A Man Young And Old: IX. The Secrets Of The Old
I have old women's secrets now
That had those of the young;
Madge tells me what I dared not think
When my blood was strong,
And what had drowned a lover once
Sounds like an old song.
Though Margery is stricken dumb
If thrown in Madge's way,
We three make up a solitude;
For none alive to-day
Can know the stories that we know
Or say the things we say:
How such a man pleased women most
Of all that are gone,
How such a pair loved many years
And such a pair but one,
Stories of the bed of straw
Or the bed of down.
poem by William Butler Yeats
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Related quotes
A Man Young And Old
I
First Love
THOUGH nurtured like the sailing moon
In beauty's murderous brood,
She walked awhile and blushed awhile
And on my pathway stood
Until I thought her body bore
A heart of flesh and blood.
But since I laid a hand thereon
And found a heart of stone
I have attempted many things
And not a thing is done,
For every hand is lunatic
That travels on the moon.
She smiled and that transfigured me
And left me but a lout,
Maundering here, and maundering there,
Emptier of thought
Than the heavenly circuit of its stars
When the moon sails out.
II
Human Dignity
Like the moon her kindness is,
If kindness I may call
What has no comprehension in't,
But is the same for all
As though my sorrow were a scene
Upon a painted wall.
So like a bit of stone I lie
Under a broken tree.
I could recover if I shrieked
My heart's agony
To passing bird, but I am dumb
From human dignity.
III
The Mermaid
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.
IV
The Death of the Hare
I have pointed out the yelling pack,
The hare leap to the wood,
And when I pass a compliment
Rejoice as lover should
At the drooping of an eye,
At the mantling of the blood.
Then' suddenly my heart is wrung
By her distracted air
And I remember wildness lost
And after, swept from there,
Am set down standing in the wood
At the death of the hare.
V
The Empty Cup
A crazy man that found a cup,
When all but dead of thirst,
Hardly dared to wet his mouth
Imagining, moon-accursed,
That another mouthful
And his beating heart would burst.
October last I found it too
But found it dry as bone,
And for that reason am I crazed
And my sleep is gone.
VI
His Memories
We should be hidden from their eyes,
Being but holy shows
And bodies broken like a thorn
Whereon the bleak north blows,
To think of buried Hector
And that none living knows.
The women take so little stock
In what I do or say
They'd sooner leave their cosseting
To hear a jackass bray;
My arms are like the twisted thorn
And yet there beauty lay;
The first of all the tribe lay there
And did such pleasure take --
She who had brought great Hector down
And put all Troy to wreck --
That she cried into this ear,
'Strike me if I shriek.'
VII
The Friends of his Youth
Laughter not time destroyed my voice
And put that crack in it,
And when the moon's pot-bellied
I get a laughing fit,
For that old Madge comes down the lane,
A stone upon her breast,
And a cloak wrapped about the stone,
And she can get no rest
With singing hush and hush-a-bye;
She that has been wild
And barren as a breaking wave
Thinks that the stone's a child.
And Peter that had great affairs
And was a pushing man
Shrieks, 'I am King of the Peacocks,'
And perches on a stone;
And then I laugh till tears run down
And the heart thumps at my side,
Remembering that her shriek was love
And that he shrieks from pride.
VIII
Summer and Spring
We sat under an old thorn-tree
And talked away the night,
Told all that had been said or done
Since first we saw the light,
And when we talked of growing up
Knew that we'd halved a soul
And fell the one in t'other's arms
That we might make it whole;
Then peter had a murdering look,
For it seemed that he and she
Had spoken of their childish days
Under that very tree.
O what a bursting out there was,
And what a blossoming,
When we had all the summer-time
And she had all the spring!
IX
The Secrets of the Old
I have old women's sectets now
That had those of the young;
Madge tells me what I dared not think
When my blood was strong,
And what had drowned a lover once
Sounds like an old song.
Though Margery is stricken dumb
If thrown in Madge's way,
We three make up a solitude;
For none alive to-day
Can know the stories that we know
Or say the things we say:
How such a man pleased women most
Of all that are gone,
How such a pair loved many years
And such a pair but one,
Stories of the bed of straw
Or the bed of down.
X
His Wildness
O bid me mount and sail up there
Amid the cloudy wrack,
For peg and Meg and Paris' love
That had so straight a back,
Are gone away, and some that stay
Have changed their silk for sack.
Were I but there and none to hear
I'd have a peacock cry,
For that is natural to a man
That lives in memory,
Being all alone I'd nurse a stone
And sing it lullaby.
XI
From 'Oedipus at Colonus'
Endure what life God gives and ask no longer span;
Cease to remember the delights of youth, travel-wearied aged man;
Delight becomes death-longing if all longing else be vain.
Even from that delight memory treasures so,
Death, despair, division of families, all entanglements of mankind grow,
As that old wandering beggar and these God-hated children know.
In the long echoing street the laughing dancers throng,
The bride is catried to the bridegroom's chamber
through torchlight and tumultuous song;
I celebrate the silent kiss that ends short life or long.
Never to have lived is best, ancient writers say;
Never to have drawn the breath of life, never to have
looked into the eye of day;
The second best's a gay goodnight and quickly turn away.
poem by William Butler Yeats
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Women Seem
Written by John Mellencamp
Women seem to like me
They seem to like what I have to say
When they see me out in public
Women seem to look my way
Women seem to treat me so gracious
They sing me to sleep with a song
But there always seems to be a problem
Women don't seem to like me long
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Women seem to want me
To stay with them all night
We have so much in common
Our futures really do seem bright
Women seem to forgive me
They seem to become my very good friends
But when it comes time for a commitment
The romance always seems to end
They tell me all their stories
We lay awake and talk all night
Maybe it's me I don't know
But in the morning there always seems to be some kind of fight
La La La La La
Well women seem to be so clever
I love all the jokes that they tell
Like my last boyfriend really hurt me in bed
Hey but you seem to fit so well
Women sure can hurt your feelings
They can burn you down and not make a sound
And then they call me up and say hey come over
My husband has just left town
They tell me all their stories
We lay awake and laugh all night
Maybe it's me I don't know
But in the morning there always seems to be some kind of fight
Women seem to love houses
I've bought a couple for one or two
Women seem to think all men are louses
And I guess I think so too
Women seem so much smarter
Than your average Joe
Women seem to be a little more intuitive
And when they lie nobody knows
Well women seem to know how to keep a secret
They don't blabbermouth just for show
Fifty percent of their charm is illusion
And that is a good thing to know
-aca
song performed by by John Mellencamp
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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what I see...
when i look in the mirror
what do i see?
see a young women trying to find the right path
a young women trying to do whats best for us
the daughter that was never planned but yet brought so much happiness.
u can tell the girl standing in front of the mirror has been through so much
so much it made her the person who she is today...
a strong hearted women who can get through anything if she put her all into it.
but behind that strong women, is a women who isn't as strong as she thought.
a women who quits when things get ruff,
a women who is afraid of change,
afraid of doing the wrong things
afraid of losing the ones that mean the most
when i look into the mirror,
what do i see?
see a young women who is willing to do whats right.
willing to take that next step
willing to start the future over and have a new begining.
see a young women
who is finally letting the past not get the best of her
and moving forward.
-tiffany
poem by Tiffany Carter
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A Pair Of Eyes
A pair of eyes constitutes the mass of art,
A pair of eyes, tells the throb of heart.
A pair of eyes, is a cool forest pond.
A pair of eyes, is sorcerer's wand.
A pair of eyes, mirrors the soul and mind.
A pair of eyes, thru which man we find.
A pair of eyes, sees all our deeds,
God's eyes are those, one's conscience needs.
poem by Nilakshi Das
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04. Beautiful Women
young women, old women
in their heart
despite the years
the yearning to be beautiful
young women, old women
they look at each other
one with envy
the other with fear and contempt (of the wrinkles, old age)
young women, old women
they look into each other
one for a mother
the other for a daughter
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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Stories
If you were alive today
what stories woud you tell me?
Stories of what it's like without me
or of what comes after this?
Or would you hold back
all those things
and play upon my heartstrings,
then give me one more kiss?
I've often wondered if there is
a memory lane for lovers
where thought and memory covers
all our times of bliss?
If you were alive today
those stories you would bring me
would thrill me and please me
Your stories I still miss.
poem by Edwina Reizer
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Secrets of Women
Women are pressured about
The least little thing
her counter-part has been
Caught at the swing
Now he expects her to sing
But she holds to her dream
She barely screams
Women are pressured
And a secret she keeps
It's late at night when she weeps
Her man has many hands
Thinking of right is not his plan
With most women he dance
To him, she still gives a chance
Hoping for that tiny bit of romance
Praying that there relationship
She will enhance
Harboring the secrets to her next
Reflection...
While putting up with man's
Rejection...
Her secrets help her to maintain
Laying low excepting the pain
Pressure, pain and secret
Don't make her dumb
It makes that man a bum.
Cherish, love, and respect
Is always in her dialect
Those are things she deserve
Even while being toss a curve
Pressure makes a woman strong
Lack of love makes her wise
Re-fusing to share her thighs
Secrets of women
Survival for the willing
Pain helps her to keep on living
poem by whisperkwane Lamb
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History is full of stories, full of triumph and tragedy and battles won and lost. It is the people who speak to me, the men and women who once lived and loved and dreamed and grieved, just as we do. Though some may have had crowns on their heads or blood on their hands, in the end they were not so different from you and me, and therein lies their fascination. I suppose I am still a believer in the now unfashionable "heroic" school, which says that history is shaped by individual men and women and the choices that they make, by deeds glorious and terrible.
quote by George R.R. Martin
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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The biological design
In a long run,
A pair of men or of women
Cannot be amicable,
And a pair of man and woman
Cannot be inimical.
It is the biological design.
09.03.2009
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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How Many Women Are Out There?
How many women are out there,
That are looking for a man?
That would fight for what he believes in,
And would do whatever he can.
How many women are out there,
That wish that they could find?
A man that looks at future.
Not the things that are left behind.
How many women are out there,
That seek a man who's true?
When the situation arises,
It's the right thing he will do.
How many women are out there,
Looking for a man with determined heart?
To change the things he needs to change,
To make a brand new start.
How many women are out there,
That are looking for a friend?
One that would always be there for you.
On him you could depend.
How many women are out there,
That are looking for a lover?
To hold you hand when you walk around,
And hold your heart under the covers.
How many women are out there,
Think this man does not exist?
A figment of your imagination.
Is it one you can't resist?
How many women are out there,
That this is your desire?
This is the man you're seeking.
The one who'll light your fire.
How many women are out there,
They think that this man could be?
I'll let you know he does exist.
That man is simply me.
poem by Ryan Lee Morris
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Women Of Color
women of color are superficial
women of color are women of wonder
women of color are those who contains the artificial heart
women of color are our mothers
women of color are special
women of color don't need to speak of themselves
it is others that speak of them
women of color have supernatural eyes
i think about them day and night
laugh at them they'll laugh as well cause
you're laughing at yourself
above the mountains their guts can surpass
across the ocean and time their stories stays
if you see one smile then you will see true happiness
poem by jude TOUSSAINT
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Shifting Sand
Do you see that post a-stickin in the sand?
Just the point of it a-poking thro' the sand?
Me and Madge put in that fence.
Yes! We should have had more sense!
We was young, you see, and didn't understand.
Twenty years come next November we began;
There was nothing here but scrub when we began --
Sold the farm on 'Dingo Flat,'
And put all we had in that!
Into blasted shifting sand and 'Take-all pan.'
This here paddick--which? Why where you're standing now
(Oh! it was one, tho' you wouldn't think so now!)
Well, we grubbed it, nice and neat,
And we gut it in with wheat;
And we didn't reap enough to feed the cow!
In the early spring the sand began to shift ---
In a 'Norther' have you ever seen it shift?
Well, it all went in a night,
Not a blade was left in sight
When we come to look next morning at the drift!
Round the back there, by them stunted pepper-trees;
Hardly anything will live here but them trees.
Madge is lying there, asleep,
With the sand above her, deep:
Deep and loose enough to sink you to the knees!
Many other things are buried on the land,
Things you can't get back from any kind of land,
Youth and hope, and tears and sweat,
Wasted work and vain regret,
In the sneaking, creeping, greedy, shifting sand!
poem by Charles Henry Souter
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Mighty
How beautiful and how strong,
women young and old filled with love.
Yes, we've hurt and yes we've cried,
But women we're strong, brave, and alive.
Laugh and shout,
Scream and cry.
We're mighty women just look at how we roar,
we struggle and survive all the way down to our core.
So laugh mighty women just know and be sure,
that as long as we live we'll live this way forever more.
poem by Yana Thompson
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Stories
Every year has its own stories in this life,
Every month has its own stories in this life,
Every week has its own stories in this life,
Every day has its own stories in this life,
Every hour has its own stories in this life,
Every minute has its own stories in this life,
And like the muse of the mind as we grow up;
So, we are all with stories to tell in this world.
As white as snow,
As red as blood,
As balck as charcoal,
As green as the grass,
As blue as the sky;
But everybody has stories to tell in this world!
And like the muse o love in the land of beauty,
For each year has its own story.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Stories
when we were young stories were told
That I'd kiss you sweet like
People said there was a connection between us
Now that we're old stories are told
Of how I hold you tight
Whenever I see those people I tell them they were right
Stories will be told
From when our children are young
until they're old
About our endless love
We must have had a blessing from above
Stories will be told until we're old
Stories will be told until the end of time
Stories will be told until we're old
Stories will be told until the end of time
Until the sun won't rise
Oh
song performed by by Hanson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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As it was in the Beginning
As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it in the end,
For a lover, or a brother, or a sweetheart, or a friend;
As it was in the beginning, so we’ll find it by-and-bye,
When weak women hug their babies, and strong men go out to die.
As ’tis written now, or spoken, so we’ll find it yet in deed—
For their State, or for their Country, for their Honour or their Creed;
For the love of Right, or hatred for the Everlasting Lie,
When the women think of some things, and strong men go out to die.
As it used to be in past times, in the future so it must,
We shall find him stretching forward with his face down in the dust,
All his wounds in front, and hidden—blood to earth, and back to sky,
When pale women pray in private, and strong men go out to die.
Rebels all we are, and brothers—rebels to the laws we make—
Rich or poor, or fat or lean man, fighting for another’s sake;
It is all as God decreed it—we shall find it by-and-bye,
When our girls, disguised in boys’ clothes, go to die where strong men die.
poem by Henry Lawson
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Me...... I'm all women
I am a women of oneself
I am me
I am a women that can make a difference
And so I am a women that can change.
I am a strong machine.....made of all women material
I am a women that doesnt depend on no one but herself
I am a women that love herself and her surroundings........
Are u a woman 2?
poem by Luisa Sanchez
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Wine, Women An Song
(coverdale/lord/marsden/moody/murray/paice)
I aint an educated man
As all you fleet street preachers know,
Its just the simple things in life
Get my motor running, ready to go
If I can make you smile
I will raise my glass,
An if you dont like it
Then, baby, you can kiss my ass!
You can tell me its wrong,
But, I love wine, women an song
Give me a good time woman,
An a love potion bottle of booze
cos I got a juke box heart
Full of honky tonk rhythm an blues
You better lock up your daughter, your sister too,
If get in my way, Im gonna rock an roll over you,
Aint nothing you can do
You can tell its wrong,
But I love wine, women an song
Wine, women an song, talking bout
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song
You get what you can
But, dont take too long
Wine, women an song,
Give me a rock an roll band
With a mean an dirty blues guitar,
Take me to a dance hall palace
With a twenty four hour bar
Then you better lock up your daughter, your sister too,
If you get in my way, Im gonna rock an roll over you,
Aint nothing you can do
You can tell me its wrong,
But I love wine, women an song
Wine, women an song, talking bout
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song
You get what you can
But, dont take too long,
Wine, women an song
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song,
Wine, women an song
You get what you can
But, dont take too long,
Wine, women an song
Wine, women an song
song performed by by Whitesnake
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I loved Veronica right off the bat. She was so strong and I think it is so important because there are so few shows that portray women, especially young women, as being strong and being able to stand up for themselves.
quote by Kristen Bell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Soroptimist International
I have found friends, friends who care,
They live the whole world over.
Women who love life,
Women who are strong,
Women who help women,
Empower, empower, empower.
As a young woman, I needed
Help, encouragement and to be empowed.
I was struggling as a single mom
Working full time and oh so tired
With two children by the hand - when
The Soroptimist Training Award
Chosen, I was chosen, It was mine.
The next semester courses were paid for
With the help I received, no longer did I worry for
I completed my diploma and onward to my goal!
Working hard in social service agencies
Helping others as I could
Finally the day arrived when a Ph.D. was mine.
Thirteen years in private family counselling
Children grown and doing well
I returned to the place where it all started
To Soroptimists and I must tell -
The story of my award and the life it brought to me
Through kind and loving women
Who care when it seems there is no sign.
I am excited with each step
As I learn and go forward
Women teaching women and
Women helping women
It is my time to give
My time to empower women with
An organization I believe in.
To take on the challenges of life
Domestic violence and trafficking
So demoralizing to women and their children
Public education, important as it is
Educate all who will listen to the stats and stories told.
We all know of the hardships women endure
So, give, empower, teach, and train.
Women helping women-
Soroptimists, Soroptimists, Hurray for Soroptimists!
poem by Eva L. Shaw
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