Slithering Serpent
Slithering down a slimy slope,
the serpent dared to hope,
for the eagle's nest left an egg,
to satisfy his hunger dread.
This eagle soared with wings held high,
far away through the sky,
for the egg was rotten, stinking vile,
for the snake it would be so satisfying to rile.
This present became a nail too,
for the snake only wanted to avoid the blue,
through the mountains it slithered away,
though its gnawing hunger would not abate,
Writhing in agony it stroke out,
at all the world did it silently shout,
as its wings worry did send
that its journey was almost at an end.
None understood, this serpent had a chance
to be more than just a thief, and enhance
those others around, by being that which they did not fear,
till no longer could those lies it hear,
Its cries filled the world at this last cruel joke,
for the paltry few it had dared to poke.
poem by Kevin Maroney
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Lines on an incident observed from the deck of a steamboat on the Mississippi river
Where the dark primeval forests
Rise against the western sky
And "the Father of the Waters"
In his strength goes rushing by:
There an eagle, flying earthward
From his eyrie far above,
With a serpent of the forest
In a fierce encounter strove.
Now he gains and now he loses,
Now he frees his ruffled wings;
And now high in air he rises;
But the serpent round him clings.
In that death embrace entwining,
Now they sink and now they rise;
But the serpent wins the battle
With the monarch of the skies.
Yet his wings still struggle upward,
Though that crushing weight they bear;
But more feebly those broad pinions
Strike the waves of upper air.
Down to earth he sinks a captive
In that writhing, living chain;
Never o'er the blue horizon
Will his proud form sweep again.
Never more in lightning flashes
Will his eye of terror gleam
Round the high and rocky eyrie,
Where his lonely eaglets scream.
Oh majestic, royal eagle,
Soaring sunward from thy birth,
Thou hast lost the realm of heaven
For one moment on the earth!
poem by Anne Lynch Botta from Poems (1848)
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Sumter In Ruins
I.
Ye batter down the lion's den,
But yet the lordly beast g'oes free;
And ye shall hear his roar again,
From mountain height, from lowland glen,
From sandy shore and reedy fen--
Where'er a band of freeborn men
Rears sacred shrines to liberty.
II.
The serpent scales the eagle's nest,
And yet the royal bird, in air,
Triumphant wins the mountain's crest,
And sworn for strife, yet takes his rest,
And plumes, to calm, his ruffled breast,
Till, like a storm-bolt from the west,
He strikes the invader in his lair.
III.
What's loss of den, or nest, or home,
If, like the lion, free to go;--
If, like the eagle, wing'd to roam,
We span the rock and breast the foam,
Still watchful for the hour of doom,
When, with the knell of thunder-boom,
We bound upon the serpent foe!
IV.
Oh! noble sons of lion heart!
Oh! gallant hearts of eagle wing!
What though your batter'd bulwarks part,
Your nest be spoiled by reptile art--
Your souls, on wings of hate, shall start
For vengeance, and with lightning-dart,
Rend the foul serpent ere he sting!
V.
Your battered den, your shattered nest,
Was but the lion's crouching-place;--
It heard his roar, and bore his crest,
His, or the eagle's place of rest;--
But not the soul in either breast!
This arms the twain, by freedom bless'd,
To save and to avenge their race!
poem by William Gilmore Simms
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When The Eagle Cries
Another day, just like any other
out of the blue, it turned to horror
How could they? Why would they?
The innocents suffered hell's inferno
An senseless act that goes unforgotten
How could they? They will pay.
(Chorus)
When the Eagle Cries (5x)
Out of the ashes came a tempted vengeance,
but we are focused, we seek redemption
we are free, we'll stay free
All they've done, is make us stronger
The sleeping giant, is asleep no longer
If need be, we'll die free
(Chorus)
When the Eagle Cries (blood will flow)
When the Eagle Cries (for freedom's fight)
When the Eagle Cries (we love us all)
When the Eagle Cries (we'll sacrifice)
When the Eagle Cries
When the Eagle Cries (blood will flow)
When the Eagle Cries they made us stronger (for freedoms fight)
When the Eagle Cries we'll sacrifice (we love us all)
When the Eagle Cries for freedom's fight (we'll sacrifice)
When the Eagle Cries
song performed by by Iced Earth
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Beautiful Song
A Beautiful Song. (Ink Spots)
“I don’t want to set the world on fire” what a lovely song.
But I’m disturbed by sparrows, sit in my orange tree and
make a racket, so much for bird song. Out on the terrace
I stretch out my arms pretend to be an eagle, they fly off.
But they soon return realising I’m not much of an eagle.
I throw pebbles at them, terrified miniature mountains,
that only get to fly when someone, say, me throws them.
I still hear the sparrows sit in my neighbour’s orange tree,
argue about territories and no- fly- zones. A flurry of angry
wings, what is this a civil war? High above on the blue sky,
a bald eagle circles. “I don’t want to set the world on fire.”
poem by Oskar Hansen
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Is it worth it?
The serpent slithered silently
across the silken counterpane
His victim slumbered peacefully
the serpent struck but struck in vain.
She did not sleep for she was dead
The serpent’s sting superfluous
Her stainless soul already fled
To regions much more glorious.
The crime he thought he could conceal.
Would backfire in her husbands face.
The Post mortem would soon reveal
of serpents venom not a trace.
But would expose how she had died
The test for toxins positive
No matter how her husband lied
all his attempts were negative.
He was found guilty by his peers
The sentence was he should be hung.
All his bravado disappears.
He should have held his lying tongue.
He should have called the doctor in.
Said he suspected suicide
considered then a mortal sin.
And hoped he would be satisfied.
Instead he tried to set the scene
To lay the blame upon a snake.
but there was no snake to be seen.
This proved to be his big mistake.
The snake should have been on display
As evidence to back his claim
Its absence gave his scheme away
and thus it was he lost the game.
Be sure your sins will come to light
no matter how you plot and plan.
It seems that fate takes great delight
in pointing out a guilty man..
There is a moral to this tale
I hope it is not lost on you
attempts to shift the blame will fail.
Because fate will make sure they do.
29-May-08
Http; // blog myspace.com/poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
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Rainbow Snake
This story of the Rainbow Serpent is an Australian aboriginal legend and I have re-told it, with the best of intentions, for an international audience. I may have made some changes to the story and I hope my re-telling is true to the spirit of the original versions.
the rainbow snake
see it tickles
the frogs
and water fills the rivers and gullies
and waterholes;
and see the rainbow snake
see it brings forth
all life sleeping before
it is the beginning
and the earth is bare and barren
and the Rainbow Serpent
dear Ngalyod, powerful Borlung
the lovely Rainbow Serpent
she moves across the earth
and where she moves
see
how she creates tracks and dry courses
and huge craters;
and see how the Rainbow Serpent
she digs into the earth and emerges crashing into the air
on the other earth side of the world
and see how she throws up mountains and crags
and hills and mounds
and the Uluru and ravines;
and she calls the frogs
who come in heavy and bloated
and she tickles the frogs
and the frogs laugh
and the waters flow and the rains have come
and the dry lands are replete
with billabongs, rivers, creeks and lagoons
and the mighty oceans;
and the Rainbow Serpent is pleased
and she calls forth all
sleeping beings
and they all awake
and the Rainbow Serpent is pleased
and she provides them laws
and she disappears into another waterhole
and you can see her
you can see the Benevolent Rainbow Serpent
as she travels from one waterhole to another
as she emerges from one and she is in the sky
and you can see her
the lovely creative Rainbow Serpent in the sky
and she disappears soon enough
into another huge waterhole
somewhere on our earth
the rainbow snake
see it tickles
the frogs
and water fills the rivers and gullies
and waterholes;
and see the rainbow snake
see it brings forth
all life sleeping before
poem by Raj Arumugam
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I Won't Fly
I'm just a little bird
but I've got wings
like the wings
of an eagle.
I can fly high
higher than the clouds
but I won't fly
because I want to walk with you
under the sun
or even under the rain.
I'm just a little bird
but I've got wings
like the wings
of an eagle.
I can fly high
but, I won't fly
and will never spread my wings
as long as I have
...your love.
poem by Marites C. Cayetano
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Modern Love XXVI: Love Ere He Bleeds
Love ere he bleeds, an eagle in high skies,
Has earth beneath his wings: from reddened eve
He views the rosy dawn. In vain they weave
The fatal web below while far he flies.
But when the arrow strikes him, there's a change.
He moves but in the track of his spent pain,
Whose red drops are the links of a harsh chain,
Binding him to the ground, with narrow range.
A subtle serpent then has Love become.
I had the eagle in my bosom erst:
Henceforward with the serpent I am cursed.
I can interpret where the mouth is dumb.
Speak, and I see the side-lie of a truth.
Perchance my heart may pardon you this deed:
But be no coward:--you that made Love bleed,
You must bear all the venom of his tooth!
poem by George Meredith
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Magnificent Eagles
I'd like to share
these magnificent pair.
Black eagles, mid-air
in battle,
One eagle's about to tackle,
Wings spread, sharp talons dread.
Tears up the skies, an eagle dies,
on mountains highs.
Victor flies, to a new sunrise.
The Snake
Like sable coils of twisted cord that glisten in the light,
Scales round with tiger stripes are scored, death spoiling for a fight.
Draped on a stump - a tree long dead, bone dry in heat of day;
A flickering fork from poisoned head that smells the air for prey.
Mulberry bow; Black fletched with crow: an arrow, notched, half drawn.
The boy, the hunter, stealing slow, makes not a sound to warn.
The serpent looks with steely eyes, that see no danger yet.
Though close below its burrow lies, the hunter's trap is set.
A powerful arc, a full drawn bow; The snake in mortal fear,
It dashes for its den below, an arrow thudding near.
A blur of sleek uncoiling rings, swift down the hole it glides;
The bow string twangs, the arrow sings, through flesh and bone it slides.
The threshing tail flies side to side, a writhing lashing whip;
Escape from certain death denied, held in the arrow's grip.
The hunter draws it from its lair, lays on the ground his prize;
The vanquished of a contest fair, like bloodied rope it lies.
And so plays out the ancient duel ‘twixt snake and son of man;
Lays slain the fleeing serpent cruel, as in the Maker's plan.
poem by Dennis N. O'Brien
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Part Of The Machine
Everybodys jumping on the circus train.
Some jump high, some jump off again.
And the razzmatazz is rolling, women folk unveiled.
All truths to light, all crosses nailed.
Aiming high where the eagle circles ---
Where he keeps his tail feathers clean.
And wonders ''am I still a free bird?
Or just a part of the machine.
They hitch their coverd wagons and they roll out west.
Politics in the pockets of their sunday best.
Shaking hands, kissing babies, for all that theyre worth.
Oh, they promise you gold, promise heaven on earth.
Still, that old bald eagle circles ---
Its not the first time that hes seen
His reflection in the eyes of innocence.
Hes become just another
Part of the machine.
I wish I had an eagle like you ---
To look up to.
He could be my wings to fly in a big bird sky
Up above the whole machine.
Smart guys arent running --- theyre home and dry.
Up in the mountains where the eagle flies.
They wouldnt take that job
Offered on a plate.
They got to fly with the eagle, and he wont wait.
Looking down on the smoke and the factories
Till the truth creeps up unseen.
They see themselves in the faces of their children
And realize they too are
Part of the machine.
I wish I had an eagle like you ---
To wake up to.
He could be my wings to fly
In a big bird sky, hey ---
Lets be part of the machine.
Part of the machine.
song performed by by Jethro Tull
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Anger
Anger in its time and place
May assume a kind of grace.
It must have some reason in it,
And not last beyond a minute.
If to further lengths it go,
It does into malice grow.
'Tis the difference that we see
'Twixt the serpent and the bee.
If the latter you provoke,
It inflicts a hasty stroke,
Puts you to some little pain,
But it never stings again.
Close in tufted bush or brake
Lurks the poison-swellëd snake
Nursing up his cherished wrath;
In the purlieux of his path,
In the cold, or in the warm,
Mean him good, or mean him harm,
Whensoever fate may bring you,
The vile snake will always sting you.
poem by Charles Lamb
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Tachycardia
In the chest is caged bat
who seeks escape
through the mouth.
He flaps his wings
& the molars shiver.
He flaps his wings
& the thyroid bulges
like a snake
that has swallowed
a mouse.
He flaps his wings
uttering shrill cries
heard only by the ears
of the teeth.
He wants to soar
into the great world.
He is blind
as a bat.
You must convince him
that the chest
is a cradle
& a room
with a view.
Past the tonsils
lies terror.
Past the teeth
lies death.
Past the lips
lie lies,
lies, lies.
poem by Erica Jong
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Scrutiny Of A Psyche
Never a hallucination did she never fear
Snake gourd like a snake didn't delusively appear
Yet all changed smacking her heart to drear
One day with a basket by a snake charmer
Came on the charmer to capture with glee
Embedded her boldness drove him to flee
Devotee of snake-God she on a spree
Eerieless so her heart was cheery
Around the house garden a dense forest
But seldom a treat such so left
Can enter in no foreign body
Permission granted only to known somebody
Appeared a week later snake- charmer
Simply played his magudi the snake catcher
Grew her nerves anguished in temper
Controlled herself but with all prayer
On and on went the magudi
Bushy hiss, a snake up on eerily
Asked her piety to let it flee free
But lo, caught and thrushed into his bag gunny
Disobeyed he, hence obliged not she
Nothing of his money paid she
His turn, released the reptile angrily
All the world's curses throwing on her badly
Sleepless nights thence haunted her gravely
All the charmer's curses gunning fiery
And her psyche accounted the destiny
Bad to worse to the worst of scrutiny
Ofcourse life writhes, squirms and wriggles
Serpentinely venomous at times
Spreading its hood trouble- flickering
From its satanic fang sufferings outflowing
Althrough trustworthy her serpent God
Sudden susceptibility yet in sunken heart broad
In the grip of a comminating serpent
Bewildered life in mirthless thought
Her guts unnerved why?
Recessed her devotional ply?
Who the serpent, charmer or the reptile?
Or the Lord Himself for a while?
Unknown person, unknown reasons
Coiled down life with curses
Revere the Lord and dread His wrath..truth
Seldom more prayers, she with vigilant breath
poem by Indira Renganathan
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The Blame Game
The mouse ate up my assignment
The snake ate up the mouse
The eagle ate up the snake and flew high above the heads
Inspiring and impetus
A hazy lapse
And the sky ate up the eagle
Then what?
The fumes ate up the sky
The fumes cultivated from our desires and greed
Outgrowing and blazing
Then what?
I ate up the fumes
Sedated and rejuvenated
All set to get back on track
A midnight lapse
And the assignment ate me up!
poem by Falky Flakes
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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a Conversation and Thought
When sunshine not appears and bright the world
Little eagle feel empty…
She try to helps little birds as his task
So she feel much better
But still she has an empty feelings
She try to find any signs of him
Still she couldn’t find it
She put the leafs one by one
So she could notice
When her sunshine appears again
So she could share many laughs of the day
And she could feel his warm on her wings
She think maybe her sunshine lazy
To warm her wings and other wings as well
Boom…. Stupid little eagle! !
I only take a rest for a while, ”said sunshine
I always warm your wings eternally…
So… avoid that stupid thought from your little head
Be happy and sing a songs for other birds around
While I am not around…
So they could feel and join your happiness
In every moment…
poem by Minaslune Serene
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Laughter And Death
THERE is no laughter in the natural world
Of beast or fish or bird, though no sad doubt
Of their futurity to them unfurled
Has dared to check the mirth-compelling shout.
The lion roars his solemn thunder out
To the sleeping woods. The eagle screams her cry.
Even the lark must strain a serious throat
To hurl his blest defiance at the sky.
Fear, anger, jealousy, have found a voice.
Love’s pain or rapture the brute bosoms swell.
Nature has symbols for her nobler joys,
Her nobler sorrows. Who had dared foretell
That only man, by some sad mockery,
Should learn to laugh who learns that he must die?
poem by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
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The Eagle wasn't always the Eagle. The Eagle, before he became the Eagle, was Yucatangee, the Talker. Yucatangee talked and talked. It talked so much it heard only itself. Not the river, not the wind, not even the Wolf. The Raven came and said The Wolf is hungry. If you stop talking, you'll hear him. The wind too. And when you hear the wind, you'll fly. So he stopped talking. And became its nature, the Eagle. The Eagle soared, and its flight said all it needed to say.
quote by Robin Green
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Alliteration of the sea sick sea snake
Using the softly-softly
Hissing style of the silent
Internet fanged smiling serpent
A sea sick snake hisses
Himself to his serpent lover's
House in the sea hotel of the sea
And where sea sick snakes meet
Sea deep sinful lies are told
And the hungry haggard looking
Sea snake has starved himself
To look lean and hungry and angry
And famished and in banishment
'My love'he hisses in her ear
'I must leave the leaky deep
Foamy shaky shark infested sea
Don't worry lovey-dovey and weep
And scream and hiss...I am going
To the mines and the kitchens
And the mansions to work for you'
The sea sick snake says with
All the innocence in the sea
And he swims his lying way
Out of the foamy fishy sea
And the girlie serpent smiles
Knowingly in her snaky fishy way
The tickets were pricey and
The price tag they tagged him
With the tagged venom of the mamba
The sinners were not trustful and
They didn't trust the sea snake that
Didn't trust the untrustworthy sinners
They took his shirt and his hat and his pipe
He hitched a ride on the back of the rhino
'Don't kiss me and hiss me and bite me'
'I will not hiss you and miss you
As for the other I will miss you'
They came to the mine door where
The sea snake did bite the dying rhino
'But why did you bite me? We were going
To form a formidable team at the mine'
The poor betrayed trusting dying R.said
'It is in my nature to bite and kill'
The sea sick snake said relieved to be
Rid of his wife and happy to be among
The people of the city
And he started to sell the meat to them
poem by Ngaka Motaung
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Thinking Of You
Have you ever stood outside a picket fence
You could see through but you can't get to the inside
You sit there and wait
I look at you and anticipate
What we could be and what we could do
Fly the wings of an eagle
Glide along with the wind
No matter how high
I'll be thinking of you the whole time
Fly with wings of an eagle
Glide along with the wind
No matter how high
I'll be thinking of you the whole time
I'm carrying this heavy load
I don't know what to do
The only thing I know is that
I'm in love with you Oh
Fly the wings of an eagle
No matter how high
I'll be thinkin' of you
(Repeat Chorus)
No matter how high
No matter how low
I'll be thinking of you
No matter what I do
No matter where I go
I'll be thinking of you
(Repeat)
song performed by by Hanson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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