English Poetry |
English Poetry |
noorie |
Feb 29 2008, 09:36 AM
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#751
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
The Strangest Creature On Earth - Nazim Hikmet You're like a scorpion, my brother, you're in a cowardly darkness like a scorpion. You're like a sparrow, my brother, you're in a sparrow's flutter. You're like a mussel, my brother, closed as a mussel, tranquil. And you're dreadful as the mouth of an extinct volcano, my brother. Not one, not five, you're in millions, unfortunately. You're like a sheep, my brother, when the cloaked drover raises his stick you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth, that is, even stranger than the fish in the sea which doesn't know the sea. And in this world, this tyranny is thanks to you. And if we're starved, tired, covered with blood and if we're still being crushed like grapes for our wine the fault is yours, - though I can't bring myself to say it - but a lot of it, my dear brother, is yours. 1947 tr. by Fuat Engin "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Feb 29 2008, 09:43 AM
Post
#752
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Love is Enough -William Morris Love is enough: though the world be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining, Though the skies be too dark for dim eyes to discover The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder, Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark wonder, And this day draw a veil over all deeds passed over, Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not falter: The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 2 2008, 03:30 PM
Post
#753
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Time Does Not Bring Relief: You All Have Lied - Edna St. Vincent Millay Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want him at the shrinking of the tide; The old snows melt from every mountain-side, And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane; But last year’s bitter loving must remain Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide. There are a hundred places where I fear To go,—so with his memory they brim. And entering with relief some quiet place Where never fell his foot or shone his face I say, “There is no memory of him here!” And so stand stricken, so remembering him. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 2 2008, 03:32 PM
Post
#754
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
The Day is Done - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight. I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me That my soul cannot resist: A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain. Come, read to me some poem, Some simple and heartfelt lay, That shall soothe this restless feeling, And banish the thoughts of day. Not from the grand old masters, Not from the bards sublime, Whose distant footsteps echo Through the corridors of Time. For, like strains of martial music, Their mighty thoughts suggest Life's endless toil and endeavor; And to-night I long for rest. Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As showers from the clouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start; Who, through long days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, Still heard in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies. Such songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care, And come like the benediction That follows after prayer. Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares, that infest the day, Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:00 PM
Post
#755
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Belief -Josephine Miles Mother said to call her if the H-bomb exploded And I said I would, and it about did When Louis my brother robbed a service station And lay cursing on the oily cement in handcuffs. But by that time it was too late to tell Mother, She was too sick to worry the life out of her Over why why. Causation is sequence And everything is one thing after another. Besides, my other brother, Eddie, had got to be President, And you can't ask too much of one family. The chances were as good for a good future As bad for a bad one. Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:07 PM
Post
#756
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Carpentry - Carl Dennis Carpenters whose wives have run off Are sometimes discovered weeping on the job. But even then they don’t complain of their work. Whitman’s father was a carpenter. He was so happy hammering houses That he jumped with a shout from the roof beam And rolled with a yawp in the timothy. This led his son to conclude wrongly That all workmen are singers. Whitman’s father was weak. He had trouble holding a job. He hoped that the house he was working on Would be lived in by a man more steady Than he was, who would earn his sleep, Dreaming easy under a sound roof With no rain in his face. Of course, there are bad carpenters everywhere. They don’t care if the walls don’t meet. “After all,” they argue, “We’re not building airplanes.” But Whitman’s father measured his nails. Many mornings, clacking his plane, He crooned a song to the corners, Urging them on to a snug fit. No needles of heat will escape through a crack If he can help it, no threads of light. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:12 PM
Post
#757
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Childhood’s Retreat - Robert Duncan It’s in the perilous boughs of the tree out of blue sky the wind sings loudest surrounding me. And solitude, a wild solitude’s revealed, fearfully, high I’d climb into the shaking uncertainties, part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back —the barking of a dog, autumnal burnings, far calls, close calls— the boy I was calls out to me here the man where I am “Look! I’ve been where you most fear to be.” "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:18 PM
Post
#758
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Marriage a-la-Mode - John Dryden Why should a foolish marriage vow, Which long ago was made, Oblige us to each other now When passion is decay'd? We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could, Till our love was lov'd out in us both: But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled: 'Twas pleasure first made it an oath. If I have pleasures for a friend, And farther love in store, What wrong has he whose joys did end, And who could give no more? 'Tis a madness that he should be jealous of me, Or that I should bar him of another: For all we can gain is to give our selves pain, When neither can hinder the other. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:22 PM
Post
#759
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Meeting at Night -Robert Browning I The grey sea and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low; And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep, As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i' the slushy sand. II Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; Three fields to cross till a farm appears; A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match, And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears, Than the two hearts beating each to each! "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
pinky |
Mar 4 2008, 06:22 PM
Post
#760
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4221 Joined: 28-January 06 Member No.: 4518 |
Noorie, thanks a lot for all the poems that you have posted,such a beautiful collection..
part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back ... ..................................... Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. ....................................... Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! ....................................... you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth ....................................... Thanks "The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart." Far, very far, into the world of the farthest beyond My hope carries me and places me On the sweetest lap of the unknown. There i behold my self-form In the Dance-Delight of the Absolute Every Night and every Morn Some to Misery are born Every morn and every Night Some are born to sweet Delight Some are born to Endless night |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:25 PM
Post
#761
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Mutability - Percy Bysshe Shelley The flower that smiles to-day To-morrow dies; All that we wish to stay Tempts and then flies. What is this world's delight? Lightning that mocks the night, Brief even as bright. Virtue, how frail it is! Friendship how rare! Love, how it sells poor bliss For proud despair! But we, though soon they fall, Survive their joy, and all Which ours we call. Whilst skies are blue and bright, Whilst flowers are gay, Whilst eyes that change ere night Make glad the day; Whilst yet the calm hours creep, Dream thou—and from thy sleep Then wake to weep. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
noorie |
Mar 4 2008, 06:37 PM
Post
#762
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Noorie, thanks a lot for all the poems that you have posted,such a beautiful collection.. part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back ... ..................................... Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. ....................................... Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! ....................................... you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth ....................................... Thanks Pinkz, thanks so much! This is one of the few threads that I know where I won't be unwelcome. Catch 22, my gratitude to you. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
pinky |
Mar 4 2008, 06:40 PM
Post
#763
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Dedicated Member Group: Members Posts: 4221 Joined: 28-January 06 Member No.: 4518 |
Noorie, thanks a lot for all the poems that you have posted,such a beautiful collection.. part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back ... ..................................... Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. ....................................... Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! ....................................... you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth ....................................... Thanks Pinkz, thanks so much! This is one of the few threads that I know where I won't be unwelcome. Catch 22, my gratitude to you. I feel the same noorie, what a great thread.. you are most welcome everywhere noorie "The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched...but are felt in the heart." Far, very far, into the world of the farthest beyond My hope carries me and places me On the sweetest lap of the unknown. There i behold my self-form In the Dance-Delight of the Absolute Every Night and every Morn Some to Misery are born Every morn and every Night Some are born to sweet Delight Some are born to Endless night |
iiluu |
Mar 4 2008, 06:44 PM
Post
#764
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Member Group: Members Posts: 213 Joined: 26-October 05 Member No.: 3076 |
Noorie, thanks a lot for all the poems that you have posted,such a beautiful collection.. part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back ... ..................................... Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. ....................................... Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! ....................................... you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth ....................................... Thanks Pinkz, thanks so much! This is one of the few threads that I know where I won't be unwelcome. Catch 22 , my gratitude to you. More Poems... ...
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noorie |
Mar 5 2008, 04:03 PM
Post
#765
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Dedicated Member Group: Away Posts: 3219 Joined: 21-June 06 Member No.: 6518 |
Noorie, thanks a lot for all the poems that you have posted,such a beautiful collection.. part out of longing, part daring my self, part to see that widening of the world, part to find my own, my secret hiding sense and place, where from afar all voices and scenes come back ... ..................................... Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from Mother, She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified, Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan Noblesse oblige. ....................................... Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time would ease me of my pain! ....................................... you join the herd at once and almost proudly run to the slaughter house. You're the strangest creature on earth ....................................... Thanks Pinkz, thanks so much! This is one of the few threads that I know where I won't be unwelcome. Catch 22, my gratitude to you. I feel the same noorie, what a great thread.. you are most welcome everywhere noorie Catch is a great guy. I wish he hadn't gone away. Pinkz, about that "welcome" bit, I am not so sure. That's why I don't visit other people's threads anymore. "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" "You have enemies? Good! It means that you stood up for something, sometime in your life." |
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