Grammar School Days

Once I saw a black and white photo
taken by a Japanese tourist -
English schoolboys sauntering
down a street in London
on their way to grammar school.
The sky clear of bombers
overhead that September morning-

I thought of Polish schoolboys
as they ran pellmell through rubble
seeking shelter from the German
blitzkreig that same day in September.

Grainy newsprint photos of the dead
and dying in Warsaw ghetto streets
appeared soon enough and replaced
the image of English schoolboys
taken by the tourist on holiday.

A holocaust on the horizon
and we slept on in peaceful dream.

poem by Michael PruchnickiReport problemRelated quotes
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Schoolboys In 1939

Once I saw a black & white photo
taken by a Japanese tourist
of London schoolboys
walking briskly to grammar school.

No planes over London yet,
although German troops were blitzing
through Poland that September afternoon,
and Warsaw schoolboys were
running pellmell to bomb shelters,
Jew and Christian alike.

Grainy photos taken on Polish soil
by news photographers
were of victims dead and dying.
The photo of English schoolboys
was of victims yet to be!

poem by Michael PruchnickiReport problemRelated quotes
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Photo of Schoolboys

Once I saw a photograph
taken by a 71 year old
Japanese tourist
in pre-WW 2 London

Black and white print
of schoolboys with satchels
and shining morning faces
walking briskly down the street
to the brick building -
King Edward IV grammar school
sometime in 1939

The retired entrepreneur from
Yokohama was touring London
when he happened on the scene
and set up his camera

I imagine the chalky teacher
in the classroom and the boys
scrunched over their tasks

I see the lads graduating in due time
and donning Army khaki and RAF blue

I see the Japanese grandfather as his
grandsons land on shores far from home

Boys from London and Yokohama
barely tasting manhood on foreign shores

They lie at peace now

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Notorious

Words and music: paul dean, mike reno, jon bon jovi, richie sambora,
Tim carney
Hey, hey, hey
Well theres a lone wolf out on the prowl tonight
Lurkin in the shadows, always out of sight
I said, little girl, dont you hesitate, cause youre usin live bait
Senorita, solitaire, you got a certain kind of savoir-faire
Cause youre notorious (notorious), everything you want,
Everything you need
Cause youre notorious (notorious), every mothers nightmare,
Every schoolboys dream
Everybody by name, every trick in the book
Everywhere that she goes she gets those dirty looks
I said, little girl, dont you hesitate, cause youre usin live bait
Senorita, solitaire, you got a certain kind of savoir-faire
Cause youre notorious (notorious), everything you want,
Everything you need
Cause youre notorious (notorious), every mothers nightmare
Every schoolboys dream
Lock me up, I want to be your prisoner
Lock me up, I want to be your slave
I said, little girl, dont you hesitate cause youre usin live bait
Senorita, solitaire, you got a certain kind of savoir-faire
Cause youre notorious (notorious), everything you want,
Everything you need
Cause youre notorious (notorious), every mothers nightmare
Every schoolboys dream
Cause youre notorious (notorious), everything I want,
Everything I need
Cause youre notorious (notorious), every mothers nightmare
Every schoolboys dream
Every schoolboys dream, oh yeah
Lock me up

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The Thaw

Overhead-passes spit contemptuously at passing cars.
Power lines emerge from dripping silver cocoons.

Black bark peeks through the ice like worn silver plate.
Pine trees, released of their white cargo lift up their arms like schoolboys at recess.

Winter’s dirty secrets are revealed.

February 2003

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Thomas Jefferson

The bulk of mankind are schoolboys through life.

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William Shakespeare

Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books; but love from look, toward school with heavy looks.

William Shakespeare in Romeo and JulietReport problemRelated quotes
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The person upon whom the schoolboys' attention centred was, of course, the Headmaster.

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A Fun of September!

End of summer
And beginning of winter
Is September!

Sand melting heat
And sand wetting rain
Occur in September!

Full grown fruits
And fully blossomed flowers
You see in September!

Heat in the morning
And rain in evening and night
Town gets in September!

Summer holiday ends
And all festivals begin now on
From September on!

September begins
Fast pace of the year ever
With all festivals!

They being Ganesh Chadurthi,
Navrathri, Diwali, Christmas,
New Year and Pongal are...!

Time moves fast
As no boredom ever shows
Head from September!

Fun of September
Starts Autumn, Rain and Winter
All in one....!

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Kierkegaard

There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys: they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked the sum out for themselves.

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Emily Dickinson

A feather from the Whippoorwill

161

A feather from the Whippoorwill
That everlasting—sings!
Whose galleries—are Sunrise—
Whose Opera—the Springs—
Whose Emerald Nest the Ages spin
Of mellow—murmuring thread—
Whose Beryl Egg, what Schoolboys hunt
In "Recess"—Overhead!

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Holy September

A kiss on the lips of today
For stepping into tommorow.
The blinds are closed for now.
Don't sell yourself for sorrow.
Oh! Precious my september.
Begins with all the stars.
Buses from the summer.
In september driving cars.
Praising my september.
Praising all my needs.
Sends me to tomorrow.
September grows my seeds.
Officers of my journey.
With love inside the day.
The tolerance of my wonder.
The tolerence of my dismay.
Nestled in september.
You've wakened from those dreams.
Oh holy, my september.
The cloth around my seams.
September shines around me,
Like the sun onto my day.
September my september.
Is there any other way?

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Tom Petty

The music business looks like, you know, innocent schoolboys compared to the TV business. They care about nothing but profit.

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Delay

now, we have the September.
is clear and solar
but he likes the July,
not to say the August.
then everything is so kind,
all warm and cosy.

oh well, a September
it is a September.
doesn't worry about it
isn't taking over.
is taking the other
wall diary out

of the drawer is.
he is hanging up
and he is placing
the appropriate date still
and is raising
oneself spirit.

everyone are in September
and he still in August,
not to say in July
so he is able to be delayed
until pleasantly
it is getting at very thought

I... mainly,
I am entire year... in May.

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September Sky

Cool air, September sky.
My vision bordered by trees,
Dying for the winter-
God's silent fireworks,
Brilliant reds, oranges, yellows.
There is the threat of frost in the air,
A biting chill which seeps into my clothes.
The smell of a woodstove is in the air,
Invigorating.
It is as much a part of the September sky
As the colors on the wind.
There is a stillness in the air,
Punctuated by the cries of a few lonely birds.
I look to the sky,
Clear blue, like your eyes.
I feel lost, lonely-
I am in this dream,
But you are not.
I am leaving, I know,
Leaving behind a connection of the heart
That I once was unaware of.
I am alone, September Sky.

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Robert Louis Stevenson

To My Name-Child

1

Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed,
Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read.
Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down
By the English printers, long before, in London town.

In the great and busy city where the East and West are met,
All the little letters did the English printer set;
While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play,
Foreign people thought of you in places far away.

Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands
Other little children took the volume in their hands;
Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas:
Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please?

2

Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play,
Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey,
Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze,
Tiny sandpipers, and the huge Pacific seas.

And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you,
Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do;
And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away
Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey!

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English Dream

I once had a dream
A feeling inside
A yearning so bad you have to shout it out
Hey kid look at me
You can make it real
You can get it if you want
When I first started out
They shut all the doors
But I laughed at all the doors
And I kicked them down
Heres my energy for you
Step into the light while you still feel young
I look in your eyes
And I reach for your hands
Well Ill do anything
To make you understand
That Im still the seeker
For your english dream
Dont you give up trying
And dont you let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
I look in your eyes
And I reach for your hands
Well Ill do anything
To help you understand
That Im still the seeker
For your english dream
Dont you
Dont you give up trying
And dont you let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down
The english dream - dont let me down

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The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist.

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American Without Tears #2

December 1965 in caracas
When arnie laflem took a piece of the pie
When he packed up the casino chips, the iou and the abacus
And switched off the jukebox in a a fool such as i
He was a leg man who was open to offers
But he couldnt get her off his mind as he passed the tourist office
And as he entertained himself singing just like sammy davis junior
He toyed with her trip to miami
For money like that
He could have sweet talk in her ear
Now they dont speak any english
Just american without tears
It was an idea that he dangled on his knee
And nursed it like his coffee cup
When he couldnt find any other way
It always seemed to come to him
While the day was dipping down
And sun was like a lightbulb
Being swallowed by a clown
He took her for everything
He took her for his only one
He took her out of coventry and over to idaho
But the war wound that he carried home
Wasnt really visable
When bullets were forgotton
She lived dowdry, down, and miserable
And she seemed to be crying for year after year
And says, you dont speak any english
Just american between tears.
Honey she said to me will you turn down the radio.
You havent slept a wink since we came to havana
When youre gonna get the strength to go over to florida
All you ever listen to is the voice of america.
It was the story of a young english puppet
Who took up with a soldier boy
And thought she would profit.
Just like me she found out what true love is about
Anyway shes in new orleans it would never work out
Oh she seemed to be crying for year after year
Now you dont speak any english
Just american between tears.
Just american without tears.
For you seem to be crying year after year
Now you dont speak any english
Just american without tears.
Just american without tears.

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This African American Vernacular English shares most of its grammar and vocabulary with other dialects of English. But it is distinct in many ways, and it is more different from standard English than any other dialect spoken in continental North America.

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The September 19th

I was the favorite of them all
They knew i will always stand tall
and never will i fall
ON TILL THAT SEPTEMBER 19
I had played the hero
I never knew i will be down to zero
ON TILL SEPTEMBER 19

I got to know my true friend
those i thought, wanted my end
they were always playing second
how could i know? if not for that day
SEPTEMBER 19

were all fall apart
Just 8 days to my lovers birthday
just 8 day for a dream to come true
27 was all i got, but the storm got rude
now it was like, i stop to exist
i saw my name in death list
tears flow as my thought went freeze
ALL ON THE SEPTEMBER 19

Now all i got is my bible and me
Just a friend that i can't see
gave me hope has i read
a friend and a lover

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