The Fountain Of Salmacis

Hermaphrodite: a flower containing both male and female organs; a person or animal of both sexes.
The child hermaphroditus was the son of hermes and aphrodite, the result of a secret love affair. for this reason he was entrusted to the nymphs of the isolated mount ida, who allowed him to gro
As a wild creature of the woods. after his encounter with the water-nymph salmacis, he laid a curse upon the water. according to fable, all persons who bathed in the water became hermaphrodites.
From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood,
Mount ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child;
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.
As the dawn creeps up the sky
The hunter caught sight of a doe.
In desire for conquest,
He found himself within a glade hed not beheld before.
Hermaphroditus: narrator:
Where are you, my father? then he could go no farther
Give wisdom to your son now lost, the boy was guided by the sun
And as his strength began to fail
He saw a shimmering lake.
A shadow in the dark green depths
Disturbed the strange tranquility.
Salmacis: narrator:
The waters are disturbed the waters are disturbed
Some creature has been stirred naiad queen salmacis has been stirred
As he rushed to quench his thirst,
A fountain spring appeared before him
And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist,
A liquid voice called, son of gods, drink from my spring.
The water tasted strangely sweet.
Behind him the voice called again.
He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone
And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.
Salmacis: narrator:
We shall be one she wanted them as one
We shall be joined as one yet he had no desire to be one
Hermaphroditus: away from me cold-blooded woman
Your thirst is not mine
Salmacis: nothing will cause us to part
Hear me, o gods
Unearthly calm descended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged
Forever to be joined as one.
The creature crawled into the lake.
A fading voice was heard:
And I beg, yes I beg that all who touch this spring
May share my fate
Salmacis: narrator:
We are the one the two are now made one,
We are the one demi-god and nymph are now made one
Both had given everything they had.
A lovers dream had been fulfilled at last,
Forever still beneath the lake.

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The Call Of Untainted Waters

She is like
a mountain spring
bubbling fresh clear
from unseen cool depths
of substrata earth
through fracture of rock.

I rejoice
in such beauty
on a hot
windless day.

And would
cool
my face
hands
in her
presence,
quench my
thirst,
rest a while.

But you are still
depths
of nature's lake.

There is beauty
about you
on these
your shimmering
waters
vibrant life within.

I would swim
in mysteries
of a cool lake.


poem by Terence George CraddockReport problemRelated quotes
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My Water Fountain

I drank glasses of water,
I drank water from office coolers.
Many people drank from water fountains.

I thought my thirst I could slake,
If I drank water from a cool lake.
Then I would would drink cold water,
From gushing waterfalls.

But much to my surprise,
I thirsted for all of Earth's water.

I couldn't fathom my inner self,
About slaking my thirst insatiable.
I couldn't come to grips about,
The deep waters of my life.

Was it my body? Or was it my soul?
Then I very quickly learned,
That this thirst for water that was burning in me,
Was my unending thirst for love

That everybody yearns for.
And everybody needs.
In quantities of glasses, coolers, waterfalls,
Lakes, oceans and seas.

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Cool Tubrid Water

The day is warm and dust fly in the breeze
And a forecast high of 35 degrees
And to quench my thirst I would need a cold beer
For no water like cool Tubrid water here.

Near Daylesford there's a spring well I recall
And I drank some water from it in the Fall
Of that clear spring I now could drink my fill
And Tubrid water even better still.

The skylark comes to Tubrid's bubbling spring
To bathe and drink and then fly off to sing
And o'er the bogland in the morning sky
You hear him pipe his heartfelt notes of joy.

I often called to Tubrid seldom though in May
And not to kneel at the grotto to pray
But to drink the water cool and crystal clear
A drink far better for your health than beer.

The water from the tap don't taste so nice
Though it feels cooler with a cube of ice
I have drank far better near Daylesford last Fall
Though Tubrid water still the best of all.

The day is warm and dust fly in the breeze
And a forecast high of 35 degrees
And to quench my thirst I would need a cold beer
For no water like cool Tubrid water here.

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A Soul Dies

Sky overcast, moon was sad.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

Who killed the bird in morning rain?
Ashes were sent to the lake.

A hidden slaughterman did not die.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

The good old name now spells the doom.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

I will call you in pitch-dark night.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

Ascending gods have ruined my life.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

A child was stolen from a mother’s bed.
Ashes were sent to the lake.

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Hermaphroditus

I.
LIFT UP thy lips, turn round, look back for love,
Blind love that comes by night and casts out rest;
Of all things tired thy lips look weariest,
Save the long smile that they are wearied of.
Ah sweet, albeit no love be sweet enough,
Choose of two loves and cleave unto the best;
Two loves at either blossom of thy breast
Strive until one be under and one above.
Their breath is fire upon the amorous air,
Fire in thine eyes and where thy lips suspire:
And whosoever hath seen thee, being so fair,
Two things turn all his life and blood to fire;
A strong desire begot on great despair,
A great despair cast out by strong desire.

II.
Where between sleep and life some brief space is,
With love like gold bound round about the head,
Sex to sweet sex with lips and limbs is wed,
Turning the fruitful feud of hers and his
To the waste wedlock of a sterile kiss;
Yet from them something like as fire is shed
That shall not be assuaged till death be dead,
Though neither life nor sleep can find out this.
Love made himself of flesh that perisheth
A pleasure-house for all the loves his kin;
But on the one side sat a man like death,
And on the other a woman sat like sin.
So with veiled eyes and sobs between his breath
Love turned himself and would not enter in.

III.
Love, is it love or sleep or shadow or light
That lies between thine eyelids and thine eyes?
Like a flower laid upon a flower it lies,
Or like the night’s dew laid upon the night.
Love stands upon thy left hand and thy right,
Yet by no sunset and by no moonrise
Shall make thee man and ease a woman’s sighs,
Or make thee woman for a man’s delight.
To what strange end hath some strange god made fair
The double blossom of two fruitless flowers?
Hid love in all the folds of all thy hair,
Fed thee on summers, watered thee with showers,
Given all the gold that all the seasons wear
To thee that art a thing of barren hours?

IV.
Yea, love, I see; it is not love but fear.
Nay, sweet, it is not fear but love, I know;
Or wherefore should thy body’s blossom blow
So sweetly, or thine eyelids leave so clear
Thy gracious eyes that never made a tear—
Though for their love our tears like blood should flow,
Though love and life and death should come and go,
So dreadful, so desirable, so dear?
Yea, sweet, I know; I saw in what swift wise
Beneath the woman’s and the water’s kiss
Thy moist limbs melted into Salmacis,
And the large light turned tender in thine eyes,
And all thy boy’s breath softened into sighs;
But Love being blind, how should he know of this?

Au Musée du Louvre, Mars 1863.

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Qinghai Lake

Qinghai, Qinghai Lake,
Largest salt lake in China

Blue colour water
Blue clear skies.

Birds fly near the Birds island
During spring times.

Stand high and tall at 3,600 m
Weather according to season

Sunrise at dawn
Sunset at dusk near Qinghai Lake

beautiful colourful lake
seen from hill top

Many cattle of yaks and sheep at the hills top
with the nomadic Tibetans and their tent

The lake full of beauty and colour
beyond compare

Qinghai Hu,
Many fishes and plants.

poem by Lawrence HiungReport problemRelated quotes
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Living Water

For all men who hunger and thirst, let Jesus, in your life be first,
He will from a fountain higher, come fill our heart’s every desire.
The Lord will cause living water, to flow from within you forever,
When you truly come to know, Jesus Christ, eternal waters flow.
Through the Holy Spirit my friend, His living water will never end.

In everyone who Christ redeems, from inside flow living streams,
When you thirst for righteousness, Christ will fill your emptiness.
Not with a trickle or just a drop, but with streams that won’t stop.
All who thirst, Christ has willed, from His fountain shall be filled.
Filled through The Spirit above, sent to men through God’s love.

The well which feeds the spring, is regulated by the Eternal King,
And the well will never run dry, for its source is The Lord on High.
Rivers of water shall fill the life, of all who come to Jesus Christ.
They’ll hunger and thirst no more, when they know Christ as Lord.
God fills all our remaining days, with ever flowing joy and praise.

Being His example to all around, as the Love of Christ abounds,
A love from Christ that has its start, in every truly believing heart.
It comes only as you believe, and the Spirit of Truth you receive,
This living water He gives you, Christ wants to give to others too,
Using the living water of your life, to draw others to Jesus Christ.

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Wade In The Water

(first release, live version minneapolis, december 22, 1961traditional, arranged by bob dylan)
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, who are these children all dressed in red?
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Must-a-be the children that moses lead
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well out of the mountain come fire an smoke
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Jehovah nobody be he couldve spoke
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, Im walkin down the highway an the waters gettin low
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Walkin down the highway, nowhere to go
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
But its wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.
Gods a-gonna trouble the water.

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Like the lake a Chinese poet sits beside in a painting

Who cares about
the weight of a lake?
Who would care to weigh it?

Who cares about
the colour of a lake
without the light of the sky
to reflect in it?

Who notices its modesty,
reflecting all, but silent of itself?

Who observes that the lake
remains unaffected,
not pained by loss,
not pleased by gain?

Who notices its wisdom,
obeying every law?

Who names its generosity,
among the fish, the birds,
the animals who drink?

Who knows whether the tree
leaning over it, sees its own reflection?

Who notices its love?
It bonds with earth,
It flows when needed,
as love does.

Who asks where the lake came from,
seeing it there?

Who wonders how old that lake is?
It is without age today.

Who wonders whether the lake
knows itself water,
or if water knows itself lake?

Who does not go to seek it,
for its stillness, for its silence,
as if it understands the mind’s needs,
the heart’s nourishment?

He is like that.

poem by Michael ShepherdReport problemRelated quotes
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Judith and You and A Morning Mist

The morning mist
that hung over

the pond (or your lake
as Judith called it)

had moved away
by the time she came

and stood next to you
wrapped up in her

Sunday best
waiting until the time

for the bus to take
you both to sing

in the church
her breath flowing out

on the air
like cigarette smoke

her eyes focused
on the skin

of the still water
I dreamt of you

last night
she said

you and I
were snuggled

together in my bed
having made love

you watched
a magpie take flight

over the water
nice

wish I could
have been there

in person
you said

more breath
left her lips

and rose upwards
maybe next time

you can
she said

turning her head
spreading her lips

into a smile
just be my luck

your mother
will invade the dream

and catch us
you said

yes
Judith said

that would
spoil the dream

some what
there was a mist

over the pond earlier
you said

it looked beautiful
she turned

and stared
over the water

I missed that
as you missed

making love to me
in my dream

she whispered
drawing closer

her hands
taking hold

of yours
what did you

dream about?
she asked

an empty bed
and cold sheets

and a space
where you should

have been
you said

she smiled
and said

I couldn't be
in both beds

at once could I?
once more

there was the rising
of her breath

you couldn't tell her
you'd seen

an image
of her death.

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Ovid

Salmacis And Hermaphroditus

HOW Salmacis with weak enfeebling streams
Softens the body, and unnerves the limbs,
And what the secret cause shall here be shown;
The cause is secret, but the effect is known.

The Naiads nurst an infant heretofore,
That Cytherea once to Hermes bore;
From both the illustrious authors of his race
The child was named; nor was it hard to trace
Both the bright parents through the infant's face;
When fifteen years, in Ida's cool retreat,
The boy had told, he left his native seat,
And sought fresh fountains in a foreign soil;
The pleasure lessened the attending toil.
With eager steps the Lycian fields he crossed,
And fields that border on the Lycian coast;
A River here he viewed so lovely bright,
It showed the bottom in a fairer light,
Nor kept a sand concealed from human sight.
The stream produced, nor slimy ooze, nor weeds,
Nor miry rushes nor the spiky reeds:
But dealt encircling moisture all around,
The fruitful banks with cheerful verdure crowned,
And kept the spring eternal on the ground
A nymph presides, nor practised in the chase,
Nor skilful at the bow, nor at the race;
Of all the blue-eyed daughters of the main.
The only stranger to Diana's train;
Her sisters, often, as 'tis said, would cry,
'Fie, Salmacis, what, always idle! Fie!
Or take thy quiver or thy arrows seize,
And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease.'
But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide,
Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide;
Now in the limpid streams she viewed her face,
And drest her image in the floating glass:
On beds of leaves she now reposed her limbs,
Now gathered flowers that grew about her streams;
And then by chance was gathering, as she stood
To view the boy, and longed for what she viewed.

Fain would she meet the youth with hasty feet,
She fain would meet him, but refused to meet
Before her looks were set with nicest care,
And well deserved to be reputed fair.
'Bright youth,' she cries, 'whom all thy features prove
A God, and, if a God, the God of Love;
But if a mortal, blest thy nurse's breast,
Blest are thy parents, and thy sisters blest:
But, oh! how blest! how more than blest thy bride,
Allied in bliss, if any get allied:
If so, let mine the stolen enjoyment be;
If not, behold a willing bride to me.'

The boy knew nought of love, and, touched with shame,
He strove, and blushed, but still the blush became;
In rising blushes still fresh beauties rose;
The sunny side of fruit such blushes shows,
And such the moon, when all her silver white
Turns in eclipses to a ruddy light.
The Nymph still begs, if not a nobler bliss,
A cold salute at least, a sister's kiss;
And now prepares to take the lovely boy
Between her arms. He, innocently coy,
Replies, 'Oh leave me to myself alone,
You rude, uncivil nymph, or I'll begone.'
'Fair stranger then,' says she; 'it shall be so';
And, for she feared his threats, she feigned to go;
But hid within a covert's neighboring green,
She kept him still in sight, herself unseen.
The boy now fancies all the danger o'er,
And innocently sports about the shore,
Playful and wanton to the stream he trips,
And dips his foot, and shivers as he dips,
The coolness pleases him, and with eager haste
His airy garments on the banks he cast;
His godlike features and his heavenly hue,
And all his beauties were exposed to view.
His naked limbs the nymph with rapture spies,
While hotter passions in her bosom rise,
Flush in her cheeks, and sparkle in her eyes.
She longs, she burns to clasp him in her arms,
And loves, and sighs, and kindles at his charms.

Now all undrest upon the banks he stood,
And clapt his sides and leapt into the flood:
His lovely limbs the silver waves divide,
His limbs appear more lovely through the tide;
As lilies shut within a crystal case,
Receive a glossy lustre from the glass.
'He's mine, he's all my own,' the Naiad cries,
And flings off all, and after him she flies.
And now she fastens on him as he swims,
And holds him close, and wraps about his limbs.
The more the boy resisted and was coy,
The more she kissed and clipt the strippling boy.
So when the wriggling snake is hatched on high
In eagle's claws, and hisses in the sky,
Around the foe his twirling tail he flings,
And twists her legs, and writhes about her wings.
The restless boy still obstinately strove
To free himself and still refused her love.
Amidst his limbs she kept her limbs entwined,
'And why, coy youth,' she cries, 'why thus unkind!
Oh, may the Gods thus keep us ever joined!
Oh, may we never, never part again!'
So prayed the nymph, nor did she pray in vain:
For now she finds him, as his limbs she prest,
Grow nearer still, and nearer to her breast;
Till, piercing each the other's flesh, they run
Together, and incorporate in one:
Last in one face are both their faces joined,
As when the stock and grafter twig combined
Shoot up the same, and wear a common mind:

Both bodies in a single body mix,
A single body with a double sex.
The boy, thus lost in woman, now surveyed
The river's guilty stream, and thus he prayed.
(He prayed, but wondered at his softer tone,
Surprised to hear a voice but half his own.)
You parent gods, whose heavenly names I bear,
Hear your Hermaphrodite, and grant my prayer;
Oh, grant that--whom so'er these streams contain,
If man he entered, he may rise again
Supple, unsinewed, and but half a man!

The heavenly parents answered, from on high
Their two-shaped son, the double votary;
Then gave a secret virtue to the flood,
And tinged its source to make his wishes good.

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The Mist

The mist on the water that forms over night
gives an eerie sight to my eyes.
It lingers sometimes for an hour or two
and as it lifts to the skies
I see the lake that's been hidden from view
and all seems right to my sight.
Its rippling movement on breezy days
mirror like imagery at night.

It's home to frogs and ducks at play
and the fish that jump catching flies.
And sometimes when I am lucky enough
much to my surprise
herons and egrets of snowy white
come and land on the banks.
They stalk their prey in stately manner
hoping to pull off their pranks.

So when the mist returns to my lake
I do not get forlorn.
For underneath the mist that's there
is my lake in later morn.

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The Hunchback in the Park

The hunchback in the park
A solitary mister
Propped between trees and water
From the opening of the garden lock
That lets the trees and water enter
Until the Sunday sombre bell at dark

Eating bread from a newspaper
Drinking water from the chained cup
That the children filled with gravel
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship
Slept at night in a dog kennel
But nobody chained him up.

Like the park birds he came early
Like the water he sat down
And Mister they called Hey mister
The truant boys from the town
Running when he had heard them clearly
On out of sound

Past lake and rockery
Laughing when he shook his paper
Hunchbacked in mockery
Through the loud zoo of the willow groves
Dodging the park keeper
With his stick that picked up leaves.

And the old dog sleeper
Alone between nurses and swans
While the boys among willows
Made the tigers jump out of their eyes
To roar on the rockery stones
And the groves were blue with sailors

Made all day until bell time
A woman figure without fault
Straight as a young elm
Straight and tall from his crooked bones
That she might stand in the night
After the locks and chains

All night in the unmade park
After the railings and shrubberies
The birds the grass the trees the lake
And the wild boys innocent as strawberries
Had followed the hunchback
To his kennel in the dark.

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With Every Wish

Ol catfish in the lake, we called him big jim
When I was a kid, my only wish was to get my line in him
Skipped church one sunday and throwd in my line
Jim took that hook, pole and me right over the side
Went drifting down past old tires and rusty cans of beer
The angel of the lake whispered in my ear
Before you chose your wish, son, youd better think first
With every wish there comes a curse
I fell in love with beautiful doreen
She was the prettiest thing this old townd ever seen
I courted her and I made her mine
But I grew jealous whenever another mand come walkin down the line
And my jealousy made me treat her mean and cruel
She sighed, bobby, oh bobby, youre such a fool
Dont you know before you chose your wish youd better think first
With every wish there comes a curse
These days I sit around and laugh at all the rivers Ive crossed
But on the far banks theres always another forest where a man can get lost
Well there in the high trees loves bluebird glides
Guiding us cross another river on the other side
And there someone is waitin with a look in her eyes
And though my hearts grown weary, and more than a little bit shy
Tonight Ill drink from her waters to quench my thirst
And leave the angels to worry
With every wish...

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The Reptile

The Reptile

The small lake in the vale is muddy brown and
I see what looks like an uprooted tree floating
in the middle, the tree disappears and the water
ripples like it suddenly feels cold. There has
been rumours about sheep disappearing when
grazing near the lake but since there is a good
road nearby, rustlers have been blamed; mind,
dogs too have vanished and no self-respecting
thieve can possible be interested in our motley
canines. The breeze that made the water ripple
has died out and in sharp spring sunlight I can
see the tree again, but it seems to be lower in
the water. The lake gets smaller and browner
every year less rain falls now then in the past,
a few years hence it will be a piece of dry land,
with, perhaps, a crocodile skeleton on.

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The Crocodile

The crock

The small lake in the vale is muddy brown and
I see what looks like an uprooted tree floating
in the middle, the tree disappears and the water
ripples like it suddenly feels cold. There has
been rumours about sheep disappearing when
grazing near the lake but since there is a good
road nearby, rustlers have been blamed; mind,
dogs too have vanished and no self-respecting
thieve can possible be interested in our motley
canines. The breeze that made the water ripple
has died out and in sharp spring sunlight I can
see the tree again, but it seems to be lower in
the water. The lake gets smaller and browner
every year less rain falls now then in the past,
a few years hence it will be a piece of dry land
and a dusty crocodile.

poem by Oskar HansenReport problemRelated quotes
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I went to fetch water from the lake

I went to fetch water from the lake, but my love wont let me, O mother!
Kneading my firm breasts, he lusted for the nectar of my lips, O mother!
I went to fetch water from the lake, but my love wont let me, O mother!

'How did you hurt your lips' my mother-in-law suspiciously asks.
'It was my girl friend's nail as she was helping me with the pots'
I went to fetch water from the lake, but my love wont let me, O mother!

I had gone in a great hurry but my love held me back,
It is excellent to attain Narsaiyya's Lord,
For he made me like himself, O mother!
I went to fetch water from the lake, but my love wont let me, O mother!

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September

IT is september again
the sun is yet high shining
even the lovers
love affairs
seem dead
at the lake side
looks lı ke isolated
desolate
and in solitude
several girls
and women
are lying
awkward
aimless
and clumsily on the sun
baking
all alone
they clutch their cell phones strongly
talk talk talk aND TALK
NOBODY KNOWS
if their cell phones
are their lovers
or their lovers
are their cell phones
faal is
just going to step on the lake
the lake
with mosses
and with weeds
at its sides
fall is
embracing the waist of the summer
a breeze is blowing lightly
is it the sixth or seventh of september
ı cannot guess
it seems
only your and my love
is left on the earth
ı am swimming in the lake
water lukewarm
some gulls
and herons
aproaches me
and lands on the water
to catch fish
sometimes dive
a dog looks at me
the kind you love
and asks me
where you are
she is not here ı answer
stubborn
does not accompany me
ı tooo stubborn
swim im youyr blue green florescent eyes
ı miss you very much
even if ı cannot see you
in my dreams
oh my love
where are you
evgerything is useless
without you
fall is just
goı ng to step on the lake
hurry
before it changes our fate
or else
we would be very late
hurry
fall is is just
going to pound on the lake

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The Lake, The Fountain

by the lake so still so calm
sky-blue cloud-white
more sky than water this autumn day
the air so still above

there a tree leans over the water
as if in thanks
and here a gathering of stones
awaits the offhand lapping of the wavelets
bringing out the many colours of the stones
that remember mountains edging the horizon
with light and shadow through the day

over there a fountain plashes over worn carved stone
fed by a mountain waterfall wild fountain tamed
throwing up a million new-mined diamonds
droplets sparkling like a chandelier
the sun catches turning air and water
into unceasing dance of somehow joy

the still lake the dancing fountain
telling with water two stories
stillness in joy
joy in stillness

as two white-robed nuns who whisper laughing
laughing whisper
in the cool of the evening
beside the fountain
before prayer
and holy silence

poem by Michael ShepherdReport problemRelated quotes
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I Could Be The Moon

i could be the moon
where you can be a body and a
shadow

i could be a lake where
the moon may shine
and you can still be the body
and the shadow
and the voice

i could be a candle in the dark
where you may put
your hope and you can still be the
body and the shadow
and the scent

i could all be your moon
your lake and your candle
and you can still be the body and the shadow
and you shall walk

under me (if i were the moon)
and around me (if i were the lake)
and you may have the power
to put me off (if i were just a candle
in the dark

where you are the body
and the shadow and the voice

and by the mere sigh
of your whimper
i may die

so i still prefer to be your moon
or your lake so i can be your full light
so i can be your mirror

larger than your body
not helpless to your shadow

in silence, i still like to be myself
not a slave, not someone whom you can just

give away as easily as a flicker of a candle
as fickle as you are

poem by Ric S. BastasaReport problemRelated quotes
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