To Apologize After All These Years?
To apologize after all these years
To a woman I haven’t seen in forty years
Seems senseless.
We have each had our own lives and loved ones-
And do not know each other anymore-
Yet the thought that I was unkind
To someone who would have been kind to me
Troubles still-
Just as the memory of her beauty in those days
Is Longing in me and
Saddens me with the thought of how we both look now.
We are old people now
And it is all so far away
Even our un-kindnesses
Must go to the grave.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Related quotes
It's Better With The Good Eye
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be,
Looking back at oh so far away.
Memory’s just another way to see.
A place to go on holiday for free,
Forty years ago if it’s a day.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
And was that other person really me,
What changed, why could I not stay?
Memory’s just another way to see
The way things were around us then when we
Thought all our dreams were surely on their way.
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be,
The sky was always blue it seemed to me,
Every day the sun shone so they say -
Memory’s just another way to see,
But now I know that life’s not lunch for free
That bitter fruit is served on many days
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be,
Memory’s just another way to see.
Martin Swords
“Prompt Poems”
Villanelle
March 2008
poem by Martin Swords
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O Woman What Beauty
O woman what beauty I have seen in thee.
Who's beauty and grace delivers but tranquillity.
What face at birth could deliver such joy.
And through the years does most kind I employ.
God made man in his image, but woman he made in his dreams.
Though with woman, man still lives in Eden it would seem.
For woman are natural mothers, beautiful fruit to behold,
if it were not for a woman a man's history would not be told.
So through all of life's stages from young, middle aged, and old;
as a man I say O woman what beauty I see in thee, so forever,
may it unfold.
poem by Robert K. Allison III
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The Grief Of Love
Love, I am sick for thee, sick with an absolute grief,
Sick with the thought of thy eyes and lips and bosom.
All the beauty I saw, I see to my hurt revealed.
All that I felt I feel to--day for my pain and sorrow.
Love, I would fain forget thee, hide thee in deeper night,
Shut thee where no thought is, in the grave with tears.
Love, I would turn my face to the wall and, if needs be, die;
Death less cruel were than thy eyes which have blinded me.
Since thou art gone from me, glory is gone from my life;
Dumb are the woods and streams, and dumb the voice of my soul;
Dead are the flowers we loved, blackened and sere with blight;
Earth is frost--bound under my foot where our footsteps trod.
Give me back for my sorrow the days of senseless peace,
Days when I thought not of thee, or thought in wisdom;
Let me see thee once more as thou to my folly wert,
A woman senseless as sounding brass or as tinkling cymbal.
Why didst thou show me thy heart, which I thought not of?
Why didst thou bare me thy soul, who to me wert soulless?
Why didst thou kiss my mouth, when my mouth did mock?
Why didst thou speak to my lips of love, ere my lips had spoken?
Love, thou hast made me thine, thine, and in my despite,
Laying thy hand on my heart in the soft Spring weather;
Love, thou hast bought my soul at a price, the price of thine,
Never again to mock at love, ah, never, never!
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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The Old Man's Saddest Story
We sat about the fireplace listening to the old man's tales
Of the youthful years of life he spent in lovely Alder Vale
He told some happy stories but he told some sad one's too
And the saddest story that he told I will relate to you.
'Twas the story of young Joaney Ryan who died whilst in her prime
When the fruits were ripe for picking in September's harvest time
She died at twenty three years old the valley beauty queen
And a fairer maid since her time the old man has not seen.
She was the most beautiful maid the old man ever knew
With sheeny hair of raven black and sparkling eyes of blue
Yet for all of her splendid beauty she did not show conceit
A better mannered girl than her no man could wish to meet.
Beauty it can take a woman quite a long, long way
But beauty quickly withers like the flowers that bloom in May,
You cannot judge a woman by her beauty or her dress
You can only judge a woman by the manner she possess.
He must have loved this lovely maid he must have loved her so
Who died in September forty six years ago
For as he told her story a tear showed in each eye
And it seemed quite clear to all of us that he was near to cry.
She died in a hospital this lady like woman
From Leuchaemia a disease that greatly curtail life's span
On the tenth day of September her remains were put to earth
Twenty three years and thirty six days from the day of her birth.
In each human's life story there is some share of woe
And the old man's saddest thoughts are of a maid he used to know
Who died of Leuchaemia whilst only in her prime
When the fruits were ripe for picking in September's harvest time.
poem by Francis Duggan
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You're Not My God
It's just a piece of paper, it says, "In God We Trust"
A little short felt good
But a lot was not enough
And everybody loved me when I was on a roll
And I thought I had everything
When I held the gold
But you're not my god
And you're not my friend
You're not the one that I will walk with in the end
You're not the truth
You're a temporary shot
You ruin people's lives and you don't give a second thought
You're not my god
Little white lines on a mirror
Cut neatly in a roll
Medicine that kept me from lookin' in my soul
I thought you were the answer
To all of my despair
And you almost had me six feet down
But I'm still breathin' air
'Cause you're not my god
And you're not my friend
You're not the one that I will walk with in the end
You're not the truth
You're a temporary shot
You ruin people's lives and you don't give a second thought
You're not my god
From the cradle to the grave
Temptations all around
But no matter how good the fix
It's gonna take you down
Now some call it a weakness
Some call it a sin
But it's all the same behind each game
I see your evil grin
But you're not my god
And you're not my friend
You're not the one that I will walk with in the end
You're not the truth
You're a temporary shot
You ruin people's lives and you don't give a second thought
Whoa, you're not my god
And you're not my friend
You're not the one that I will walk with in the end
You're not the truth
You're a temporary shot
You ruin people's lives and you don't give a second thought
You're not my god
You're not my god
Oh oh oh you're not my god
You're not my god
Mmmmm not my god
Not my god
You're not, you're not, you're not my god
No you're not
song performed by by Keith Urban
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Where Beauty Lives In Memory
She stands before the mirror
Smiles at her reflection
Striking sexy poses in the glass
She paints her lips a brilliant red
Piles her hair high on her head
Struggles to replace a false eyelash
She powders up her face
Paints her cheeks to match her lips
She wears a dress cut low in the front
Fittin? tight around her hips
And there inside her room
She stands and gazes at herself
Where beauty lives in memory
She lives in fairy tales
Chorus:
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Whos the fairest of them all
She sings as she goes waltzing? cross the floor
She keeps a candle burning
And she waits for his returning
When beauty lives in memory
It lives forevermore
She was a fairy princess once
And was by all adored
They say she was the fairest of them all
They called her cinderella
And they say that every fella
Would gladly answer to her beck and call
So the story went
They tell of how this handsome prince
Stole her heart and wandered far away
He took her heart and took her mind
Now she has lost all track of time
Forty years has passed and still she waits singing
Repeat chorus
Meanwhile back inside her room
The shads are pulled its half past noon
But in her mind why its forty years ago
She recalls the beauty of their love
She remembers he was beautiful
And of course she always knew she was
And so the past unfolds
And all at once inside her mind
She sees him at the door
And as hes leading her away
She feels the room begin to sway
Where beauty lives in memory
She falls dead upon the floor
Repeat chorus
song performed by by Dolly Parton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Just Beyond The Sunset Revisited
Time flies by so quickly
almost in a blink of an eye
and years vanish almost completely.
It does not seem forty-three years ago
I put pen to paper and wrote
what has turned out to be my best poem ever.
The one that has attracted more attention
than any other I have written.
Its accolades still confound me
as I am in wonder of them all.
Especially as it was never written
as a poem at all, but a lyric for a song.
As a lyric, it was turned down
as being rather immature,
but as a poem, it is loved by everyone.
I find it hard to believe that forty-four people
have added it to their favourites list.
I am still rather in awe of its reception.
I am still trying to comprehend
that any one of my works would be so highly prized.
Every time I read it, I try to find
the essence everyone else sees.
The beauty within it that captures their imagination.
One day someone might explain to me
the beauty I actually captured,
at least I hope they will,
as I’d dearly love to know.
16 November 2009
poem by David Harris
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A Love Story(The King And I)
Once in time, there lived a king
Who lives still, nor ever could die
Who lived neither in space nor time
But made them both alike
For his queen to breathe and move
While he watched from not so far a distance
As she danced and played, and laughed and ached
He loved her so, and longed to show her so
Born by love, she sought for love
In all the wrong places and all the wrong people
While all the while the love she sought
Was in her, was by her, was for her, and with her
The time had come for her to know
The one who indeed loved her so
'I am God', he said, I love you so
And this I did, and that I did, to show you so
I'd love for you to love me too and show me so
Let me in, and make me your king or something in between
She took him in, and became his queen
And him her king and so much more
He fought for her, the apple of his eye
The beauty from his ashes
There lied a problem, he knew her number
The number of her days
He unbound by time, loved one bound in time
To live forever, he died to save her
She cried and cried, for he was gone away
I'm building our kingdom, he said in a letter
I'll be back so soon, I miss you too
A day to her, a thousand years to him
She waited and waited, and then became like knaves
She said these words when are days were made:
To my darling, my love, my king
You walked with me, you talked with me
Now I'm here, so far from you
My conscience is fading
With evil prevailing
The thoughts that walk the streets of my mind
Are far from good, my heart far from home
Years unending, I did my will
And chased the thrills of my will
Despair revealed his face in mine
As all I got was pain and shame
I could apologize for falling short today
And still fall short tomorrow
I am frail...I am human
But in all my humanity
I have come to love your divinity
In the day I breathe my last
May I see your face
And rest forever in your arms
The King smiled and thought to himself
In all my divinity, I have come to love your humanity
Rest in peace my child, my love, my queen.
poem by Jenim Dibie
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When She Loved Me
When somebody loved me
Everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together lives within my heart
And when she was sad
I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy
So was I
When she loved me
Through the summer and the fall
We had each other, that was all
Just she and I together
Like it was meant to be
And when she was lonely
I was there to comfort her
And I knew that she loved me
So the years went by
I stayed the same
But she began to drift away
I was left alone
Still I waited for the day
When she'd say I will always love you
Lonely and forgotten,
I'd never thought she'd look my way
And she smiled at me and held me just like she used to do
Like she loved me
When she loved me
When somebody loved me
Everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together lives within my heart
When she loved me
song performed by by Randy Newman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When Beauty Said Goodbye
At twenty one she is a physically perfect being
No words can ever tell of her beauty
That has no parallel
She is the object of men’s’ fantasies
The woman all others envy
Her only Endeavour
Is to be beautiful forever
Yet as surely as sunrise turns to sunset
Her beauty faded
At forty one, she is petrified
Her perfection has been flawed
A soft skin has become hard
The effects of age she tries to control
Though sooner or later we must all grow old
Now sixty one, she is desolate
Longing for her beauty that once was
She has lost what she most loved
In torment she watches
As her beauty slowly dies
Mortal is the beauty of the skin
But true beauty, everlasting beauty
Comes from within.
poem by Bancroft Boreland
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Eve (original beauty)
She stood naked in the garden
With more beauty
Than the first full bloom rose,
The kind and depth of
Beauty
God in Heaven only knows.
The kind of
Beauty that is deep and wild,
The kind of
Beauty lost like the days of a child,
The kind of
Beauty mankind
Has been trying desperately
(without realization)
Forever to find.
The kind of
Beauty
God has put upon
Every souls mind.
The kind of
Beauty
That forever causes God
To call us:
'Mine! '
The kind of original beauty
God understands,
The kind of beauty awaiting
The return of each woman, and man.
poem by Smoky Hoss
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Twenty- Fifth Yahrtzeit Of My Father
Dad I have written so many words about you
I have repeated your words again and again
I have described you
Laughed and cried in remembrance of you and Ma
All these years-
But what is it to you?
What does it all mean?
Is it ‘all just a dream'
There also?
Have these passing years meant anything for you?
Do you know of us and are you aware of all that has happened?
And when I come there most likely less than twenty- five years now
Will we meet again?
And will this longing to meet you end with nothing
Or with its realization?
Or perhaps will it never end
As we will both long from there too
Of the time we had together here for forty - five years?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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One Thing Leads To Another
How many times have we
thought of one thing that led us to another
within our memory store.
We think of one thing
and our memory links us to another
that may have happened years before.
We sit for a few minutes
as our memory takes us on a trip
through the corridors
of our childhood many years before.
We remember moments
that delighted us at the time
before growing up
took those pleasures away.
Each memory hold a precious moment
we will never see again
except in our memories
when they will take us
down that road again.
27 March 2009
poem by David Harris
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Rollercoster To Forever
Smile of a ghost
Strapped in to the metals of life
Eons in the distance, your spirit beside
And it is the smile that haunts me still
Really, was that you? !
Haven of my hopes and blues
First curve up the virtual rails
No change - a misty you behind a veil
Hopes on top seeing down and a thin
Fog that I believe you are not a dream
Heart out mild insomnia, dry tears
Smile on me contented only with your ears
Down, fast I whispered my bones
That the years crush like senseless stones
You tried the smile of a human
On that lovely ghost body that hurt
I thought you thought you loved me - Yes!
For I never doubted your sincerity
But there was nothing of anything to see
As the metals creaked heavy with my rushing
At the brim of an eternity's ride
Alone without a single stride
The dream that am waking each day
To realize that I will love you forever - Yes,
Solitude
Smothering me with her infinite tentacles
That flourish as they reach for the stars
When did you stop trying to smile
Your smile of a ghost
Never seeing the futures I hold
As I thought you did back then
When I was with your smile to the
End
Just Too Tired To Fight It
Here comes that same old memory
Like a movie in my mind
You told me you loved another
Then you drove off through the pines
And I swear it feels like yesterday
Though it's been a long, long time
I can still feel those cold chills
Runnin up and down my spine
Chorus:
And I've been fighting back the memories
I've been fightin back the tears
And I'm fightin back the hurt I still feel
After all these years
If I had the strength I'd fight
To make things like they were before
But I'm just too tired
To fight it anymore
Everyday my heart reminds me
How I boldly spoke those lines
I can get along without you
And I'm gonna be just fine
But the nights alone grew colder
Than I ever thought they'd be
And I spend every hour searchin
For what you took out of me
Chorus
And I thought time would overcome the torture
But instead I'm getting weaker everyday
Yeah
Whoa...
I've been fighting back the memories
I've been fighting back the tears
And I'm fighting back the hurt I still feel
After all these years
If I had the strength I'd fight
To make things like they were before
But I'm just too tired to fight
There ain't no way to hide it
I'm just too tired to fight it anymore
Yeah, I'm just too tired to fight it anymore
song performed by by Travis Tritt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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0296 Casting for a new production
The second act went really well tonight,
pity it’s so near the end of the run,
it’s good enough for a West End transfer;
they’re a good bunch when we work together
no thanks, not tonight old man –
got some TV ad lines to learn,
well it’s good money for old rope…
seeyer chizmate
make-up off, stage door chat –
after a good perf., who wants to pub it,
hear yet again about how they triumphed together
in Romeo and Juliet god how many years ago
looking at them now – obscene..
*
When people used to tell me
how old people sat lost to the world
in a golden haze of memory,
I used to think
borING..! not me, not on your life…
but it’s not quite like that:
a touch of unexpected thought
may clothe loved actors in a new-stitched garb –
before you took the stage and they
were cast by you as your supporting roles –
they too were Romeo and Juliet,
throwing the curtains open on their red-eyed dawn…
and you, not even yet the twinkle
in the future’s eye…
they’d played the serving-maid, the page,
the jaunty clown, the flirt, the on-off, bright-eyed savagery -
the toilers in the burning, dusty sun,
the heroes in a life of war and peace,
had hopes you never knew or asked,
and then, invited you to join their cast…
these were such unknown people, just
as unimportant as you are seen as, now…
but loved, by those you never knew or thought of…
now, in your lean and slippered age
you can re-read their lines,
these fellow actors whom you thought
because they loved you, that you were their life…
now, as you re-write the stories of their lives,
cast them as beloved strangers
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Lovely To Look At
The elegant lady who felt like a queen
was lovely to look at,
lovely when seen.
People adored her wherever she went.
She received all complements
when ere they were sent
with dignity and propiety
for all that it meant.
It meant she was loved.
It meant she understood.
that she was loved. She was loved
but not by the one that she did love.
He was not aware of her.
She waited for him to notice her
and her wait was terribly long.
She did not understand this dilemma.
What was it that was wrong?
Finally after many long years
her beauty was a thing of the past.
The one she loved for so many years
came to her at last.
Why now when my beauty is gone?
Why do you love me now?
His answer was not what she expected.
'For I feel I am worthy somehow.
To approach you before did not seem right
though your beauty astounded me
from the very first sight.
Your beauty stayed with me.
It will never depart.
And now my love, I offer my heart.'
The beautiful elegant lady
gasped as she held out her hand.
She was loved. She was loved
by the one she loved
and the feeling was oh so grand.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Kiwi Dave
For forty five years I've been working and I'm just an unfettered slave
And I have gray hairs to show for it I am quoting Kiwi Dave
Five years to go to retirement I was sixty last birthday
And ever since I've started working it's been uphill all the way.
My ex wife said that I was a drinker that I was too fond of the booze
That was her excuse for leaving she said I was born to lose
But I take it in moderation after work three or four beers
And I've been a slave for her and for my children for close to if not twenty years.
Fifteen years ago she left me and she went to live with younger bloke
She got more than half my assets for years to her haven't spoke
She turned my son and daughter against me and my six grandchildren I don't see
And I will spend my usual Christmas on my own watching T.V.
Kiwi Dave is a good person though just a little soured by life
And things for him would have been better had he had a faithful wife
'A woman she can make or break you' with that who could disagree
Dave could see the truth in those words for who would know better than he? .
For forty five years he's been working the hard worker Kiwi
Dave
And for his ex wife and his children for years he has been a slave
He looks older far than sixty the hard life has made him gray
Five more years left till retirement it's been uphill all the way.
poem by Francis Duggan
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When I fear I may be losing you
When I fear I may be losing you
~
When I fear I may be losing you
A dull pain strikes my heart
I become inconsolable to all thought
I mourn myself a terrible loss
What is this I ask myself
This thought which brings such misery
Which saddens me in such a way
That all beauty becomes forgotten
You have become the world
All that lays within it, my love
In fearing I may be losing you
I ache a sorrowful loneliness
I count the hours between each kiss
Each longing look into your eyes
I pray that I count not too much
For the numberless agonies
Are the distance between us
When I fear I may be losing you
I am inconsolable by truth
poem by Matthew Holloway
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Love and Age
I play'd with you 'mid cowslips blowing,
When I was six and you were four;
When garlands weaving, flower-balls throwing,
Were pleasures soon to please no more.
Through groves and meads, o'er grass and heather,
With little playmates, to and fro,
We wander'd hand in hand together;
But that was sixty years ago.
You grew a lovely roseate maiden,
And still our early love was strong;
Still with no care our days were laden,
They glided joyously along;
And I did love you very dearly,
How dearly words want power to show;
I thought your heart was touch'd as nearly;
But that was fifty years ago.
Then other lovers came around you,
Your beauty grew from year to year,
And many a splendid circle found you
The centre of its glimmering sphere.
I saw you then, first vows forsaking,
On rank and wealth your hand bestow;
O, then I thought my heart was breaking!--
But that was forty years ago.
And I lived on, to wed another:
No cause she gave me to repine;
And when I heard you were a mother,
I did not wish the children mine.
My own young flock, in fair progression,
Made up a pleasant Christmas row:
My joy in them was past expression;
But that was thirty years ago.
You grew a matron plump and comely,
You dwelt in fashion's brightest blaze;
My earthly lot was far more homely;
But I too had my festal days.
No merrier eyes have ever glisten'd
Around the hearth-stone's wintry glow,
Than when my youngest child was christen'd;
But that was twenty years ago.
Time pass'd. My eldest girl was married,
And I am now a grandsire gray;
One pet of four years old I've carried
Among the wild-flower'd meads to play.
In our old fields of childish pleasure,
Where now, as then, the cowslips blow,
She fills her basket's ample measure;
And that is not ten years ago.
But though first love's impassion'd blindness
Has pass'd away in colder light,
I still have thought of you with kindness,
And shall do, till our last good-night.
The ever-rolling silent hours
Will bring a time we shall not know,
When our young days of gathering flowers
Will be an hundred years ago.
poem by Thomas Love Peacock
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