To our dearly-beloved son, now dead
In a makeshift vihara in the heart of London
Bikku then disclosed his parents long gone
Might one dare utter after all these years
Was it yesterday he would shed dry tears
Somewhere in the saffron folds of his faith
A lonely boy still lurked wanting his mother
Or brother sister and hope-dislocating father
Of how they could abandon even his wraith
Just a single line in the inner board of a book
Over dried blue ink his fingers caressed words
A life he might've had in who knows what worlds
He just wanted to say: ‘See, who so forsook! '
In an unwatched vihara in the heart of London
A forsaken boy dared break out of monkdom
Might one dare utter after all these years
Was it yesterday he would shed dry tears
Too late he had come to own up this truth:
‘If there's a Supreme Being leave Him well be
He knows best what He's doing forsooth
Mind your own business leave Him well be! '
Should one gauge the measure of a man's humanity
From his ability to outgrow imposed attachments:
Such as confines of his community race or country
But most of all withstand the viral encroachments
Of his conditioned beliefs upon his own personality.
Dedicated to Mahathero Gunasena
(© T. Wignesan - Paris - September 8,1983 - Rev.2012, from the sequence/collection: 'Words for a Lost Sub-Continent',1999.)
poem by T. Wignesan
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Related quotes
Bikku under the Bodhi Tree
yogi under the banyan tree
yogi under the bodhi tree
bikku under the banyan tree
waiting for release
bikku in blissful nibbhana
yogi in extinguishing moksha
Penniless poet under the tenement roof
Jazz organist under the pavement sky
Struggling novelist under the Riviera blue
Russian ballerina under the American umbrella
Apprentice painter under the Sistine Chapel
Sculptor Underground
waiting for the agent's call
burning Anne Frank manuscripts in an air-raid fire
singular melodies drowned in the descending drone
Kafka writing without a morrow
van Gogh dabbing his tormented palette under the Arles sun
Sartre turning the Nobel Prize down for teenage girls
Siddhartha abandoning his body's palace for the people's pain
the common man unable to abandon his workload family
bikku under the bodhi tree
his body shrivelled under the saffron robe
his begging bowl filled by karma-earning hands
the last trichinosis-filled moksha meal
bikku rising on a thousand-petalled flower
bikku piercing through the cakras' splendrous colours
bikku on a burning pyre
(©: T. Wignesan 1992 & April 29,1997, Paris, from the Sequence/Collection: 'Words for a Lost Sub-Continent' and in the collection: longhand notes (a binding of poems) ,1999.)
poem by T. Wignesan
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What Mean Ye?
What mean ye that ye bruise and bind
My people, saith the Lord,
And starve your craving brother's mind,
Who asks to hear my word?
What mean ye that ye make them toil,
Through long and dreary years,
And shed like rain upon your soil
Their blood and bitter tears?
What mean ye, that ye dare to rend
The tender mother's heart?
Brothers from sisters, friend from friend,
How dare you bid them part?
What mean ye, when God's bounteous hand
To you so much has given,
That from the slave who tills your land
Ye keep both earth and heaven?
When at the judgment God shall call,
Where is thy brother? say,
What mean ye to the Judge of all
To answer on that day?
poem by Anonymous Americas
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Leaving And Glad
You've been here many years.
You've seen and made many shed tears.
But with patience and pray we've muddle through.
Now we can all just say so long, and goodbye to you.
I know you won't be sad if you don't hear.
One and all giving that great big cheer.
Your words and actions cut like a knife.
To you we were tools for you to strife.
Retirement for you certainly won't be much fun.
You will have so few with which you can shun.
You didn't worry when you show you didn't care.
Working for and with you was really quite a dare.
With your leaving no poem I must write.
Because you would treat it as trite.
But now I too can be bold and brash.
Some day my words will bring me cash.
For years I was named a trouble maker.
Like some others we were in a big shaker.
You blamed others when things went wrong.
Thats why your poem is so very strong.
They say prayer can move mountains this I believe.
Since now you've been told retire and leave.
You voiced don't dare write a poem for you.
Yet deep in my heart I felt a poem you were due.
poem by Lois M. Crockett
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I Dare You
I liked you but didn't say a word because of rejection.
I was scared of the lust infection.
You told people you liked me and wanted to go out.
So I wrote you a note to let you know how I felt.
Everyone was jumping down my throat to make the first move.
Instead of wasting my time waiting on you.
But now you ignore me and look past me as if I am a ghost.
The pain you are causing no one knows.
I fell in a trap once again.
My heart is slowly caving in.
I dare you to tell them you don't like me anymore.
I dare you to let your feelings walk out the door.
I dare you to have the balls to say it to my face.
Instead of making me feel like a waste of space.
I dare you to hug me the way you used to and feel nothing there.
I dare you to cause my heart to tare.
I dare you to cause tears to fall from my eyes.
Too late the last two you did and inside I slowly die.
Tears of pain stream down my cheeks.
Love puts me in utter disbelief.
I am the one person who no ones meant to be with.
I will never feel the true bliss of happiness.
So I have one last dare to say.
I dare you to watch me cry and just walk away.
poem by Jean Pullman
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My Brother Bill
This is the sad true story about my brother Bill
who was four years older than me.
He was born and then tossed aside by his mother
who left him to his father’s parents to raise,
then promptly disappeared out of his life forever.
My grandparents brought him up
hoping his father would take care of him
when he returned from the war.
His father also my dad returned from the war
married with another son and didn’t want to know.
They gave him a nickname in private
so no one else would know.
In private, they always called him Dopey.
My sister and I were told
our grandparents had adopted him
and he was nothing to do with us.
When my dad’s parents died in 1958 and 59
plans were made to come back to England
where my mother’s parents were still alive
and leave Bill far behind.
Then as his mother had done eighteen years before
his father abandoned him as well.
For a while, he had to live on the streets
taking handout from where ever he could.
He was arrested for vagrancy and sent to jail.
Getting out he got himself a job and began to build a life.
He got married and started a family,
until one night he came home
and found his wife in bed with another man,
and a divorce followed and he was alone again.
Then after 25 years, his job vanished
and he had to find another.
One day in 2000, he got a telephone call
and did not know whether to believe it or not.
It was a call he never thought he would ever get,
a call from his younger brother - me.
As we talked on the phone, some truths came to pass
his brother and his sister did not know about him.
They were told he had been adopted
and were nothing to do with them.
However, I had found the truth,
which incensed my mother enough to disown me.
We met one another for the first time
after forty-two years in 2001 and again in 2002.
In 2003, this sad story ends,
in the March of that year
Bill succumbed to a heart attack.
His final words were a testament to his life.
No one loved me enough to care.
The sad truth is someone did
and that someone was me.
We never had enough time together,
circumstances kept us apart,
but he was my brother
and will remain in my heart.
2 November 2009
Authors Note:
The facts are as Bill told them to me. A sad refrain to a wonderful guy who was tainted by my parents as being bad and no good. If the truth were known he was probably better than the both of them. He was a guy who would give you the shirt of his back if you needed it. My brother Bill, may he now rest in peace.
DVH - 2009
poem by David Harris
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Künst
Each sound
free or bound
each petal
Each quivering utterance
bold and round
these handicrafts
these unthinking feelings
flower in the minute thinking fingers
untranslatable intent
when other more enduring
forms
stop the outpour
tax and stem
and call for aged patience's munificence:
At this the heart will pause
before labour
the consciousness severing from congenital cries
« I'll pound harder for patience's sake »
the penitent heart upbraids.
« Only so, until I too have learned
to punish words into some form
then men of all climes may equally say
‘This I understand for my father did as well
as forefathers to grandchildren might dwell' «
Might one say again
- need it be said -
Why this shape for the violin
Is this the only colour of sound
That must with horsetail on bark
be whipped to wail and whine
like an harpy
(© T. Wignesan - 1960, Heidelberg, Germany. (Rev.2012): from the collection: « tell them i'm gone », Paris,1983. ISBN 2-904428-07-0)
poem by T. Wignesan
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Tears Will Always Shed
tears will always shed,
when we're apart,
you'll never understand,
the pain I feel.
I'll always remember,
what I've been through,
especially when,
it comes to you.
I know it seems foolish,
but I thought it would be you,
to stand beside me,
and to wipe away my tears.
I know that it's hard,
just being there,
not knowing what,
to do or even think.
it happens to all,
that moment,
when we're at a loss,
for every word.
I'm sorry for everything,
all you've been through,
the broke. home,
and the lost hope.
but believe me when I say,
you'll turn out great,
you have a great mind,
with a heart in the right place.
you'll go far,
that I have no doubt,
you've got a great life,
that's waiting for you.
just go my dear,
and don't look back,
I'll always be here,
if you ever crack.
no matter how many,
tears I shed,
it means nothing,
without you there.
don't get me wrong,
I want you to always,
follow your dreams,
even if it means I break.
so good-bye,
just take those steps,
leave me here,
please my dear?
poem by Katherine Bryce
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The Day I Broke The Law
Tomorrow I'll be coming home Verse 1
I hope to find you all alone
With open arms to greet me at the door.
You cried as I was led away
It seems like only yesterday
But after all these years I can't be sure
While I've been dreaming dreams of you Chorus
Not knowing what your going through
I prayed that you'd remember me
But I know life goes on you see
I broke your heart the day I broke the law
The man you know don't hurt no more Verse 2
My tears were shed behind locked door
I've told myself your gone ten thousand times.
Still when it got to much too bear
I'd run my fingers through your hair
Your kissing lips were always on my mind.
(Repeat Chorus)
So yesterday they set me free Verse 3
They gave me back my liberty
They gave me something else I can't ignore
song performed by by UB40 from Cover Up
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Babys Gotten Good At Goodbye
What a rotten day
This turned out to be
I still cant believe
Shed leave so easily
She just packed all her things
Threw them into a pile
Then she loaded her car
And said, after awhile
Shed done this before
But this time she didnt cry
Chorus:
Thats why Im sitting on the front steps
Staring down the road
Wondering if shell come back
This time I dont know
And after she packed
When she looked back
There were no tears in her eyes
And thats got me worried
Thinking maybe my babys
Gotten good at goodbye
All the times before
Shed break down and cry
Shed make her threats
But her heart wasnt set on goodbye
She just wanted me to hear
What she had to say
Now Im lost for words
Since she went away
She may not return
For this time she didnt cry
Chorus
Chorus
song performed by by George Strait
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Before you go a little way, prospecting...
You, in going a little way from yourself
Have gone a long way from my gullible ilk.
« I'm trying hard not to like you, » you said
The breaths of several men surging in your nostrils
And the stench abraded in your flesh:
« You are unshaven. »
You took proper care to remember the right words:
« Why are you so far away, I cannot reach you. »
The orgasm you probably tried to fake -
Thanks for the repeated protestations -
Blew all the other exhausted noises through.
« I think it's all this lack of sleep and all that, » you said
Trapping me with your alien scents.
You have gone away more than a little from yourself.
I have felt and avoided the humiliation in your voice:
« Turn out the lights. I'm afraid
You'd never like me again. »
These are bothersome words.
Only constant repetition make them less wearisome.
One whole week you waited and watched.
One by one you chalked us down.
We fled, not so much from you
As from ourselves, not knowing which
You or the condemned flower to take:
« Why don't you tell me something about yourself.
I've said enough, » you said and came closer
Wraithed in your trapper's overflying airs.
Now that you have prospected a little
Confiscated my intimate thoughts, coaxed my ego
Applied the guileful balms which embolden
A man in bed and made of the future a promise
And turned and sighed like the unwanted thing
Now that you have preyed in my sanctuary
Gazed long in wistful silence my empty shrine
How can I let you go - take my scent
And mix it till it roots in other flesh
And wandering, I'll not know why someday
I might fret in the company of familiar strangers.
« What about the lad? » Alone and wishfully loitering
« Oh, let him toss and turn. Why shouldn't he?
He'll write better then, » you said, for once
Rippling the nimble calm embossed on feigning face
That poised flutter of your lips when words you wield
Assume a dextrous innocence
Little wonder then the sensually provoked blushes
Cross-fertilise the loping lurk of your poems.
You in going a little way towards me
Have gone a long way from yourself.
Before you go a little way prospecting
Leave leave a little of yourself in your safe.
Dedicated to F. A.
(©: T. Wignesan,1965, London; from the collection: tell them i'm gone,1983, rev.2012)
poem by T. Wignesan
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London
We came from the far North
summered in Crimea
deserted the armed forces
had to disappear
made it to the free West
on a chartered flight
so we could see what
we trained to fight
We were in London
"Let's do it - let's break the law!"
We were in London
Tell it like it is
We were in London
Tell it like it is
Looking for hard work
or credit card fraud
What do you expect from us?
We come from abroad
to get ourselves a new job
on a building-site
They work you so hard
but we trained to fight
We were in London
"Let's do it - let's break the law!"
We were in London
Tell it like it is
We were in London
"Let's do it - let's break the law!"
We were in London
Tell it like it is
My father fought in Afghanistan
His widow's pension ain't worth a damn
My mother works and goes home to cry
I want to live before I die
We were in London
"Let's do it - let's break the law!"
We were in London
Tell it like it is
We were in London
Tell it like it is
song performed by by Pet Shop Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dont Leave Her Lonely Too Long
(kostas/marty stuart)
Well my friend you ask me what to do
If I were you, and feeling blue
I know inside that you still care
You want her here, but shes out there
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
You still have time to change her mind
She needs to know, the way you feel
And there could be no better time
Youve got to show her your love is real
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
Theres strangers waiting in line
To take your place and leave you behind
And then too late youll change your mind
Your heart will break a million times
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
Dont leave her lonely too long
cause shell be gone, gone, gone
Shell be gone, gone, gone
song performed by by Gary Allan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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London Boys
Cow bell strikes another night
Your eyes are heavy and your limbs all ache
You've bought some coffee, butter and bread
You can't make a thing cause the meter's dead
You moved away
Hold your folks you're gonna stay away
Bright lights, Soho, Wardour street
You hope you make friends with the guys that you meet
Somebody shows you round
Now you've met the London boys
Things seem good again, someone cares about you
Oh, the first time that you tried a pill
You feel a little queasy, decidedly ill
You're gonna be sick, but you mustn't lose faith
To let yourself down would be a big disgrace
With the London boys, with the London boys
You're only seventeen, but you think you've grown
In the month you've been away from your parents' home
You take the pills too much
You don't give a damn about that jobs you've got
So long as you're with the London boys
A London boy, oh a London boy
Your flashy clothes are your pride and joy
A London boy, a London boy
You think you've had a lot of fun
But you ain't got nothing, you're on the run
It's too late now, cause you're out there boy
You've got it made with the rest of the toys
Now you wish you'd never left your home
You've got what you wanted but you're on your own
With the London boys
Now you've met the London boys
Now you've met the London boys
Now you've met the London boys
song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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After the Tears
I have shed all my tears, and I have dried my cheeks.
Now, after all tears you made me cry my heart still longs for you.
After all the tears I have shed my soul still needs you.
After all the tears are gone somehow I still love you.
After all the tears
The Itinerant Singing Girl
Fatherless and motherless, no brothers have I,
And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie;
Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead -
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro,
Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe,
Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread -
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Harp clang and merry song by stranger's door and board,
None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word;
None care why the color from my wan cheek has fled -
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe,
Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go;
Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead -
Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
poem by Jane Francesca Wilde
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Silence, where there are no words! !
'somewhere in my heart I still find myself some time,
I keep all the loneliness at one side and let the silence rhyme,
Then I open my mind to some fairy tales,
some heartless mind wandering trails,
oh then and there,
I land up somewhere,
up above the sky height.
I open the cockpit of my flight
and see the words flowing into you
oh you are the first woman whom i knew,
you are someone to whom my first words were addressed,
oh my heart rupturing mother come lets get dressed,
as we have to go so far away even from your words
to seek the language of the silence where there are no word,
the ultimate and utter silence mother'
'but what will you do there if there are no words there,
the ever eating silence will scare you and get your out, fear',
said the crystal eyed my other,
'won't you seek the silence in one another,
let me talk you through this out,
i want to hear my tears fall and sprout,
in this loneliness and utter silence i cry,
i am so soused but it's still dry,
no matter what i can't stop this thought of mine,
yes, there will be silence and everything will be fine'.
poem by Aneesh Koul
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How to Make an Absolute Killing
Everyone but everyone wants to own a property in London
If theres a slight economic boom anywhere - in, say, India
Then, Indians will want to buy a place over here
Not in Paris. Not in the US
Not in places like Amsterdam
It's got to be London
People from every nook and cranny of the world
Where ever Britain had it's colonies
Are drawn like magnets to the 'Mother Country.'
I've lived in London for over 30 years
The Property market is simply booming
My palm is more than itching
So, when I sell my house
I hope and expect
To make an absolute killing!
poem by Nayyar Shabbir Ahmad
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Softly As I Leave You
(words & music by devita - shaper)
Softly (softly)
I will leave you (I will leave you softly)
Softly (softly)
For my heart would break (for my heart would break)
If you should wake (if you should wake)
And see me go (and see me go)
So I leave you (so I leave you)
Softly (softly)
Long before you miss me (long before you miss me)
Long before your arms can beg me stay (long before your arms can beg me stay)
For one more hour (for one more hour)
For one more day (for one more day)
After all the years (after all the years)
I cant bare the tears (I cant bare the tears)
To fall (to fall)
So softly, (so softly) so softly
(I will leave you there)
I will leave you
I will leave you there
song performed by by Elvis Presley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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London
It was november 4th
I last held your hand
It seemed our time would last forever
You said dont ever leave
I thought youd never go
I wish I could just remember your name...
Youre just a memory now
Like all the ones before
But with your pain Ive had to suffer
Your eyes alight with flame
As the picture burns
I hear the screams from long ago
They cry remember, blood-red streaks on
Velvet throats at night
The streetlights fanned our trail of fame
Through
London london
The memories will never leave me
London london
All I see is you
London london
The cries in the night
Keep bringing me to
London london
Calling out to me
Oh theres some things in life I could never face
The worst is being alone
Sometimes I wish I could have taken your
Place my love
You know I dont want to live forever
Oh let me see you standing in the
Shadows once again
Well walk the streets like long ago in
London london
The fire in your eyes will be bringing me to
London london
All I need is you
The cries in the night keep ringing on in
London london
Calling out to you
song performed by by Queensryche
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Shoulder I Need
Need I nothing but a shoulder to prop,
To place upon my head, the tears to shed.
The tormenting existence, worries of life,
The cruel pangs of the heart are resolved,
To crumble, crush my soul, my existence.
And at these moment of plight you reside,
Far away in the distant, remote world.
Need I nothing but a shoulder to prop,
To place upon my head, the tears to shed.
I am agonized for I had been deprived of,
Nourishing, sustaining food love yesterday,
I am pained for loneliness stings me today.
I stand at the dismal spot helpless, forlorn,
Neither there is any comfort to rehabilitate,
The drab, deserted land, valley of the heart;
Nor anyone has remedy of my misfortunes.
Need I nothing but a shoulder to prop,
To place upon my head, the tears to shed.
No one has time to listen to the tales of miseries,
No eye possesses tears to mourn on my doom,
Those whom I loved more than my soul, my life,
Have lined up in the long row of the enemies,
Those whom I regarded my own averted the eyes.
Need I nothing but a shoulder to prop,
To place upon my head, the tears to shed.
I have concealed in eyelids my unloosened tears,
Whenever I get a chance, I shall bring along,
The lustrous gems to scatter at your feet,
While kissing with lips, caressing with cheeks.
Oh! Sweet my mild mother at present,
Need I nothing but a shoulder to prop,
To place upon my head, the tears to shed.
poem by Muhammad Shanazar
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