Respondez!
RESPONDEZ! Respondez!
(The war is completed--the price is paid--the title is settled beyond
recall;)
Let every one answer! let those who sleep be waked! let none evade!
Must we still go on with our affectations and sneaking?
Let me bring this to a close--I pronounce openly for a new
distribution of roles;
Let that which stood in front go behind! and let that which was
behind advance to the front and speak;
Let murderers, bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new
propositions!
Let the old propositions be postponed!
Let faces and theories be turn'd inside out! let meanings be freely
criminal, as well as results!
Let there be no suggestion above the suggestion of drudgery! 10
Let none be pointed toward his destination! (Say! do you know your
destination?)
Let men and women be mock'd with bodies and mock'd with Souls!
Let the love that waits in them, wait! let it die, or pass stillborn
to other spheres!
Let the sympathy that waits in every man, wait! or let it also pass,
a dwarf, to other spheres!
Let contradictions prevail! let one thing contradict another! and let
one line of my poems contradict another!
Let the people sprawl with yearning, aimless hands! let their tongues
be broken! let their eyes be discouraged! let none descend into
their hearts with the fresh lusciousness of love!
(Stifled, O days! O lands! in every public and private corruption!
Smother'd in thievery, impotence, shamelessness, mountain-high;
Brazen effrontery, scheming, rolling like ocean's waves around and
upon you, O my days! my lands!
For not even those thunderstorms, nor fiercest lightnings of the war,
have purified the atmosphere;) 20
--Let the theory of America still be management, caste, comparison!
(Say! what other theory would you?)
Let them that distrust birth and death still lead the rest! (Say! why
shall they not lead you?)
Let the crust of hell be neared and trod on! let the days be darker
than the nights! let slumber bring less slumber than waking
time brings!
Let the world never appear to him or her for whom it was all made!
Let the heart of the young man still exile itself from the heart of
the old man! and let the heart of the old man be exiled from
that of the young man!
Let the sun and moon go! let scenery take the applause of the
audience! let there be apathy under the stars!
Let freedom prove no man's inalienable right! every one who can
tyrannize, let him tyrannize to his satisfaction!
Let none but infidels be countenanced!
Let the eminence of meanness, treachery, sarcasm, hate, greed,
indecency, impotence, lust, be taken for granted above all! let
writers, judges, governments, households, religions,
philosophies, take such for granted above all!
Let the worst men beget children out of the worst women! 30
Let the priest still play at immortality!
Let death be inaugurated!
Let nothing remain but the ashes of teachers, artists, moralists,
lawyers, and learn'd and polite persons!
Let him who is without my poems be assassinated!
Let the cow, the horse, the camel, the garden-bee--let the mudfish,
the lobster, the mussel, eel, the sting-ray, and the grunting
pig-fish--let these, and the like of these, be put on a perfect
equality with man and woman!
Let churches accommodate serpents, vermin, and the corpses of those
who have died of the most filthy of diseases!
Let marriage slip down among fools, and be for none but fools!
Let men among themselves talk and think forever obscenely of women!
and let women among themselves talk and think obscenely of men!
Let us all, without missing one, be exposed in public, naked,
monthly, at the peril of our lives! let our bodies be freely
handled and examined by whoever chooses!
Let nothing but copies at second hand be permitted to exist upon the
earth! 40
Let the earth desert God, nor let there ever henceforth be mention'd
the name of God!
Let there be no God!
Let there be money, business, imports, exports, custom, authority,
precedents, pallor, dyspepsia, smut, ignorance, unbelief!
Let judges and criminals be transposed! let the prison-keepers be put
in prison! let those that were prisoners take the keys! Say!
why might they not just as well be transposed?)
Let the slaves be masters! let the masters become slaves!
Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever
bawling! let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the
stands!
Let the Asiatic, the African, the European, the American, and the
Australian, go armed against the murderous stealthiness of each
other! let them sleep armed! let none believe in good will!
Let there be no unfashionable wisdom! let such be scorn'd and derided
off from the earth!
Let a floating cloud in the sky--let a wave of the sea--let growing
mint, spinach, onions, tomatoes--let these be exhibited as
shows, at a great price for admission!
Let all the men of These States stand aside for a few smouchers! let
the few seize on what they choose! let the rest gawk, giggle,
starve, obey! 50
Let shadows be furnish'd with genitals! let substances be deprived of
their genitals!
Let there be wealthy and immense cities--but still through any of
them, not a single poet, savior, knower, lover!
Let the infidels of These States laugh all faith away!
If one man be found who has faith, let the rest set upon him!
Let them affright faith! let them destroy the power of breeding
faith!
Let the she-harlots and the he-harlots be prudent! let them dance on,
while seeming lasts! (O seeming! seeming! seeming!)
Let the preachers recite creeds! let them still teach only what they
have been taught!
Let insanity still have charge of sanity!
Let books take the place of trees, animals, rivers, clouds!
Let the daub'd portraits of heroes supersede heroes! 60
Let the manhood of man never take steps after itself!
Let it take steps after eunuchs, and after consumptive and genteel
persons!
Let the white person again tread the black person under his heel!
(Say! which is trodden under heel, after all?)
Let the reflections of the things of the world be studied in mirrors!
let the things themselves still continue unstudied!
Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself!
Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself!
(What real happiness have you had one single hour through your whole
life?)
Let the limited years of life do nothing for the limitless years of
death! (What do you suppose death will do, then?)
poem by Walt Whitman
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Related quotes
Let that which stood in front go behind, let that which was behind advance to the front, let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions, let the old propositions be postponed.
quote by Walt Whitman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Woman Waits For Me
A WOMAN waits for me--she contains all, nothing is lacking,
Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the
right man were lacking.
Sex contains all,
Bodies, Souls, meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results,
promulgations,
Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the seminal
milk;
All hopes, benefactions, bestowals,
All the passions, loves, beauties, delights of the earth,
All the governments, judges, gods, follow'd persons of the earth,
These are contain'd in sex, as parts of itself, and justifications of
itself.
Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his
sex, 10
Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers.
Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women,
I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those women that
are warm-blooded and sufficient for me;
I see that they understand me, and do not deny me;
I see that they are worthy of me--I will be the robust husband of
those women.
They are not one jot less than I am,
They are tann'd in the face by shining suns and blowing winds,
Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength,
They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike,
retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves,
They are ultimate in their own right--they are calm, clear, well-
possess'd of themselves. 20
I draw you close to me, you women!
I cannot let you go, I would do you good,
I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for
others' sakes;
Envelop'd in you sleep greater heroes and bards,
They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me.
It is I, you women--I make my way,
I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable--but I love you,
I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you,
I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for These States--I
press with slow rude muscle,
I brace myself effectually--I listen to no entreaties, 30
I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long accumulated
within me.
Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself,
In you I wrap a thousand onward years,
On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and America,
The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic girls, new
artists, musicians, and singers,
The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn,
I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love-spendings,
I shall expect them to interpenetrate with others, as I and you
interpenetrate now,
I shall count on the fruits of the gushing showers of them, as I
count on the fruits of the gushing showers I give now,
I shall look for loving crops from the birth, life, death,
immortality, I plant so lovingly now. 40
poem by Walt Whitman
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Unnamed Lands
NATIONS ten thousand years before These States, and many times ten
thousand years before These States;
Garner'd clusters of ages, that men and women like us grew up and
travel'd their course, and pass'd on;
What vast-built cities--what orderly republics--what pastoral tribes
and nomads;
What histories, rulers, heroes, perhaps transcending all others;
What laws, customs, wealth, arts, traditions;
What sort of marriage--what costumes--what physiology and phrenology;
What of liberty and slavery among them--what they thought of death
and the soul;
Who were witty and wise--who beautiful and poetic--who brutish and
undevelop'd;
Not a mark, not a record remains--And yet all remains.
O I know that those men and women were not for nothing, any more than
we are for nothing; 10
I know that they belong to the scheme of the world every bit as much
as we now belong to it, and as all will henceforth belong to
it.
Afar they stand--yet near to me they stand,
Some with oval countenances, learn'd and calm,
Some naked and savage--Some like huge collections of insects,
Some in tents--herdsmen, patriarchs, tribes, horsemen,
Some prowling through woods--Some living peaceably on farms,
laboring, reaping, filling barns,
Some traversing paved avenues, amid temples, palaces, factories,
libraries, shows, courts, theatres, wonderful monuments.
Are those billions of men really gone?
Are those women of the old experience of the earth gone?
Do their lives, cities, arts, rest only with us? 20
Did they achieve nothing for good, for themselves?
I believe of all those billions of men and women that fill'd the
unnamed lands, every one exists this hour, here or elsewhere,
invisible to us, in exact proportion to what he or she grew
from in life, and out of what he or she did, felt, became,
loved, sinn'd, in life.
I believe that was not the end of those nations, or any person of
them, any more than this shall be the end of my nation, or of
me;
Of their languages, governments, marriage, literature, products,
games, wars, manners, crimes, prisons, slaves, heroes, poets,
I suspect their results curiously await in the yet unseen
world--counterparts of what accrued to them in the seen world.
I suspect I shall meet them there,
I suspect I shall there find each old particular of those unnamed
lands.
poem by Walt Whitman
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To A Foil'd European Revolutionaire
COURAGE yet! my brother or my sister!
Keep on! Liberty is to be subserv'd, whatever occurs;
That is nothing, that is quell'd by one or two failures, or any
number of failures,
Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the people, or by any
unfaithfulness,
Or the show of the tushes of power, soldiers, cannon, penal statutes.
Revolt! and still revolt! revolt!
What we believe in waits latent forever through all the continents,
and all the islands and archipelagos of the sea;
What we believe in invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness
and light, is positive and composed, knows no discouragement,
Waiting patiently, waiting its time.
(Not songs of loyalty alone are these, 10
But songs of insurrection also;
For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel, the world over,
And he going with me leaves peace and routine behind him,
And stakes his life, to be lost at any moment.)
Revolt! and the downfall of tyrants!
The battle rages with many a loud alarm, and frequent advance and
retreat,
The infidel triumphs--or supposes he triumphs,
Then the prison, scaffold, garrote, hand-cuffs, iron necklace and
anklet, lead-balls, do their work,
The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres,
The great speakers and writers are exiled--they lie sick in distant
lands, 20
The cause is asleep--the strongest throats are still, choked with
their own blood,
The young men droop their eyelashes toward the ground when they meet;
--But for all this, liberty has not gone out of the place, nor the
infidel enter'd into full possession.
When liberty goes out of a place, it is not the first to go, nor the
second or third to go,
It waits for all the rest to go--it is the last.
When there are no more memories of heroes and martyrs,
And when all life, and all the souls of men and women are discharged
from any part of the earth,
Then only shall liberty, or the idea of liberty, be discharged from
that part of the earth,
And the infidel come into full possession.
Then courage! European revolter! revoltress! 30
For, till all ceases, neither must you cease.
I do not know what you are for, (I do not know what I am for myself,
nor what anything is for,)
But I will search carefully for it even in being foil'd,
In defeat, poverty, misconception, imprisonment--for they too are
great.
Revolt! and the bullet for tyrants!
Did we think victory great?
So it is--But now it seems to me, when it cannot be help'd, that
defeat is great,
And that death and dismay are great.
poem by Walt Whitman
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Says
I SAY whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person, that is
finally right.
I say nourish a great intellect, a great brain;
If I have said anything to the contrary, I hereby retract it.
I say man shall not hold property in man;
I say the least developed person on earth is just as important and
sacred to himself or herself, as the most developed person is
to himself or herself.
I say where liberty draws not the blood out of slavery, there slavery
draws the blood out of liberty,
I say the word of the good old cause in These States, and resound it
hence over the world.
I say the human shape or face is so great, it must never be made
ridiculous;
I say for ornaments nothing outre can be allowed,
And that anything is most beautiful without ornament, 10
And that exaggerations will be sternly revenged in your own
physiology, and in other persons' physiology also;
And I say that clean-shaped children can be jetted and conceived only
where natural forms prevail in public, and the human face and
form are never caricatured;
And I say that genius need never more be turned to romances,
(For facts properly told, how mean appear all romances.)
I say the word of lands fearing nothing--I will have no other land;
I say discuss all and expose all--I am for every topic openly;
I say there can be no salvation for These States without innovators--
without free tongues, and ears willing to hear the tongues;
And I announce as a glory of These States, that they respectfully
listen to propositions, reforms, fresh views and doctrines,
from successions of men and women,
Each age with its own growth.
I have said many times that materials and the Soul are great, and
that all depends on physique; 20
Now I reverse what I said, and affirm that all depends on the
æsthetic or intellectual,
And that criticism is great--and that refinement is greatest of all;
And I affirm now that the mind governs--and that all depends on the
mind.
With one man or woman--(no matter which one--I even pick out the
lowest,)
With him or her I now illustrate the whole law;
I say that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be eligible to
that one man or woman, on the same terms as any.
poem by Walt Whitman
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Think Of The Soul
THINK of the Soul;
I swear to you that body of yours gives proportions to your Soul
somehow to live in other spheres;
I do not know how, but I know it is so.
Think of loving and being loved;
I swear to you, whoever you are, you can interfuse yourself with such
things that everybody that sees you shall look longingly upon
you.
Think of the past;
I warn you that in a little while others will find their past in you
and your times.
The race is never separated--nor man nor woman escapes;
All is inextricable--things, spirits, Nature, nations, you too--from
precedents you come.
Recall the ever-welcome defiers, (The mothers precede them;) 10
Recall the sages, poets, saviors, inventors, lawgivers, of the earth;
Recall Christ, brother of rejected persons--brother of slaves,
felons, idiots, and of insane and diseas'd persons.
Think of the time when you were not yet born;
Think of times you stood at the side of the dying;
Think of the time when your own body will be dying.
Think of spiritual results,
Sure as the earth swims through the heavens, does every one of its
objects pass into spiritual results.
Think of manhood, and you to be a man;
Do you count manhood, and the sweet of manhood, nothing?
Think of womanhood, and you to be a woman; 20
The creation is womanhood;
Have I not said that womanhood involves all?
Have I not told how the universe has nothing better than the best
womanhood?
poem by Walt Whitman
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Uncle Dan Rides Again
Real men aren't afraid of affection
Real women aren't afraid of sex
Never give a crazy man a gun
just because he asks for it;
don't tell the truth if it will be used to murder someone.
If you want to be beautiful
learn to smile.
It is not enough to be right
especially if you use it against others:
then it is a wrong.
Remember your children
are smarter than you
till they become teens;
then not so much
Be nice to people
it don't cost nothing.
Growing up is about
more than just getting taller
You can have anything you want in the world
if you are willing to let others have what they want too.
Always give credit to others more than yourself
even if this is not true.
The most important phrase in the world is
'I am not sure. Let's go find out.'
You can get any woman to fall in love with you
if you really love women. If you don't like women
the woman you end up with will return the favor.
You can get a man to fall in love with you
if you are willing to like him.
Gossip is the refuge
of those who lack any skills
If you are willing to shut up just some of the time
you'll get smarter
Don't spend your life protecting
what didn't deserve protecting in the first place
It is hard to find a good woman
so get a hard woman to help you look
Women want a man who understands
what women want without having to be told.
A man wants a woman who gives him what
he wants without asking
You can't find your princess
without being a prince yourself
Don't wait until you are on your death bed
to tell people you are sorry
Don't wait until mom or dad is on their death bed
before you tell them you love them.
Act like a loving person
and soon you don't have to act no more
Beginning things is easy
ending things is the hard part.
Being happy only comes to the happy being.
Happy being is the willingness to be without demands.
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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Death without purpose
death for me I must embrace,
death for me, is a OK place,
For death waits for me with open arms,
For I have dealt death,
Death is now being dealt to me,
For I thought I had a Angel,
A savior,
The person who pick me up and gave me purpose,
A love I had thought I never imagined,
Now this is gone if you could only imagine,
You had my soul, now my soul is gone,
Who am I with out you? With out my soul?
With out you making me hole,
Now death is awaiting me with a smile,
No purpose, no love, no soul,
Life and death, death and life,
they stand side by side in the end,
For now death hands me its hand,
I don’t know who I am,
So death once again offers its hand,
Such a easy offer right at hand,
For its a easy answer,
For all I feel, death does seem the sure deal,
Sorrow, pain, heart ache, purposeless, loveless,
Hate for ones self, for all the things I have done,
This sure seems the answer,
Death looks at me with a glean in his eye,
He knows I am tempted to take the easy way out,
Is that such a terrible thing to have offered?
Do be tempted to take?
What else is there now left for me to take?
What else do I have to be taken now?
If this is the choice I make,
Don’t mourn for me for its to late,
Don t show me sympathy I have to shake,
Just let me go,
I choose this, not you, not your blame
Take my soul,
It is your, once always, and forever,
When the going gets rough,
Remember what I stood for,
For I can not stand for myself,
I can not take the this feeling I have inside,
I'm lost with out you by my side.
Will I be judged for the things I have done?
The sins I have committed?
Well in the end it really doesn't matter, now does it?
Now death is waiting patiently by my side,
Now as I lye here awake with a gentle shake,
I know what it is to have death on my side,
So now I say goodbye,
Death is taking me for a ride,
poem by John Pollock
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The Next One
The next one
Will not be like me
I know I have flaws
As you plainly do see
I know I'm not perfect
But I know I did try
But you only see me
Through days of past eyes
I bet he'll be perfect
Say all the right things
Bring you all of the joy
A new relationship brings
Will he open your door?
As 9 years have gone by
When you share your hurts
Will he truthfully cry?
Will his heart stick with you?
Through thick and through thin?
Will he love you through everything?
The good stuff and sin?
Will he laugh at your jokes?
With genuine heart?
Will it last through the years?
Or just at the start?
Will he walk with you
Through all of your dreams?
And make them come true?
As sure as it seems.
If you lay in bed dying
Will he hold your last breath?
Will he love you forever?
Or just until death?
Will he change who he is?
To bring you much joy?
Will he cherish you like I do?
Or are you just a new toy?
Will he do what it takes?
To win back your heart.
Will he try to become
Who he was in the start?
Will he lead you to God?
Will he lead you to Hell?
I guess we'll find out
As only time will tell.
Will he love you like I do?
Through good times and bad?
When your loving or angry?
When your happy or mad?
Will he love you so deeply?
For you will he pray?
When things get real tough
Will he just walk away?
Would he walk through a fire?
Put his life on the line?
Give it all up for you?
Is his love stronger than mine?
Will he dream of a future?
Where you both will grow old?
Will he love you so dearly?
Will his love just turn cold?
If you did what I did
Would you just walk away?
Or stand up and fight on
Each and everyday
I just want you to be happy
So I'll let you go
You truly are worth it
I thought you should know
I will love you forever
After I leave this world
And even in heaven
You'll still be my girl
So now I to move on
Things will be what they'll be
For I know he won't love you
Won't love you like me.
poem by Ryan Lee Morris
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The Pilgrims
Who is your lady of love, O ye that pass
Singing? and is it for sorrow of that which was
That ye sing sadly, or dream of what shall be?
For gladly at once and sadly it seems ye sing.
--Our lady of love by you is unbeholden;
For hands she hath none, nor eyes, nor lips, nor golden
Treasure of hair, nor face nor form; but we
That love, we know her more fair than anything.
--Is she a queen, having great gifts to give?
--Yea, these; that whoso hath seen her shall not live
Except he serve her sorrowing, with strange pain,
Travail and bloodshedding and bitterer tears;
And when she bids die he shall surely die.
And he shall leave all things under the sky
And go forth naked under sun and rain
And work and wait and watch out all his years.
--Hath she on earth no place of habitation?
--Age to age calling, nation answering nation,
Cries out, Where is she? and there is none to say;
For if she be not in the spirit of men,
For if in the inward soul she hath no place,
In vain they cry unto her, seeking her face,
In vain their mouths make much of her; for they
Cry with vain tongues, till the heart lives again.
--O ye that follow, and have ye no repentance?
For on your brows is written a mortal sentence,
An hieroglyph of sorrow, a fiery sign,
That in your lives ye shall not pause or rest,
Nor have the sure sweet common love, nor keep
Friends and safe days, nor joy of life nor sleep.
--These have we not, who have one thing, the divine
Face and clear eyes of faith and fruitful breast.
--And ye shall die before your thrones be won.
--Yea, and the changed world and the liberal sun
Shall move and shine without us, and we lie
Dead; but if she too move on earth and live,
But if the old world with all the old irons rent
Laugh and give thanks, shall we be not content?
Nay, we shall rather live, we shall not die,
Life being so little and death so good to give.
--And these men shall forget you.--Yea, but we
Shall be a part of the earth and the ancient sea,
And heaven-high air august, and awful fire,
And all things good; and no man's heart shall beat
But somewhat in it of our blood once shed
Shall quiver and quicken, as now in us the dead
Blood of men slain and the old same life's desire
Plants in their fiery footprints our fresh feet.
--But ye that might be clothed with all things pleasant,
Ye are foolish that put off the fair soft present,
That clothe yourselves with the cold future air;
When mother and father and tender sister and brother
And the old live love that was shall be as ye,
Dust, and no fruit of loving life shall be.
--She shall be yet who is more than all these were,
Than sister or wife or father unto us or mother.
--Is this worth life, is this, to win for wages?
Lo, the dead mouths of the awful grey-grown ages,
The venerable, in the past that is their prison,
In the outer darkness, in the unopening grave,
Laugh, knowing how many as ye now say have said,
How many, and all are fallen, are fallen and dead:
Shall ye dead rise, and these dead have not risen?
--Not we but she, who is tender and swift to save.
--Are ye not weary and faint not by the way,
Seeing night by night devoured of day by day,
Seeing hour by hour consumed in sleepless fire?
Sleepless: and ye too, when shall ye too sleep?
--We are weary in heart and head, in hands and feet,
And surely more than all things sleep were sweet,
Than all things save the inexorable desire
Which whoso knoweth shall neither faint nor weep.
--Is this so sweet that one were fain to follow?
Is this so sure where all men's hopes are hollow.
Even this your dream, that by much tribulation
Ye shall make whole flawed hearts, and bowed necks straight?
--Nay, though our life were blind, our death were fruitless,
Not therefore were the whole world's high hope rootless;
But man to man, nation would turn to nation,
And the old life live, and the old great world be great.
--Pass on then and pass by us and let us be,
For what light think ye after life to see?
And if the world fare better will ye know?
And if man triumph who shall seek you and say?
--Enough of light is this for one life's span,
That all men born are mortal, but not man:
And we men bring death lives by night to sow,
That man may reap and eat and live by day.
poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne
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A Man’s Wooing
YOU said, last night, you did not think
In all the world of men
Was one true lover--true alike
In deed and word and pen;--
One knightly lover, constant as
The old knights, who sleep sound:
Some women, said you, there might be--
Not one man faithful found:
Not one man, resolute to win,
Or, winning, firm to hold
The woman, among women--sought
With steadfast love and bold.
Not one whose noble life and pure
Had power so to control
To tender hublest loyalty
Her free, but reverent soul,
That she beside him gladly moved
As sovereign and slave;
In faith unfettered, homage true,
Each claiming what each gave.
And then you dropped your eyelids white,
And stood in maiden bloom
Proud, calm:--unloving and unloved
Descending to the tomb.
I let you speak and ne'er replied;
I watched you for a space,
Until that passionate glow, like youth,
Had faded from your face.
No anger showed I--nor complaint:
My heart's beats shook no breath,
Although I knew that I had found
Her, who brings life or death;
The woman, true as life or death;
The love, strong as these twain,
Against which seas of mortal fate
Beat harmlessly in vain.
'Not one true man': I hear it still,
Your voice's clear cold sound,
Upholding all your constant swains
And good knights underground.
'Not one true lover':--Woman, turn;
I love you. Words are small;
'T is life speaks plain: In twenty years
Perhaps you may know all.
I seek you. You alone I seek:
All other women, fair,
Or wise, or good, may go their way,
Without my thought or care.
But you I follow day by day,
And night by night I keep
My heart's chaste mansion lighted, where
Your image lies asleep.
Asleep! If e'er to wake, He knows
Who Eve to Adam brought,
As you to me: the embodiment
Of boyhood's dear sweet thought,
And youth's fond dream, and manhood's hope,
That still half hopeless shone;
Till every rootless vain ideal
Commingled into one,--
You; who are so diverse from me,
And yet as much my own
As this my soul, which, formed apart,
Dwells in its bodily throne;--
Or rather for that perishes,
As these our two lives are
So strangely, marvellously drawn
Together from afar;
Till week by week and month by month
We closer seem to grow,
As two hill streams, flushed with rich rain,
Each into the other flow.
I swear no oaths, I tell no lies,
Nor boast I never knew
A love-dream--we all dream in youth--
But waking, I found you,
The real woman, whose first touch
Aroused to highest life
My real manhood. Crown it then,
Good angel, friend, love, wife!
Imperfect as I am, and you,
Perchance, not all you seem,
We two together shall bind up
Our past's bright, broken dream.
We two together shall dare look
Upon the years to come,
As travellers, met in far countrie,
Together look towards home.
Come home! The old tales were not false,
Yet the new faith is true;
Those saintly souls who made men knights
Were women such as you.
For the great love that teaches love
Deceived not, ne'er deceives:
And she who most believes in man
Makes him what she believes.
Come! If you come not, I can wait;
My faith, like life, is long;
My will--not little; my hope much:
The patient are the strong.
Yet come, ah come! The years run fast,
And hearths grow swiftly cold--
Hearts too: but while blood beats in mine
It holds you and will hold.
And so before you it lies bare,--
Take it or let it lie,
It is an honest heart; and yours
To all eternity.
poem by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
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Women By Far Are Fools
A woman never tires for love
She can feel the instant neglect
You can't hide feeling from her
She will know as she suspects
Women By Far Are Fools
You think you have some plan
And you play it all so well
She will see right through you
Yes a woman can always tell
Women By Far Are Fools
Her eyes watch you carefully
As she senses with her heart
A untrue heart hasn't a chance
She picks that up from the start
Women By Far Are Fools
You think you can play her
There you better think again
She will always figure you out
Yes that you can always depend
Women By Far Are Fools
poem by Suelynn Walters
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All Tom Zart's 440 Poems Are Free To Text To Whom You Love!
' I LOVE BEING LOVED BY YOU! '
My life overflows with happiness
As my favorite dreams come true.
My days and nights are magical
Because of everything you do.
You stand by me as troubles occur
And listen to my worries and fears.
You share my burdens and my joys
With faith, compassion and tears.
God’s gift to man is someone to love
Which can be both splendid and rare.
Throughout life there’s nothing better
Then those who will love us and care.
There’s the past, present, future, and beyond
Which will test our measure by what we say and do
Too many overlook the thrill of now
But not I, “for I love being loved by you.”
A GOOD WOMAN’S LOVE
A good woman’s love and sympathetic heart
Are still the most valuable blessings of life.
She becomes our friend, lover, mother and partner
When we treasure, provide and love her as our wife.
Women never forget all we do and say
They recall visions of us both present and past.
We must eagerly commutate the depth of our love
If we wish our relationship to flourish and last.
A good woman’s love can withstand a lifetime
When we pledge our support and thoughts to serve her.
We must conduct ourselves with patience and prayer
For our happiness to stay mutual, everlasting and sure.
All Heavens heroes had their need for love
And were greatly affected by its presence or loss.
A good woman’s love is best of the rest
When nourished with servitude regardless of cost.
ESTHER’S LOVE
Esther of God’s Bible became a king’s queen
Risking all for the sake of love.
She saved her people form total extinction
By responding to her call from above.
All through history just like Esther
Ladies have pledged to protect and serve.
They love, honor, defend and provide
And it’s our admiration they’ve earned and deserve.
What would life be without a woman’s love
Meaningless, lonely, purposeless and sad.
When your blessed by an Esther love her in return
And be sure to let God know you’re thankful and glad.
LIKE A LILY AMONG THE THORNS
Like a lily among the thorns,
So are you among the rest.
Your love is my joy of life
Which by God’s grace is the best.
When I sleep my heart is awake
It is the vice of love within.
By day or night I seek your love
My life mate, my partner, my friend.
You ravish my heart with just one look
When I’m less than you desire.
Your eyes speak without words
As displeasure kindles your fire.
You’re beautiful and extraordinary
Like a fragrant flower from the wild.
I dream of the day you softly whisper
“My love, I carry your child.”
The vines put forth their tender grapes
The fig tree her sweet fruit of life.
My love for you is everlasting
As you nourish my need for a wife.
God gave man a woman to adore
And a woman a man to respect.
God gave us children we love till death
To provide for, cherish and protect.
Until it’s dawn and the shadows flee
I will hold you close and ponder
Our life together past and present
And may our future be blessed by wonder.
Tom Zart Poems Are Free To Copy To Teach Or Show Love And Support!
By God’s Poet
Tom Zart
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Women of the world (english)
We men know only one thing.
What is it that we want? We want a woman!
And it all ends there; we don't know how to get you,
Where to find you and what to do to please you?
And when we do, we still do not understand you completely.
We do not know what to say and when to say it.
Nor do we know how to keep that spark lost in the storm.
If anyone knows this, he is truly a wise and lucky man.
Women of the world,
never be discouraged you've not found love.
There's always someone who does,
they're just too shy and scared to let you know, in their own way.
Women of the world,
there is beauty within each one of you.
It takes the right man to find it, to bring it out.
Just like the way a key opens a lock.
Women of the world,
Every where you go, you turn heads twice.
Not as objects of desire,
but as a unique display of beauty, different from the other.
Women of the world,
there are many secretly admiring you.
Hiding and thinking about you,
but you somehow have a way of making them known.
Women of the world,
for you, they sell flowers so colourful and sweet smelling.
They’re a reminder, to thank you for being a part of their world,
not a comparison to the subtlety you hold.
Women of the world,
for you communication goes beyond its abilities.
There’s just no stopping, to get what we get from you,
that certain happiness when you acknowledge and thank us.
Women of the world,
you're the reason men be men.
You’re the hope to know they aren't alone amongst a crowd.
You're the lines on his palm that tells him,
he's the man he wants to be.
Women of the world,
when you look into a man's eyes,
do you see what he gets from you?
Because what you see is what you get.
Women of the world,
be patient with the one in love with you.
It takes him time to understand you well.
You’re not as easy to please as we thought it would.
Women of the world,
Love the man for being so patient with you.
It's hard to put all the pieces of what we think, is a puzzle.
He tries all ways, sometimes even the wrong ways
to tell you, that you're understood.
Be proud, he has tried and tries again.
Women of the world,
for you, there is sadness in a man's heart.
For you he weeps, losing you once,
for you he's in misery, losing you again.
Women of the world,
Every where there is beauty, there is a heart pleased.
For you, the strongest men become as soft as a kiss.
Knowing they can run, back into your arms.
Women of the world,
You’re the one that holds the fruit of tomorrow.
For their smile and walk will be yours,
to carry on what you have taught them.
Women of the world,
there is no greater worldly love we get from you,
than that which comes from within.
It's priceless, but more importantly, a precious gift.
Women of the world,
remember every time you do something,
you're leaving a thought of kindness and compassion,
in a person's life that needs it.
Women of the world,
you're the reason wonderful stories exist.
Also, the reasons most stories have an ending.
You're a gift From the Almighty, to be our companion.
The purpose there’s gaps between our fingers.
Women of the world,
you're the reason a man leaves his mother and father,
to be united with you and become one.
Because of you we fall into deep sleep.
Woman of the world,
If you did not exist, I’m sure all men
would’ve ended up in hell.
Help us to know and love you more.
Women of the world,
For each one of you I dedicate this poem,
I have learned more just by knowing you,
Yet, I know so little.
-Lloydoftherings
poem by Lloydoftherings Fletcher
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In And Out Of Love
In and out of love with these women that come and go.
I'm no longer looking for the woman of my dreams,
But I am waiting patiently for a woman,
The right woman, to come to me,
To love me and never let me go,
So I can be the man to make her dream come true,
With God, and the love God gives me.
God's love is all I need, but God knows me,
What I want is to share this love,
This love from The Heavens above
With the one woman that makes me her number 1,
The woman that stands by me with nothing but love,
Forever and always,
I shall love her with God's love for all of eternity,
Like the rest of the women that have came into my life and left without Reason,
What they lost, will be found by the one who deserves it,
And my love will be with the woman who earns it,
Until then God's love is all the love I need,
And my love for right the woman, shall wait...
For the perfect woman,
And for the perfect time and place.
poem by Gabriel Mize
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Mitt Romney Poem
He chose his opportunities
To become strong, not weak
By pulling up his boot straps
He acquired the dreams we seek.
His personal goals of well-being
Will never stand in the way
Of doing his public duty
No matter what others may say.
His devotion shall prove contagious
It's the brilliance of their kind
What you find within him
Is great character of mind.
With faith and courage, he must live
For his life to be complete
With good morals and family life
He'll triumph, even in defeat.
He was raised to participate
Within his community
With his fellow men and women
he enriches life and liberty.
HONOR
Honor, morality, faith and integrity
Are the glue which holds society in place.
Pornography, hate, jealousy and greed
Cause man to be plagued by disgrace.
Night and day we're informed by headlines
Which seem to give evil added time.
Always at war killing one another
In our world full of violence and crime.
Be thankful for the upright among us
Who desire to obey God's laws.
Repentant when wrong they change their ways
Serving the rest of us despite our flaws.
Honor, morality, faith and integrity
Are what life's heroes are made of.
Defending what's right; confronting what's wrong
Propelled by achievement, and love.
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Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
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The Indications
THE indications, and tally of time;
Perfect sanity shows the master among philosophs;
Time, always without flaw, indicates itself in parts;
What always indicates the poet, is the crowd of the pleasant company
of singers, and their words;
The words of the singers are the hours or minutes of the light or
dark--but the words of the maker of poems are the general light
and dark;
The maker of poems settles justice, reality, immortality,
His insight and power encircle things and the human race,
He is the glory and extract thus far, of things, and of the human
race.
The singers do not beget--only the POET begets;
The singers are welcom'd, understood, appear often enough--but rare
has the day been, likewise the spot, of the birth of the maker
of poems, the Answerer, 10
(Not every century, or every five centuries, has contain'd such a
day, for all its names.)
The singers of successive hours of centuries may have ostensible
names, but the name of each of them is one of the singers,
The name of each is, eye-singer, ear-singer, head-singer, sweet-
singer, echo-singer, parlor-singer, love-singer, or something
else.
All this time, and at all times, wait the words of true poems;
The words of true poems do not merely please,
The true poets are not followers of beauty, but the august masters of
beauty;
The greatness of sons is the exuding of the greatness of mothers and
fathers,
The words of poems are the tuft and final applause of science.
Divine instinct, breadth of vision, the law of reason, health,
rudeness of body, withdrawnness,
Gayety, sun-tan, air-sweetness--such are some of the words of
poems. 20
The sailor and traveler underlie the maker of poems, the answerer;
The builder, geometer, chemist, anatomist, phrenologist, artist--all
these underlie the maker of poems, the answerer.
The words of the true poems give you more than poems,
They give you to form for yourself, poems, religions, politics, war,
peace, behavior, histories, essays, romances, and everything
else,
They balance ranks, colors, races, creeds, and the sexes,
They do not seek beauty--they are sought,
Forever touching them, or close upon them, follows beauty, longing,
fain, love-sick.
They prepare for death--yet are they not the finish, but rather the
outset,
They bring none to his or her terminus, or to be content and full;
Whom they take, they take into space, to behold the birth of stars,
to learn one of the meanings, 30
To launch off with absolute faith--to sweep through the ceaseless
rings, and never be quiet again.
poem by Walt Whitman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Great Are The Myths
GREAT are the myths--I too delight in them;
Great are Adam and Eve--I too look back and accept them;
Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages,
inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.
Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their follower;
Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you sail, I sail,
I weather it out with you, or sink with you.
Great is Youth--equally great is Old Age--great are the Day and
Night;
Great is Wealth--great is Poverty--great is Expression--great is
Silence.
Youth, large, lusty, loving--Youth, full of grace, force,
fascination!
Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with equal grace, force,
fascination? 10
Day, full-blown and splendid--Day of the immense sun, action,
ambition, laughter,
The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep, and
restoring darkness.
Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality;
But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowledge, pride,
enfolding love;
(Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer than wealth?)
Expression of speech! in what is written or said, forget not that
Silence is also expressive,
That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the
coldest, may be without words.
Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is;
Do you imagine it has stopt at this? the increase abandon'd?
Understand then that it goes as far onward from this, as this is from
the times when it lay in covering waters and gases, before man
had appear'd. 20
Great is the quality of Truth in man;
The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes,
It is inevitably in the man--he and it are in love, and never leave
each other.
The truth in man is no dictum, it is vital as eyesight;
If there be any Soul, there is truth--if there be man or woman there
is truth--if there be physical or moral, there is truth;
If there be equilibrium or volition, there is truth--if there be
things at all upon the earth, there is truth.
O truth of the earth! I am determin'd to press my way toward you;
Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the sea after you.
Great is Language--it is the mightiest of the sciences,
It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and of men
and women, and of all qualities and processes; 30
It is greater than wealth--it is greater than buildings, ships,
religions, paintings, music.
Great is the English speech--what speech is so great as the English?
Great is the English brood--what brood has so vast a destiny as the
English?
It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the new
rule;
The new rule shall rule as the Soul rules, and as the love, justice,
equality in the Soul rule.
Great is Law--great are the few old land-marks of the law,
They are the same in all times, and shall not be disturb'd.
Great is Justice!
Justice is not settled by legislators and laws--it is in the Soul;
It cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love, pride, the
attraction of gravity, can; 40
It is immutable--it does not depend on majorities--majorities or what
not, come at last before the same passionless and exact
tribunal.
For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and perfect judges--is it
in their Souls;
It is well assorted--they have not studied for nothing--the great
includes the less;
They rule on the highest grounds--they oversee all eras, states,
administrations.
The perfect judge fears nothing--he could go front to front before
God;
Before the perfect judge all shall stand back--life and death shall
stand back--heaven and hell shall stand back.
Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and whoever;
Great is Death--sure as life holds all parts together, Death holds
all parts together.
Has Life much purport?--Ah, Death has the greatest purport.
poem by Walt Whitman
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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For the people Of Palestine
In a holy land, with a strange feeling
A strange and calm feeling that comes from the heart of people
People who live pure, people who are valuable and kind
People who are great and faithful, men and women with beautiful minds
Their sky was calm a day, it was full of white pigeons
Pigeons which were the messengers of peace
A blue sky that was above a golden place
A place that was full of happy face
Green lands and greener islands with warm sunny farms
Happy people who don't think about a simple fight
Streets full of cheerful children and cars
But the time brings an unfair war
Some people think power can take everything from poor people
But it never can conquer the faith
Faith will destroy every satanic thing
It can bring bad things down, even the powerful kings
Farms destroyed under the boots of soldiers
They close their eyes and burst fire on the poor and innocent children of Palestine
Their laugh destroy that empty sky
Satanic plans those we know all are a lie! ! !
Power Vs Faith
Guns Vs Stones
Bullets Vs people
And Blood on the feeble
When a pure stone flies, a bullet tears the sky to hit for the answer
And then a heart that once was for a human stop beating
The truth is being hiding in our world
We should help the people of Palestine, not with our words! !
Where are the humans right protectors?
Where are the people who are loyal to humanities criteria?
Where are the humans to see a family that sleep with fear?
Where is a person to clean the children tears?
We have a ceiling to sleep in peace under it
We have security, we live in peace
But there…, suddenly the roof of a house will fall down
When they think they are sleeping in peace, they buried in the dawn
In the Name of Humanity, don't be silent
See the truth; see the pure bodies those just fell down
See the tears of mothers those live in stress
See the great unfair condition, see the real mess!
For the people of Palestine
People who live in a cruel situation
For the people of Palestine,
People who their rights are taken, , people with no sin!
poem by Ellias Anderson
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Night On The Prairies
NIGHT on the prairies;
The supper is over--the fire on the ground burns low;
The wearied emigrants sleep, wrapt in their blankets:
I walk by myself--I stand and look at the stars, which I think now I
never realized before.
Now I absorb immortality and peace,
I admire death, and test propositions.
How plenteous! How spiritual! How resumé!
The same Old Man and Soul--the same old aspirations, and the same
content.
I was thinking the day most splendid, till I saw what the not-day
exhibited,
I was thinking this globe enough, till there sprang out so noiseless
around me myriads of other globes. 10
Now, while the great thoughts of space and eternity fill me, I will
measure myself by them;
And now, touch'd with the lives of other globes, arrived as far along
as those of the earth,
Or waiting to arrive, or pass'd on farther than those of the earth,
I henceforth no more ignore them, than I ignore my own life,
Or the lives of the earth arrived as far as mine, or waiting to
arrive.
O I see now that life cannot exhibit all to me--as the day cannot,
I see that I am to wait for what will be exhibited by death.
poem by Walt Whitman
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