Shadow Hand
Duporte the roofer that calm voice
those sure hands gentling weathered tiles
into new generations or
half of him rising through a roof
like some sea spirit from a wave
to turn shaped slates into fish scales
that would swim in the rain Duporte
who seemed to smooth arguments by
listening and whom they sent for
when a bone was broken or when
they had a pig to kill because
of the way he did it only
yesterday after all these years
I learned that he had suddenly
gone blind while still in his sixties
and died soon after that while I
was away and I never knew
and it seemed as though it had just
happened and it had not been long
since we stood in the road talking
about owls nesting in chimneys
in the dark in empty houses
From 'The Shadow Of Sirius'
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (September 1, 2008)
poem by William Stanley Merwin
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A Letter to Ruth Stone
Now that you have caught sight
of the other side of darkness
the invisible side
so that you can tell
it is rising
first thing in the morning
and know it is there
all through the day
another sky
clear and unseen
has begun to loom
in your words
and another light is growing
out of their shadows
you can hear it
now you will be able
to envisage beyond
any words of mine
the color of these leaves
that you never saw
awake above the still valley
in the small hours
under the moon
three nights past the full
you know there was never
a name for that color
From 'The Shadow Of Sirius'
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (September 1, 2008)
poem by William Stanley Merwin
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A Codex
It was a late book given up for lost
again and again with its sentences
bare at last and phrases that seemed transparent
revealing what had been there the whole way
the poems of daylight after the day
lying open at last on the table
without explanation or emphasis
like sounds left when the syllables have gone
clarifying the whole grammar of waiting
not removing one question from the air
or closing the story although single lights
were beginning by then above and below
while the long twilight deepened its silence
from sapphire through opal to Athena’s iris
until shadow covered the gray pages
the comet words the book of presences
after which there was little left to say
but then it was night and everything was known
From 'The Shadow Of Sirius'
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (September 1, 2008)
poem by William Stanley Merwin
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When Illusion’s Cloud Lifts
How quickly time passes
and the years go by,
then we look back at things
as if they only happened yesterday
and when the cloud of illusion lifts
we suddenly realise
just how many years have gone by.
It get a little frightening when you think
of how time can slip through our fingers
like the batting of an eye.
We think of how many lives
have quickly come and gone,
of how many faces from our life
have disappeared forever,
never again to be seen.
We can only go forward
like generations before
always looking for heaven
as we open each and every door.
12 September 2008
poem by David Harris
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The Old Dead Tree
The old dead tree stood
gnarled weather torn;
its limbs were now brittle.
What stories could it tell
of the centuries it had lived,
the passing lives it had seen,
and the storms it had weathered
when it was young and strong.
When its foliage was green
and gave shelter from the rain.
Now it stands bare and broken,
a sorry sight to be seen.
It must have been beautiful
when it was young
with its canopy of green,
and a nesting place for little birds
among its evergreen.
Now they only used it
as a resting place whenever they pass by.
The old dead tree,
which had seen so much life.
17 September 2008
poem by David Harris
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Fallen, Empty, And Broken
fallen soldier
fallen sky
fallen angel
from on high
fallen heartache
fallen soul
fallen man
losing control
empty bed
empty arms
empty dreams
empty heart
empty wallet
empty hands
cant take nothin'
from an empty man
broken promises
broken vows
broken spirit
wont allow
broken fences
broken lives
broken tomorrows
broken nights
fallen, empty, and broken
every road is the same
bent, bruised, and shaken
still numb from the pain
now you dont answer
when i call out your name
fallen, empty, and broken
walking in the rain...
fallen, empty, and broken...
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Yesterday
Ooh yesterday
(bg)ooh...aw..e..aw..e..aw
All my trobles seem so far away
(bg)hey..ey..ey..
Now it looks as though thier here to stay
(bg)here to stay
Ooh,oh...
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
All so suddenly, Im not half the girl I used to be
(bg)ooooooooooh......................i used to be..
Theres a shadow hanging over me
(bg)o..ver me
Ooh..ooh..ooh..ooh..yeah
(bg)yesterday came suddenly, yesterday came suddenly
Why... he had to go
(bg)had to go
I dont know but he wouldnt stay around here long he wounlnt stay
(bg)know.........stay........
(bg)i... think...somethings wrong...
I think I said...wrong, now I long for yesterday
(bg)day, day, day
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
(bg)hide....away
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
(bg)i believe in yesterday
song performed by by En Vogue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Cry By Meena Mustafa
A dusty road lies beyond my imagination
I stretch across the naked earth still
lingering in despair
From every corner I hear a cry,
A broken image before you lies
In the cruel hands of death
Is the streak to kill
People tormented
Broken houses
Empty stomachs
Burning desires...
There is neither a path nor a destination
'cause it's the end of the journey
and strange enough no one knows
when dust suddenly covers you...
poem by Meena Mustafa
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Yesterday
Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though theyre here to stay
Oh I believe
In yesterday
Suddenly
Im not half the girl I used to be
Theres a shadow hangin over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why he had to go
I dont know
He wouldnt say
I said something wrong
Now I long
For yesterday
Why he had to go
I dont know
He wouldnt say
I said ... I must ve saidd something wrong
Now I long
For yesterday
Yesterday
Life was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh I believe
In yesterday
I believe
In yersterday
I believe
In yesterday
song performed by by LeAnn Rimes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Under The Summer Rain
Drops rippling
In the lake where we were raised,
In the place where we met each other
Under the summer rain
Thunder cracks
Lightning threatens
Shadows on the dock, silenced
Calm, listening
To the summer rain
A splash in the distance
All of us wondering what emerged
Through the summer rain
The woods where we play empty
Heeding directions we’ve heard all these years
Under the summer rain
The time goes by so fast
Wasn’t it yesterday when we were
Six, seven, eight, listening
To the summer rain?
But we’re just as beautiful now
Peaceful, with everyone watching us
Through the summer rain
Don’t tell us we’re not like we used to be
We want it, we can’t help it
But we’re just as beautiful now
Watching the summer rain
Something Happened To Me Yesterday
Something happened to me yesterday
Something I can't speak of right away
Something happened to me
Something oh so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday
He don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law
Something
Something very strange i hear you say
You're talking in a most peculiar way
But something really threw me
Something oh so groovy
Something happend to me yesterday
(Yesterday)
He don't know just where it's gone
He don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was
Or the meaning and the cause
Something
(What kinda joint is this)
(Take your partners)
Me don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law
Something
Someone says there's something more to pay
For sins that you committed yesterday
It's really rather drippy
But something oh so trippy
Something happened to me yesterday
He don't know just where it's gone
He don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was
Or the meaning and the cause
Something
Someone's singing loud across the bay
Sittin on a mat about to pray
Isn't half as looney
As something oh so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday
He don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law
Something
[spoken]
Well thank you very much and now I think it's time for us
All to go. so from all of us to all of you not forgetting
The boys in the band and our producer
song performed by by Rolling Stones from Between The Buttons
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Walk, Press, Swim
Walk on, walk on
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Walk on, walk on.
I walk by a different drum
Walk on, walk on
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Walk on, walk on.
Seek truth, knowledge, wisdom, understanding.
Walk on, walk on,
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Walk on, walk on.
Walk in the water of the word.
Walk on, walk on
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Walk in the water of the word,
Walk on, walk on!
Press in, press in.
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God.
Press in, press in.
Press in deeper
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Press in deeper.
Press in deeper
By the Power of the spirit of the living God.
Press in deeper!
Swim on, swim on,
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Swim on, swim on.
Swim a little deeper.
Oh, yea, Swim on, swim on,
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God
Swim on, swim on.
Prophesy, speak my word.
Swim on, swim on
By the Power of the Spirit of the living God.
Swim on, swim on!
poem by Katie J. Figueroa
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There was a Boy
There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs
And islands of Winander!--many a time,
At evening, when the earliest stars began
To move along the edges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone,
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake;
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,
Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him.--And they would shout
Across the watery vale, and shout again,
Responsive to his call,--with quivering peals,
And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud
Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild
Of jocund din! And, when there came a pause
Of silence such as baffled his best skill:
Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung
Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise
Has carried far into his heart the voice
Of mountain-torrents; or the visible scene
Would enter unawares into his mind
With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,
Its woods, and that uncertain heaven received
Into the bosom of the steady lake.
This boy was taken from his mates, and died
In childhood, ere he was full twelve years old.
Pre-eminent in beauty is the vale
Where he was born and bred: the churchyard hangs
Upon a slope above the village-school;
And, through that church-yard when my way has led
On summer-evenings, I believe, that there
A long half-hour together I have stood
Mute--looking at the grave in which he lies!
poem by William Wordsworth
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You're Gone
(HogarthKellyMosleyRotheryTrewavas)
You're gone. As suddenly as you came to me
Like nightfall followed dawn without a day between
You're gone and suddenly I can't see
I'm in the shadow of you
I'm in the shadow of you
I can see you in my minds rose-tinted eye..
Somewhere you're drifting by
Your heels rolling sparks on the lucky street
While here am I, left behind
Stunned and blind
But I can see you from here
I can see you so clear
You are the light
You are the light
You have the day
I have the night
But we have the early hours together
You're gone, and heaven cries.
A thunderstorm breaks from the northern sky
Chasing you back to the daily grind
You're gone. And where am I?
A haunted life
The ghost of your laughter
The half-empty glass
The half-empty glass
And I wait
'til midnight tolls
Two souls almost touching in the dark
I'll be allright
You are the light
You are the light
You have the day
I have the night
But we have the early hours
We have the early hours
We have the early hours together
song performed by by Marillion
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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By Train from Berlin
A delicate border. A nonexistent country.
The train obligingly dissolves in smoke.
The G.I. next to me is talking war.
I don't 'know the Asian mind,' he says.
Moving through old arguments.
At Potsdam (a globe-shaped dome,
a pink canal reflecting sepia trees)
we pull next to a broken-down old train
with REICHSBAHN lettered on its flank.
Thirty years sheer away leaving bare cliff.
This is a country I don't recognize.
Bone-pale girls who have nothing to do with home.
Everyone's taller than me, everyone naked.
'Life's cheap there,' he says.
But why are we screaming over a track
which runs between a barbed wire corridor?
And why has it grown so dark outside,
so bright in here
that even the pared moon is invisible?
In the window we can only see ourselves,
America we carry with us,
two scared people talking death
on a train which can't stop.
poem by Erica Jong
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There was a Child Once
There was a child once.
He came to play in my garden;
He was quite pale and silent.
Only when he smiled I knew everything about him,
I knew what he had in his pockets,
And I knew the feel of his hands in my hands
And the most intimate tones of his voice.
I led him down each secret path,
Showing him the hiding-place of all my treasures.
I let him play with them, every one,
I put my singing thoughts in a little silver cage
And gave them to him to keep...
It was very dark in the garden
But never dark enough for us. On tiptoe we walked
among the deepest shades;
We bathed in the shadow pools beneath the trees,
Pretending we were under the sea.
Once--near the boundary of the garden--
We heard steps passing along the World-road;
O how frightened we were!
I whispered: "Have you ever walked along that road?"
He nodded, and we shook the tears from our eyes....
There was a child once.
He came--quite alone--to play in my garden;
He was pale and silent.
When we met we kissed each other,
But when he went away, we did not even wave
poem by Katherine Mansfield
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A Reconciliation......
recently the sea had taken
so many lives
people did not want to eat fish
for a while
some coconut trees were uprooted
the wind did not have second thoughts
showing its greatness
through its cruelty
blowing away houses and
leaving children homeless
and couples
traumatized
someone killed himself the other day
and others
looked blank
staring to the gray sands of the shore
today the sea is appealing
it is a piece of silk
smooth and calm and
too inviting
like a beautiful woman waiting to be
embraced by my arms
it is this act of reconciliation
and gratitude for being saved
i too could have died
if i did not go to the friend's birthday party
i have no choice
but to take my dip and swim for hours
above me is the sun seemingly smiling
underneath are the fish
playing with the cleansed corals
and dancing seaweeds.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Percys Song
Bad news, bad news,
Come to me where I sleep,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Sayin one of your friends
Is in trouble deep,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Tell me the trouble,
Tell once to my ear,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Joliet prison
And ninety-nine years,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Oh whats the charge
Of how this came to be,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Manslaughter
In the highest of degree,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
I sat down and wrote
The best words I could write,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Explaining to the judge
Id be there on wednesday night,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Without a reply,
I left by the moon,
Turn, turn, turn again.
And was in his chambers
By the next afternoon,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Could ya tell me the facts?
I said without fear,
Turn, turn, turn again.
That a friend of mine
Would get ninety-nine years,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
A crash on the highway
Flew the car to a field,
Turn, turn, turn again.
There was four persons killed
And he was at the wheel,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
But I knew him as good
As Im knowin myself,
Turn, turn, turn again.
And he wouldnt harm a life
That belonged to someone else,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
The judge spoke
Out of the side of his mouth,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Sayin, the witness who saw,
He left little doubt,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
That may be true,
Hes got a sentence to serve,
Turn, turn, turn again.
But ninety-nine years,
He just dont deserve,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Too late, too late,
For his case it is sealed,
Turn, turn, turn again.
His sentence is passed
And it cannot be repealed,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
But he aint no criminal
And his crime it is none,
Turn, turn, turn again.
What happened to him
Could happen to anyone,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
And at that the judge jerked forward
And his face it did freeze,
Turn, turn, turn again.
Sayin, could you kindly leave
My office now, please,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
Well his eyes looked funny
And I stood up so slow,
Turn, turn, turn again.
With no other choice
Except for to go,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
I walked down the hallway
And I heard his door slam,
Turn, turn, turn again.
I walked down the courthouse stairs
And I did not understand,
Turn, turn to the rain
And the wind.
And I played my guitar
Through the night to the day,
Turn, turn, turn again.
And the only tune
My guitar could play
Was, oh the cruel rain
And the wind.
song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Girl On Terrace
I see a girl,
Standing on terrace,
Face covered with long curls,
Staring in the empty space,
She’s watching the stars, or the clouds,
I don’t know,
But her pale face is glowing in moonlight,
Showing her mood is a bit low,
She’s trying to catch,
Someone in the empty air,
Realizes soon it was just a shadow,
And lies back on the empty chair,
Her face is again in her hands,
Seems like gaining some words or thoughts,
Just a second passed and I hear a sob,
It seemed she was in pain,
Something hurt her a lot,
She was continuously touching,
The chair beside her,
Slowly and affectionately,
Like she was touching a person,
Close to her,
Again she realized,
There was no one sitting there,
It was again a shadow,
And seemed like she was going to shatter….
Suddenly, I saw a smile,
Reflecting pain, on her face,
Maybe she remembered something good from her past,
Or just an incident case,
She flinched,
As she remembered something,
Her face was worse than I first saw,
Her silent sobs now louder,
Than any other creatures creeping,
It seemed she was living an empty life,
Full of darkness and shadows,
I don’t know what had happened to her,
Wonder if she was hurt by circumstances, friend or foe?
Suddenly, she stood up,
And was going back downstairs,
The rhythm of stick, made me realize she was blind,
Maybe that was the pain,
Beneath her beautiful pale layers,
But I soon realized,
Her pain was more than that,
Of course,
I wanted to ask about the person in her empty shadows,
The reason for her silent sobs,
But that young girl,
On the terrace,
Sometimes smiling, sometimes sobbing,
With her pain and empty shadows,
Was lost………….
poem by Apurva Jain
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Yesterday
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though there here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, Im not half the man I use to be
Theres a shadow hangin over me, oh yesterday, came suddenly
Why she had to go I dont know, she wouldnt say
I said nothings wrong but I long for yesterday ...
Yesterday, life was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away, oh yesterday, came suddenly
Why she had to go I dont know she wouldnt say
I said nothings wrong how I long for yesterday ... hold
Yesterday, life was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away, oh I believe, in yesterday ...
song performed by by Paul McCartney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Yesterday
Yesterday
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as through theyre here to stay oh I believe in yesterday
Suddenly Im not half the man I used to be, theres a shadow hanging over me
Oh yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I dont know she wouldnt say
I said something wrong now I long for yesterday
Yesterday love was such an easy game to play now I need a place to hide away oh
I believe in yesterday
Why she had to go I dont know she wouldnt say
I said something wrong now I long for yesterday
Yesterday love was such and easy game to play now I need a place to hide away
Oh I believe in yesterday
Hmmmmmmmmmm
song performed by by Lennon John
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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