I cast my own shadow upon my path, because I have a lamp that has not been lighted.
aphorism by Rabindranath Tagore from Stray Birds (1916), translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Thy Word
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
When I feel afraid,
And think Ive lost my way.
Still, youre there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
I will not forget
Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus by my guide,
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
Youre the light unto my path.
song performed by by Amy Grant
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In The Enchanted Tower
THE waves in thunderous menace break
Upon the rocks below my tower,
And none will dare the Sea-king's power
And venture shipwreck for my sake.
Yet once,--my lamp a path of light
Across the darkling sea had cast--
I saw a sail; at last, at last,
It came towards me through the night.
My lamp had been the beacon set
To lead the ship through mist and foam,
The ship that came to take me home,
To that far land I half forget.
But since my tower is built so high,
And surf-robed rocks curl hid below,
I quenched my lamp--and, weeping low
I saw my ship go safely by!
poem by Edith Nesbit
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His Shadow
When I was young
the shadow he cast was long.
When I was afraid.
In his shadow I could be brave.
Walking together
watching his shadow by mine.
I yearned for the time
like his my shadow would be long.
As the fledgling finally
flies alone from the nest.
To step away from his shadow
my time came.
One day long after
my child at my side.
Two shadows I saw.
One long joined one small.
In my thoughts
I reflected to when
the longer shadow.
My father cast.
I realized
the time had come.
The father's shadow
now my shadow.
(04SEP97)
poem by Kurt Hearth
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Standing Under Spotlight
I can be a shadow on anyone's wall.
But I can not do that,
Reflecting my own light.
I can cast a shadow at noon...
To have others believe,
I have energy to give I don't need.
But to leave to cast no shadow at all,
I am not yet prepared to do.
So...
If I am caught,
Standing under spotlight...
Bright with a smile toothy white,
You know the applause I am waiting for...
Is anticipated to come from you!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Laughing
Laocoon and her two sons
Pressured storm, tried to move
No other more, emotion bound
Martyred, misconstrued
Lighted in a room, lanky room
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tune
Lighted, lighted, laughing
Laocoon and her two sons
Run the gamut, sated view
Know them more, emotion bound
Martyred, misconstrued
Lighted in a room, lanky room
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tune
Lighted, lighted, laughing
In a room, lock the door, latch the room
Lighted, lighted, laughing
Laocoon and her two sons
Ran the gamut, settled new,
Find a place fit to laugh,
Lock the doors, latch the room
Lighted in a room, lanky room
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tune
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tune
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tunes
Lighted, lighted, laughing in tunes
song performed by by REM
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Chanpa Flower
Supposing I became a chanpa flower, just for fun, and grew on a
branch high up that tree, and shook in the wind with laughter and
danced upon the newly budded leaves, would you know me, mother?
You would call, "Baby, where are you?" and I should laugh to
myself and keep quite quiet.
I should slyly open my petals and watch you at your work.
When after your bath, with wet hair spread on your shoulders,
you walked through the shadow of the champ tree to the little court
where you say your prayers, you would notice the scent of the
flower, but not know that it cane from me.
When after the midday meal you sat at the window reading
ramayana, and the tree's shadow fell over your hair and your lap,
I should fling my wee little shadow on to the page of your book,
just where you were reading.
But would you guess that it was the tiny shadow of your
little child?
When in the evening you went to the cow shed with the lighted
lamp in your hand I should suddenly drop on to the earth again and
be your own baby once more, and beg you to tell me a story.
"Where have you been, you naughty child?"
"I won't tell you, mother." That's what you and I would say
then.
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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Whithin Another Man's Shadow
Is not the same
To be in the Shadow,
Than to be the Shadow itself…
For you can move away from the Shadow
Towards the light
But, the shadows could not do
The same,
For it no longer will be the shadow…
Now it is painful and hard for me
To convince myself
That it is NOT what I thought
It could be…
Worse than anything else,
Is to share another man's shadow..
Why should I pay for another man's sins?
It wouldn't be right
And I don't deserve it..
Now I realize,
That everything was just a game
With the shadow and the light
And I caught in between…
Now, obviously, one path remains
For me to take:
The light anytime,
Then,
Definitely I will be
A free Man…
However, wondering
who my shadow
One day may be?
Since you are
Already somebody's else...
©All Rights Reserved-2009
poem by Romeo Della Valle
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Inspired by Issa - my hut's lamp
my hut's lamp -
lucky that it magnifies only
my shadow
inspired by
my hut's lamp-
even moths don't come
to the flame
-Issa,1820
poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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Tombstone Shadow
Tombstone shadow, stretchin across my path.
Tombstone shadow, stretchin across my path.
Evry time I get some good news, ooh,
Theres a shadow on my back.
Saw the gypsy man, way down in san berdoo.
Said, I saw the gypsy man, way down in san berdoo.
Five dollars on the table, ooh,
Keep me way from my tomb.
Oh! oh!
Said I got thirteen months of bad luck,
Bound to be some pain.
Dont you do no travlin,
Fly in no machines.
Tombstone shadow, stretchin across my path.
Evry time I get some good news, ooh,
Theres a shadow on my back.
The man gave me a luck charm, cost five dollars more,
Said, put some on your pillow, and put some on your door.
He said, take a long vacation, ooh,
For thirteen months or more.
Oh, lord!
Tombstone shadow, stretchin across my path.
Tombstone shadow, stretchin across my path.
Evry time I get some good news, ooh,
Theres a shadow on my back.
Oh, oh, lord!
Oh, lord!
song performed by by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Mother's Dream
As I slept one night I saw this dream
Which further increased my vexation
I dreamt I was going somewhere on the way
Dark it was and impossible to find the way
Trembling all over with fear I was
Difficult to take even a step with fear was
With some courage as I forward moved
I saw some boys as lined in nice array
Dressed in emerald-like raiment they were
Carrying lighted lamps in their hands they were
They were going quietly behind each other
No one knew where they were to go
Involved in this thought was I
When in this troupe my son saw I
He was walking at the back, and was not walking fast
The lamp he had in his hand was not lighted
Recognizing him I said 'O My dear!
Where have you come leaving me there?
Restless due to separation I am
Weeping every day for ever I am
You did not care even a little for me
What loyalty you showed, you left me'!
As the child saw the distress in me
He replied thus, turning around to me
'The separation from me makes you cry
Not least little good does this to me'
He remained quiet for a while after talking
Showing me the lamp then he started talking
'Do you understand what happened to this?
Your tears have extinguished this'!
poem by Allama Muhammad Iqbal
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The evening sky to me is like a window, and a lighted lamp, and a waiting behind it.
aphorism by Rabindranath Tagore from Stray Birds (1916), translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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lamp you lighted
morphs me into light of bliss
salutations to thee...
quote by by Indira Babbellapati
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Of Wick And Light
let my wick afloat
bright and lighted
in the sea of oil...
let the lamp vibrate
in all dark corners
within and without...
poem by Indira Babbellapati
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The Mad Man
there is this mad man on
the street carrying a lighted lamp
at midday
he screams that this world
is about to end
and people do not listen
he sometimes laughs at the top of his voice
when all of them are all gone
in the middle of the night
he sings the song of chaos
he gives the warning
but then the world is asleep and
numb,
the following morning you ask me about the mad man
how come that he screams, and lights a lamp during the day,
singing the songs of chaos
foretelling the doom of the world
i have no answer of course
but there is one thing i am sure of
it is about us not having understood him
a bit.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Gardener LXIV: I Spent My Day
I spent my day on the scorching
hot dust of the road.
Now, in the cool of the evening, I
knock at the door of the inn. It is
deserted and in ruins.
A grim ashath tree spreads its
hungry clutching roots through the
gaping fissures of the walls.
Days have been when wayfarers
came here to wash their weary feet.
They spread their mats in the
courtyard in the dim light of the
early moon, and sat and talked of
strange lands.
They woke refreshed in the morning
when birds made them glad, and
friendly flowers nodded their heads
at them from the wayside.
But no lighted lamp awaited me
when I came here.
The black smudges of smoke left by
many a forgotten evening lamp stare,
like blind eyes, from the wall.
Fireflies flit in the bush near the
dried-up pond, and bamboo branches
fling their shadows on the grass-
grown path.
I am the guest of no one at the end
of my day.
The long night is before me, and I
am tired.
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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Inside The Cross of Iron Shadow
Inside The Cross of Iron Shadow
====================
Shape to Guide Aligned by Light
Formed of Cross Divide of Shadow
Light to Darken The Cross Within
The Dark Surround The Light With Out
Shape To Confine The Shadow Caste Of Iron Cross
Pieced Together The Puzzle Within
Immediate Light of Circumstantial
Fade to Black
Cross Fade to Light
The Sound Staged Within
Shadow Sounds Free of Night
Forged Of Iron Shadow
Holier Than Thou Be This Shadow Cross of Age
Cast of Moon Beam of Light to Burn
Outline of Cross Confines The Shadow Dark
Which Binds A Mind To Light
Fore There In No Way Exist
This One Without The Other Side of Good
As Day to Blackest Night of Evil
As Sun Give Rise to Dawn To Cast Away
The Nightmare Within A Mind Of Day and Shadow
Night of Day To Darkest Cross Beam of Light
To Light A Mind Eclipsed In Shadow
Forever In Light To Dark Shade of Gray Matter
Inside The Cross Of Iron Shadow.
poem by Ricardo Antunes
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I'd Mourn the Hopes
I'd mourn the hopes that leave me,
If thy smiles had left me too;
I'd weep when friends deceive me,
If thou wert, like them, untrue.
But while I've thee before me,
With heart so warm and eyes so bright,
No clouds can linger o'er me,
That smile turns them all to light.
'Tis not in fate to harm me,
While fate leaves thy love to me:
'Tis not in joy to charm me,
Unless joy be shared with thee.
One minute's dream about thee
Were worth a long, an endless year
Of waking bliss without thee,
My own love, my only dear!
And though the hope be gone, love,
That long sparkled o'er our way,
Oh! we shall journey on, love,
More safely, without its ray.
Far better lights shall win me,
Along the path I've yet to roam --
The mind that burns within me,
And pure smiles from thee at home.
Thus, when the lamp that lighted
The traveller at first goes out,
He feels awhile benighted,
And looks round in fear and doubt.
But soon, the prospect clearing,
By cloudless starlight on he treads,
And thinks no lamp so cheering
As the light which Heaven sheds.
poem by Thomas Moore
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In Fear of Shadows They Cast On Paths Alone!
You cast a shadow...
Because there is sunlight.
You curse the darkness.
But it alone does not create your pain.
When you came to experience life...
You had every right,
To expect enlightenment.
But you chose to be sheltered.
Like the others who complain of their plight!
Gathering to satiate on their created blight.
It may become discomforting,
To remove yourself from this acceptance.
But you have been the one to cast a shadow...
Yet learning to curse it,
As if it was there to harm!
As if the joy of your birth...
Now causes much alarm.
Even though it nurtured you in the womb...
To deliver you...
To develop a cursing of its darkened presence.
Like the others who have become intimidated.
Afraid to journey on their own!
In fear of shadows they cast on paths alone!
And gathering together in tight dustballs...
In an aimless attractive sit.
Where shiftless drifters are condoned!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Lamp Lit Darkness In shadow Night
solo singer sang her soul songs
she sang opera upon life stage
all spell cast audience sat silently
listened silently sitting settled in chairs
listened to words in notes voice rapture
after success show was song sung over
an audience rose left slowly silent still
living echo of vibrant voice words enthrill
heard rosaceae heart opened bloomed
like life bloom song of vital rich red rose
later only I watched petal bloom free soul
after singer had cast off her formal shoes
to run barefoot in soft mist falling rain
to run through fresh puddles soft forming
in lamp lit mist darkness in shadow night
your soul free you ran bliss like a young girl
you ran vision race my heart also shared
could not contain in bound clay soul feeling
light shadow light shadow race you run
through night through many nights memory
poem by Terence George Craddock
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A Lamp In Us!
The small lamp commenced to burn,
When two bodies united as one,
From the day one until the day yet to know,
The lamp burns slowly in the spirit of ions.
Keeping the lamp safe from rough climes,
Protecting the yarn from the heavy dye,
Nourishing the lamp with fuels approved,
The lamp may burn quietly as expected.
we let it burn with bigger flame,
By adding steroidal fuels and nocturnal fun,
we let the motor to run in higher speed,
by pressing the temptation to accelerate.
The lamp may start to play snake and ladder,
By climbing up and down at the dice of illnesses,
Sometimes gets overheated to jam up the motor,
Hold your lamp lovingly for it to glow pleasantly.
poem by Veeraiyah Subbulakshmi
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