Interior
The gaunt brown walls
Look infinite in their decent meanness.
There is nothing of home in the noisy kettle,
The fulsome fire.
The atmosphere
Suggests the trail of a ghostly druggist.
Dressings and lint on the long, lean table -
Whom are they for?
The patients yawn,
Or lie as in training for shroud and coffin.
A nurse in the corridor scolds and wrangles.
It's grim and strange.
Far footfalls clank.
The bad burn waits with his head unbandaged.
My neighbour chokes in the clutch of chloral . . .
O, a gruesome world!
poem by William Ernest Henley
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Hot Sun, Cool Fire
Hot sun, cool fire, tempered with sweet air,
Black shade, fair nurse, shadow my white hair.
Shine, sun; burn, fire; breathe, air, and ease me;
Black shade, fair nurse, shroud me and please me.
Shadow, my sweet nurse, keep me from burning;
Make not my glad cause cause of mourning.
Let not my beauty's fire
Inflame unstaid desire,
Nor pierce any bright eye
That wandereth lightly.
poem by George Peele
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Bathsheba's Song
Hot sun, cool fire, tempered with sweet air,
Black shade, fair nurse, shadow my white hair.
Shine, sun; burn fire; breathe, air, and ease me;
Black shade, fair nurse, shroud me and please me;
Shadow, my sweet nurse, keep me from burning,
Make not my glad cause cause of mourning.
Let not my beauty's fire
Inflame unstaid desire,
Nor pierce any bright eye
That wand'reth lightly.
poem by George Peele
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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154
The sky is an encrypted silver table
set with candles and ghostly bangles;
weaving mischief all night long
winds, gaunt predators,
straddle the courtyard.
poem by Morgan Michaels
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Carpet Crawlers
He returns from his mixed-up memories to the passage he was previously
stuck in. This time he discovers a long carpeted corridor.
There is lambswool under my naked feet.
The wool is soft and warm,
- gives off some kind of heat.
A salamander scurries into flame to be destroyed.
Imaginary creatures are trapped in birth on celluloid.
The fleas cling to the golden fleece,
Hoping they'll find peace.
Each thought and gesture are caught in celluloid.
There's no hiding in my memory.
There's no room to avoid.
The walls are painted in red ochre and are marked by strange insignia,
some looking like a bulls-eye, others of birds and boats. Further down
the corridor, he can see some people; all kneeling. With broken sighs
and murmurs they struggle, in their slow motion to move towards a
wooden door at the end. Having seen only the inanimate bodies in the
Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging, Rael rushes to talk to them.
The crawlers cover the floor in the red ochre corridor.
For my second sight of people, they've more lifeblood than before.
They're moving in time to a heavy wooden door,
Where the needle's eye is winking, closing in on the poor.
The carpet crawlers heed their callers:
"We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out
We've got to get in to get out."
"What's going on?" he cries to a muttering monk, who conceals a yawn and
replies "It's a long time yet before the dawn." A sphinx-like crawler
calls his name saying "Don't ask him, the monk is drunk. Each one of us
is trying to reach the top of the stairs, a way out will await us there."
Not asking how he can move freely, our hero goes boldly through the door.
Behind a table loaded with foo
song performed by by Genesis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You're A Good Man Albert Brown
Well you're a good man albert brown
And you was wounded in the war
And though you shot some people down
You're still a good man albert brown
Well you're a good man albert brown
Though you are drunk upon the floor
And if you're buying the next round
Then you're a good man albert...
Brown was the colour of the mud across the somme
Red was the blood you spilled upon it
Pink were the fingers of the nurse who dressed your wound
White was the starch upon her bonnet
And you married that nurse
And her name was else
And then along came dad
...i'll have another pint of...
Brown is the colour of your old walking boots
Green is the cash you'd love to squander
Gold is the colour of your wife's faithful heart
So get yourself home, no more to wander
And you married that nurse
And her name's still else
And another child was had
You're a good man albert brown
song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fireman
When fire sits on top of the head
Smoke can hardly enter the nostrils
Feet walking on coals
And fire bugs bite
The fireman loves
He puts on the axe in hand
Better than class rings
Even other rings
Fires burn when they do a job
How the man can burn without
Restriction can burn a man about
Head to toe
The soul is made pure by fire
Man loves to burn
It is even his desire
Afterwards he must
Needs be tended to
If not
The fire has yet a job to do
To burn a man through and through
If so
Hold him dear
In the fire he bore many tears
In this fashion
He lives all his years
What is fire?
It's much like Our Father
Or yet
He be the fireman
And we on fire
poem by Deci Hernandez
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Fire In Cairo
Slowly fading blue
The eastern hollows catch
The dying sun
Night-time follows
Silence and black
Mirror pool mirrors
The lonely place
Where i meet you
See your head
In the fading light
And through the dark
Your eyes shine bright
And burn
Like fire
Burn like fire in cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like fire in cairo
Shifting crimson veil
Silken hips slide
Under my hand
Swollen lips whisper
My name
And i yearn
You take me in your arms
And start to burn
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
Then the heat disappears
And the mirage
Fades away
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
Burn like a fire in cairo
Burn like a
Fire
Blaze like a fire in cairo
Blaze like a
Fire
Flare
Burn like fire
Burn like
Fire in cairo
song performed by by Cure
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Time Waits For No One
(dan hartman / holly knight)
Loneliness can lock you up
Like prison walls around your heart
You waste away, you fall apart
The seconds tick away and the world is turning
So take me in your arms while the need is burning, baby
Time, time waits for no-one
Especially me, baby - dont know about you, oh
Time, time, time waits for no-one
So what about it - do you wanna run away with me?
Your tender words release my soul
You move so strong, youve got to know
Your eyes reveal that maybe we should try
The walls wont come down unless you open fire
We gotta make a move cause you cant deny it, baby
Time, time waits for no-one
Especially me, baby - dont know about you, oh
Time, time, time waits for no-one
So what about it - do you wanna run away, run away, run away?
You can run from me, but you cant run from yourself
Youd only lose what you really want to love
(its a sad, sad story), its always the same
If you dont take chances, theres nothing to gain
Run away, run away
The walls wont come down unless you open fire
We gotta make a move - cant deny it
Time, time waits for no-one, oh, oh
Especially me, baby - dont know about you, oh
Time, time, time waits for no-one
So what about it - do you wanna run away, run away, run away?
Take me in your arms
(time time) waits for no-one, ooh
So what about it - do you wanna run away, run away, run away?
Time
song performed by by Dusty Springfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Forever
Slowly fading blue
The eastern hollows catch
The dying sun
Night time follows
Silent and black
Mirror pool mirrors
The lonely place
Where I meet you
See your head
In the fading light
And through the dark
Your eyes shine bright
And burn like fire
Burn like fire in Cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like fire in Cairo
Shifting crimson veil
Silken hips slide
Under my hand
Swollen lips whisper my name
And I yearn
You take me in your arms
And start to burn
F.I.R.E.I.N.C.A.I.R.O
Then the heat disappears
And the mirage
Fades away...
F.I.R.E.I.N.C.A.I.R.O
Burn like a fire in Cairo
Burn like a fire
Blaze like a fire in Cairo
Blaze like a fire
Flare with a wonderful light
Like a fire in Cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like
Fire in Cairo
song performed by by Cure
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Desert In The Heart
lost- he's surely lost now
when he tries to strip himself of a past
that keeps holding on
so many times before I've tried to let go
to peel off deception's mask
but hid my fears behind walls of sorrow
and like a cold, bitter chill one cannot shake
disillusionment sits by my side
(so in her I must confide)
she tells me dark secrets and grim tales of regrets
she tells me:
love is not lost, it dies like all things do
buried in the backyard where a lone dove cries
alone - no one to share her days with
she chokes on the stale dry air of memories
she chokes on the words she says to no one at night
and whispers her questions to the walls
and drifts to sleep
no one there to share her dreams
and oh how it hurts to see tears fall from her eyes
into the desert some are sent to starve
weary and weak they make their way home
and though our tired hearts will bear the scars
let us find who we are
buried in the night's shadows
I await the dawn of a new day
hold my hand, come with me
to the skies let us shout battle hymns
lust and love waging war to the very end
let us stomp on heavens below
let us not be afraid (for life wears a new face)
love is not lost, it dies like all things do
buried in the backyard where a lone dove cries
and waits for broken wings to heal...to fly again someday
song performed by by Undying
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The House Of Dust: Part 03: 11: Conversation: Undertones
What shall we talk of? Li Po? Hokusai?
You narrow your long dark eyes to fascinate me;
You smile a little. . . .Outside, the night goes by.
I walk alone in a forest of ghostly trees . . .
Your pale hands rest palm downwards on your knees.
'These lines—converging, they suggest such distance!
The soul is drawn away, beyond horizons.
Lured out to what? One dares not think.
Sometimes, I glimpse these infinite perspectives
In intimate talk (with such as you) and shrink . . .
'One feels so petty!—One feels such—emptiness!—'
You mimic horror, let fall your lifted hand,
And smile at me; with brooding tenderness . . .
Alone on darkened waters I fall and rise;
Slow waves above me break, faint waves of cries.
'And then these colors . . . but who would dare describe them?
This faint rose-coral pink . . this green—pistachio?—
So insubstantial! Like the dim ghostly things
Two lovers find in love's still-twilight chambers . . .
Old peacock-fans, and fragrant silks, and rings . . .
'Rings, let us say, drawn from the hapless fingers
Of some great lady, many centuries nameless,—
Or is that too sepulchral?—dulled with dust;
And necklaces that crumble if you touch them;
And gold brocades that, breathed on, fall to rust.
'No—I am wrong . . . it is not these I sought for—!
Why did they come to mind? You understand me—
You know these strange vagaries of the brain!—'
—I walk alone in a forest of ghostly trees;
Your pale hands rest palm downwards on your knees;
These strange vagaries of yours are all too plain.
'But why perplex ourselves with tedious problems
Of art or . . . such things? . . . while we sit here, living,
With all that's in our secret hearts to say!—'
Hearts?—Your pale hand softly strokes the satin.
You play deep music—know well what you play.
You stroke the satin with thrilling of finger-tips,
You smile, with faintly perfumed lips,
You loose your thoughts like birds,
Brushing our dreams with soft and shadowy words . .
We know your words are foolish, yet sit here bound
In tremulous webs of sound.
'How beautiful is intimate talk like this!—
It is as if we dissolved grey walls between us,
Stepped through the solid portals, become but shadows,
To hear a hidden music . . . Our own vast shadows
Lean to a giant size on the windy walls,
Or dwindle away; we hear our soft footfalls
Echo forever behind us, ghostly clear,
Music sings far off, flows suddenly near,
And dies away like rain . . .
We walk through subterranean caves again,—
Vaguely above us feeling
A shadowy weight of frescos on the ceiling,
Strange half-lit things,
Soundless grotesques with writhing claws and wings . . .
And here a beautiful face looks down upon us;
And someone hurries before, unseen, and sings . . .
Have we seen all, I wonder, in these chambers—
Or is there yet some gorgeous vault, arched low,
Where sleeps an amazing beauty we do not know? . . '
The question falls: we walk in silence together,
Thinking of that deep vault and of its secret . . .
This lamp, these books, this fire
Are suddenly blown away in a whistling darkness.
Deep walls crash down in the whirlwind of desire.
poem by Conrad Potter Aiken
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The Dear Brown Head
James Cecil Johnston. Suvla. August 9th, 1915
Only an hour ago we were fearful for you,
Knowing the death and the darkness behind and before you.
Years ago it might be since we were afraid.
Nothing can harm you now, O dear brown head!
You have come into port with a favouring wind;
We are tossing yet in the seas unkind.
All around you the light and glory are shed;
We are in darkness without you, dear brown head!
Heart and soul of a boy, simple and merry,
Never now to grow old, never be weary.
Light in the Land of the Young is your springing tread.
Long and heavy the road to you, dear brown head!
The House of God is full in the August days --
Full of the young coming home by the bitter ways.
Their beds are made near God, and the table spread,
And you lying down, sitting down with them, dear brown head!
poem by Katharine Tynan
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Inconvenient Novelty
long forgotten by passerby
she rocks with screams
trembling under rains decent
another faceless blur
in the city painted abstract
an inconvenient novelty
a ghostly shadow
choking on pity
strangled by contempt
nursing fate
she waits...
for the one that will never come
for the dream that has unfurled
for the timer to run out
for her death to be as uneventful as her life
poem by Aria Siren
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Mike
My lead dog Mike was like a bear;
I reckon he was grizzly bred,
For when he reared up in the air
Ho over-topped me by a head.
He'd cuff me with his hefty paws,
Jest like a puppy actin' cute,
And I would swear: by Gosh! he was
The world's most mighty malemute.
But oh the grub that dog could eat!
Yet he was never belly-tight;
It almost broke me buying meat
To satisfy his appetite.
Then came a change I wondered at:
Returning when the dawn was dim,
He seemed mysteriously fat,
And scorned the bones I'd saved for him.
My shack was near the hospital,
Wherein there laboured Nurse Louise,
Who was to me a little pal
I planned in every way to please.
As books and sweets for her I bought,
My mug she seemed to kindo' like;
But Mike - he loved her quite a lot,
And she was very fond of Mike.
Strolling with her as moonlight gleamed,
I saw a strand of cotton trail
From Mike, the which unseemly seemed
To have its source behind his tail.
I trod on it with chagrin grim,
And with a kick his absence urged;
But as he ran, from out of him
Such yards and yards of lint emerged.
And then on me the truth did dawn
Beyond the shadow of a doubt:
That poor dam dog was gorged upon
The poultices threw out. . . .
So "love my dog love me," I thought,
And seized the moment to propose . . .
Mike's dead, but in our garden lot
He's manure for a big dog-rose.
poem by Robert William Service
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Darkness
Blue come over
Born a joneser
And the cops roll out the radar
And shoot devious grins
Another day begins
I want someone to know me
Maybe tell me who I am
Cause Ive faced down my demons
And cried out to a god
A God Ive never seen
Lights
And the world darkens around me
Strange friends all surround me
New ideas in my head start to burn
Dropped out of schools cause of things I never learned
And the world darkens around me
World darkens around me
I want you to love me
Like you did before you knew me
And I never thought thered be any help
For somebody like me
A vacancy
Sing
And the world darkens around me
Strange friends all surround me
New ideas in my head start to burn
Trust no one is the one thing that I learned
And the world darkens around me
World darkens around me
Bring me the sun
Slide off the moon
Yeah you better get home soon
Slide off the moon
Theres no hope for people like you and me
Bring me the sun cause I slide off the moon
Bring me the sun
song performed by by Third Eye Blind
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It Must Have Been The Roses
Annie laid her head down in the roses.
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons, in her long brown hair.
I dont know, maybe it was the roses,
All I know I could not leave her there.
I dont know, it must have been the roses,
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair.
I dont know, maybe it was the roses,
All I know I could not leave her there.
Ten years the waves roll the ships home from the sea,
Thinkin well how it may blow in all good company,
If I tell another what your own lips told to me,
Let me lay neath the roses, till my eyes no longer see.
I dont know, it must have been the roses,
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair.
I dont know, maybe it was the roses,
All I know I could not leave her there.
One pane of glass in the window,
No one is complaining, no, come in and shut the door,
Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore,
And its strange how no one comes round any more.
I dont know, it must have been the roses,
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair.
I dont know, maybe it was the roses,
All I know I could not leave her there.
Annie laid her head down in the roses.
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons, in her long brown hair.
I dont know, maybe it was the roses,
All I know I could not leave her there.
song performed by by Grateful Dead
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Golden--of the selkirks
A trail upwinds from Golden;
It leads to a land God only knows,
To the land of eternal frozen snows,
That trail unknown and olden.
And they tell a tale that is strange and wild--
Of a lovely and lonely mountain child
That went up the trail from Golden.
A child in the sweet of her womanhood,
Beautiful, tender, grave and good
As the saints in time long olden.
And the days count not, nor the weeks avail;
For the child that went up the mountain trail
Came never again to Golden.
And the watchers wept in the midnight gloom,
Where the canyons yawn and the Selkirks loom,
For the love that they knew of olden.
And April dawned, with its suns aflame,
And the eagles wheeled and the vultures came
And poised o'er the town of Golden.
God of the white eternal peaks,
Guard the dead while the vulture seeks!--
God of the days so olden.
For only God in His greatness knows
Where the mountain holly above her grows,
On the trail that leads from Golden.
poem by Emily Pauline Johnson
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Benediction
speak to me as if you knew me...
there are no walls, no distant shores.
the stones on the path will not
hurt your bare feet....
the fire will not burn your hands.
eyes fly like crows across distance,
be it across the room,
or across the world...
and pages are written
with the pens of angels,
to be thrown into the wind.
my heart cries for deliverance...
your tongue rests against my arm....
seize the moment, for there is no tomorrow,
the world waits in benediction!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Too Much Of Too Little
Well here we sit at a table for two
But bottle theres just me and you
She loved me so but I loved her so wrong
I gave her too much of too little too long
So tell me bottle are the things I hear true
That all the answers are in the bottle of you
I need your help this memorys so strong
I gave her too much of too little too long
Sometimes a man can get lost in a world of his own
Hell neglect his real world whos waiting at home
A woman needs her mans love to lean on
I gave her too much of too little too long
I gave her too much of too little too long
song performed by by George Strait
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Long Way Home
Well I stumbled in the darkness
I'm lost and alone
Though I said I'd go before us
And show the way back home
Is there a light up ahead
I can't hold on very long
Forgive me pretty baby but I always take the long way home
Money's just something you throw
Off the back of a train
Got a headful of lightning
And a hat full of rain
And I know that I said
I'd never do it again
Oh and I love you sweet baby but I always take the long way home
I put food on the table
And roof over your head
But I'd trade it all tomorrow
For The highway instead
Watch your back if I should tell
Youre loves the only thing I've ever known
One thing for sure sweet baby I always take the long way home
You know I love you baby
More than the whole wide world
Im your woman
You know you are my pearl
Let's go out past the party lights
Where we can finally be alone
Come with me and we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home
Come with me, together we can take the long way home
song performed by by Norah Jones
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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