Washed Ashore In Ages Past
two weeks later a leg
washed ashore
to be buried at
Charleston cemetery
New Zealand
to be buried as
presumably
the partial remains
of an ancestor
who drowned
needlessly
while attempting
to tow a schooner
through narrow
tidal rocky entrance
heroic rescue
of drowning man
none attempted
doomed to failure
a life lost legend
a drowned memory
leg of lost meaning
half history forgotten
until this brief epitaph
to family I do restore
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Birth Of The ‘Shepherdess’
The ‘Shepherdess’ arrived at
Constant Bay on Sunday
afternoon 1879 31st August
sea calm virtually no wind
but no harbourmaster on duty
she lay off the entrance harbour
until the following morning
awaiting signalled to enter port
light breeze weather fine clear
attempting to tow the schooner
‘Shepherdess’ into port
through narrow rocky entrance
using a dinghy surf boat
to secure anchorage mooring rocks
suddenly a large wave swamped
stout dinghy threw
Thomas Bailie, Charles Craddock
into tidal sea surge
Bailie managed to clamber back
into surf boat then pulled dragged
Charles Craddock
back in but tragically immediately
a second wave smashed
into the boat, overturned the boat
again two men are thrown into surf
what wave force
second wave overturned the dinghy
impossible to right
no option but try to swim for shore
pounding surf smashed valiant efforts
into ocean inlet
floor time time again, each try time
it hope appeared
they might reach safety, wild breakers
drove two back, while crowd watched
life drama helplessly
two men struggled, desperately constantly
for their mortal lives
none attempted, dive into boiling waters
none thought to throw hope a rope
a large crowd gathered
perhaps none could swim wild tide
finally a rope was found
they tried to throw to struggling men
three times four more rope was flung
delay was to late
weak limbs could not grab last hope
too late too late
Thomas Bailie made a desperate lunge
for last life spent ebb hope the rope
gasps watchers eyes
Bailie starfish clings hung with tenacity
a man who surely knew
to release life thread was to brine drown
Bailie was dragged from sea by watchers
on a rocky shore
but Charles Craddock was spent exhausted
by fearsome struggle
could not swim in could not swim reach rope
Charles sank beneath waves once twice
re-surfaced struggles
struggles shoreward struggles Charles sank
below waves third
time last time Charles was gone lost lost...
to a brine grave while wild breakers
breaking broadside
across the ‘Shepherdess’ bumped
schooner toward port
good news tragedy overshadowed
Charles Craddock in death left a wife
three children in 1879
body swept away never recovered
a fortnight accident after
a leg was washed ashore duly buried
this leg was buried in Charleston cemetery
a belief in Craddock family
maintains though event was not recorded
in cemetery burial records
Constant Bay life lost in adverse conditions.
See also the poem ‘Where Unknown Ancestors Died’.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Where Unknown Ancestors Died
at indifferent mercy bestowed
by time tide wind
have many sailing ships sailed
to past distant lands
awaiting perilous mist coastlines
locals know a quiet scenic place
deceptive inlet harbour
where ebb rip drowned swimmer
out to sea be swift sucked
body never to be washed ashore
myths lost imbue tidal surround
landfall peril an ancestor
colonial here lived legend depicted
a captain harbour master
drowned here a century more ago
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
See also the poem ‘Birth Of The ‘Shepherdess’.
poem by Terence George Craddock
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Rescue
Did you come
To the rescue
Of the one who
Lost his family
To the floods?
Did you come
To the rescue
Of the father
Who lost his
Daughter to
Cancer?
Did you come
To the rescue
Of the children
Who lost their
Parents to the
Quakes?
Did you come
To the rescue
Of the babies
Buried alive
In the slides?
So what little
Chance I have?
It’s just a
Broken heart!
(Poem themed on Apathy addressed to God)
poem by Aparna Chatterjee
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My Love For You
you buried something
deep,
in fact deeper than burying
someone
who died nine days ago,
since you want to forget
and forget
this forever, something that
you lost and would want it lost
and not want
to recover
from a distance i look at you
and shed tears for
what you buried
without much pomp of a ceremony
i pity
what cruelty you have to yourself
i bring a flower
for that which was buried and lost
it is something that i always
cherish and
remember with all the gladness of my heart
with all the gentleness of my soul
my love for you
deep in the layers of time
buried
still blooms
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Lost At Sea
Can we try to salvage what we can
From the weight of water and sand
And lifts us up again
Well this world is spinning out of control
Im bracing just to keep hold
As the clouds move in
With a driving wind so strong
Could it be that were lost at sea
And were drowning under the stars
Up to me I would ride this wave
Before we drift too far
What a lonely way to be
Lost at sea
Like a star in a night filled with tears
Make the sadness disappear
cause youre all that I hold dear
Well you walk
Never ever looking back
One defends and one attacks
Theres a thousand reasons to begin again
Could it be that were lost at sea
And were drowning under the stars
Up to me I would ride this wave
Before we drift too far
Take my hand, come to me
Save a life, rescue you, rescue me
Could it be that were lost at sea
And were drowning under the stars
Up to me I would ride this wave
Before we drift too far
Could it be that were lost at sea
And were drowning under the stars
Up to me I would ride this wave
Before we drift too far
song performed by by Bangles
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Lost me
I lost me
I don't know where to find me
Moments of despair
Stuck in the past behind me
Tangled together
No one can unwind me
I did it to myself
I let this life behind me
I lost me
Or is it you that betrayed me
Continuous failure
In hopes that you would save me
Left me out to die
As if it wasn't you that made me
I thought I had you in my palms
Somehow you've escaped me
I lost me
On the road to my ow self
In search of paradise
But somehow
I discovered hell
Burning here
Along w/ all my mistakes
Still searching for forever
No matter how long it takes
I lost me
In the mist of the truth
Buried by the lies
I used to better you
better me, better them
Searching for an excuse
An empty shell of once was
What did you let me do?
I lost me
poem by Vanessa Mercado
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The faded identity
I lost it somewhere and in the mirror I watched my face,
It's not me somebody else that resembles the lunatic who drowned in the singing river on a full moon day?
* To those who drowned in shallow waters.
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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Buried...
a half a fifth of brandy
sits quietly on the shelf...
a tired old hat hanging
on a forgotten peg.
the flower garden bare,
the windowpane sighs.
the old rusted spicket,
covered by the spider's web.
empty boxes in the closet,
filled with nothing that remains.
wood stacked against the porch,
even the old dog knows.
letters falling from the mailbox,
the ink wet with rain.
my hand buried by the wellhouse,
my heart buried neath the gravel!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Good and Fair Men
What is to become
of all good and fair men?
Will they be discarded
along the wayside?
Will they fade
amongst the shadows?
Related of only
in legend and song?
Is honesty and honor
to be found buried deep
in the graveyard of the past?
Is all moral character doomed?
Where is the road of conscience?
Has its signpost fallen away
become hidden from our view.
Must we wander lost?
Oh what is to become
of all good and fair men?
poem by Kurt Hearth
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In Dismal Gorge
The lost can stay lost down here,
in laurel slicks, false-pathed caves.
Too much too soon disappears.
On creek banks clearings appear,
once homesteads. Nothing remains.
The lost can stay lost down here,
like Tom Clark's child, our worst fears
confirmed as we searched in vain.
Too much too soon disappears.
How often this is made clear
where cliff-shadows pall our days.
The lost can stay lost down here,
stones scattered like a river
in drought, now twice-buried graves.
Too much too soon disappears,
lives slip away like water.
We fill our Bibles with names.
The lost can stay lost down here.
Too much too soon disappears.
Buried Alive By Love
Again the burden of losing
Rests upon my shoulders
And its weight seems unbearable
Your tomb is where your heart is,
I should have told her
But within me hid a secret so terrible
To cry is to know that you're alive
But my river of tears has run dry
I never wanted to fool you, no
But a cold heart is a dead heart
And it feels like Ive been buried alive by love
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
Rescue me with your smile
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
Rescue me with your smile
The kiss of vanity you blessed me with, spiritual woman,
Face the gods of war insatiable
Your home is where the dark is, I should have told her
Embrace the fire indestructible
To die is to know that you're alive
And my river of blood won't run dry
I never wanted to lose you, no
But a cold heart is a dead heart
And it feels like Ive been buried alive by love
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
rescue me with your smile
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
Rescue me with your smile
And they say to cry is to know that you're alive
But my river of tears has run dry
I never wanted to fool you, no
But a cold heart is a dead heart
And a deserted soul is gone
A cold heart is a dead heart
And it feels like Ive been buried alive by love
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
Rescue me with your smile,
If I should die before I wake
I pray no one my soul to take
If I wake before I die,
Rescue me with your smile
I've been buried alive by love
Ive been buried alive by love
Buried alive by love
I've been buried alive by love
I've been buried alive by love
I've been buried alive by love
song performed by by H.I.M.
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Heavy Moral Burden
There's a park in this city
Where my soul can dream that I'm happy
And that she remains with me.
I've been lost like the meaning
Of an ancient hieroglyphic
For innumerable years.
Once there was silence
Undisturbed by words
And there was consolation in her eyes.
One day, after I've buried
My self-deceptive lies, I'll find a way
To say I'm still in love with her.
poem by Uriah Hamilton
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Failure
Maybe i, I didnt seem to have a thing left to say
I bottled it far away
Maybe i, I tried too hard to find someone to blame
Maybe its me who changed
And now, Im left with nothing again
So what if I lost everything
Would you want me if I was a failure
So what if I lost everything
Would you be there even when I am gone
Maybe i, I didnt seem to give everything away
Not because I needed you to stay, and i
I couldnt face the fears I left far behind
I try to answer every question to why
Im left with nothing again
So what if I lost everything
Would you want me if I was a failure
So what if I lost everything
Would you be there even when I am gone
Maybe you couldnt see
All the pain inside of me
And now I feel like this was all for nothing
cause Im left with nothing, Im left with nothing again
So what if I lost everything
Would you want me if I was a failure
So what if I lost everything
Would you want me if I was a failure
So what if I lost everything
Would you be there even when I am gone
So what if I lost everything
Would you want me if I was a failure
song performed by by Unloco
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Am A Soldier
I am a soldier
It started as a dream, a simple soldier from the street getting lost in a shacking world
I took a job as a street keeper but in my mind I am a mental child
From time to time I would battle in my dream trying to win a lost war
I open my eyes in the middle of the day saying goodbye to my boss as I walk away
I walk down street only to tried my limit, in my mind, my distant is unlimited
In the world I am the forgotten soldier lost in an open battle field
“I am the forgotten soldier, living as a legend on the street of nowhere, trying to take my place in this world”
I tried to understand my place in this world as I look side to side
I turn around to see who is targeting this lost soldier
Is my lost soul still a threat in the eye s of the world or am I the forgotten soldier that was blindly cast out
Away in a mental battle field
Please remember this young soldier and help me find my way in what remain of me
I am the forgotten soldier living as a mist in the eye of many
I am a living legend on the street of no where
“I am the forgotten soldier, living as a legend on the street of nowhere trying to take my place in this world”
Find this forgotten soldier and welcome me in a peaceful neighborhood where my mind would freely win the war
“I am the forgotten soldier, living as a legend on the street of nowhere trying to take my place in this world”
poem by Robert Otim
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Night Is My Sister, And How Deep In Love
Night is my sister, and how deep in love,
How drowned in love and weedily washed ashore,
There to be fretted by the drag and shove
At the tide's edge, I lie—these things and more:
Whose arm alone between me and the sand,
Whose voice alone, whose pitiful breath brought near,
Could thaw these nostrils and unlock this hand,
She could advise you, should you care to hear.
Small chance, however, in a storm so black,
A man will leave his friendly fire and snug
For a drowned woman's sake, and bring her back
To drip and scatter shells upon the rug.
No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,
Watches beside me in this windy place.
poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Buried Alive
Afraid to feel
What's inside
Embrace my soul
In solitude
Frozen eyes
Face the fears
Rising strong
Out of control
Feels like I'm bursting into flames
Lost in hate future will be gone
Emotions strained misty eyes
Hear those silent cries
Nothing's real
I can't appear
The cold winds blow
Into my face
Feels like I'm bursting into flames
Lost in hate future will be gone
feels like I'm safe here
feels like I'm strong
Buried, Buried alive
Buried, Buried alive
song performed by by Zonata
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Mayaguez Incident
Look and find our names upon The Wall,
Hargrove, Hall and Marshall were our names.
We were three men that were left behind,
three Marines still owed honorable graves.
Marines took back the hijacked Mayaguez
and recovered all her crewmen safe and well
But while our mission accomplished its objective
The Ninth Marines were ferried into hell.
The helicopters took us to the island,
Koh Tang, in the Southern China sea
The Khmer Rouge were dug in on the island
prepared for an assault from air or sea.
They say it was a failure of Intelligence-
The crew of The Mayaguez was moved before
The 2nd battalion forces first were landed
Upon that hostile beach, that deadly shore
Lieutenant Col. Randall Austin was commanding
Our perimeter was shrinking by the hour
Our landing force had taken heavy losses
Some died upon the beach, more drowned offshore.
It happened in perimeter reduction
we three men were forgotten in our hole.
When Helicopters flew the rest to safety
We were left behind on the atoll.
Some say we died that day, some say after
Reports are we were tortured and then killed.
Some claim we were forgotten by our nation.
But our names are on The Wall- you never will.
Look and find our names upon The Wall,
Hargrove, Hall and Marshall were our names.
We were three men that were left behind,
three Marines still owed honorable graves.
On May 15,1975, two weeks after the last Americans fled Saigon, the men of the fourth
and Ninth Marines were ordered to retake the U.S.S. Mayaguez and rescue her crew. The
ship had been seized by elements of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia. It was mistakenly
believed that the crew were being held hostage on Koh Tang Island, Cambodia. While
the 4th Marines Delta Company successfully boarded and retook the Mayaguez, the ninth
Marines were landing on the beach at Koh Tang. Officially, the second battalion of the
Ninth Marine Regiment lost 18 dead,41 wounded and three MIA. In addition 7 of 8
assault helicopters that took part in the original assault were destroyed.
This last battle of the Vietnam War era was a tragedy of errors. The Marines were sent to
rescue crewmen who were no longer on the Island. The crew was rescued elsewhere. The
Khmer Rouge troops on the Island were expecting an attack by the Viet Cong as the
island was the subject of a territorial dispute. The marines were sent in, based on faulty
intelligence, against a force whose strength and dispositions had been badly
underestimated by our leaders. The fire fight on the Island was so fierce that the dead
had to be left where they had fallen.
Lance Corporal John N. Hargrove, PFC Gary L Hall and Danny G. Marshall’s names
appear on panel 1W lines 130-131 of the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C. They
are the last combat fatalities of the Vietnam conflict. Not all heroes are buried in
Arlington Cemetery
poem by John F. McCullagh
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Fail
Wars inside my head
Hound and globe
As if they are important, as if
They are real, as if
Seeking truth in the blood
Until they are drowned, until they are drowned,
Restless is the trigger finger
More it will suffer trying to find
An answer, however life is mined
Jumps you out of your wits
Or's unnecessary when afterwards
Rips the history out of your hands.
poem by Eon Ezkiel
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Caught
Insanity, just a word used to sum up
All the things they've heard
All my deeds, all the blood, all the drugs
What i did to those pretty little girls
Pieces that were missing in the puzzle i created
Children in the streets
Lying decapitated
Inviscerated, with their tongues cut out
"What demon could do this?"
People like to ask
I read the tabloids
I like to laugh
I am a monster from their dreams
I am what they'd like to be
I can get away with this
I can be free
I can walk down your street
And you wouldn't even notice me
I am the malcontent
That slips through the cracks
I am the nightmare
That always comes back
I can't be caught
I am above the law
The blood of millions rampant in my mind
No reparation from this crime
I am a criminal only in thought
I'll plunge this knife into your heart
Trust in you was a lost cause
Faith in god was a lost cause
A darkened corridor slick with the bloodshed
A hand that is mine, spattered in red
Trust in this was a lost cause
Faith in this was a lost cause
Screams that are muffled
Drowned out, drowned out
Out of breath
Screams that are muffled
Drowned out, drowned out
Out of breath
Run, run, you can't hide
Hide, hide, but you'll die
Run, run, you can't hide
Run, run, you can't hide
I am the monster from your dreams
I am what you'd like to be
I am the malcontent
That slips through the cracks
I am the nightmare that always comes back
I cannot be caught
I am above the law
I cannot be caught
I am above the law
No law, not gods, no faith
Humanity is not what i suffer from
Humanity is not what i suffer from
song performed by by Velvet Acid Christ
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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All to War
I lost my mother
I lost my father
I lost my brother
And lost my dreams too
I lost my friends
I lost my family
I lost my sister
And lost my will too
I lost my school
I lost my work
I lost my city
And lost my rights too
I lost my day
I lost my night
I lost my sight
And lost my morning dew
(to the soul of every victim of war)
poem by Ezekiel Johnson
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