The endless river eastward flows;
With its huge waves are gone all those
Gallant heroes of bygone years.
West of the ancient fortress years
Red Cliff where General Zhou Yu won his early fame
When the Three Kingdoms were in flame.
Jugged rocks tower in the air
And swashing waves beat on the air
Rolling up a thousand heaps of snow.
To match the hills and the river so fair,
How many heroes brave of yore
Made a great show!
Translation 3
The great river surges east,
Its waves have scoured away
Since time began all traces of heroic men.
The western side of the old fort
Was once, so people say,
Known as the Red Cliff of Zhou of the Three Kingdoms.
With piled-up rocks to stab the sky
And waves to shake them thunderously
Churning the frothy mass to mounds of snow,
It's like a masterpiece in paint.
Those ages hide how many a hero!
Think back to those old days;
that first year when Zhou Yu had just married the Young Qiao.
Then, what a hero he became!
With waving fan and silken cap
He talked and laughed at ease
While masts and oars were blotted out in smoke and flame!
My wits that stray to realms of old
Deserve the scorn of all who feel;
Years pass, and hair grows white so soon.
Though a man's life is like a dream,
One toast continues still -- the River and the Moon!
poem by Su Tung-po
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You Were The Last High
I am alone
But adored
By a hundred thousand more
Then I said
When you were the last
Then I have known love
Like a whore
From at least ten thousand more
Then I swore
When you were the last
When you were the last high
High
High
High
You were awake
And I should have stayed
But I wandered
I was only out for a day
Out for a day
It was Chicago
For a moment
And then
It was
Paris and London
For a few
Days
Now I am alone
But adored
By a hundred thousand more
Then I swore
When you were the last
When you were the last high
High
High
High
And you were the last high
High
High
High
I was the first
To have spoken
And I said
Just about
All the things
You shouldn't say
So maybe you loved me
But now
Maybe you don't
And
Maybe you'll call me
Maybe you won't
Oh
So I am alone
But adored
By a hundred thousand more
Then I said
When you were the last
And I have known love
Like a whore
From at least ten thousand more
Then I swore
When you were the last
When you were the last high
High
High
High
And you were the last high
High
High
High
song performed by by Dandy Warhols
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Wassail
Give way, give way, ye gates, and win
An easy blessing to your bin
And basket, by our entering in.
May both with manchet stand replete;
Your larders, too, so hung with meat,
That though a thousand, thousand eat,
Yet, ere twelve moons shall whirl about
Their silv'ry spheres, there's none may doubt
But more's sent in than was served out.
Next, may your dairies prosper so,
As that your pans no ebb may know;
But if they do, the more to flow,
Like to a solemn sober stream,
Bank'd all with lilies, and the cream
Of sweetest cowslips filling them.
Then may your plants be press'd with fruit,
Nor bee or hive you have be mute,
But sweetly sounding like a lute.
Last, may your harrows, shares, and ploughs,
Your stacks, your stocks, your sweetest mows,
All prosper by your virgin-vows.
--Alas! we bless, but see none here,
That brings us either ale or beer;
In a dry-house all things are near.
Let's leave a longer time to wait,
Where rust and cobwebs bind the gate;
And all live here with needy fate;
Where chimneys do for ever weep
For want of warmth, and stomachs keep
With noise the servants' eyes from sleep.
It is in vain to sing, or stay
Our free feet here, but we'll away:
Yet to the Lares this we'll say:
'The time will come when you'll be sad,
'And reckon this for fortune bad,
poem by Robert Herrick
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The Long Goodbye
My soul went walkin but I stayed here
Feel like I been workin for a thousand years
Chippin away at this chain of my own lies
Climbin a wall a hundred thousand miles high
Well I woke up this morning on the other side
Yeah yeah this is the long goodbye
Hey yeah this is the long goodbye
Same old faces its the same old town
What once was laughs is draggin me now
Wailin on rain hangin on for love
Words of forgiveness from some God above
Aint no words of mercy comin from on high
Oh no just a long goodbye
Yeah yeah just one long goodbye
Well I went to leave twenty years ago
Since then I guess I been packin kinda slow
Sure did like that admirin touch
Guess I liked it a little too much
The moon is high and here I am
Sittin here with this hammer in hand
One more drink oughta ease the pain
Starin at that last link in the chain
Well lets raise our glass and let this hammer fly
Hey yeah this is the long goodbye
Hey yeah this is the long goodbye
song performed by by Bruce Springsteen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Legion
With this man the demons had their way
among the tombs during night and day.
Men chained him attempting to subdue
and prevent what those demons made him do.
Ashamed he cut himself when so distressed
then he ran to Jesus this man possessed.
'Legion, Come out of him' the Master said
and at the Lords command the demons fled.
They had to obey for He was Divine
and fled to the hills entering the swine
The two thousand pigs ran down the bank
falling into the sea they drowned and sank.
The Demons were gone this man was made whole
no more in chains and agony of soul.
So he begged to go with Jesus on His way
But the Lord had a plan for him that day.
Then all dressed and in his right mind went he
through the ten cities giving testimony.
saying 'I came to Jesus all possessed
and now with His righteousness I'm dressed'
To be clothed and possess our right mind
is now possible when Jesus we find.
Let's run to Jesus just as this man did
and from all our demons we will be rid.
Based on the account recorded in Mark 5: 1-13
A Thousand Miles Away
Hurrah for the Roma railway! Hurrah for Cobb and Co.,
And oh! for a good fat horse or two to carry me Westward Ho
To carry me Westward Ho! my boys, that's where the cattle stray
On the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo, a thousand miles away.
Chorus
Then give your horses rein across the open plain,
We'll ship our meat both sound and sweet, nor care what some folks say;
And frozen we'll send home the cattle that now roam
On the far Barcoo and the Flinders too, a thousand miles away.
Knee-deep in grass we've got to pass—for the truth I'm bound to tell
Where in three weeks the cattle get as fat as they can swell
As fat as they can swell, my boys; a thousand pounds they weigh,
On the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo, a thousand miles away.
No Yankee hide e'er grew outside such beef as we can freeze;
No Yankee pastures make such steers as we send o'er the sea
As we send o'er the seas, my boys, a thousand pounds they weigh
From the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo, a thousand miles away.
poem by Andrew Barton Paterson
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On The Five Senses
All of us in one you'll find, Brethren of a wondrous kind;
Yet among us all no brother
Knows one tittle of the other;
We in frequent councils are,
And our marks of things declare,
Where, to us unknown, a clerk
Sits, and takes them in the dark.
He's the register of all
In our ken, both great and small;
By us forms his laws and rules,
He's our master, we his tools;
Yet we can with greatest ease
Turn and wind him where we please.
One of us alone can sleep,
Yet no watch the rest will keep,
But the moment that he closes,
Every brother else reposes.
If wine's brought or victuals drest,
One enjoys them for the rest.
Pierce us all with wounding steel,
One for all of us will feel.
Though ten thousand cannons roar,
Add to them ten thousand more,
Yet but one of us is found
Who regards the dreadful sound.
Do what is not fit to tell,
There's but one of us can smell.
poem by Jonathan Swift
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Eland’s River
IT WAS on the fourth of August, as five hundred of us lay
In the camp at Eland’s River, came a shell from De La Rey—
We were dreaming of home faces,
Of the old familiar places,
And the gum-trees and the sunny plains five thousand miles away—
But the challenge woke and found us
With four thousand rifles round us;
And Death stood laughing at us at the breaking of the day.
Hell belched upon our borders, and the battle had begun.
Our Maxims jammed: We faced them with one muzzle-loading gun.
East, south, and west, and nor’ward
Their shells came screaming forward
As we threw the sconces round us in the first light of the sun.
The thin air shook with thunder
As they raked us fore and under,
And the cordon closed around us, as they held us—eight to one.
We got the Maxims going, and the field-gun into place
(She stilled the growling of a Krupp upon our southern face);
Round the crimson ring of battle
Swiftly ran the deadly rattle
As our rifles searched their fore-lines with a desperate menace;
Who would wish himself away
Fighting in our ranks that day
For the glory of Australia and the honour of the race?
But our horse-lines soon were shambles, and our cattle lying dead
(When twelve guns rake two acres there is little room to tread),
All day long we heard the drumming
Of the Mauser bullets humming,
And at night their guns, day-sighted, rained fierce havoc overhead.
Twelve long days and nights together,
Through the cold and bitter weather,
We lay grim behind the sconces, and returned them lead for lead.
They called us to surrender, and they let their cannon lag;
They offered us our freedom for the striking of the flag—
Army stores were there in mounds,
Worth a hundred thousand pounds,
And we lay battered round them behind trench and sconce and crag.
But we sent the answer in,
They could take what they could win—
We hadn’t come five thousand miles to fly the coward’s rag.
We saw the guns of Carrington come on and, fall away;
We saw the ranks of Kitchener across the kopje grey—
For the sun was shining then
Upon twenty thousand men—
And we laughed, because we knew, in spite of hell-fire and delay,
On Australia’s page for ever
We had written Eland’s River—
We had written it for ever and a day!
poem by George Essex Evans
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