Poem,Emotion "A Tree A tree beside the sandy river-beach Holds up its topmost boughs Like fingers towards the skies they cannot reach, Earth-bound, heaven amorous. This is the soul of man. Body and brain Hungry for earth our heavenly flight detain. ",sad "Sri Krishna O immense Light and thou, O spirit-wide boundless Space, Whom have you clasped and hid, deathless limbs, gloried face? Vainly lie 'Space and Time, ""Void are we, there is none."" Vainly strive Self and World crying, ""I, I alone."" One is there, Self of self, Soul of space, Fount of Time, Heart of hearts, Mind of minds, He alone sits, sublime. Oh, no void Absolute self-absorbed, splendid, mute, Hands that clasp hold and red lips that kiss blow the flute. All He loves, all He moves, all are His, all are He! Many limbs sate His whims, hear His sweet ecstasy. Two in One, Two who know difference rich in sense, Two to clasp, One to be, this His strange mystery.",love "Who In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest, Whose is the hand that has painted the glow? When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether, Who was it roused them and bade them to blow? He is lost in the heart, in the cavern of Nature, He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought: In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven, In the luminous net of the stars He is caught. In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman, In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl; The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven, Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl. These are His works and His veils and His shadows; But where is He then? by what name is He known? Is He Brahma or Vishnu? A man or a woman? Bodied or bodiless? twin or alone? We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent, A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce. We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains, We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres. We will tell the whole world of His ways and His cunning: He has rapture of torture and passion and pain; He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping, Then lures with His joy and His beauty again. All music is only the sound of His laughter, All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss; Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal Of Radha and Krishna, our love is their kiss. He is strength that is loud in the blare of the trumpets, And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears; He slays without stint and is full of compassion; He wars for the world and its ultimate years. In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages, Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure, Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker He is throned in His seats that for ever endure. The Master of man and his infinite Lover, He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see; We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions, We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free. It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless, And into the midnight His shadow is thrown; When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness, He was seated within it immense and alone.",peace "Revelation Someone leaping from the rocks Past me ran with windblown locks Like a startled bright surmise Visible to mortal eyes, — Just a cheek of frightened rose That with sudden beauty glows, Just a footstep like the wind And a hurried glance behind, And then nothing, — as a thought Escapes the mind ere it is caught. Someone of the heavenly rout From behind the veil ran out.",sad "The Silver Call There is a godhead of unrealised things To which Time's splendid gains are hoarded dross; A cry seems near, a rustle of silver wings Calling to heavenly joy by earthly loss. All eye has seen and all the ear has heard Is a pale illusion by some greater voice And mightier vision; no sweet sound or word, No passion of hues that make the heart rejoice Can equal these diviner ecstasies. A Mind beyond our mind has sole the ken Of those yet unimagined harmonies, The fate and privilege of unborn men. As rain-thrashed mire the marvel of the rose, Earth waits that distant marvel to disclose.",joy "Surrender O THOU of whom I am the instrument, O secret Spirit and Nature housed in me, Let all my mortal being now be blent In Thy still glory of divinity. I have given my mind to be dug Thy channel mind, I have offered up my will to be Thy will : Let nothing of myself be left behind In our union mystic and unutterable. My heart shall throb with the world-beats of Thy 1ove; My body become Thy engine for earth-use; In my nerves and veins Thy rapture's streams shall move ; My thoughts shall be hounds of Light for Thy power to loose. Keep only my soul to adore eternally And meet Thee in each form and soul of Thee.",love "Krishna At last I find a meaning of soul's birth Into this universe terrible and sweet, I who have felt the hungry heart of earth Aspiring beyond heaven to Krishna's feet. I have seen the beauty of immortal eyes, And heard the passion of the Lover's flute, And known a deathless ecstasy's surprise And sorrow in my heart for ever mute. Nearer apd nearer now the music draws, Life shudders with a strange felicity; All Nature is a wide enamoured pause Hoping her lord to touch, to clasp, to be. For this one moment lived the ages past; The world now throbs fulfilled in me at last",joy "The Blue Bird I am the bird of God in His blue; Divinely high and clear I sing the notes of the sweet and the true For the god's and the seraph's ear. I rise like a fire from the mortal's earth Into a griefless sky And drop in the suffering soil of his birth Fire-seeds of ecstasy. My pinions soar beyond Time and Space Into unfading Light; I bring the bliss of the Eternal's face And the boon of the Spirit's sight. I measure the worlds with my ruby eyes; I have perched on Wisdom's tree Thronged with the blossoms of Paradise By the streams of Eternity. Nothing is hid from my burning heart; My mind is shoreless and still; My song is rapture's mystic art, My flight immortal will.",sad "Bride of the Fire Bride of the Fire, clasp me now close, - Bride of the Fire! I have shed the bloom of the earthly rose, I have slain desire. Beauty of the Light, surround my life, - Beauty of the Light! I have sacrificed longing and parted from grief, I can bear thy delight. Image of Ecstasy, thrill and enlace, - Image of Bliss! I would see only thy marvellous face, Feel only thy kiss. Voice of Infinity, sound in my heart, - Call of the One! Stamp there thy radiance, never to part, O living sun.",love "A God's Labour I have gathered my dreams in a silver air Between the gold and the blue And wrapped them softly and left them there, My jewelled dreams of you. I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge Marrying the soil to the sky And sow in this dancing planet midge The moods of infinity. But too bright were our heavens, too far away, Too frail their ethereal stuff; Too splendid and sudden our light could not stay; The roots were not deep enough. He who would bring the heavens here Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way. Coercing my godhead I have come down Here on the sordid earth, Ignorant, labouring, human grown Twixt the gates of death and birth. I have been digging deep and long Mid a horror of filth and mire A bed for the golden river’s song, A home for the deathless fire. I have laboured and suffered in Matter’s night To bring the fire to man; But the hate of hell and human spite Are my meed since the world began. ",sad "Musa Spiritus O Word concealed in the upper fire, Thou who hast lingered through centuries, Descend from thy rapt white desire, Plunging through gold eternities. Into the gulfs of our nature leap, Voice of the spaces, call of the Light! Break the seals of Matter's sleep, Break the trance of the unseen height. In the uncertain glow of human mind, Its waste of unharmonied thronging thoughts, Carve thy epic mountain-lined Crowded with deep prophetic grots. Let thy hue-winged lyrics hover like birds Over the swirl of the heart's sea. Touch into sight with thy fire-words The blind indwelling deity. O Muse of the Silence, the wideness make In the unplumbed stillness that hears thy voice, In the vast mute heavens of the spirit awake Where thy eagles of Power flame and rejoice. Out, out with the mind and its candles flares, Light, light the suns that never die. For my ear the cry of the seraph stars And the forms of the Gods for my naked eye! Let the little troubled life-god within Cast his veils from the still soul, His tiger-stripes of virtue and sin, His clamour and glamour and thole and dole;",love "Invitation With wind and the weather beating round me Up to the hill and the moorland I go. Who will come with me? Who will climb with me? Wade through the brook and tramp through the snow? Not in the petty circle of cities Cramped by your doors and your walls I dwell; Over me God is blue in the welkin Against me the wind and the storm rebel. I sport with solitude here in my regions, Of misadventure have me a friend. Who would live largely?Who would live freely? Here to the wind-swept uplands ascend. I am the lord of tempest and mountain, I am the Spirit of freedom and pride. Stark must he be and a kinsman to danger Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side",courage "The Miracle of Birth I saw my soul a traveller through Time; From life to life the cosmic ways it trod, Obscure in the depths and on the heights sublime, Evolving from the worm into the god. A spark of the eternal Fire, it came To build a house in Matter for the Unborn. The inconscient sunless Night received the flame, In the brute seed of things dumb and forlorn Life stirred and Thought outlined a gleaming shape Till on the stark inanimate earth could move, Born to somnambulist Nature in her sleep A thinking creature who can hope and love. Still by slow steps the miracle goes on, The Immortal's gradual birth mid mire and stone. ",peace "Because Thou Art Because Thou art All-beauty and All-bliss, My soul blind and enamoured yearns for Thee; It bears thy mystic touch in all that is And thrills with the burden of that ecstasy. Behind all eyes I meet Thy secret gaze And in each voice I hear Thy magic tune: Thy sweetness haunts my heart through Nature's ways Nowhere it beats now from Thy snare immune. It loves Thy body in all living things; Thy joy is there in every leaf and stone: The moments bring thee on their fiery wings; Sight's endless artistry is Thou alone. Time voyages with Thee upon its prow And all the futures passionate hope is Thou",peace "The Inner Fields There is a brighter ether than this blue Pretence of an enveloping heavenly vault, Royaler investiture than this massed assault Of emerald rapture pearled with tears of dew. Immortal spaces of cerulean hue Are in our reach and fields without this fault Of drab brown earth and streams that never halt In their deep murmur which white flowers strew Floating like stars upon a strip of sky. This world behind is made of truer stuff Than the manufactured tissue of earth's grace. There we can walk and see the gods go by And sip from Hebe's cup nectar enough To make for us heavenly limbs and deathless face.",joy "The Golden Light Thy golden Light came down into my brain And the grey rooms of mind sun-touched became A bright reply to Wisdom's occult plane, A calm illumination and a flame. Thy golden Light came down into my throat, And all my speech is now a tune divine, A paean-song of Thee my single note; My words are drunk with the Immortal's wine. Thy golden Light came down into my heart Smiting my life with Thy eternity; Now has it grown a temple where Thou art And all its passions point towards only Thee. Thy golden Light came down into my feet, My earth is now Thy playfield and Thy seat.",peace "Evolution (revised) I passed into a lucent still abode And saw as in a mirror crystalline An ancient Force ascending serpentine The unhasting spirals of the aeonic road. Earth was a cradle for the arriving god And man but a half-dark half-luminous sign Of the transition of the veiled Divine From Matter's sleep and the tormented load Of ignorant life and death to the Spirit's light. Mind liberated swam Light's ocean vast, And life escaped from its grey tortured line; I saw Matter illumining its parent Night. The soul could feel into infinity cast Timeless God-bliss the heart incarnadine.",surprise "Bande Mataram Mother, I bow to thee! Rich with thy hurrying streams, Bright with thy orchard gleams, Cool with thy winds of delight, Dark fields waving, Mother of might, Mother free. Glory of moonlight dreams Over thy branches and lordly streams, Clad in thy blossoming trees, Mother, giver of ease, Laughing low and sweet! Mother, I kiss thy feet, Speaker sweet and low! Mother, to thee I bow. Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands, When the swords flash out in twice seventy million hands And seventy millions voices roar Thy dreadful name from shore to shore? With many strengths who art mighty and stored, To thee I call, Mother and Lord! Thou who savest, arise and save! To her I cry who ever her foemen drave Back from plain and sea And shook herself free. Thou art wisdom, thou art law, Thou our heart, our soul, our breath, Thou the love divine, the awe In our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nerves the arm, Thine the beauty, thine the charm. Every image made divine In our temples is but thine. Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen, With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen, Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned, Pure and perfect without peer, Mother, lend thine ear. Rich with thy hurrying streams, Bright with thy orchard gleams, Dark of hue, O candid-fair In thy soul, with jewelled hair And thy glorious smile divine, Loveliest of all earthly lands, Showering wealth from well-stored hands! Mother, mother mine! Mother sweet, I bow to thee, Mother great and free.",love "The Word of The Silence A bare impersonal hush is now my mind, A world of sight clear and inimitable, A volume of silence by a Godhead signed, A greatness pure, virgin of will. Once on its pages Ignorance could write In a scribble of intellect the blind guess of Time And cast gleam-messages of ephemeral light, A food for souls that wander on Nature's rim. But now I listen to a greater Word Born from the mute unseen omniscient Ray: The Voice that only Silence' ear has heard Leaps missioned from an eternal glory of Day. All turns from a wideness and unbroken peace To a tumult of joy in a sea of wide release.",peace "The Universal Incarnation There is a Wisdom like a brooding Sun, A Bliss in the heart's crypt grown fiery white, The heart of a world in which all hearts are one, A Silence on the mountains of delight. A Calm that cradles Fate upon its knees; A wide Compassion leans to embrace earth's pain; A Witness dwells within our secrecies, The incarnate Godhead in the body of man. Our mind is a glimmering curtain of that Ray, Our strength a parody of the Immortal's power, Our joy a dreamer on the Eternal's way Hunting the fugitive beauty of an hour. Only on the heart's veiled door the word of flame Is written, the secret and tremendous Name.",peace "The Witness Spirit I dwell in the spirit's calm nothing can move And watch the actions of Thy vast world-force, Its mighty wings that through infinity move And the Time-gallopings of the deathless Horse. This mute stupendous Energy that whirls The stars and nebulae in its long train, Like a huge Serpent through my being curls With its diamond hood of joy and fangs of pain. It rises from the dim inconscient deep Upcoiling through the minds and hearts of men, Then touches on some height of luminous sleep The bliss and splendour of the eternal plane. All this I bear in me, untouched and still Assenting to Thy all-wise inscrutable will.",peace "Nirvana All is abolished but the mute Alone. The mind from thought released, the heart from grief, Grow inexistent now beyond belief; There is no I, no Nature, known-unknown. The city, a shadow picture without tone, Floats, quivers unreal; forms without relief Flow, a cinema's vacant shapes; like a reef Foundering in shoreless gulfs the world is done. Only the illimitable Permanent Is here. A Peace stupendous, featureless, still. Replaces all, - what once was I, in It A silent unnamed emptiness content Either to fade in the Unknowable Or thrill with the luminous seas of the Infinite.",peace "The Call of The Impossible Our godhead calls us in unrealised things. Asleep in the wide fields of destiny, A world guarded by Silence' rustling wings Sheltered their fine impossibility. But part, but quiver the cerulean gates, Close splendours look into our dreaming eyes; We bear proud deities and magnificent fates; Faces and hands come near from Paradise. What shone thus far above is here in us; Bliss unattained our future's birthright is; Beauty of our dim soul is amorous, We are the heirs of infinite widenesses. The impossible is the hint of what shall be, Mortal the door to immortality.",peace "The Dreamboat Who was it that came to me in a boat made of dream-fire, With his flame brow and his sun-gold body? Melted was the silence into a sweet secret murmur, ""Do you come now? Is the heart's fire ready?"" Hidden in the recesses of the heart something shuddered, It recalled all that the life's joy cherished, Imaged the felicity it must leave lost forever, And the boat passed and the gold god vanished. Now within the hollowness of the world's breast inhabits - For the love died and the old joy ended - Void of a felicity that has fled, gone for ever, And the gold god and the dream boat come not.",sad "Cosmic Consciousness I have wrapped the wide world in my wider self And Time and Space my spirit's seeing are. I am the god and demon, ghost and elf, I am the wind's speed and the blazing star. All Nature is the nursling of my care, I am its struggle and the eternal rest; The world's joy thrilling runs through me, I bear The sorrow of millions in my lonely breast. I have learned a close identity with all, Yet am by nothing bound that I become; Carrying in me the universe's call I mount to my imperishable home. I pass beyond Time and life on measureless wings, Yet still am one with born and unborn things.",peace "The Kingdom Within There is a kingdom of the spirit's ease. It is not in this helpless swirl of thought, Foam from the world-sea or spray-whisper caught, With which we build mind's shifting symmetries, Nor in life's stuff of passionate unease, Nor the heart's unsure emotions frailty wrought Nor trivial clipped sense-joys soon brought to nought Nor in this body's solid transiences. Wider behind than the vast universe Our spirit scans the drama and the stir, A peace, a light, an ecstasy, a power Waiting at the end of blindness and the curse That veils it from its ignorant minister, The grandeur of its free eternal hour.",love "Life And Death Life, death, - death, life; the words have led for ages Our thought and consciousness and firmly seemed Two opposites; but now long-hidden pages Are opened, liberating truths undreamed. Life only is, or death is life disguised, - Life a short death until by Life we are surprised.",peace "Bride of the Fire Bride of the Fire, clasp me now close, - Bride of the Fire! I have shed the bloom of the earthly rose, I have slain desire. Beauty of the Light, surround my life, - Beauty of the Light! I have sacrificed longing and parted from grief, I can bear thy delight. Image of Ecstasy, thrill and enlace, - Image of Bliss! I would see only thy marvellous face, Feel only thy kiss. Voice of Infinity, sound in my heart, - Call of the One! Stamp there thy radiance, never to part, O living sun.",hate "Ocean Oneness Silence is round me, wideness ineffable; White birds on the ocean diving and wandering; A soundless sea on a voiceless heaven, Azure on azure, is mutely gazing. Identified with silence and boundlessness My spirit widens clasping the universe Till all that seemed becomes the Real, One in a mighty and single vastness. Someone broods there nameless and bodiless, Conscious and lonely, deathless and infinite, And, sole in a still eternal rapture, Gathers all things to his heart for ever.",peace "I Have A Hundred Lives I have a hundred lives before me yet To grasp thee in, O Spirit ethereal, Be sure I will with heart insatiate Pursue thee like a hunter through them all. Thou yet shalt turn back on the eternal way And with awakened vision watch me come Smiling a little at errors past and lay Thy eager hand in mine, its proper home. Meanwhile made happy by thy happiness I shall approach thee in things and people dear, And in thy spirit's motions half-possess, Loving what thou hast loved, shall feel thee near, Until I lay my hands on thee indeed Somewhere among the stars, as 'twas decreed.",sad "The Unseen Infinite Arisen to voiceless unattainable peaks I meet no end, for all is boundless He, An absolute Joy the wide-winged spirit seeks, A Might, a Presence, an Eternity. In the inconscient dreadful dumb Abyss Are heard the heart-beats of the Infinite. The insensible midnight veils His trance of bliss, A fathomless sealed astonishment of Light. In His ray that dazzles our vision everywhere, Our half-closed eyes seek fragments of the One: Only the eyes of Immortality dare To look unblinded on that living Sun. Yet are our souls the Immortal's selves within, Comrades and powers and children of the Unseen.",sad "Life Mystic Miracle, daughter of Delight, Life, thou ecstasy, Let the radius of thy flight Be eternity. On thy wings thou bearest high Glory and disdain, Godhead and mortality, Ecstasy and pain. Take me in thy wild embrace Without weak reserve Body dire and unveiled face; Faint not, Life, nor swerve. All thy bliss I would explore, All thy tyranny. Cruel like the lion's roar, Sweet like springtide be. Like a Titan I would take, Like a God enjoy, Like a man contend and make, Revel like a boy. More I will not ask of thee, Nor my fate would choose; King or conquered let me be, Live or lose. Even in rags I am a god; Fallen, I am divine; High I triumph when down-trod, Long I live when slain.",sad "God Thou who pervadest all the worlds below, Yet sitst above, Master of all who work and rule and know, Servant of Love! Thou who disdainest not the worm to be Nor even the clod, Therefore we know by that humility That thou art God.",surprise "Liberation I have thrown from me the whirling dance of mind And stand now in the spirit's silence free, Timeless and deathless beyond creature-kind, The centre of my own eternity. I have escaped and the small self is dead; I am immortal, alone, ineffable; I have gone out from the universe I made, And have grown nameless and immeasurable. My mind is hushed in a wide and endless light, My heart a solitude of delight and peace, My sense unsnared by touch and sound and sight, My body a point in white infinities. I am the one Being's sole immobile Bliss: No one I am, I who am all that is.",joy "Soul In The Ignorance Soul in the Ignorance, wake from its stupor. Flake of the world-fire, spark of Divinity, Lift up thy mind and thy heart into glory. Sun in the darkness, recover thy lustre. One, universal, ensphering creation, Wheeling no more with inconscient Nature, Feel thyself God-born, know thyself deathless. Timeless return to thy immortal existence.",peace "The Godhead I sat behind the dance of Danger's hooves In the shouting street that seemed a futurist's whim, And suddenly felt, exceeding Nature's grooves, In me, enveloping me the body of Him. Above my head a mighty head was seen, A face with the calm of immortality And an omnipotent gaze that held the scene In the vast circle of its sovereignty. His hair was mingled with the sun and breeze ; The world was in His heart and He was I: I housed in me the Everlasting's peace, The strength of One whose substance cannot die. The moment passed and all was as before; Only that deathless memory I bore.",peace "Transformation: Sonnet My breath runs in a subtle rhythmic stream; It fills my members with a might divine: I have drunk the Infinite like a giant’s wine. Time is my drama or my pageant dream. Now are my illumined cells joy’s flaming scheme And changed my thrilled and branching nerves to fine Channels of rapture opal and hyaline For the influx of the Unknown and the Supreme. I am no more a vassal of flesh, A slave to Nature and her leaden rule; I am caught no more in the senses’ narrow mesh. My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight, My body is God’s happy living tool, My spirit a vast sun of deathless light.",courage "To Weep Because To weep because a glorious sun has set Which the next morn shall gild the east again; To mourn that mighty strengths must yield to fate Which by that force a double strength attain; To shrink from pain without whose friendly strife Joy could not be, to make a terror of death Who smiling beckons us to farther life, And is a bridge for the persistent breath; Despair and anguish and the tragic grief Of dry set eyes, or such disastrous tears As rend the heart, though meant for its relief, And all man's ghastly company of fears Are born of folly that believes the span Of life the limit of immortal man.",sad "Kamadeva When in the heart of the valleys and hid by the roses The sweet Love lies, Has he wings to rise to his heavens or in the closes Lives and dies? On the peaks of the radiant mountains if we should meet him Proud and free, Will he not frown on the valleys? Would it befit him Chained to be? Will you then speak of the one as a slave and a wanton, The other too bare? But God is the only slave and the only monarch We declare. It is God who is Love and a boy and a slave for our passion He was made to serve; It is God who is free and proud and the limitless tyrant Our souls deserve.",peace "The Guest - Sonnet I have discovered my deep deathless being: Masked by my front of mind, immense, serene It meets the world with an Immortal's seeing, A god-spectator of the human scene. No pain and sorrow of the heart and flesh Can tread that pure and voiceless sanctuary. Danger and fear, Fate's hounds, slipping their leash Rend body and nerve, - the timeless Spirit is free. Awake, God's ray and witness in my breast, In the undying substance of my soul Flamelike, inscrutable the almighty Guest. Death nearer comes and Destiny takes her toll; He hears the blows that shatter Nature's house: Calm sits He, formidable, luminous.",peace "Oh Lord, what shall I say to You? by Anandamurti (Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar) English version by Gunther Smith Oh Lord, what shall I say to You? You have broken my dark slumber, and now I shall move on the Path of Light. I shall move, I shall move, I shall move. My flower, which was long neglected, You have threaded in Your garland. The offerings of my mind, which were soiled with dust, You have taken onto Your lap. I exchange all I had, for I have received You. To You alone I will listen. I will listen, I will listen, I will listen.",peace "Oh unknown traveler, you come alone by Anandamurti (Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar) English version by Gunther Smith Oh unknown traveler, you come alone. At the end of night when the jasmine flower fell. Seeing my door closed, you stood by the wayside. My eyes half closed in sleep, some things I could see, and some things I could not. Then you went away at dawn, wet with the mist at the end of night, floating in the infinite void. The jasmine creeper at my door still carries the message of your arrival. Removing its drops of dew, it remains awake, ever waiting for you. If at that time, I had opened my door, and whispered a word in your ear that autumn midnight, I would have floated aloft, and mingled myself in your melody.",peace "On the path of the journey to effulgence, by Anandamurti (Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar) English version by Gunther Smith On the path of the journey to effulgence, all are invited today, hence, I call. The Earth, swinging in the great universal swing, has become beautiful. Today, there is no discrimination. Come all together, forgetting rivalry, let us all jointly announce that we are one and will remain one. All hearts are threaded in the same garland of gems. Let us all sing the song in the same tune. There is no high or low, black or white. All are brothers in the world. Pain or earnestness of one, is pain or earnestness of all. All hearts oscillate in the same swing, within the ocean of nectar, singing one song. Full of love, arousing hope, speaking in the same tone?look ahead. Extending love to both friend and foe, singing the song of pardon, let us go forward.",love "The violin of all human minds by Anandamurti (Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar) English version by Gunther Smith The violin of all human minds is playing with one harmony today, and so is the scent of every heart. With Your sweet appearance, You have descended on the Earth, giving the same realization. Do not break this garland of flowers, which is the entire wealth of my love. Come closer and still closer and closer; and take away my everything.",love "At dusk, at dawn I gaze upon your beauty by Darshan Singh English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi Original Language Urdu At dusk, at dawn I gaze upon your beauty -- A dazzling spectacle of rising moon and sun. So far, the wayfarers have not discovered your footprints: They stand staring at the stepstone of your door Your glance of abundant grace did not satisfy; We with the seeing eye know a glance from a glance. Saqi, they've just arrived and taken their seats; How is it that they've already gained intimacy? Some you inspire with the madness of prostration: They cannot tell their heads from your door. Saqi, whoever comes by even a tinge of awakening We see sitting in your assembly, oblivious to this world. Men who are maddened by the thought of the goal See not fellow travelers -- they are intent on the road. Master, in what strange state your Darshan lives: We always see his eyes moist with tears.",joy "How did I ever think silence the language of love? by Darshan Singh English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi Original Language Urdu How did I ever think silence the language of love? What I thought would not come to light was in plain sight. I hear my silence talked of in every lane; The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain. The beloved's regard was but a flash of light; How innocent to think I'd found eternal bliss. These, too, in the end were the gardener's: the lightning and the wind And that handful of pitiful straws I'd called my nest. Darshan, the glances I'd fancied voiced my love -- Even they couldn't convey the unplumbed depths of my longing.",love "How should I tell of the feeling that reigns by Darshan Singh English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi Original Language Urdu How should I tell of the feeling that reigns in the court of the friend? Dancing light is my beloved's face, cup and carafe are ecstatic! Every nook and cranny is effulgent with his light; Every mote and grain celebrates the beloved's face. On earth from end to end I see his beauty, In heaven after heaven I gaze upon my friend. Seeker banished from the beatific vision, look through the eyes of your heart! How can you see the beloved's light with eyes of flesh and blood? Man's sorrows I bore, this world I loved -- My whole life I gave to the work of my friend. Brushing past me, it stirred my heart and was gone: God! The morning breeze has learned to tease from my friend. Let them try to imprison him in temple, mosque and church! The seeing eye finds the beloved's signs in every mote. Very near your heart are seekers of your vision; Those who look at the surface are exiled from the beloved's light. What can I say of the grace he showers on me within? Darshan, the moment I close my eyes, the beloved's light begins.",love " In what state was I by Darshan Singh English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi Original Language Urdu Who knows, in what state was I when I met her eyes? Where, who was I? Completely lost. For you that sun and that moon are gaudy snares: Beware, lest caught, your gaze rise no higher. My love -- the paradise at my journey's end -- is annoyed. Why does every path seem so lonesome? Impetuous tipplers, have regard for the goblets and cups! As you journey through the world of hearts, step gently. My madness knows why, nightlong, desperate with sorrow, I rush about with tearful eyes, embracing shadows. I follow no guide, no creed -- just an inkling of the way: A tug at my heart leads me forward. Friends, we must not let the darkness enshroud us again! So many kissed the gallows before we saw this dawn. When beauty herself provokes a look, therein lies the thrill: Were she not so expectant, what would compel my eyes? Darshan, life is the confluence of reality and dream: In this union lies the exaltation of a human being. ",love "Wonder of wonders! by Darshan Singh English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi Original Language Urdu Wonder of wonders! What grace flows within the saqi's tavern! The secrets of both worlds are an open book in his cup. Why do you seek in the temple? What will you find in the Ka'aba? Open your inner eye, look in the idol house of your heart. Friends, by morning you'll find nothing here but ashes: My heart also burns, with the same sorrow as the moth. The wine of Truth the saqi keeps concealed in his eyes, Whatever he pours in the cup deceives thirst. Who is aware of this wonder? Without instruments Resounds a symphony in the chamber of the heart! Saqi, is slaying my desire your kind of mercy? I hear endless ecstasy reigns in your tavern. In moments of quietude, I often begin to wonder: Is a musician playing a melody within my joyful heart? In all your life, Darshan, nowhere will you find A joy to rival the rapture of Master's tavern. ",peace "Ah, Come Sit Beside Me by Jiddu Krishnamurti Ah, come sit beside me by the sea, open and free. I will tell thee of that inward calmness As of the still deep; Of that inward freedom As of the skies; Of that inward happiness As of the dancing waters. And as now the moon makes a silent path on the dark sea, So beside me lies the clear path of pure understanding. The groaning sorrow is hid under a mocking smile, The heart is heavy with the burden of corruptible love, The deceptions of the mind pervert thought. Ah, come sit beside me Open and free. As the even flow of clear sunlight, So shall thine understanding come to thee. The burdensome fear of anxious waiting Shall go from thee as the waters recede before the rushing winds. Ah, come sit beside me, Thou shalt know of the understanding of true love. As the mind drives the blind clouds, So shall thy brutish prejudice be driven by clear thought. The moon is in love with the sun And the stars fill the skies with their laughter. Oh, come sit beside me Open and free. ",peace "I Am All by Jiddu Krishnamurti I am the blue firmament and the black cloud, I am the waterfall and the sound thereof, I am the graven image and the stone by the wayside, I am the rose and the falling petals thereof, I am the flower of the field and the sacred lotus, I am the sanctified waters and the still pool, I am the tree that towereth among the mountains And the blade of grass in the peaceful lane, I am the tender spring leaf and the evergreen foliage. I am the barbarian and the sage, I am the impious and the pious, I am the ungodly and the godly, I am the harlot and the virgin, I am the liberated and the man of time, I am the the indestructible and the destructible, I am the renunciation and the proud possessor. I am all few know me. I am neither This nor That, I am neither detached nor attached, I am neither heaven nor hell -- few know me -- I am neither philosophies nor creeds, I am neither the Guru nor the disciple. O friend, I contain all. I am clear as the mountain stream, Simple as the new spring leaf. Happy are they That meet with me. ",joy "I walked on a path through the jungle by Jiddu Krishnamurti I walked on a path through the jungle Which an elephant had made, And about me lay a tangle of wilderness. The voice of desolation fills the distant plain. And the city is noisy with the bells of a tall temple. Beyond the jungle are the great mountains, Calm and clear. In the fear of Life The temptation of sorrow is created. Cut down the jungle -- not one mere tree, For Truth is attained By putting aside all that you have sown. And now I walk with the elephant.",joy "I have been a wanderer long (from The Search) by Jiddu Krishnamurti I have been a wanderer long In this world of transient things. I have known the passing pleasures thereof. As the rainbow is beautiful But soon vanishes into nothingness, So have I known, From the very foundation of the world, The passing away of all things Beautiful, joyous and pleasurable. As the moon is full and serene, In the day of harvest So am I In the day of my Liberation Simple as the tender leaf am I For in me are many winters and many springs. As the dew drop is of the sea, So am I born In the ocean of my Liberation As the mysterious river Enters the open seas, So have I entered Into the world of Liberation This is the end I have known.",joy "I have no name (from The Song of Life) by Jiddu Krishnamurti I have no name, I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains. I have no shelter; I am as the wandering waters. I have no sanctuary, like the dark gods; Nor am I in the shadow of deep temples. I have no sacred books; Nor am I well-seasoned in tradition. I am not in the incense Mounting on the high altars, Nor in the pomp of ceremonies. I am neither in the graven image, Nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice. I am not bound by theories, Nor corrupted by beliefs. I am not held in the bondage of religions, Nor in the pious agony of their priests. I am not entrapped by philosophies, Nor held in the power of their sects. I am neither low nor high, I am the worshipper and the worshipped. I am free. My song is the song of the river Calling for the open seas, Wandering, wandering, I am Life. I have no name, I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains. ",peace "Winter It smelt of new rains and of tender Shoots of plants- and its warmth was the warmth Of earth groping for roots… even my Soul, I thought, must send its roots somewhere And, I loved his body without shame, On winter evenings as cold winds Chuckled against the white window-panes.",love "Words All round me are words, and words and words, They grow on me like leaves, they never Seem to stop their slow growing From within... But I tell my self, words Are a nuisance, beware of them, they Can be so many things, a Chasm where running feet must pause, to Look, a sea with paralyzing waves, A blast of burning air or, A knife most willing to cut your best Friend's throat... Words are a nuisance, but. They grow on me like leaves ona tree, They never seem to stop their coming, From a silence, somewhere deep within... ",sad "A Losing Battle How can my love hold him when the other Flaunts a gaudy lust and is lioness To his beast? Men are worthless, to trap them Use the cheapest bait of all, but never Love, which in a woman must mean tears And a silence in the blood. ",sad "An Introduction I don't know politics but I know the names Of those in power, and can repeat them like Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I amIndian, very brown, born inMalabar, I speak three languages, write in Two, dream in one. Don't write in English, they said, English is Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me speak in Any language I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses All mine, mine alone. It is half English, halfIndian, funny perhaps, but it is honest, It is as human as I am human, don't You see? It voices my joys, my longings, my Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing Is to crows or roaring to the lions, it Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the Incoherent mutterings of the blazing Funeral pyre. I was child, and later they Told me I grew, for I became tall, my limbs Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair. WhenI asked for love, not knowing what else to ask For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the Bedroom and closed the door, He did not beat me But my sad woman-body felt so beaten. The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully. Then … I wore a shirt and my Brother's trousers, cut my hair short and ignored My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh, Belong, cried the categorizers. Don't sit On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows. Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to Choose a name, a role. Don't play pretending games. Don't play at schizophrenia or be a Nympho. Don't cry embarrassingly loud when Jilted in love … I met a man, loved him. Call Him not by any name, he is every man Who wants. a woman, just as I am every Woman who seeks love. In him . . . the hungry haste Of rivers, in me . . . the oceans' tireless Waiting. Who are you, I ask each and everyone, The answer is, it is I. Anywhere and, Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself I In this world, he is tightly packed like the Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns, It is I who laugh, it is I who make love And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying With a rattle in my throat. I am sinner, I am saint. I am the beloved and the Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I. ",love "Annette Annette, At the dresser. Pale fingers over mirror-fields Reaping That wheat brown hair. Beauty Falling as chaff in old mirrors, While calenders In all The cities turn…. ",joy "Forest Fire Of late I have begun to feel a hunger To take in with greed, like a forest fire that Consumes and with each killing gains a wilder, Brighter charm, all that comes my way. Bald child in Open pram, you think I only look, and you Too, slim lovers behind the tree and you, old Man with paper in your hand and sunlight in Your hair... My eyes lick at you like flames, my nerves Consume ; and, when I finish with you, in the Pram, near the tree and, on the park bench, I spit Out small heaps of ash, nothing else. But in me The sights and smells and sounds shall thrive and go on And on and on. In me shall sleep the baby That sat in prams and sleep and wake and smile its Toothless smile. In me shall walk the lovers hand In hand and in me, where else, the old shall sit And feel the touch of sun. In me, the street-lamps Shall glimmer, the cabaret girls cavort, the Wedding drums resound, the eunuchs swirl coloured Skirts and sing sad songs of love, the wounded moan, And in me the dying mother with hopeful Eyes shall gaze around, seeking her child, now grown And gone away to other towns, other arms."" ",sad "In Love O what does the burning mouth Of sun, burning in today's, Sky, remind me….oh, yes, his Mouth, and….his limbs like pale and Carnivorous plants reaching out for me, and the sad lie of my unending lust. Where is room, excuse or even Need for love, for, isn't each Embrace a complete thing a finished Jigsaw, when mouth on mouth, i lie, Ignoring my poor moody mind While pleasure, with deliberate gaeity Trumpets harshly into the silence of the room… At noon I watch the sleek crows flying Like poison on wings-and at Night, from behind the Burdwan Road, the corpse-bearers cry ‘Bol, Hari Bol' , a strange lacing For moonless nights, while I walk The verandah sleepless, a Million questions awake in Me, and all about him, and This skin-communicated Thing that I dare not yet in His presence call our love. ",love "Krishna Your body is my prison, Krishna, I cannot see beyond it. Your darkness blinds me, Your love words shut out the wise world's din. ",love "Love Until I found you, I wrote verse, drew pictures, And, went out with friends For walks… Now that I love you, Curled like an old mongrel My life lies, content, In you…. ",love "My Grandmother's House There is a house now far away where once I received love……. That woman died, The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved Among books, I was then too young To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon How often I think of going There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or Just listen to the frozen air, Or in wild despair, pick an armful of Darkness to bring it here to lie Behind my bedroom door like a brooding Dog…you cannot believe, darling, Can you, that I lived in such a house and Was proud, and loved…. I who have lost My way and beg now at strangers' doors to Receive love, at least in small change? ",sad "Punishment in Kindergarten Today the world is a little more my own. No need to remember the pain A blue-frocked woman caused, throwing Words at me like pots and pans, to drain That honey-coloured day of peace. ‘Why don't you join the others, what A peculiar child you are! ' On the lawn, in clusters, sat my schoolmates sipping Sugarcane, they turned and laughed; Children are funny things, they laugh In mirth at others' tears, I buried My face in the sun-warmed hedge And smelt the flowers and the pain. The words are muffled now, the laughing Faces only a blur. The years have Sped along, stopping briefly At beloved halts and moving Sadly on. My mind has found An adult peace. No need to remember That picnic day when I lay hidden By a hedge, watching the steel-white sun Standing lonely in the sky. ",sad "Relationship This love older than I by myriad Saddened centuries was once a prayer In his bones that made them grow in years of Adolescence to this favored height; yes, It was my desire that made him male And beautiful, so that when at last we Met, to believe that once I knew not his Form, his quiet touch, or the blind kindness Of his lips was hard indeed. Betray me? Yes, he can, but never physically Only with words that curl their limbs at Touch of air and die with metallic sighs. Why care I for their quick sterile sting, while My body's wisdom tells and tells again That I shall find my rest, my sleep, my peace And even death nowhere else but here in My betrayer's arms... ",sad "Summer in Calcutta What is this drink but The April sun, squeezed Like an orange in My glass? I sip the Fire, I drink and drink Again, I am drunk Yes, but on the gold of suns, What noble venom now flows through my veins and fills my mind with unhurried laughter? My worries doze. Wee bubblesring my glass, like a brides nervous smile, and meet my lips. Dear, forgive this moments lull in wanting you, the blur in memory. How brief the term of my devotion, how brief your reign when i with glass in hand, drink, drink, and drink again this Juice of April suns. ",sad "The Dance of the Eunuchs It was hot, so hot, before the eunuchs came To dance, wide skirts going round and round, cymbals Richly clashing, and anklets jingling, jingling Jingling... Beneath the fiery gulmohur, with Long braids flying, dark eyes flashing, they danced and They dance, oh, they danced till they bled... There were green Tattoos on their cheeks, jasmines in their hair, some Were dark and some were almost fair. Their voices Were harsh, their songs melancholy; they sang of Lovers dying and or children left unborn.... Some beat their drums; others beat their sorry breasts And wailed, and writhed in vacant ecstasy. They Were thin in limbs and dry; like half-burnt logs from Funeral pyres, a drought and a rottenness Were in each of them. Even the crows were so Silent on trees, and the children wide-eyed, still; All were watching these poor creatures' convulsions The sky crackled then, thunder came, and lightning And rain, a meagre rain that smelt of dust in Attics and the urine of lizards and mice.... ",sad "The Freaks He talks, turning a sun-stained Cheek to me, his mouth, a dark Cavern, where stalactites of Uneven teeth gleam, his right Hand on my knee, while our minds Are willed to race towards love; But, they only wander, tripping Idly over puddles of Desire. .... .Can this man with Nimble finger-tips unleash Nothing more alive than the Skin's lazy hungers? Who can Help us who have lived so long And have failed in love? The heart, An empty cistern, waiting Through long hours, fills itself With coiling snakes of silence. ..... I am a freak. It's only To save my face, I flaunt, at Times, a grand, flamboyant lust. ",love "The Looking Glass Getting a man to love you is easy Only be honest about your wants as Woman. Stand nude before the glass with him So that he sees himself the stronger one And believes it so, and you so much more Softer, younger, lovelier. Admit your Admiration. Notice the perfection Of his limbs, his eyes reddening under The shower, the shy walk across the bathroom floor, Dropping towels, and the jerky way he Urinates. All the fond details that make Him male and your only man. Gift him all, Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of Long hair, the musk of sweat between the breasts, The warm shock of menstrual blood, and all your Endless female hungers. Oh yes, getting A man to love is easy, but living Without him afterwards may have to be Faced. A living without life when you move Around, meeting strangers, with your eyes that Gave up their search, with ears that hear only His last voice calling out your name and your Body which once under his touch had gleamed Like burnished brass, now drab and destitute. ",love "The Maggots At sunset, on the river ban, Krishna Loved her for the last time and left... That night in her husband's arms, Radha felt So dead that he asked, What is wrong, Do you mind my kisses, love? And she said, No, not at all, but thought, What is It to the corpse if the maggots nip? ",sad "The Old Playhouse You planned to tame a swallow, to hold her In the long summer of your love so that she would forget Not the raw seasons alone, and the homes left behind, but Also her nature, the urge to fly, and the endless Pathways of the sky. It was not to gather knowledge Of yet another man that I came to you but to learn What I was, and by learning, to learn to grow, but every Lesson you gave was about yourself. You were pleased With my body's response, its weather, its usual shallow Convulsions. You dribbled spittle into my mouth, you poured Yourself into every nook and cranny, you embalmed My poor lust with your bitter-sweet juices. You called me wife, I was taught to break saccharine into your tea and To offer at the right moment the vitamins. Cowering Beneath your monstrous ego I ate the magic loaf and Became a dwarf. I lost my will and reason, to all your Questions I mumbled incoherent replies. The summer Begins to pall. I remember the rudder breezes Of the fall and the smoke from the burning leaves. Your room is Always lit by artificial lights, your windows always Shut. Even the air-conditioner helps so little, All pervasive is the male scent of your breath. The cut flowers In the vases have begun to smell of human sweat. There is No more singing, no more dance, my mind is an old Playhouse with all its lights put out. The strong man's technique is Always the same, he serves his love in lethal doses, For, love is Narcissus at the water's edge, haunted By its own lonely face, and yet it must seek at last An end, a pure, total freedom, it must will the mirrors To shatter and the kind night to erase the water. ",sad "The Rain We left that old ungainly house When my dog died there, after The burial, after the rose Flowered twice, pulling it by its Roots and carting it with our books, Clothes and chairs in a hurry. We live in a new house now, And, the roofs do not leak, but, when It rains here, I see the rain drench That empty house, I hear it fall Where my puppy now lies, Alone.. ",sad "The Stone Age Fond husband, ancient settler in the mind, Old fat spider, weaving webs of bewilderment, Be kind. You turn me into a bird of stone, a granite Dove, you build round me a shabby room, And stroke my pitted face absent-mindedly while You read. With loud talk you bruise my pre-morning sleep, You stick a finger into my dreaming eye. And Yet, on daydreams, strong men cast their shadows, they sink Like white suns in the swell of my Dravidian blood, Secretly flow the drains beneath sacred cities. When you leave, I drive my blue battered car Along the bluer sea. I run up the forty Noisy steps to knock at another's door. Though peep-holes, the neighbours watch, they watch me come And go like rain. Ask me, everybody, ask me What he sees in me, ask me why he is called a lion, A libertine, ask me why his hand sways like a hooded snake Before it clasps my pubis. Ask me why like A great tree, felled, he slumps against my breasts, And sleeps. Ask me why life is short and love is Shorter still, ask me what is bliss and what its price.... ",sad "The Suicide Bereft of soul My body shall be bare. Bereft of body My soul shall be bare. Which would you rather have O kind sea? Which is the more dead Of the two? I throw the bodies out, I cannot stand their smell. Only the souls may enter The vortex of sea. Only the souls know how to sing At the vortex of the sea. Your body shall be dead, Poor thing, Dead as driftwood, drifting And drifting to the shore. Your body shall ride the tide, Rider, slumped dead On white war-house. Charging. Your body shall bruise white Against the coral reefs, Your body, Your lonely body. I tell you, sea, I have enough courage to die, But not enough. Not enough to disobey him Who said: Do not die And hurt me that certain way. How easy your duties are. How simple. Only roar a hungry roar, Leao forward, And retreat. You swing and you swing, O sea, you play a child's game. But, I must pose. I must pretend, I must act the role Of happy woman, Happy wife. I must keep the right distance Between me and the low. And I must keep the right distance Between me and the high. O sea, i am fed up I want to be simple I want to be loved And If love is not to be had, I want to be dead, just dead While I enter deeper, With joy I discover The sea's hostile cold Is after all skin-deep. The sea's inner chambers Are all very warm. There must be a sun slumbering At the vortex of the sea. O sea, i am happy swimming Happy, happy, happy ... The only movement i know well Is certainly the swim. It comes naturally to me. I had a house a Malabar And a pale-green pond. I did all my growing there In the bright summer months. I swam about and floated, And divided into the cold and green I lay speckled green and gold In all the hours of the sun, Until My grandmother cried, Darling, you must stop this bathing now. You are much too big to play Naked in the pond. Yes, the only movement i really know Is swimming, It comes naturally to me. The white man who offers To help me forget, The white man who offers Himself as a stiff drink, Is for me, To tell the truth, Only water. Only a pale-green pond Glimmering in the sun. In him I swim All broken with longing. In his robust blood i float Drying off my tears. Yet i never can forget The only man who hurts. The only one who seems to know The only way to hurt. Holding you is easy Clutching at moving water, I tell you, sea, This is easy, But to hold him for half a day Was a difficult task. It required drinks To hold him down. To make him love. But, when he did not love, Believe me, All I could do was to sob like a fool. O sea, You generous cow, You and I are big flops. We are too sentimental For our own Good. Lights are moving on the shore. But I shall not return. Sea, toss my body back That he knew how to love. Bereft of body My soul shall be free. Take in my naked soul That he knew how to hurt. Only the soul knows how to sing At the vortex of the sea. ",sad "The Sunshine Cat They did this to her, the men who know her, the man She loved, who loved her not enough, being selfish And a coward, the husband who neither loved nor Used her, but was a ruthless watcher, and the band Of cynics she turned to, clinging to their chests where New hair sprouted like great-winged moths, burrowing her Face into their smells and their young lusts to forget To forget, oh, to forget, and, they said, each of Them, I do not love, I cannot love, it is not In my nature to love, but I can be kind to you. They let her slide from pegs of sanity into A bed made soft with tears, and she lay there weeping, For sleep had lost its use. I shall build walls with tears, She said, walls to shut me in. Her husband shut her In, every morning, locked her in a room of books With a streak of sunshine lying near the door like A yellow cat to keep her company, but soon Winter came, and one day while locking her in, he Noticed that the cat of sunshine was only a Line, a half-thin line, and in the evening when He returned to take her out, she was a cold and Half dead woman, now of no use at all to men. ",sad "The Testing of the Sirens The night, dark-cloaked like a procuress, brought him to me, willing, light as a shadow, speaking words of love in some tender language I do not know ... With the crows came the morning, and my limbs warm of love, were once again so lonely... At my doorstep I saw a pock-marked face, a friendly smile and a rolleiflex. We will go for a drive, he said. Or go see the lakes. I have washed my face with soap and water, brushed my hair a dozen times, draped myself in six yards of printed voile. Ah... does it still show, my night of love? You look pale, he said. Not pale, not really pale. It's the lipstick's anemia. Out in the street, we heard The sirens go, and I paused in talk to weave their wail with the sound of his mirthless laughter. He said, they are testing the sirens today. I am happy. He really was lavish with words. I am happy, just being with you. But you . . . you love another, I know, he said, perhaps a handsome man, a young and handsome man. Not young, not handsome, I thought, just a filthy snob. It's a one-sided love, I said. What can I do for yoou? I smiled A smile is such a detached thing, I wear it like a flower. Near the lake, a pregnant girl bared her dusky breasts and washed them sullenly. On the old cannon-stand, crows bickered over a piece of lizard-meat and the white sun was there and everywhere . . . I want your photo, lying-down, nineteen-thirty-four guns, he said, against those rusty nineteen-thirty-four guns, will you ? Sure. Just arrange my limbs and tell Me when to smile. I shut my eyes, but inside eye-lids, there was no more night, no more love, or peace, only the white, white sun burning, burning, burning... Ah, why does love come to me like pain again and again and again? ",sad "As the man and the woman in me by Lalan English version by Deben Bhattacharya Original Language Bengali As the man and the woman in me Unite in love, The brilliance of beauty Balanced on the bi-petalled Lotus bloom in me Dazzles my eyes. The rays Outshine the moon And the jewels Glowing on the hoods of snakes. My skin and bone Are turned to gold. I am the reservoir of love, Alive as the waves. A single drop of water Has grown into a sea, Unnavigable...",love "Could I ever forget him by Lalan English version by Deben Bhattacharya Original Language Bengali Could I ever forget him since I delivered my heart at his feet? His beauty enchants my eyes round the compass wherever I steer myself. Though all call him black, He is not black. He is the glow of the moon-- the black moon, and there is no other moon to equal him.... ",love "He talks to me by Lalan English version by Deben Bhattacharya Original Language Bengali He talks to me But he would not let me see him. He moves Close to my hands But away from my reach. I explore The sky and the earth Searching him, Circling round my error Of not knowing me: Who am I And who is he?",sad "How the days drag by Lalan English version by Deben Bhattacharya Original Language Bengali How the days drag before union with the man of my heart! Round the hours of the day and night as the rain-bird, chataka, watches the clouds, I gaze at the black-moon hoping to surrender myself at his feet--in vain. Like lightning flashing through the clouds and hiding in the clouds never to be found again, I saw his beauty flashing through my dreams and I lost Krishna.",sad "The moon is encircled by moons by Lalan English version by Deben Bhattacharya Original Language Bengali The moon is encircled by moons. How can I hold it In my hands? The unseizable moon, Glowing in the brilliance Of a million moons, Rocks my head In a lunar carnival.... Moon fruits adorn The tree of the moon, Flashing, Luminously flashing. I try to see But my eyes cannot bear; The rays of beauty Dazzle them. ",joy "A breathless counsel curiosity will catch you dear for you are a writer and it is your license to startle the world with a hundred thousand words instead of a dazzling smile or those occasional winks and i don’t want to probe for after all you are renouncing all the time and i don’t want to stop you racing against life but i have been there and i have returned and i know what happens when it takes hold of a woman yes i know what happens then but i will not tell you the answers i have sealed my lips i have learnt how not to say what i must be saying somehow i don’t want to be fledging you in security for what happens with all my parenting will only be a compromise darling child instead i let you free i want you to ask the questions i want you to prick and not polish your wounds i will let you to be hurt in the face of the world i want you to learn more than what you want to learn sometimes i feel i want you to get hurt badly hurt and bleed before the world and then i shall sit back and feel my work is done for once you have known what pain is then you shall know how to preserve the fringes of happiness i want you to be alone in the ravenous world where you never know what happens next just so that you will no longer find routine to be so despicable and amidst that pervading fuzziness you shall long for an anchor for all your dreams only realizing much later that you are your safety you are your ultimate but till then you might screech and scream but when you retain your temperament you will find that life will always lie waiting like an hungry beast and at each turn you take i wish you learn the greater horrors and now i confess darling i want you hurt because i want to watch you fight and fight and fight i want you to pull together those moonbeams of hope i want you to throb precariously i want you to be living on the edge i want you to learn the thousand one ways in which you can melt the boundaries of saturation called death and the emptiness of life and the fidgetiness of what might be called love i want you to lose i want you to win but some day i want you to be free ",love "Apologies for living on i am living on because providing apologies is easy once— i was making choices with insanely safe ideas of fleeing-madly-and-flying-away i was a helpless girl against the brutal world of bottom-patting-and-breast-pinching i was craving for security the kind i had only known while aimlessly-afloat-and-speculating-in-the-womb now— i am locked away a terrified princess waiting for-death-and-not-any-brave-prince i don’t dream or think i just remember and wince at-voices-of-the-past-smirking-in-sarcasm once— i ran away in the darkness nothing beaconed me more than the prospect-of-solitude-and-the-caress-of-a-million-stars i ran into the arms of the ravishing night nothing pulled me back: not even the memories of-love-i-had-once-known-&-stolen-kisses-savoured-for-so-long. i ran until terror stopped my tracks for, trembling i turned and saw that the moon was another-immodest-ogler-and-lecherous-stalker. ",sad "Aftermath the next morning in school during your english exam you take permission to go to the toilet where you throw up all the white and creamy breakfast milk. only it tastes sour and looks like bits of maggoty curd. weeks later, you get to know two things one of which will change your life for ever. first, you scored the highest in the english exam. second, you became a gossip item. you still don’t know what affects you more. because of your boldness and brashness and bunking classes your ulcerated vomit is taken for morning sickness. the sourness extends when you hear hushed whispers passing around. girls younger than you, point at you and speak such banal secrets. in staff-rooms, and in ungainly corridors teachers chatter of your child, so vividly imagined in the backdrop of your really empty womb. slander is a slaughterhouse. even best-friends seek answers as the rumours inflame. your anger is mistaken to be toward a crude imagined lover who disowned you. you know the nauseous truth of your thighs: you are virgin. But evidence will not be revenge, for, so many smoky eyes implore you to supplicate, to admit alleged truths. impeaching faces lay down rules: don’t shout or scream, but swallow the shame. next, confess the sin. sin yes they will shred your innocent life to that yes you may fume or froth or boil or simmer yes you are their staple soup they need you just this way yes your fury takes its toll annihilating you not them yes anger and hatred seethe in your untamed tresses yes you know how gossip chokes even the tethered dreams yes something breaks in you yes dear yes you start the brute search for sleeping pills and chaste suicide ideas. ",sad "Composition At that brief time When you wait For the audacious cane To strike your skin, And the rest of you is flinching And cringing, with part shame, And part pain, Poetry dictates itself In your mind. Short lines Rip through, like bullets From a machine gun. The poem comes with the Freshness of a life set free, Whistling its way, Painfully, like wind searing Through the palm fronds. Then, The cane thrashes Your skin, dancing cruelly And bouncing in wooden joy. Before you scream, Or shake, the poetry stops. And the Muse, is tentatively, Laid to rest, much before the Composition is Complete. ",sad "An angel meeting me and may be we will almost fall in love. . . I will look into his eyes, and he into mine— my one single eye, (the unfortunate other blinded by a disciplinizing slap) and we will agree, adjust that Love can be Blind. And he, healthy boy well-fed, white with his rosy cheeks, will wonder about me, pity my bony body, those thin ribs and worry and feel my twisted ears and the scars on my hands, (reminders of the flirtation of my skin and a cruel cane) and perhaps lift my skirt. . . Before he learns the greater horrors, I owe him the truth of me— So, I will say to him: “I went to school”. ",sad "Amnesia, selective When memory decides To no longer bear the burdens— Of pain, or even plain indifference She has her winsome wicked ways. Some day, years later, Life requires you to unearth Some event long past and you Set about browsing your brain Like a desk-full of office files and then— Come across a resounding emptiness. Memories drizzle-fragile Are not to be found. What Greets you instead, through Those yellowing sheets of typed matter is The blank and ugly blotches of dried whitener So carefully applied, then. It has a fading smell of Chalk and chlorine: a blend, like memory, that works at Your throat. You try to scratch it and the faintest hopes are Betrayed as the caked pieces of the whitener crumble, Displaying nothing, but toe curling holes where crummy paper and ink once contained you. ",sad "Sage in the cubicle Even your tongue, Craves for the taste of tears. . . And you are crying again. Misery is (you always believe) the only genuine Emotion and sadness, the way of the real world. She wouldn’t have any of it. Sage in the cubicle, healer of sorts. Three years your junior. She makes soul-talk Sound as prosaic as aeronautical engineering. At the end, Her warning: ‘Stop this right now.’ What will you say of your feeling Living with a sister who terrorizes Even manic depressions out of your mind? ",sad "Songs of summer “I am happy, life is good.” Heard at the end of a therapy class. . . The heavy-duty brainwashing and you Remember your crores stacked away. . . Your Harvard airs helps in large doses Soon, the colors peel away and there is nothing To do than wrestle with your yearnings. “I would like to make love.” Wanna fuck? It is easier saying it this way For something that you paid for in cash And cheques and credit cards. Forget the lesser action, the lack of poetry— What mattered was how you let go Of your hate and heat and hunger But never had the courage to talk To her of love or loneliness. . . “You are trespassing on my territory” You guarded it with LoCs and walls And barbed wire fences where hatred Danced like high-voltage electricity. . . You killed creatures and cleared forests And wiped away the darker people And those of dreamy tongues with Your agenda of a war-a-week, the Worlds-to-win and vengeance-to-wreak. . . Your Mushroom clouds and wmds and Poverty drafts and armchair chivalry and A collective manhood of nuclear warheads That explode and penetrate. . . “She’s mine.” To make her yours and yours alone, You pushed her deeper into harems Where she could see the sunlight Only from the lattice windows. Domesticated into drudgery she was just Another territory, worn out by wars. A slave Who maintained your numbers. “Let’s make love.” ~all that you thought~ What’s taking her so long to undress? Quick! Sooner! ~all that you said~ I m gonna fuck till ya faint. . . “Oh how nice to have made love.” ~breathless~ Iminahurry. Cyasoon.~panting~ Here are the words, again— I am happy. Life is good / I would love to make love. You are trespassing on my territory/ She’s mine. Let’s make love/ Oh how nice to have made love. On sunny green fields these are the only Six sentences the male of a grasshopper can ever say. But what have we done with words? ",joy "Marijuana murdered him Noon A gray rainy day— On a road less traveled the patrol tracked down much: Him (him is now an it, a crumpled cruel corpse for women To beat their breasts about); the wreckage (four black wheels That speak of despair and a mangled red car-body awash yet Soiled and the cold apparitions of smoked glass and steel); The crime record— He stole at home he found no work he pimped his sis he Mortgaged his mom he raped a girl (the myth reads so: like A crow calling its kindred he invited the last of his friends to Join the feast, the fest, yes the plunder between her thighs) He stabbed his professor dad he lived on air and alcohol And insulin and morphine—but it was the marijuana that Murdered him as he screamed at the vengeful rain that Teased away his nirvana, the excuse of an existence. . . No pair of exacting eyes to see the trees drive into a rage into His car that once swallowed whole black roads but for the God on his dashboard temple who had since returned to Formlessness, to a hundred and eight tiny crystals that held Psychedelic rainbows that outshone all the trapped sun. . . ",sad "Why do the heroes die? Unlike in fairy tales, young heroes die. All the dazzling princes, strong men of might, Robinhoods and Messiahs that never lie Are done to death, Evil winning the fight. Heroes are bled; not just deprived of life God turns in his throne, the dead in cold graves And perhaps death ends the lifetimes of strife. Is slaughter the prize for not being slaves? Brave men encounter blows, fight their case, Leave forsaking the world they came to mend. ‘Youth may arise and fill this vacant space’ One faint hope; heroes reach the destined end. Heroes get their Halos. Applause. Praise. All glories shine brighter with sacrifice. ",courage "Work is worship, or so they said. . . Six thirty in the a.m. And you still have not Gone to bed. It is three days Since you have Combed your hair. It is a week Since you had a bath. And six weeks Since your dog had hers. It is three months Since you popped The baby pink multi-vitamins. It is half a year Since you met your only best friend. Woe to your scraggyscornfullistless world Where the moonlit sky exists only in the grand Lullabies that one of your grandmothers sang. ",sad "Meeting the prophetess Leave your books behind. Since memory, Like knowledge, is a traitor, Erase every hoarding of your horrible past. At last, when you enter her world Of fraying edges and falling angels Don’t barter words where touch will do and be the truth. For once allow her silence to sear, strip your life-layers Because she who knows the truth will not know the tale. ",joy "The flight of birds “a poem should be wordless as the flight of birds.” —Archibald Macleish, Ars Poetica. birds don’t sing in their flight for them flying is a muse they compose mid-air weave agnostic verse sneering haughtily at our absurdity as they float over our meaningless mosques and churches and those patrolled international borders and other disputed sites where the guns go bang bang bang all the time they swing over there losing their birdegos (ego is difficult to retain in mid-flight) wondering about and watching men plucking out and quashing the lives of other men and women and poor helpless children and they shed a birdtear or two from there a birdtear that is lost midway due to heat of some explosion down below some crazy fanatical bomb detonating killing instantly the people and the city and the forests and even the pitiable babybirds who are yet to learn to fly they contemplate of writing poems about a bird’s egg charring before even being boiled and scratch their beaks unsure if this is a metaphor or simile or other poetic device o the birds have lots and lots and lots to write about o their writings will never be banned they borrow freedom to write poems in the sky they come back and pass it on to us we take the song only brutally but at least we take the song to take the poem to unscramble the words from the song and to put it back again as song so spontaneously that it remains the poem and the song to remember forever this refrain whose melody haunts us and to hum that refrain which preserves our sanity perhaps we need to fly a trifle aimlessly like birds or because we are humans six-sensed creatures with massive egos and massive superegos and massive egos on the ego and because of possessing gray matter what doctors call medulla oblongata we need to feel with our red hearts than think with some unlocatable mind we need to look deeper. . . into ourselves, into eyes we need to lose ourselves then, and only then the poems will come silent wordless as the flight of birds ",joy "Blackboard poems S P A C E is a problem unlike your never-ending paper or the maddening blankness of your word processor where you can go on and on in anguish or insanity or boredom on one-hundred-and-seven degree Fahrenheit afternoons. (To write the next lines you need to take the green&goldbrown duster to rub off these eight) Colour is another confusion you want to wish away. At sixteen you wouldn’t write OneSingleWord unless it was forty percent gray letters on a plum background and your monitor looked like a high class youknowwho. The font then was Footlight MT Light, 13 pt. Now, at twenty one, it is Verdana, eight point. (I have erased again) NOTHING SEDUCES LIKE YOUR OWN HANDWRITING. THE WHITE CHALK DANCING ACROSS GLASS GREEN. Creepers on W’s & R’s, hats on S, hearts on I’s & J’s. (I have erased again) I don’t grudge the colours too. Instead of two hundred and fifty six fantasies there is the catholic bridal white. Sometimes, there is yellow, blue, green, purple, red and orange and the opportunity of giving them names— Flaky Fullmoon. Bleached & Faded Captain Haddock Suit. Temple-tank Algae. Crushed Lilac Under Flashlight. Sherbet Stain. Sawdust Chillidust Cream. (I have erased again) There is considerable exertion (let me hazard a guess: writing takes two hundred calories per hour, erasing with the duster five hundred, and walking across must be say, around eighty). Then, there is chalk-dust allergy that compels me to sneeze. And the chemical after-effect that spoils the moody brown skin of any glowing goddess. And the unbearable sounds of chalk squeak. . . (I have erased again. The fifth time now.) But, a poet loves writing blackboard poems. (So easy, to imagine, an audience) Yet, how much she dreads Impermanence. . . ",joy "Returning home And you see the two-crows-for-joy-pass that are sitting on overhead cables and the evening moon, a mere silvery slice against fluffy translucent sky. And the remains of your school where you spent your twelve longest years and lived through everything. And the bus-stand you had to draw for your art-class in yellow ochre or asphalt grey and the emptiness that now occupies the place where a tiny café once stood. And the tree where they fed you lunch before you learnt to walk back home. And I thought of my parents. Brilliant people talking of the intricacies of their life and the corruption of morals and the bygone days and hunger in their childhood and their deaddear- departed parents as if to teach you what to talk to your children. (And you are their child, so you speak their lines.) Still returning home, And there are rusty mammoth girders that outline the sky like the derelicts of lost dreams and crossed hopes. And girls so flimsy pretty yet unsafe in the little worlds of lip gloss and love affairs that you could have smoked them into oblivion. And the dry decaying dead leaves crushed with varying noises and carrying a spent smell that clings to your hair. And the shy forest noises that violate your fixation over sight and sound and smell and touch yes touch. And I thought of my lover. A primitive man who would invade your aloneness on insomniac nights and challenge your assumptions of love and your sophistications and fill your ears with the four letter words of his ancient language that have begun to sound to you like earth songs to which your body awakens. (And you are his love, so you listen to his lines.) On the way home, the small lessons you learn of life. . . Love, or the promise of love, its lack of choice. This large world. And its littleness. ",joy "Cinquains Morning Song Wet pink And dusty grey The sky begins to blush. Some sleepy careless charm welcomes Daybreak. Even Song Azure And pink gold hues The smug sky at twilight A final flush of fulfilment Night falls. ",joy "How they prostitute a poem It is uniquely easy For some to sell Ideals because Business of absent Goods is essentially A sacrosanct but mostly A flimsy transaction. Some learn, early on, To prostitute their verse. So, in all the waking hours They scavenge for a simple simile That matches requirements, fulfills needs. They barter reality And every romance To a blurred triplicate Carbon-copy World of Hard Cash and Price Tags and Brand Names. In this brothel Of stilled hope and Stagnated stories, poems Are born virgin and endowed With voluptuous figures of firm, Full breasts and wide hips where men Prefer to plant their pastime dreams, Or conceive their seed, Or merely spite themselves, Or dabble at domination. But, the poem, with this Bogus existence becomes An adept, untiring prostitute. Taken On a starry night, The poem opens (dry and drab and dreary: lacking love and life) like The paid-for parting Of the thighs. ",anger "Sun in the mouth And the truth scorches and singes the pink open flesh of your mouth with its pungent yellow taste, so, speaking the truth is not so easy with just one tongue, anyway. Seeing might have been closest to truth and as Plotinus said the eye would not be able to see the sun if it was itself not sun and so seeing was understanding. The Egyptians called the eye with the circle of the iris with the pupil in the centre as the sun in the mouth and that was their truth. Cyclops must have had little to see in this vast world and deprived of the whole truth and that was his loss, his tragedy. Even Argus with all his eyes couldn’t escape in the end. How much truth, how many eyes of how many senses would it take to tell the truth to the lord of the third-eye? A king of a Tamil temple city raged mad to know the truth of the scent of a woman’s hair. Since money bought truth he made ready, a thousand gold coins. And a poor poet still married to faith prayed on to Shiva, the lord of struggling survivors, lord of births and lives and deaths, lord of poor poets who gave him a poem to be sung at the king’s court. A savant there picked a mistake like peeling the scab of a healed wound and said that the poem was wrong. He said that any woman’s hair did not have a natural scent. The lord of dances and grey ash and cremation grounds came down to challenge this stubborn man who extended his truth, even if the woman was the consort of the lord. He would not budge even if the lord threatened to open his third eye, the eye in the forehead which would reduce him to bone-white ashes as light as the wispiest clouds. The court cowered in fright. . . But in arrogance the savant said a mistake is a mistake even if it was the lord of the forehead-eye. O’ saint-bard and master of many wily words What do you know of truth or love, or the scent of a woman’s hair? On the nights of naked sky and a fragile quarter moon, my lord, he of the deep blue throat, he of the rivers in his hair, he of the third-eye, comes to me. Before he tears the blankness of my womb, before he traces the length of my spine, the curve of my thighs, before he strokes my cheeks, he buries his head in the thousand and one nights of my long tresses and he says it smells like the wind-lost voices of his childhood summers. ",joy "justice is . The first lesson we are taught about life has something to do with dharma and karma. “Dharma”. “Karma” two good appetizing and rhyming words they may come in handy for classic poets. Dharma they say is indefinable, it is all encompassing and yet untranslatable. Dharma they say means Justice, Integrity, Veracity, Righteousness and Legitimacy. Almost enough meaning for a word. And you carry it on with yourself. Dharma makes a versatile lucky-charm. All your life, you blame things you don’t understand on the word no one has ever understood. Sometimes highly frustrated with the cruelty and apathy of everything, you even resort to blaming karma and you begin to trace past lives, ancestry you bother about the enormity of trivialities you start worrying about the petty lineage of everything you happen to come across. this insanity deludes you as you fret and fume over descent—pedigree—wretched caste—and above all proper marriages and the legitimate sons and then it all comes to you the truth, the truth about all this **** the truth about Dharma You remember the man, the man Dharma, for—the medium is the message. You realize he is a bastard, an illegitimate son. Justice is Dharma. Dharma is a bastard. So you know Justice is. . . Well, whatever. But still, blotted. Blemished. And with Scandal for a middle name. Perhaps all your hopes die and you stop all your expectations. Or, perhaps you suddenly throw back you head and laugh and laugh. . . Whatever you chose to do the truth hits you when she whispers ‘Legitimacy is Illegitimate.’ ",sad "Deciphering a culture INSTRUCTION #1 NAILED TO THE WALL: SWITCH OFF YOUR CELLPHONES Keep Smiling! This is what I got to read on ink-splattered desks one lonely day in the central Winners DON’T library of the IIT Madras. I was there waiting for someone to come and join me Frustrated and all the books surrounding me were such rigorous affairs in quantum mechanics One and ocean engineering and acoustics Sided and though I had studied science at school, I had opted out of academics Lovers for (shall we say) personal reasons. And so there was literally nothing Association in there that I could read and understand, so I set about staring at the desks (Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association) and suddenly the graffiti made sense (Acronym FOSLA) and my reading picked up Join FOSLA da! in leaps and FOSLA: Exclusively for mother-fuckers like you bounds. Watching it was so funny I liked the picture. . . because I imagined Life begins at 40, Ice cream expires at 2 nothing in these mass of Bare! Scientific and Technical books with their !!SUPERB!! mumbo-jumbo jargons could attract me Lol! but these words I love rumour penned by different students was kind of distracting My kiss is bad and also a nice thing to My head is sad engage myself Its your love in. So That’s made me glad I was busy straining to Help everyone! Love everyone! And yes, HATE ALL!! make out the CAT words and some of it was boring Guru is great! and Love my ass, don’t you? racy and Simran hip and Impossible breasts had self-explanatory illustrations Don’t marry be happy of naked, naked women that Asha, I love you was really Come out of the web of the world disgusting and horrific and If God has given you a rock it’s your choice to build a bridge or a wall I really didn’t know what to say I have built a wall, what you want to do for that????? and Then I will curse Him and go search for some grub (only a rock, eh!) i looked up in exasperation. INSTRUCTION #2 NAILED TO THE WALL: DON’T REPLACE BOOKS TO STACK. LEAVE THEM ON THE TABLE. The other words Me too are silly Me too da idiot and I try my best to take How dare you everything Om Namah Shivaiah of this civilization Morals R for Morons by just To suck the marrow of life! (not me fuckers, but Henry DAVID Thoreau) deciphering Structure of Benzyne a Boobsy culture Keep Trying but Illustration (India map) its all Point out Lovegadh? Sexpura? in vain. Quates Desk ww.hornybanana.com So what I love vaginas sunflower gulmohar Oh god help me!! When I start talking to a girl, she starts loving me. Its disgraceful. Help me! Is it your bra? Nice work Illustration Can you draw the equation of the above ellipse Take your origin as Shravati and +ve axis along Sarayu u r time starts now No cunt if you take Shrav and Sarayu as lost what will be your origin Fat Fool Dribbler, read that AGAIN. Got me? Hum angrejon ke jamane ke fuckers hain Rock n Roll Stupid Once upon a time. . . there was Anushya. . . No smoking U taste good! Hippy sex? Wanna something hot? And I was feeling blank and looking up and repeating Wanna something hot? INSTRUCTION #3 NAILED TO THE WALL: SILENCE. ",sad "The Gods wake up Another worst things with the Gods is that They sleep most of the time— (they don’t even dream). If you happen to go near heaven: It is a very noisy boring place. And all that you get to hear there are— Thirty three million synchronized godly snores. (The Goddesses snore too). The Gods sleep right through the prayers Performed by the Brahmins— (maybe they find it boring). Births, Marriages, innumerable yagnas, Brahmins take the center-stage, all the Gods skip. Also, “Om” is now obsolete— a kind of recurring mosquito buzz. (Besides, Om is ©opyrighted). At times, the sleeping celestials do stir. Gods always get excited over funerals— (they are kind of necrophilic). The loud drums lead the dead to eternal sleep, Ancient noises herald the escaping life. This deeper music shakes the skies. That’s when the Gods wake up. (Just to receive the dead.) ",joy "Inheritance Helplessly, silent; we watched it being seized away, all our lands. The Government—a fulltime bewitching whore had promised Jobs. Industrialization. Power, Electric. Everything went, Nothing came. Now, landless, uprooted, unsettled in a resettlement colony we feast our souls on lucent memories—Of an earlier life. When memory charts familiar horizons I often recollect that long ago rainy Sunday in our crowded church, Fr. Jose reading crisply “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” ",sad "Elegy to my first keyboard You entered my life when I was twelve. I really didn’t have hormones then. I was lost in a different world. Of science, of space, and the small small atoms that we were all made up of. I wanted to be a spy or a scientist. I thought you would help me become one. You made me fall in love. With you. And unknown to my parents, with language. I started to write. But that is another story. I loved you too much. Loved you through all those long nights when you made me cry. When you simply wouldn’t listen to me. And when I couldn’t find the words to tell my love to you. Living with you was very memorable. Too much fun. And we were getting better by the day. At least, I was. Until you decided to add some spice. I was too weak for them. To stay ahead of me, you would type on your own. I don\\\\\\\’t kno\\w what\ these sl\\\\\\\\ashes meant but they wo\\\\\\uld come everytime I sto\\\pped to pause. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ When you knew this didn’t excite me, you stopped. Much later In yopur effoprt at unity, yopu started putting the op’s and p’s together. I never knew why. And-one-hot-summer-morning-the-space-bar-konked-out-i-had-to-separate-every-single-word-by-the-use-of-hyphens-or-dashes-and-i-could-not-even-run-the word-counts-and-oh-it-was-so-bad-but-still-i-put-up-with-you. Familiarity-with-you-never-bred-contempt-it-gave-birth-to-love-to-comfort-to-knowing-all-your-little-quirks.Disabling-that-vital-cord-which-tied-you-was-so-easy-and-even-so-legal-but-i-resisted-i-always-gave-you-chances-and-i-thought-that-your-teasing-would-be-over-soon-soon-anytime-soon-alas-it-was-not-to-be.You-had-grown-haughty-and-ill-tempered-and-God-i-still-loved-you.Not-to-love-a-strong-woman-was-very-demeaning-on-me. One night you repaired yourself. I never asked you how. Questions are prohibited in love affairs with me. Finally, you crashed. You misbehaved, threw your tiny tantrums. You showed me your keyboard ego. Or was it my zeal and drive. Did I misuse-abuse-overuse you? I loved you. I still do. You were a great mistress. Only, you took an early retirement. ",love "When the God drank milk This was the second time He spanned the world So quickly. . . In telecast miracles that occurred from Michigan to Manila to Madras Whether He was in plastic, ceramic, Fire-burnt clay or stiff black stone The Elephant-Headed, the Pot-Bellied, The Remover of Obstacles, Ganesha, The God had his fill as he sucked The spoonfuls of creamy milk. . . I am not willing to listen to Capillary Action Rationalism Or any scientific explorations. . . Instead I am hunting for some Silly girl’s bizarre secret, to know if The Son of Shiva had let himself To be breastfed, to be suckled. . . And if she, having tasted success At His having tasted her, Moved on to younger, Charming Gods, With their mouths Full of white teeth. ",joy "Prayers In an arid land of arid human minds Caste, yet again authored a tragedy. He, disease wrecked, downtrodden, long-ago skinner of animals, sets out. Ten days of Typhoid, and a partial recovery. Enough reason to thank some God. He drags himself clumsily to a nearby temple. Sadly, of an Upper-caste God. Away from the temple, he bends in supplication. Says his last prayer—Unwelcome Gratefulness. To a God who (anyway) didn’t help him recover. Innocent Acts of Undulating Faith spurned Anger. Retaliation. An irked Rajput surged forth and smote the untouchable with a iron rod. He, warrior caste lion couldn’t tolerate Encroachment. At the temple. By a Dalit. Deathly howls of a feeble-voiced rent the air, fervently seeking holy intervention. God, Lifeless as ever—watched grimly with closed eyes. In resigned submission, the sick man’s Life was given away. Caste—crueler than disease, emotionless, dry, took its toll Confirming traditional truths: Dalits die, due to devotion. Unanswered questions remain; Agony is not always a forgotten memory. Life teaches: there are different Gods at different temples. One solitary thought haunts recollection day and night. Where did this poor man’s sixty-five year old soul go? To Heaven – to join noble martyrs who died for a cause? Or to Hell—where the Gods reside, making Caste Laws. ",sad "Narration I’ll weep to you about My landlord, and with My mature gestures— You will understand: The torn sari, disheveled hair Stifled cries and meek submission. I was not an untouchable then. I’ll curse the skies, And shout: scream to you Words that incite wrath and You will definitely know: The priest, his lecherous eyes, Glances that disrobed, defiled. I was not polluting at four feet. How can I say Anything, anything Against my own man? How? So I take shelter in silence Wear it like a mask. When alone, I stumble Into a flood of incoherencies. . . ",sad "We real hot (Inspired by ‘We Real Cool’ by Gwendolyn Brooks) We real hot. We Ne’er rot. We Know knack. We Beat back. We Shock stars. We Win wars. We Ne’er late. We Fuck Fate. ",sad "Mohandas Karamchand “Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.” —Albert Einstein Who? Who? Who? Mahatma. Sorry no. Truth. Non-violence. Stop it. Enough taboo. That trash is long overdue. You need a thorough review. Your tax-free salt stimulated our wounds We gonna sue you, the Congress shoe. Gone half-cuckoo, you called us names, You dubbed us pariahs—“Harijans” goody-goody guys of a bigot god Ram Ram Hey Ram—boo. Don’t ever act like a holy saint. we can see through you, impure you. Remember, how you dealt with your poor wife. But, they wrote your books, they made your life. They stuffed you up, the imposter true. And sew you up—filled you with virtue and gave you all that glossy deeds enough reason we still lick you. You knew, you bloody well knew, Caste won’t go, they wouldn’t let it go. It haunts us now, the way you do with a spooky stick, a eerie laugh or two. But they killed you, the naked you, your blood with mud was gooey goo. Sadist fool, you killed your body many times before this too. Bapu, bapu, you big fraud, we hate you. ",sad "Maariamma Posted on June 1, 2008 | 2 Comments We understand why upper caste Gods and their ‘good-girl’ much-married, father-fucked, virgin, vegetarian oh-so-pure Goddesses borne in their golden chariots don’t come to our streets. We know the reasons for their non-entry into slums. Actually, our poverty would soil their hears and our labor corrupt their souls. But Maariamma, when you are still getting those roosters and goats, why have you stopped coming to our doors? Maari, our girl, since when did you join their gang? ",sad "Hymns of a hag I fancy myself being a witch. Broomstick borne and black as pitch. Thin, stark-naked and with fire for eyes. Killing men whom I despise. Bewailing the woeful life I led. Casting dark spells, makin’ them dead. Thronging ghettos, to unbend bent backs. Handing them knives, ’least an axe. Lot later I fly to temple streets. Our men firm, I show my feats. Haunting oppressors to shave their heads. Cutting all their holy threads. Experiencing joy as they bleed. Dance, rejoice my black black deed. Leave one farewell note, an obscene cue: ‘Judgment day is long since due.’ Ultimately, I’ll lie in the ditch— Ne’er give a damn, when called ‘Bitch’ ",sad "For sale My school bud, he work hard. He slog. He make money. He grow dam rich. He go to da temple, where his po’ ol’ folks ain’t allowed. He buy incense for two bucks flowers for five, kinda shaggy coconut for ten bucks. He also buy a standing place at da front and da special prayer in his name all at twenty more. Priest with ash and holy smoke come to him, give extra blesses for a cool crisp fifty my bud gives. He stand there and stare, stare hard at the Gawd; his first time in temple. Then my jus Blessed bud, he ask me: Say, ya, how much da “Luxmee” cost? ",joy "Fire Black satanic fumes shroud the blank blue skies in puffing jet black soot; few flashy cameras record glimpses of destruction (for tomorrow’s papers). . . Our huts are burning— Regular huts in proper rows. Dry thatches (conspirators-in-crime) feed the flames as we rush out shrieking-crying-moaning open mouthed hysterical curses and as if in an answer— when the blazing work is done Fire engines arrive . . . Deliberately late. These feverish cries continue in the same shrilly pitch echo, echo, echo and finally reach. . . Up there. Reverberate and sound as loud as snail shells crackling under nailed boots and perhaps as distinct and defenseless. This double catastrophe projected in sights and shrieks evokes. . . No response. Those above are (mostly): indifferent bastards. ",sad "Evil spirits You are possessed. Witch doctors believe in phantoms, that cause your illness. But, driving out devils can be challenging. Spirits are given away— We are made to sit opposite you, Force-fed a ‘meal’—bland food mixed with your hair, nails, spit and pus. Illegally (despite the government ban), We take your hoard of evil spirits Barter-system: for having ate your food. And because ghosts and ghouls obey your rules, they leave you to come to us. Is this ‘transference’? An unofficial appeasement. We become inhabited by the dead, who ruins our doomed lives. Demons in our bodies are brutal tenants and frequently, They suck with their vampire tongues to drink our anemic blood — leave their puncture marks, which can be faintly seen on our black skins; skins that bear greater scars, reminders of larger, human cruelty. . . Anyway, there isn’t a lot of life in our bodies. We are souls. Wandering souls. Still, once Ghost-tasted, we rot away. We rot away. Remember, rotting is a long procedure. . . Day by day, we grow coffin cold and slowly Life creeps out, a lazy earthworm. At last, we die. We die. ",fear "Ekalaivan This note comes as a consolation: You can do a lot of things With your left hand. Besides, fascist Dronacharyas warrant Left-handed treatment. Also, You don’t need your right thumb, To pull a trigger or hurl a bomb. ",sad "Becoming a Brahmin Algorithm for converting a Shudra into a Brahmin Begin. Step 1: Take a beautiful Shudra girl. Step 2: Make her marry a Brahmin. Step 3: Let her give birth to his female child. Step 4: Let this child marry a Brahmin. Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 six times. Step 6: Display the end product. It is a Brahmin. End. Algorithm advocated by Father of the Nation at Tirupur. Documented by Periyar on 20.09.1947. Algorithm for converting a Pariah into a Brahmin Awaiting another Father of the Nation to produce this algorithm. (Inconvenience caused due to inadvertent delay is sincerely regretted.) ",joy "Another Paradise Lost One sleepy summer afternoon, while helping myself to a glass of chilled water, I saw a snake lying curled under the fridge. It could have been a very poisonous cobra. Very quickly, I chose my mode of attack: Acid. Staggering, I reached for the glass bottle so that I could pour the yellow-green cheap acid on its slimy body, burning it to death. “Stop it”, the snake hissed in pure Tamil connecting with me in the language of my prayer and poetry. “I am an exile.” And I configured mental images of political refugees. It wriggled out and I saw that it was balding, almost Rushdie-like, perhaps with a death sentence too. Controversy was a crowd pulling catch-phrase, to which I dutifully succumbed. Acid bottle in hand, I heard the snake preach to me about living in detachment. “The perfection of life is when you do not know the difference between yielding and resisting.” The scrawny being writhed further and told me of rebirth and reincarnation. Being a writer I really wanted to take notes. Instead I began arguing. “Shut up”, the snake said to me, “Karma and the whole stuff that follows it is just bunkum. You, a crazed agnostic, disagree because of borrowed ideas.” Sharp movements of the red tongue terrified me. Almost sensing my fear, it said, “You could never challenge what you do not comprehend.” The snake spoke in circles, in patterns that could only resemble a snake swallowing its tail. Whatever. And then it occurred to me: Speech was the oldest trap, the charming deceiver, persuasion’s weapon and Satan’s first area of expertise. “Stop it”, this time I said the words. “Tell me just your story. Save the cant and rant for critical times.” My acidic tone gained me a menacing status and I continued, “You are a mean serpent. Instigator. Trouble-maker. Sly liar. Undulating temptation-provider. Unworthy reminder of the seduction of strength over matter.” It protested in a booming resonant voice, “No, I am not any of this. I am just an exile, from paradise. Because of your Catholic upbringing, you don’t even know about the paradise lost in Hinduism.” Who bothered for history or heritage, except shriveling snakes and failed writers? At least, we both had something in common. “Look here comrade, my credentials are different. In heaven, I was an activist. An avid dissenter. Before the accession to heaven, long long ago, I was a mighty monarch on earth, feared and respected. I was Nahusa the Great. My subjects were happy, the kingdom prosperous. And I ruled for twelve thousand years, until the day when I decided that I could take leave of life. In heaven too, I was venerated. But one question had plagued me all the years of my long life, and it still tormented me in heaven. I wanted to know why caste was there, why people suffered because of their karmas. I questioned the Gods, and the learned sages there. I asked them what would happen if an high-born did manual work just like the low-born. I worried about the division of labor, this disparity in dreams and destinies. You could say I was a rebel pleading for liberty-equality-fraternity. I had a riotous history of revolution. The Gods plotted against me, decided that I was trouble. I was cursed to turn into a vile snake. I was banished from paradise. For sixty million years, I shall roam the earth, and then I may return.” This was a different case of the paradise lost. In this tale, there was no forbidden fruit, no second fickle-minded woman. Tradition triumphed over reason and the good were cast away. I let the serpent go, happy that he had given my hungry mind a story, or perhaps, a poem to be written on unfair days. I began to respect snakes — the challengers of hierarchy. While I gave him the freedom of safe passage I vowed never to kill serpents. Much later I realized brutally that this was just another occupational hazard for choosing a life where I was to be showing solidarity with activists and dissenters. ",sad "Aggression Ours is a silence that waits. Endlessly waits. And then, unable to bear it any further, it breaks into wails. But not all suppressed reactions end in our bemoaning the tragedy. Sometimes, the outward signals of inward struggles takes colossal forms And the revolution happens because our dreams explode. Most of the time: Aggression is the best kind of trouble-shooting. ",anger "Advaita: The ultimate question Non Dualism Atman Self Brahman God Are Equal And Same. So I Untouchable Outcast Am God. Will You Ever Agree? No Matter What You Preach Answer Me. Through Your Saints. One More Final Question Can My Untouchable Atman And Your Brahmin Atman Ever Be One ? ",hate "Touch Have you ever tried meditation? Struggling hard to concentrate, and keeping your mind as blank as a whitewashed wall by closing your eyes, nose, ears; and shutting out every possible thought. Every thing. And, the only failure, that ever came, the only gross betrayal— was from your own skin. You will have known this. Do you still remember, how, the first distractions arose? And you blamed skin as a sinner; how, when your kundalini was rising, shaken, you felt the cold concrete floor skin rubbing against skin, your saffron robes, how, even in a far-off different realm— your skin anchored you to this earth. Amidst all that pervading emptiness, touch retained its sensuality. You will have known this. Or if you thought more variedly, about taste, you would discount it—as the touch of the tongue. Or, you may recollect how a gentle touch, a caress changed your life multifold, and you were never the person you should have been. Feeling with your skin, was perhaps the first of the senses, its reality always remained with you— You never got rid of it. You will have known this. You will have known almost every knowledgeable thing about the charms and the temptations that touch could hold. But, you will never have known that touch – the taboo to your transcendence, when crystallized in caste was a paraphernalia of undeserving hate. ",sad "Love and war two thousand years ago our word for love was the same. women and men wrote their songs of love the intimacies of inside and they spoke of how love was tireless love was a fantasy feast love was no disease love was no evil goddess love was a harshness, in the parting love was ‘the thing that made a girl’s bangles slip loose when her lord went away grow tight when her lord returned’ love was (they sang) ‘bigger than the earth higher than the sky unfathomable than the waters.’ love was. no names were named. you did not know who he was or who she was or when it was or where it was only love was. and there were the poems of war, the war poetry poems on the outside (and perhaps because the bards wore lotuses of gold) there are the poems where the names were named where the kings were praised where a bard addressed another where the guide sang to the patron where the poet sang to the courtesan where mothers spoke of tigers in their wombs where the kingdom was ‘an unfailing harvest of victorious wars’ where the old women ‘threatened to slash their breasts if their sons died in battle with backs turned in fright’ where the end spoke of ‘the blood glowing in the red center of the battlefield like the sky before nightfall’ and because it has an end war was a history. love never has an end. love was. and will be. ",love "If everything comes crashing down And both of us become strangers onto each other Do not worry about me. We will look beyond eyes and run into each other As usual, for the rest of life. I do not know what you would Treasure of me in your mind. But in billboards planted Across my fervent heart, I will celebrate you as the man Who made me woman. And there are the small things that I would always remember: Your affinity to catch colds; my rising fevers on seeing you Your headaches, your backaches; my avowed helplessness Your falling asleep while waiting for my reply Your asking me to remain with you for all of time. . . All your delicious lies. . . Over the phone, the sound of your drinking water, the soundlessness of your yawn. . . the camouflage of who you were talking to the new meanings you gave to worn-out words Yes, all of this. And that once, You called me a goddess. ",sad "Monologue I speak alone because I do not know his answers. And yet, you want to be heard. I want to tell him that I have Closed and sealed my skin. Baby, I told you, love can hurt. I have exiled my heart. This is a lonely, lonely world, Even with a lover. Since I know the difference Between believing and being in love Oh! you know nothing. I have stopped My frantic search For the Buddhas Only they came to you, In ones, twos, tens. When I thought of Yasodhara, his wife Left behind alone and Large with child . . . What about the good things, eh? Recollect them. Remember that Memory is a mere vending machine . . ",sad "He replaces poetry Two months into love and today I turn into a whore Hunting for words, tearing them out from soiled sheets Of mind or pinching them from the world like removing Jade-green flecks from tiger’s eyes. . . And poetry refuses Entry into my mirrored life that is bequeathed to him. I try the mad-woman’s antics: I have pulled my hair and Bruised my thin wrists and bit the insides of my cheeks till They have bled a warm red sourness and I have starved In arrogance to call the words home to me and thrown up To clear me of him but he, strong dark man, refuses to budge, Give way or take leave. My dark nights of savage tears have Gone in search of needy shores deserting me (with the devil Of a lover who sleeps half-a-dozen streams apart) and so Have the words that once made me the sad lone woman I was, and pretended to be. I am happy now he says and I nod, like a Tanjore doll in breeze, and reply in cloying tones This is happiness. I know I do not indulge in lies or delusion but This is happiness and happiness is a hollow world for fools to Inhabit, where all the dreams eventually die by coming to life. Love has smothered me to a gay inertia and I long for a little Hurt and pain that will let me scream and I wait for offending Words to row me into worlds where I shall cry wildly for whole Nights like the lament of lonely, old and greying seas. . . Then Sadness shall come back with its dancing fairy lights and nail me To wailing crosses. . . Poetry, in the end, shall replace all of him. ",sad "Non-conversations with a lover don’t talk to me of sudden love. . . in our land even the monsoons come— leisurely, strolling like decorated temple elephants (the pomp, the paraphernalia)— after months of monotonous prayer, preparations and palpitating waits. my darling his silence (those still shoulders) but his eyes dance his eyes dance (so wild, so wild) so i think of raging summer storms— like uncontrollable tuskers trampling in mast (the madness, the lust)— across the forests of our land. . . ",joy "Whispered intimacies And I got your words Today. I will have them painted Tonight. Try to choose Or take them all. Glitter on innocent Raspberry lips that plead For touch, for closer Communion. Composition in coffee Cream blending with bitter Chocolate worn on business Days. Ravenous red, for fiery Animals in us, tamed, By love in dying Languages. Colourless words, invisible But everywhere—Love Reserved for needy Nights. Love, remember the rain And our fading words On lonely nights Drenching—Drizzling— Straying to a steady Chatter or studied Silence. Remember our Whispered intimacies Which still linger on lips. Remember that some words Which once beheld promise Now hold our bodies In motion. ",love "Mulligatawny dreams anaconda. candy. cash. catamaran. cheroot. coolie. corundum. curry. ginger. mango. mulligatawny. patchouli. poppadom. rice. tatty. teak. vetiver. i dream of an english full of the words of my language. an english in small letters an english that shall tire a white man’s tongue an english where small children practice with smooth round pebbles in their mouth to the spell the right zha an english where a pregnant woman is simply stomach-child-lady an english where the magic of black eyes and brown bodies replaces the glamour of eyes in dishwater blue shades and the airbrush romance of pink white cherry blossom skins an english where love means only the strange frenzy between a man and his beloved, not between him and his car an english without the privacy of its many rooms an english with suffixes for respect an english with more than thirty six words to call the sea an english that doesn’t belittle brown or black men and women an english of tasting with five fingers an english of talking love with eyes alone and i dream of an english where men of that spiky, crunchy tongue buy flower-garlands of jasmine to take home to their coy wives for the silent demand of a night of wordless whispered love . . . ",joy " You don’t know if you are yielding or resisting it is the last day of the year and you think about writing a farewell poem for the year that was, for the year you began writing poetry you think of the tragedies you know, you even plan to write about naming your only daughter (whenever she is born, anyway) after a suicide-bomber you try to think of fear and hate and some devious defence for all those sins you had painstakingly planned to do just so that your poetry has more life and colour and verve and in the end it might appear that you have experience you strive like mad to avoid writing poems about your unseen lover, you concede deep within that you do not know his name or age or what he murders for a living, yet he weaves his way into every poem of yours you want to write that single poem which is free of him, which does not carry the stains of his masculine scent and which doesn’t make you think of his hairless chest and the deftness of his fingers on you and god yes god his eyes you want to write a poem just for yourself, a poem where you do not cringe or stand shame-faced at his worship of himself and how silently and steadfastly he has made you worship him you have always known that your knowledge of him was very limited—that expecting the stranger to caress you when you cry is an insane idea— after all when your lover comes he has no memory about the days and months and years he has spent inside your heart and he does not wish to hear for how long you have harboured him right between your breasts you notice the clock tick away and again you give up writing that poem for it always eludes you then, you succumb to all your cravings and write all you can about him forgetting the shame and the embarrassment it would cause somehow it seems better than not writing anything at all. ",sad "Storming in tea-cups Posted on June 1, 2008 | Leave a comment “a cup of tea is not a cup of tea. . . when you make it at twilight, just for him.” call it a love potion. liquid dreams. scented desire. wishes boiled to a blend. three cinnamon pods the dried darjeeling leaves milk and pearl-white cream simmering to a syrup to be filtered. as you sweat in its vapours and imagine how the tea tastes against his lips his teeth his tongue and the pale pink insides of his throat as you stir in the sugar and test a spoonful to see if it stings and soothes and stimulates the way you intended as you pour it into his cup with eyes mirroring supernovas and study the desirable brown of the tea an entire shade that fits exactly between the desert sand of your skin and the date palm of his. almost the color of your possible child. ",love "Frenzied Light When you called me To light up your life I could never refuse. But, there are things I ask of you. Love, I can’t be a candle For I know it is an ancient lie. The candle is for the solemn, And for those who yearn a slow And settled tenderness. Not for us. It is for those who can bear to leave A mass of their waste, the dregs of their glory. O, it is for the selfish who seek to burn through a medium. Love, I will promise you a substitute. I could be that piece of holy camphor So safely locked away from prying hands. And dearest, when I burn for you, that single time Nothing shall remain of me, or of you, except that flash Of memory. Our blending shall be so sublime, so intense, so total. Come, consume me, Devastate me love, if you ever will, But with a force that I will forever remember. ",love "Fuchsia shock My bed smells of textbooks and it is more than a month or so, since I dreamt of sunlight and the sky’s embrace. Even a woman’s lush vanities — scarlet silk and shining gold — have been lost on me. I am snared in a world of aqua, fuchsia, and lime set dangerously against black and white. Words tightly wrapped, and imprisoned in a cluster of highlighter colours, share my slavery. Rattling loud, the colorized intrusions have pickled the past, leaving me to savour saturation. Oh hell, even my treasured dreams have been bleached away in shades of three, or five. Save me, from this unbearable starkness of fluorescence; where lines rehash the pages brutally, moving with sounds of spectacled scrutiny. For, all that I can bear to comprehend is the loss of dare: my sheltered cowardice. And, the sole comfort I crave, through stifled tears is stolen love beneath stained glass windows. Dearest, lavish your love in slender earthtone shades, in the colours of skin singing — to shield our renewed dreams, and to believe, once more, in absolutes. ",sad "Excerpts from a study guide Teach him not to seek Where he has been taught to find. . . *** Lead him into the land Of silences—Ignore his words of praise Where all the perfidy hides. . . *** Because the climax of a dream Is its return to reality, let him cling To your laughter, to your eyes that shine of light. . . *** Make him study the gilt of gold Against the wan brown of your skin but let him choose. . . *** Exhibit your flawless arms Dearest child of 1984—no vaccination mark Nothing to remind him of his Maari or small pox. . . *** Lead him to count the moles On your skin but force him to begin With the beauty spot above your lips. . . *** Talk to him of that summer of chickenpox That left you almost unscathed, but show him The unbeautiful gash where metal seared eight-year skin. . . *** Tell him the history of your Raphunzel hair That tickled your shins. And of a cruel world that sapped You, so your hair cannot reach down to cover your shame. . . *** Press his ears against your skin And hear him announce—the dance Is in the bones, the dance is in the blood. . . *** He shall chart and plot And map, but shrewd girl Bring him up to worship you. . . *** Allow him to memorize all of you So that, some day, he shall ravish you Screaming fiery love-words in your mother-tongue. . . *** He would have Learnt your lesson, by then. . . ",joy "Lines addressed to a warrior come. colonise me. creep into the hollows of my landscape—my eyes click lock: no more the drawing of the gates. set up your home your office the writing desk and the trading post. ignore the sand-brown of my skin—a willing blind i’ll never know black from white. take me and talk of your finer finish stunned i yield, so script your stories here. invade. this inner-space. adjust the pace and pulse of marching armies—and house your machine guns, its manuals. populate me with anthems the songs of wrath and those of war. draft words that echo of gunfire, to accompany my lone dance of submission. though prose mad and power crazy, you conquer me, never with malice or manhood. capture. every territory. fill up all my blank skin to resound with the strike of scimitars, the sadness of success. have all your battles lost, or won, chronicled across my line of down. ",joy "My lover speaks of rape Flaming green of a morning that awaits rain And my lover speaks of rape through silences, Swallowed words and the shadowed tones Of voice. Quivering, I fill in his blanks. Green turns to unsightly teal of hospital beds And he is softer than feathers, but I fly away To shield myself from the retch of the burns Ward, the shrill sounds of dying declarations, The floral pink-white sad skins of dowry deaths. Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . . Colorless noon filters in through bluish glass And coffee keeps him company. She chatters Away telling her own, every woman’s story; He listens, like for the first time. Tragedy in Bridal red remains a fresh, flushing bruise across Brown-yellow skinscapes, vibrant but made Muted through years of silent, waiting skin. I am absent. They talk of everyday assault that Turns blue, violet and black in high-color symphony. Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . . Blues blend to an unforgiving metropolitan black And loneliness seems safer than a gentle night In his arms. I return from the self-defence lessons: Mistrust is the black-belted, loose white mechanism Of survival against this groping world and I am A convert too. Yet, in the way of all life, he could try And take root, as I resist, and yield later, like the earth. Open eyes, open hands, his open all-clear soul . . . Has he learnt to live my life? Has he learnt never to harm? ",sad "Their daughters Paracetamol legends I know For rising fevers, as pain-relievers— Of my people—father’s father’s mother’s Mother, dark lush hair caressing her ankles Sometimes, sweeping earth, deep-honey skin, Amber eyes—not beauty alone they say—she Married a man who murdered thirteen men and one Lonely summer afternoon her rice-white teeth tore Through layers of khaki, and golden white skin to spill The bloodied guts of a British soldier who tried to colonize her. . . Of my land—uniform blue open skies, Mad-artist palettes of green lands and lily-filled lakes that Mirror all—not peace or tranquil alone, he shudders—some Young woman near my father’s home, with a drunken husband Who never changed; she bore his beatings everyday until on one Stormy night, in fury, she killed him by stomping his seedbags. . . We: their daughters. We: the daughters of their soil. We, mostly, write.",sad "Come silently like the Moon by Nazrul Islam English version by Gulshan Ara Original Language Bengali O, my love Come silently in the middle of the night As gliding moonlight With your tender touch Bring sweet dreams to my eyes O, my love, never again I will need to open the door, Come quietly through the door of my heart Be there forever in my sweet memory Come as the fragrance of un-blossomed flowers Swaying in the evening breeze Sing out my name over and over again Like love-stricken evening bird in the wilderness Come as tear drops in my eyes Whisper in my ears like soothing tune of flute Come as my lost love O my ever lost love Be there as eternal pain in my heart.",sad "He who has seen my Mother by Nazrul Islam English version by Rachel Fell McDermott Original Language Bengali He who has seen my Mother can he hate his brother? She loves everyone in the three worlds; her heart cries for all. With her there's no difference of caste, no distinction between high and low; all are the same. If she sees a Candala like Rama with Guhak she clasps him to her breast. Ma is our Great Illusion, highest Nature, and Father our highest Self; that's why one feels love for all we feel love for all. If you worship the Mother hating her children she won't accept your puja; the Ten-Armed One will not. The day we forget the knowledge of difference on that day only will Ma come home to us. ",love "Let's Meet Hereafter! by Nazrul Islam English version by Mohammad Omar Farooq Original Language Bengali We will meet again in the life Hereafter; Here, please, forget me with a simple laughter. Anything that remained unsaid, I won't say; Let you also keep silence; If I offer my love, turn me away; If I persist, hurt me, in pretense. Dream is broken abruptly here, The evening's bud sheds in the dawn; The heart dries up before love is savored; The ambrosia here has the taste of poison. In separation here, heart longs in agony; When together, quickly we go apart; Where the fountain of love is never dry, In that everlasting Garden, remember to seek my heart. ",sad "mother, i may have been a naughty child by Nazrul Islam Original Language Bengali mother, i may have been a naughty child, but i am your child nevertheless! you own the world, mother, you are the queen of the world, and look at me, i go about in the habit of a beggar. you are bent on neglecting me, but i love you anyway, it is you,?only you that i call upon. just as a child runs to his mother even after she has scolded him, so do i run to you. how could you push me away from you, mother, you are my mother, are you not? oh, why did you cast me away, mother, leave me to play in the dust? i would have been a better child, had only you been a little more kind to me. i am sad and angry, mother, i shall go away anywhere my eyes and my feet take me to. i do not care now whether i live or die now, mother, i am going away.",sad "O Nightingale! by Nazrul Islam English version by John Thorpe Original Language Bengali In Garden Plot, O Nightingale, do not rock upon this flower stem today; For these buds swinging in deep sleep, Unbroken dozing slumber lay. Oh how north winds blow now! Empty branches bow, day and night! Absent is the southern breeze, singing melodies, honey bees are in dismay! When will that virgin flower sunder sleeps power, opening wide in blossom? By morning cheeks in red, breaking slumber's stay. Springtime wakes the bud wide, breaking each side, bringing a flowering flood. Flowering bud's, parting lips pursed into laughter burst, dimpled cheeks display. Oh poet! you forgot the scent, so sinking down low, fail to find that shore. The flower in past, that had filled your breast, Now, o'erflowed it lies, 'neath a flood of watering eyes.",sad "Song of Dawn by Nazrul Islam English version by Sajed Kamal Original Language Bengali It's dawn,- open the door, wake up, Khukumoni! The jasmine flowers from their vines are calling you to come running, wake up, Khukumoni! Uncle Sun is crawling out all dressed in a crimson shirt, listen -- the gatekeeper is singing his song, ""Rama hoi."" The birds are leaving their nests to fly in the sky, listen to them singing continuously, filling the morning air! The restless Bulbul birds whistle from flower to flower, this time, this time, Khukumoni will open her eyes! Setting the rudder, hoisting the sail, the boat begins its journey, this time, this time, Khukumoni has opened her eyes! Lazy she's not-- she's an early-riser, that's why Brother Moon gives a teep everyday for her! Up and running-- all the little boys and girls, listen to them babbling about who woke up first! Night's wash up wake up, Khukumoni! With a hymn let's begin asking for a blessing from God!",love "Syama wakes on the cremation grounds by Nazrul Islam English version by Rachel Fell McDermott Original Language Bengali Syama wakes on the cremation grounds to take Her child at the final hour to Her lap. The peaceful Mother sits on the pyre in fire hidden by Her sari of love. To hold him on Her lap She left the Kailasa of Her joy, and with blessings and fearlessness in Her hands made the cremation grounds Her home. Why fear this place when you'll sleep peacefully at the Mother's feet? Who dies ignited by the flames of this world, to him the Mother calls: ""Come to My lap, come to My lap."" To lull you to sleep, Oh Wearied by Life, Ma takes you to Her lap disguised as death. ",sad "Talk to me, javas, talk to me by Nazrul Islam English version by Rachel Fell McDermott Original Language Bengali Talk to me, javas, talk to me -- what austerities did you do to get Syama Ma's feet? Torn from your stems on illusion's plants, falling scattered to the ground at Her feet, you got liberation bursting open beside yourselves with joy. If only I could learn from your example my life might bear fruit. Thousands of sweet-smelling flowers bloom in the woods, and they're all such beauties! So how come you got Ma's feet? You're just ignoran't javas! Crimson like you at the Mother's feet, when will they be flowers offered to Her, blessed by Her? When will they turn red at the touch of Her feet? When will they, just like you, blush scarlet -- these dull petals of my mind?",joy "A Moments Indulgence I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove. Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.",love "Authorship You say that father write a lot of books, but what he write I don't understand. He was reading to you all the evening, but could you really make out what he meant? What nice stores, mother, you can tell us! Why can't father write like that, I wonder? Did he never hear from his own mother stories of giants and fairies and princesses? Has he forgotten them all? Often when he gets late for his bath you have to and call him an hundred times. You wait and keep his dishes warm for him, but he goes on writing and forgets. Father always plays at making books. If ever I go to play in father's room, you come and call me, ""What a naughty child!"" If I make the slightest noise you say, ""Don't you see that father's at his work?"" What's the fun of always writing and writing? When I take up father's pen or pencil and write upon his book just as he does,-a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,-why do you get cross with me then, mother? You never say a word when father writes. When my father wastes such heaps of paper, mother, you don't seem to mind at all. But if I take only one sheet to take a boat with, you say, ""Child, how troublesome you are!"" What do you think of father's spoiling sheets and sheets of paper with black marks all over both sides?",anger "Baby's Way If baby only wanted to, he could fly up to heaven this moment. It is not for nothing that he does not leave us. He loves to rest his head on mother's bosom, and cannot ever bear to lose sight of her. Baby know all manner of wise words, though few on earth can understand their meaning. It is not for nothing that he never wants to speak. The one thing he wants is to learn mother's words from mother's lips. That is why he looks so innocent. Baby had a heap of gold and pearls, yet he came like a beggar on to this earth. It is not for nothing he came in such a disguise. This dear little naked mendicant pretends to be utterly helpless, so that he may beg for mother's wealth of love. Baby was so free from every tie in the land of the tiny crescent moon. It was not for nothing he gave up his freedom. He knows that there is room for endless joy in mother's little corner of a heart, and it is sweeter far than liberty to be caught and pressed in her dear arms. Baby never knew how to cry. He dwelt in the land of perfect bliss. It is not for nothing he has chosen to shed tears. Though with the smile of his dear face he draws mother's yearning heart to him, yet his little cries over tiny troubles weave the double bond of pity and love.",love "Baby's Way If baby only wanted to, he could fly up to heaven this moment. It is not for nothing that he does not leave us. He loves to rest his head on mother's bosom, and cannot ever bear to lose sight of her. Baby know all manner of wise words, though few on earth can understand their meaning. It is not for nothing that he never wants to speak. The one thing he wants is to learn mother's words from mother's lips. That is why he looks so innocent. Baby had a heap of gold and pearls, yet he came like a beggar on to this earth. It is not for nothing he came in such a disguise. This dear little naked mendicant pretends to be utterly helpless, so that he may beg for mother's wealth of love. Baby was so free from every tie in the land of the tiny crescent moon. It was not for nothing he gave up his freedom. He knows that there is room for endless joy in mother's little corner of a heart, and it is sweeter far than liberty to be caught and pressed in her dear arms. Baby never knew how to cry. He dwelt in the land of perfect bliss. It is not for nothing he has chosen to shed tears. Though with the smile of his dear face he draws mother's yearning heart to him, yet his little cries over tiny troubles weave the double bond of pity and love.",joy "Beggarly Heart When the heart is hard and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy. When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song. When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting me out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest. When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king. When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one, thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder",peace "Benediction Bless this little heart, this white soul that has won the kiss of heaven for our earth. He loves the light of the sun, he loves the sight of his mother's face. He has not learned to despise the dust, and to hanker after gold. Clasp him to your heart and bless him. He has come into this land of an hundred cross-roads. I know not how he chose you from the crowd, came to your door, and grasped you hand to ask his way. He will follow you, laughing the talking, and not a doubt in his heart. Keep his trust, lead him straight and bless him. Lay your hand on his head, and pray that though the waves underneath grow threatening, yet the breath from above may come and fill his sails and waft him to the heaven of peace. Forget him not in your hurry, let him come to your heart and bless him.",love "Brink Of Eternity In desperate hope I go and search for her in all the corners of my room; I find her not. My house is small and what once has gone from it can never be regained. But infinite is thy mansion, my lord, and seeking her I have to come to thy door. I stand under the golden canopy of thine evening sky and I lift my eager eyes to thy face. I have come to the brink of eternity from which nothing can vanish ---no hope, no happiness, no vision of a face seen through tears. Oh, dip my emptied life into that ocean, plunge it into the deepest fullness. Let me for once feel that lost sweet touch in the allness of the universe. ",sad " Chain Of Pearls Mother, I shall weave a chain of pearls for thy neck with my tears of sorrow. The stars have wrought their anklets of light to deck thy feet, but mine will hang upon thy breast. Wealth and fame come from thee and it is for thee to give or to withhold them. But this my sorrow is absolutely mine own, and when I bring it to thee as my offering thou rewardest me with thy grace.",sad "Closed Path I thought that my voyage had come to its end at the last limit of my power,---that the path before me was closed, that provisions were exhausted and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity. But I find that thy will knows no end in me. And when old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders.",courage "Clouds and Waves Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me- ""We play from the time we wake till the day ends. We play with the golden dawn, we play with the silver moon."" I ask, ""But how am I to get up to you ?"" They answer, ""Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds."" ""My mother is waiting for me at home, ""I say, ""How can I leave her and come?"" Then they smile and float away. But I know a nicer game than that, mother. I shall be the cloud and you the moon. I shall cover you with both my hands, and our house-top will be the blue sky. The folk who live in the waves call out to me- ""We sing from morning till night; on and on we travel and know not where we pass."" I ask, ""But how am I to join you?"" They tell me, ""Come to the edge of the shore and stand with your eyes tight shut, and you will be carried out upon the waves."" I say, ""My mother always wants me at home in the everything- how can I leave her and go?"" They smile, dance and pass by. But I know a better game than that. I will be the waves and you will be a strange shore. I shall roll on and on and on, and break upon your lap with laughter. And no one in the world will know where we both are. ",love "Colored Toys When I bring to you colored toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints ---when I give colored toys to you, my child. When I sing to make you dance I truly now why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth ---when I sing to make you dance. When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands I know why there is honey in the cup of the flowers and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice ---when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight that is that is which the summer breeze brings to my body ---when I kiss you to make you smile.",joy "Defamation Whey are those tears in your eyes, my child? How horrid of them to be always scolding you for nothing! You have stained your fingers and face with ink while writing- is that why they call you dirty? O, fie! Would they dare to call the full moon dirty because it has smudged its face with ink? For every little trifle they blame you, my child. They are ready to find fault for nothing. You tore your clothes while playing-is that why they call you untidy? O, fie! What would they call an autumn morning that smiles through its ragged clouds? Take no heed of what they say to you, my child. They make a long list of your misdeeds. Everybody knows how you love sweet things-is that why they call you greedy? O, fie! What then would they call us who love you?",love "Distant Time I know not from what distant time thou art ever coming nearer to meet me. Thy sun and stars can never keep thee hidden from me for aye. In many a morning and eve thy footsteps have been heard and thy messenger has come within my heart and called me in secret. I know not only why today my life is all astir, and a feeling of tremulous joy is passing through my heart. It is as if the time were come to wind up my work, and I feel in the air a faint smell of thy sweet presence. ",peace "Dungeon He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. I am ever busy building this wall all around; and as this wall goes up into the sky day by day I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow. I take pride in this great wall, and I plaster it with dust and sand lest a least hole should be left in this name; and for all the care I take I lose sight of my true being Endless Time by Rabindranath Tagore Time is endless in thy hands, my lord. There is none to count thy minutes. Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers. Thou knowest how to wait. Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower. We have no time to lose, and having no time we must scramble for a chance. We are too poor to be late. And thus it is that time goes by while I give it to every querulous man who claims it, and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last. At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut; but I find that yet there is time.",peace "Face To Face Day after day, O lord of my life, shall I stand before thee face to face. With folded hands, O lord of all worlds, shall I stand before thee face to face. Under thy great sky in solitude and silence, with humble heart shall I stand before thee face to face. In this laborious world of thine, tumultuous with toil and with struggle, among hurrying crowds shall I stand before thee face to face. And when my work shall be done in this world, O King of kings, alone and speechless shall I stand before thee face to face.",peace "Fairyland If people came to know where my king's palace is, it would vanish into the air. The walls are of white silver and the roof of shining gold. The queen lives in a palace with seven courtyards, and she wears a jewel that cost all the wealth of seven kingdoms. But let me tell you, mother, in a whisper, where my king's palace is. It is at the corner of our terrace where the pot of the tulsi plant stands. The princess lies sleeping on the far-away shore of the seven impassable seas. There is none in the world who can find her but myself. She has bracelets on her arms and pearl drops in her ears; her hair sweeps down upon the floor. She will wake when I touch her with my magic wand and jewels will fall from her lips when she smiles. But let me whisper in your ear, mother; she is there in the corner of our terrace where the pot of the tulsi plant stands. When it is time for you to go to the river for your bath, step up to that terrace on the roof. I sit in the corner where the shadow of the walls meet together. Only puss is allowed to come with me, for she know where the barber in the story lives. But let me whisper, mother, in your ear where the barber in the story lives. It is at the corner of the terrace where the pot of the tulsi plant stands. ",joy "Farewell I have got my leave. Bid me farewell, my brothers! I bow to you all and take my departure. Here I give back the keys of my door ---and I give up all claims to my house. I only ask for last kind words from you. We were neighbors for long, but I received more than I could give. Now the day has dawned and the lamp that lit my dark corner is out. A summons has come and I am ready for my journey. Flower by Rabindranath Tagore Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear lest it droop and drop into the dust. I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it. I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the time of offering go by. Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint, use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there is time.",sad "Fool O Fool, try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! O beggar, to come beg at thy own door! Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all, and never look behind in regret. Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath. It is unholy---take not thy gifts through its unclean hands. Accept only what is offered by sacred love. ",peace "Free Love By all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this world. But it is otherwise with thy love which is greater than theirs, and thou keepest me free. Lest I forget them they never venture to leave me alone. But day passes by after day and thou art not seen. If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart, thy love for me still waits for my love.",love "Friend Art thou abroad on this stormy night on thy journey of love, my friend? The sky groans like one in despair. I have no sleep tonight. Ever and again I open my door and look out on the darkness, my friend! I can see nothing before me. I wonder where lies thy path! By what dim shore of the ink-black river, by what far edge of the frowning forest, through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading thy course to come to me, my friend?",surprise "Give Me Strength This is my prayer to thee, my lord---strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart. Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows. Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service. Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might. Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles. And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love. ",peace "Innermost One He it is, the innermost one, who awakens my being with his deep hidden touches. He it is who puts his enchantment upon these eyes and joyfully plays on the chords of my heart in varied cadence of pleasure and pain. He it is who weaves the web of this maya in evanescent hues of gold and silver, blue and green, and lets peep out through the folds his feet, at whose touch I forget myself. Days come and ages pass, and it is ever he who moves my heart in many a name, in many a guise, in many a rapture of joy and of sorrow.",peace "Journey Home The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long. I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet. It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune. The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said `Here art thou!' The question and the cry `Oh, where?' melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge the world with the flood of the assurance `I am!' ",peace "Last Curtain I know that the day will come when my sight of this earth shall be lost, and life will take its leave in silence, drawing the last curtain over my eyes. Yet stars will watch at night, and morning rise as before, and hours heave like sea waves casting up pleasures and pains. When I think of this end of my moments, the barrier of the moments breaks and I see by the light of death thy world with its careless treasures. Rare is its lowliest seat, rare is its meanest of lives. Things that I longed for in vain and things that I got ---let them pass. Let me but truly possess the things that I ever spurned and overlooked.",peace "Leave This Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil! Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever. Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow. ",courage "Let Me Not Forget If it is not my portion to meet thee in this life then let me ever feel that I have missed thy sight ---let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. As my days pass in the crowded market of this world and my hands grow full with the daily profits, let me ever feel that I have gained nothing ---let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. When I sit by the roadside, tired and panting, when I spread my bed low in the dust, let me ever feel that the long journey is still before me ---let me not forget a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours. When my rooms have been decked out and the flutes sound and the laughter there is loud, let me ever feel that I have not invited thee to my house ---let me not forget for a moment, let me carry the pangs of this sorrow in my dreams and in my wakeful hours ",sad "Light Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light! Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the center of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth. The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light. The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion. Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad.",joy "Little Flute Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new. At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable. Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill. ",joy "Little Of Me Let only that little be left of me whereby I may name thee my all. Let only that little be left of my will whereby I may feel thee on every side, and come to thee in everything, and offer to thee my love every moment. Let only that little be left of me whereby I may never hide thee. Let only that little of my fetters be left whereby I am bound with thy will, and thy purpose is carried out in my life---and that is the fetter of thy love. ",love "Lost Star When the creation was new and all the stars shone in their first splendor, the gods held their assembly in the sky and sang `Oh, the picture of perfection! the joy unalloyed!' But one cried of a sudden ---`It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light and one of the stars has been lost.' The golden string of their harp snapped, their song stopped, and they cried in dismay ---`Yes, that lost star was the best, she was the glory of all heavens!' From that day the search is unceasing for her, and the cry goes on from one to the other that in her the world has lost its one joy! Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile and whisper among themselves ---`Vain is this seeking! unbroken perfection is over all!' ",peace "Lost Time On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time. But it is never lost, my lord. Thou hast taken every moment of my life in thine own hands. Hidden in the heart of things thou art nourishing seeds into sprouts, buds into blossoms, and ripening flowers into fruitfulness. I was tired and sleeping on my idle bed and imagined all work had ceased. In the morning I woke up and found my garden full with wonders of flowers.",joy "Lotus On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded. Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind. That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion. I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart.",sad "Lover's Gifts II: Come to My Garden Walk Come to my garden walk, my love. Pass by the fervid flowers that press themselves on your sight. Pass them by, stopping at some chance joy, which like a sudden wonder of sunset illumines, yet elude. For lover's gift is shy, it never tells its name, it flits across the shade, spreading a shiver of joy along the dust. Overtake it or miss it for ever. But a gift that can be grasped is merely a frail flower, or a lamp with flame that will flicker.",love "Lover's Gifts IV: She Is Near to My Heart She is near to my heart as the meadow-flower to the earth; she is sweet to me as sleep is to tired limbs. My love for her is my life flowing in its fullness, like a river in autumn flood, running with serene abandonment. My songs are one with my love, like the murmur of a stream, that sings with all its waves and current. ",love "Lover's Gifts LII: Tired of Waiting Tired of waiting, you burst your bonds, impatient flowers, before the winter had gone. Glimpses of the unseen comer reached your wayside watch, and you rushed out running and panting, impulsive jasmines, troops of riotous roses. You were the first to march to the breach of death, your clamour of colour and perfume troubled the air. You laughed and pressed and pushed each other, bared your breast and dropped in heaps. The Summer will come in its time, sailing in the flood-tide of the south wind. But you never counted slow moments to be sure of him. You recklessly spent your all in the road, in the terrible joy of faith. You heard his footsteps from afar, and flung your mantle of death for him to tread upon. Your bonds break even before the rescuer is seen, you make him your own ere he can come and claim you. ",love "Lover's Gifts LIV: In the Beginning of Time In the beginning of time, there rose from the churning of God's dream two women. One is the dancer at the court of paradise, the desired of men, she who laughs and plucks the minds of the wise from their cold meditations and of fools from their emptiness; and scatters them like seeds with careless hands in the extravagant winds of March, in the flowering frenzy of May. The other is the crowned queen of heaven, the mother, throned on the fullness of golden autumn; she who in the harvest-time brings straying hearts to the smile sweet as tears, the beauty deep as the sea of silence, -brings them to the temple of the Unknown, at the holy confluence of Life and Death. ",peace "Lover's Gifts LVIII: Things Throng and Laugh Things throng and laugh loud in the sky; the sands and dust dance and whirl like children. Man's mind is aroused by their shouts; his thoughts long to be the playmates of things. Our dreams, drifting in the stream of the vague, stretch their arms to clutch the earth, -their efforts stiffen into bricks and stones, and thus the city of man is built. Voices come swarming from the past,-seeking answers from the living moments. Beats of their wings fill the air with tremulous shadows, and sleepless thoughts in our minds leave their nests to take flight across the desert of dimness, in the passionate thirst for forms. They are lampless pilgrims, seeking the shore of light, to find themselves in things. They will be lured into poets's rhymes, they will be housed in the towers of the town not yet planned, they have their call to arms from the battle fields of the future, they are bidden to join hands in the strife of peace yet to come.",joy "Lover's Gifts LXX: Take Back Your Coins Take back your coins, King's Councillor. I am of those women you sent to the forest shrine to decoy the young ascetic who had never seen a women. I failed in your bidding. Dimly day was breaking when the hermit boy came to bathe in the stream, his tawny locks crowded on his shoulders, like a cluster of morning clouds, and his limbs shining like a streak of sunbeam. We laughed and sang as we rowed in our boat; we jumped into the river in a mad frolic, and danced around him, when the sun rose staring at us from the water's edge in a flush of divine anger. Like a child-god, the boy opened his eyes and watched our movements, the wonder deepening till his eyes shone like morning stars. He lifted his clasped hands and chanted a hymn of praise in his bird-like young voice, thrilling every leaf of the forest. Never such words were sung to a mortal woman before; they were like the silent hymn to the dawn which rises from the hushed hills. THe women hid their mouths with their hands, their bodies swaying with laughter, and a spasm of doubt ran across his face. Quickly came I to his side, sorely pained, and, bowing to his feet, I said, ""Lord, accept my service."" I led him to the grassy bank, wiped his body with the end of my silken mantle, and, kneeling on the ground, I dried his feet with my trailing hair. When I raised my face and looked into his eyes, I thought I felt the world's first kiss to the first woman, -Blessed am I, blessed is God, who made me a woman. I heard him say to me, ""What God unknown are you? YOur touch is the touch of the Immortal, your eyes have the mystery of the midnight."" Ah, no, not that smile, King's Councillor, -the dust of worldly wisdom has covered your sight, old man. But this boy's innocence pierced the mist and saw the shining truth, the woman divine.... The women clapped their hands, and laughed their obscene laugh, and with veils dragged on the dust and hair hanging loose they began to pelt him with flowers. Alas, my spotless sun, could not my shame weave fiery mist to cover you in its folds? I fell at his feet and cried, ""Forgive me. "" I fled like a stricken deer through shade and sun, and cried as I fled, "" Forgive me. "" The women's foul laughter pressed me like a cracking fire, but the words ever rang in my ears, "" What God unknown are you?""",sad "Lover's Gifts V: I Would Ask For Still More I would ask for still more, if I had the sky with all its stars, and the world with its endless riches; but I would be content with the smallest corner of this earth if only she were mine. ",love "Lover's Gifts VIII: There Is Room for You There is room for you. You are alone with your few sheaves of rice. My boat is crowded, it is heavily laden, but how can I turn you away? Your young body is slim and swaying; there is a twinkling smile in the edge of your eyes, and your robe is coloured like the rain cloud. The travellers will land for different roads and homes. You will sit for a while on the prow of my boat, and at the journey's end none will keep you back. Where do you go, and to what home, to garner your sheaves? I will not question you, but when I fold my sails and moor my boat I shall sit and wonder in the evening, -Where do you go, and to what home, to garner your sheaves?",love "Lover's Gifts XIII: Last Night in the Garden Last night in the garden I offered you my youth's foaming wine. You lifted the cup to your lips, you shut your eyes and smiled while I raised your veil, unbound your tresses, drawing down upon my breast your face sweet with its silence, last night when the moon's dream overflowed the world of slumber. To-day in the dew-cooled calm of the dawn you are walking to God's temple, bathed and robed in white, with a basketful of flowers in your hand. I stand aside in the shade under the tree, with my head bent, in the calm of the dawn by the lonely road to the temple.",love "Lover's Gifts XIX: It Is Written in the Book It is written in the book that Man, when fifty, must leave the noisy world, to go to the forest seclusion. But the poet proclaims that the forest hermitage is only for the young. For it is the birthplace of flowers and the haunt of birds and bees; and hidden hooks are waiting there for the thrill of lovers' whispers. There the moon-light, that is all one kiss for the malati flowers, has its deep message, but those who understand it are far below fifty. And alas, youth is inexperienced and wilful, therefore it is but meet that the old should take charge of the household, and the young take to the seclusion of forest shades and the severe discipline of courting. ",joy "Lover's Gifts XL: A Message Came A message came from my youth of vanished days, saying, "" I wait for you among the quivering of unborn May, where smiles ripen for tears and hours ache with songs unsung."" It says, ""Come to me across the worn-out track of age, through the gates of death. For dreams fade, hopes fail, the fathered fruits of the year decay, but I am the eternal truth, and you shall meet me again and again in your voyage of life from shore to shore.""",sad "Lover's Gifts XLII: Are You a Mere Picture Are you a mere picture, and not as true as those stars, true as this dust? They throb with the pulse of things, but you are immensely aloof in your stillness, painted form. The day was when you walked with me, your breath warm, your limbs singing of life. My world found its speech in your voice, and touched my heart with your face. You suddenly stopped in your walk, in the shadow-side of the Forever, and I went on alone. Life, like a child, laughs, shaking its rattle of death as it runs; it beckons me on, I follow the unseen; but you stand there, where you stopped behind that dust and those stars; and you are a mere picture. No, it cannot be. Had the life-flood utterly stopped in you, it would stop the river in its flow, and the foot-fall of dawn in her cadence of colours. Had the glimmering dusk of your hair vanished in the hopeless dark, the woodland shade of summer would die with its dreams. Can it be true that I forgot you? We haste on without heed, forgetting the flowers on the roadside hedge. Yet they breathe unaware into our forgetfulness, filling it with music. You have moved from my world, to take seat at the root of my life, and therefore is this forgetting-remembrance lost in its own depth. You are no longer before my songs, but one with them. You came to me with the first ray of dawn. I lost you with the last gold of evening. Ever since I am always finding you through the dark. No, you are no mere picture. ",sad " Lover's Gifts XLIII: Dying, You Have Left Behind Dying, you have left behind you the great sadness of the Eternal in my life. You have painted my thought's horizon with the sunset colours of your departure, leaving a track of tears across the earth to love's heaven. Clasped in your dear arms, life and death united in me in a marriage bond. I think I can see you watching there in the balcony with your lamp lighted, where the end and the beginning of all things meet. My world went hence through the doors that you opened-you holding the cup of death to my lips, filling it with life from your own. ",sad "Lover's Gifts XLIV: Where Is Heaven Where is heaven? you ask me, my child,-the sages tell us it is beyond the limits of birth and death, unswayed by the rhythm of day and night; it is not of the earth. But your poet knows that its eternal hunger is for time and space, and it strives evermore to be born in the fruitful dust. Heaven is fulfilled in your sweet body, my child, in your palpitating heart. The sea is beating its drums in joy, the flowers are a-tiptoe to kiss you. For heaven is born in you, in the arms of the mother- dust.",love "Lover's Gifts XLVII: The Road Is The road is my wedded companion. She speaks to me under my feet all day, she sings to my dreams all night. My meeting with her had no beginning, it begins endlessly at each daybreak, renewing its summer in fresh flowers and songs, and her every new kiss is the first kiss to me. The road and I are lovers. I change my dress for her night after night, leaving the tattered cumber of the old in the wayside inns when the day dawns.",love "Lover's Gifts XLVIII: I Travelled the Old Road I travelled the old road every day, I took my fruits to the market, my cattle to the meadows, I ferried my boat across the stream and all the ways were well known to me. One morning my basket was heavy with wares. Men were busy in the fields, the pastures crowded with cattle; the breast of earth heaved with the mirth of ripening rice. Suddenly there was a tremor in the air, and the sky seemed to kiss me on my forehead. My mind started up like the morning out of mist. I forgot to follow the track. I stepped a few paces from the path, and my familiar world appeared strange to me, like a flower I had only known in bud. My everyday wisdom was ashamed. I went astray in the fairyland of things. It was the best luck of my life that I lost my path that morning, and found my eternal childhood.",joy "Lover's Gifts XVI: She Dwelt Here by the Pool She dwelt here by the pool with its landing-stairs in ruins. Many an evening she had watched the moon made dizzy by the shaking of bamboo leaves, and on many a rainy day the smell of the wet earth had come to her over the young shoots of rice. Her pet name is known here among those date-palm groves and in the courtyards where girls sit and talk while stitching their winter quilts. The water in this pool keeps in its depth the memory of her swimming limbs, and her wet feet had left their marks, day after day, on the footpath leading to the village. The women who come to-day with their vessels to the water have all seen her smile over simple jests, and the old peasant, taking his bullocks to their bath, used to stop at her door every day to greet her. Many a sailing-boat passes by this village; many a traveller takes rest beneath that banyan tree; the ferry-boat crosses to yonder ford carrying crowds to the market; but they never notice this spot by the village road, near the pool with its ruined landing-stairs,-where dwelt she whom I love. ",love "Lover's Gifts XVIII: Your Days Your days will be full of cares, if you must give me your heart. My house by the cross-roads has its doors open and my mind is absent, -for I sing. I shall never be made to answer for it, if you must give me your heart. If I pledge my word to you in tunes now, and am too much in earnest to keep it when music is silent, you must forgive me; for the law laid down in May is best broken in December. Do not always keep remembering it, if you must give me your heart. When your eyes sing with love, and your voice ripples with laughter, my answers to your questions will be wild, and not miserly accurate in facts, -they are to be believed for ever and then forgotten for good. ",love "Lover's Gifts XXII: I Shall Gladly Suffer I shall gladly suffer the pride of culture to die out in my house, if only in some happy future I am born a herd-boy in the Brinda forest. The herd-boy who grazes his cattle sitting under the banyan tree, and idly weaves gunja flowers into garlands, who loves to splash and plunge in the Jamuna's cool deep stream. He calls his companions to wake up when morning dawns, and all the houses in the lane hum with the sound of the churn, clouds of dust are raised by the cattle, the maidens come out in the courtyard to milk the king. As the shadows deepen under the tomal trees, and the dusk gathers on the river-banks; when the milkmaids, while crossing the turbulent water, tremble with fear; and loud peacocks, with tails outspread, dance in the forest, he watchers the summer clouds. When the April night is sweet as a fresh-blown flower, he disappears in the forest with a peacock's plume in his hair; the swing ropes are twined with flowers on the branches; the south wind throbs with music, and the merry shepherd boys crowd on the banks of the blue river. No, I will never be the leader, brothers, of this new age of new Bengal; I shall not trouble to light the lamp of culture for the benighted. If only I could be born, under the shady asoka groves, in some village of Brinda, where milk is churned by the maidens! ",love "Lover's Gifts XXVIII: I Dreamt I dreamt that she sat by my head, tenderly ruffling my hair with her fingers, playing the melody of her touch. I looked at her face and struggled with my tears, till the agony of unspoken words burst my sleep like a bubble. I sat up and saw the glow of the Milky Way above my window, like a world of silence on fire, and I wondered if at this moment she had a dream that rhymed with mine.",sad "Lover's Gifts XXXIX: There Is a Looker-On things in ages and worlds beyond memory's shore, and those forgotten sights glisten on the grass and shiver on the leaves. He has seen under new veils the face of the one beloved, in twilight hours of many a nameless star. Therefore his sky seems to ache with the pain of countless meetings and partings, and a longing pervades this spring breeze, -the longing that is full of the whisper of ages without beginning.",sad "Maya That I should make much of myself and turn it on all sides, thus casting colored shadows on thy radiance ---such is thy Maya. Thou settest a barrier in thine own being and then callest thy severed self in myriad notes. This thy self-separation has taken body in me. The poignant song is echoed through all the sky in many-coloued tears and smiles, alarms and hopes; waves rise up and sink again, dreams break and form. In me is thy own defeat of self. This screen that thou hast raised is painted with innumerable figures with the brush of the night and the day. Behind it thy seat is woven in wondrous mysteries of curves, casting away all barren lines of straightness. The great pageant of thee and me has overspread the sky. With the tune of thee and me all the air is vibrant, and all ages pass with the hiding and seeking of thee and me. ",love "Moment's Indulgence I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works that I have in hand I will finish afterwards. Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite, and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil. Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove. Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure ",love "My Friend Art thou abroad on this stormy night on thy journey of love, my friend? The sky groans like one in despair. I have no sleep tonight. Ever and again I open my door and look out on the darkness, my friend! I can see nothing before me. I wonder where lies thy path! By what dim shore of the ink-black river, by what far edge of the frowning forest, through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading thy course to come to me, my friend? ",sad "My Song This song of mine will wind its music around you, my child, like the fond arms of love. This song of mine will touch your forehead like a kiss of blessing. When you are alone it will sit by your side and whisper in your ear, when you are in the crowd it will fence you about with aloofness. My song will be like a pair of wings to your dreams, it will transport your heart to the verge of the unknown. It will be like the faithful star overhead when dark night is over your road. My song will sit in the pupils of your eyes, and will carry your sight into the heart of things. And when my voice is silent in death, my song will speak in your living heart. ",love "O Fool O Fool, try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders! O beggar, to come beg at thy own door! Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all, and never look behind in regret. Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath. It is unholy---take not thy gifts through its unclean hands. Accept only what is offered by sacred love. ",love "Ocean of Forms I dive down into the depth of the ocean of forms, hoping to gain the perfect pearl of the formless. No more sailing from harbor to harbor with this my weather-beaten boat. The days are long passed when my sport was to be tossed on waves. And now I am eager to die into the deathless. Into the audience hall by the fathomless abyss where swells up the music of toneless strings I shall take this harp of my life. I shall tune it to the notes of forever, and when it has sobbed out its last utterance, lay down my silent harp at the feet of the silent.",joy "Old And New Thou hast made me known to friends whom I knew not. Thou hast given me seats in homes not my own. Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger. I am uneasy at heart when I have to leave my accustomed shelter; I forget that there abides the old in the new, and that there also thou abidest. Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless life who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar. When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of many. ",sad " On the Seashore On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances. They build their houses with sand, and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds. They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl-fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets. The sea surges up with laughter, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships are wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children.",joy "Only Thee That I want thee, only thee---let my heart repeat without end. All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty to the core. As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry ---`I want thee, only thee'. As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is ---`I want thee, only thee'.",love "Paper Boats Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream. In bid black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live. I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am. I load my little boats with shiuli flower from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night. I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting thee white bulging sails. I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats! When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars. The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading ins their baskets full of dreams.",courage " Parting Words When I go from hence let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus am I blessed ---let this be my parting word. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him that is formless. My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come ---let this be my parting word.",joy "Passing Breeze Yes, I know, this is nothing but thy love, O beloved of my heart---this golden light that dances upon the leaves, these idle clouds sailing across the sky, this passing breeze leaving its coolness upon my forehead. The morning light has flooded my eyes---this is thy message to my heart. Thy face is bent from above, thy eyes look down on my eyes, and my heart has touched thy feet. Patience by Rabindranath Tagore If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience. The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky. Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds' nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all my forest groves.",love "Playthings Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning. I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig. I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour. Perhaps you glance at me and think, ""What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!"" Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies. I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver. With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain. In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.",joy "Prisoner `Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?' `It was my master,' said the prisoner. `I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.' `Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?' `It was I,' said the prisoner, `who forged this chain very carefully. I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.'",sad "Purity Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing that thy living touch is upon all my limbs. I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind. I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat in the inmost shrine of my heart. And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it is thy power gives me strength to act.",love "Roaming Cloud I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn uselessly roaming in the sky, O my sun ever-glorious! Thy touch has not yet melted my vapor, making me one with thy light, and thus I count months and years separated from thee. If this be thy wish and if this be thy play, then take this fleeting emptiness of mine, paint it with colors, gild it with gold, float it on the wanton wind and spread it in varied wonders. And again when it shall be thy wish to end this play at night, I shall melt and vanish away in the dark, or it may be in a smile of the white morning, in a coolness of purity transparent.",love "Sail Away Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat, only thou and I, and never a soul in the world would know of this our pilgrimage to no country and to no end. In that shoreless ocean, at thy silently listening smile my songs would swell in melodies, free as waves, free from all bondage of words. Is the time not come yet? Are there works still to do? Lo, the evening has come down upon the shore and in the fading light the seabirds come flying to their nests. Who knows when the chains will be off, and the boat, like the last glimmer of sunset, vanish into the night?",joy "Salutation In one salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet. Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee. Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee. Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee.",love "Seashore On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances. They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds. They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets. The sea surges up with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach. On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children.",love "Senses Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight. Thou ever pourest for me the fresh draught of thy wine of various colours and fragrance, filling this earthen vessel to the brim. My world will light its hundred different lamps with thy flame and place them before the altar of thy temple. No, I will never shut the doors of my senses. The delights of sight and hearing and touch will bear thy delight. Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of joy, and all my desires ripen into fruits of love. ",joy "She She who ever had remained in the depth of my being, in the twilight of gleams and of glimpses; she who never opened her veils in the morning light, will be my last gift to thee, my God, folded in my final song. Words have wooed yet failed to win her; persuasion has stretched to her its eager arms in vain. I have roamed from country to country keeping her in the core of my heart, and around her have risen and fallen the growth and decay of my life. Over my thoughts and actions, my slumbers and dreams, she reigned yet dwelled alone and apart. Many a man knocked at my door and asked for her and turned away in despair. There was none in the world who ever saw her face to face, and she remained in her loneliness waiting for thy recognition. ",sad "Signet of Eternity The day was when I did not keep myself in readiness for thee; and entering my heart unbidden even as one of the common crowd, unknown to me, my king, thou didst press the signet of eternity upon many a fleeting moment of my life. And today when by chance I light upon them and see thy signature, I find they have lain scattered in the dust mixed with the memory of joys and sorrows of my trivial days forgotten. Thou didst not turn in contempt from my childish play among dust, and the steps that I heard in my playroom are the same that are echoing from star to star.",peace "Silent Steps Have you not heard his silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes. Every moment and every age, every day and every night he comes, comes, ever comes. Many a song have I sung in many a mood of mind, but all their notes have always proclaimed, `He comes, comes, ever comes.' In the fragrant days of sunny April through the forest path he comes, comes, ever comes. In the rainy gloom of July nights on the thundering chariot of clouds he comes, comes, ever comes. In sorrow after sorrow it is his steps that press upon my heart, and it is the golden touch of his feet that makes my joy to shine. ",peace "Sit Smiling I boasted among men that I had known you. They see your pictures in all works of mine. They come and ask me, `Who is he?' I know not how to answer them. I say, `Indeed, I cannot tell.' They blame me and they go away in scorn. And you sit there smiling. I put my tales of you into lasting songs. The secret gushes out from my heart. They come and ask me, `Tell me all your meanings.' I know not how to answer them. I say, `Ah, who knows what they mean!' They smile and go away in utter scorn. And you sit there smiling",peace "Sleep In the night of weariness let me give myself up to sleep without struggle, resting my trust upon thee. Let me not force my flagging spirit into a poor preparation for thy worship. It is thou who drawest the veil of night upon the tired eyes of the day to renew its sight in a fresher gladness of awakening. Song Unsung by Rabindranath Tagore The song that I came to sing remains unsung to this day. I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument. The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there is the agony of wishing in my heart. The blossom has not opened; only the wind is sighing by. I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I have heard his gentle footsteps from the road before my house. The livelong day has passed in spreading his seat on the floor; but the lamp has not been lit and I cannot ask him into my house. I live in the hope of meeting with him; but this meeting is not yet. ",peace "Still Heart When I give up the helm I know that the time has come for thee to take it. What there is to do will be instantly done. Vain is this struggle. Then take away your hands and silently put up with your defeat, my heart, and think it your good fortune to sit perfectly still where you are placed. These my lamps are blown out at every little puff of wind, and trying to light them I forget all else again and again. But I shall be wise this time and wait in the dark, spreading my mat on the floor; and whenever it is thy pleasure, my lord, come silently and take thy seat here. ",love " Stream Of Life The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment ",joy "Strong Mercy My desires are many and my cry is pitiful, but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals; and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through. Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked---this sky and the light, this body and the life and the mind---saving me from perils of overmuch desire. There are times when I languidly linger and times when I awaken and hurry in search of my goal; but cruelly thou hidest thyself from before me. Day by day thou art making me worthy of thy full acceptance by refusing me ever and anon, saving me from perils of weak, uncertain desire. ",love "Superior Mother, your baby is silly! She is so absurdly childish! She does not know the difference between the lights in the streets and the stars. When we play at eating with pebbles, she thinks they are real food, and tries to put them into her mouth. When I open a book before her and ask her to learn her a, b, c, she tears the leaves with her hands and roars for joy at nothing; this is your baby's way of doing her lesson. When I shake my head at her in anger and scold her and call her naughty, she laughs and thinks it great fun. Everybody knows that father is away, but if in play I call aloud ""Father,"" she looks about her in excitement and thinks that father is near. When I hold my class with the donkeys that our washer man brings to carry away the clothes and I warn her that I am the schoolmaster, she will scream for no reason and call me dada. Your baby wants to catch the moon. She is so funny; she calls Ganesh Ganush. Mother, your baby is silly! She is so absurdly childish! ",joy "Sympathy If I were only a little puppy, not your baby, mother dear, would you say ""No"" to me if I tried to eat from your dish? Would you drive me off, saying to me, ""Get away, you naughty little puppy?"" Then go, mother, go! I will never come to you when you call me, and never let you feed me any more. If I were only a little green parrot, and not your baby, mother dear, would you keep me chained lest I should fly away? Would you shake your finger at me and say, ""What an ungrateful wretch of a bird! It is gnawing at its chain day and night?"" The go, mother, go! I will run away into the woods; I will never let you take me in your arms again.",peace "The Astronomer I only said, ""When in the evening the round full moon gets entangled among the beaches of that Dadam tree, couldn't somebody catch it?"" But dada laughed at me and said, ""Baby, you are the silliest child I have ever known. The moon is ever so far from us, how could anybody catch it?"" I said, ""Dada, how foolish you are! When mother looks out of her window and smiles down at us playing, would you call her far away?"" Still dada said, ""You are a stupid child! But, baby where could you find a net big enough to catch the moon with?"" I said, ""Surely you could catch it with your hands."" But dada laughed and said, ""You are the silliest child I have known. If it came nearer, you would see how big the moon is."" I said, ""Dada, what nonsense they teach at your school! When mother bends her face down to kiss us, does her face look very big?"" But still dada says, ""You are a stupid child."" ",surprise " The Banyan Tree O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond, have you forgotten the little chile, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you? Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at the tangle of your roots and plunged underground? The women would come to fill their jars in the pond, and your huge black shadow would wriggle on the water like sleep struggling to wake up. Sunlight danced on the ripples like restless tiny shuttles weaving golden tapestry. Two ducks swam by the weedy margin above their shadows, and the child would sit still and think. He longed to be the wind and blow through your resting branches, to be your shadow and lengthen with the day on the water, to be a bird and perch on your topmost twig, and to float like those ducks among the weeds and shadows. ",joy "The Beginning ""Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?"" the baby asked its mother. She answered, half crying, half laughing, and clasping the baby to her breast- ""You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling. You were in the dolls of my childhood's games; and when with clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made the unmade you then. You were enshrined with our household deity, in his worship I worshipped you. In all my hopes and my loves, in my life, in the life of my mother you have lived. In the lap of the deathless Spirit who rules our home you have been nursed for ages. When in girlhood my heart was opening its petals, you hovered as a fragrance about it. Your tender softness bloomed in my youthful limbs, like a glow in the sky before the sunrise. Heaven's first darling, twain-born with the morning light, you have floated down the stream of the world's life, and at last you have stranded on my heart. As I gaze on your face, mystery overwhelms me; you who belong to all have become mine. For fear of losing you I hold you tight to my breast. What magic has snared the world's treasure in these slender arms of mine?""",love "The Boat I must launch out my boat. The languid hours pass by on the shore---Alas for me! The spring has done its flowering and taken leave. And now with the burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger. The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane the yellow leaves flutter and fall. What emptiness do you gaze upon! Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air with the notes of the far-away song floating from the other shore?",sad "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.",joy "The Child-Angel They clamour and fight, they doubt and despair, they know no end to their wrangling. Let your life come amongst them like a flame of light, my child, unflickering and pure, and delight them into silence. They are cruel in their greed and their envy, their words are like hidden knives thirsting for blood. Go and stand amidst their scowling hearts, my child, and let your gentle eyes fall upon them like the forgiving peace of the evening over the strife of the day. Let them see your face, my child, and thus know the meaning of all things; let them love you and thus love each other. Come and take your seat in the bosom of the limitless, my child. At sunrise open and raise your heart like a blossoming flower, and at sunset bend your head and in silence complete the worship of the day.",love "The End It is time for me to go, mother; I am going. When in the paling darkness of the lonely dawn you stretch out your arms for your baby in the bed, I shall say, ""Baby is not here!""-mother, I am going. I shall become a delicate draught of air and caress you and I shall be ripples in the water when you bathe, and kiss you and kiss you again. In the gusty night when the rain patters on the leaves you will hear my whisper in your bed, and my laughter will flash with the lightning through the open window into your room. If you lie awake, thinking of your baby till late into the night, I shall sing to you from the stars, ""Sleep, mother, sleep."" One the straying moonbeams I shall steal over your bed, and lie upon your bosom while you sleep. I shall become a dream, and through the little opening of your eyelids I shall slip into the depths of your sleep; and when you wake up and look round startled, like a twinkling firefly I shall flit out into the darkness. When, on the great festival of puja, the neighbours' children come and play about the house, I shall melt into the music of the flute and throb in your heart all day. Dear auntie will come with puja-presents and will ask,""Where is our baby, sister?"" Mother, you will tell her softly, ""He is in the pupils of my eyes, he is in my body and in my soul. ",love "The First Jasmines Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines! I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines. I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth; I have heard the liquid murmur of the river thorough the darkness of midnight; Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of a road in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover. Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines that I held in my hands when I was a child. Many a glad day has come in my life, and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights. On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song. I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of bakulas woven by the hand of love. Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines that filled my hands when I was a child. ",joy "The Flower-School When storm-clouds rumble in the sky and June showers come down. The moist east wind comes marching over the heath to blow its bagpipes among the bamboos. Then crowds of flowers come out of a sudden, from nobody knows where, and dance upon the grass in wild glee. Mother, I really think the flowers go to school underground. They do their lessons with doors shut, and if they want to come out to play before it is time, their master makes them stand in a corner. When the rain come they have their holidays. Branches clash together in the forest, and the leaves rustle in the wild wind, the thunder-clouds clap their giant hands and the flower children rush out in dresses of pink and yellow and white. Do you know, mother, their home is in the sky, where the stars are. Haven't you see how eager they are to get there? Don't you know why they are in such a hurry? Of course, I can guess to whom they raise their arms; they have their mother as I have my own. ",love " The Further Bank I long to go over there to the further bank of the river. Where those boats are tied to the bamboo poles in a line; Where men cross over in their boats in the morning with ploughs on their shoulders to till their far-away fields; Where the cowherds make their lowing cattle swim across to the riverside pasture; Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds. Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferry when I am grown up. They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank. Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and thick reeds grow round the margins where water-birds lay their eggs; Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny footprints upon the clean soft mud; Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with while flowers invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves. Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the boys and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are bathing. When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon, I shall come running to you, saying, ""Mother, I am hungry."" When the day is done and the shadows cower under the trees, I shall come back in the dust. I shall never go away from you into the town to work like father. Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. ",love "The Gardener IV: Ah Me Ah me, why did they build my house by the road to the market town? They moor their laden boats near my trees. They come and go and wander at their will. I sit and watch them; my time wears on. Turn them away I cannot. And thus my days pass by. Night and day their steps sound by my door. Vainly I cry, ""I do not know you."" Some of them are known to my fingers, some to my nostrils, the blood in my veins seems to know them, and some are known to my dreams. Turn them away I cannot. I call them and say, ""Come to my house whoever chooses. Yes, come."" In the morning the bell rings in the temple. They come with their baskets in their hands. Their feet are rosy red. The early light of dawn is on their faces. Turn them away I cannot. I call them and I say, ""Come to my garden to gather flowers. Come hither."" In the mid-day the gong sounds at the palace gate. I know not why they leave their work and linger near my hedge. The flowers in their hair are pale and faded; the notes are languid in their flutes. Turn them away I cannot. I call them and say, ""The shade is cool under my trees. Come, friends."" At night the crickets chirp in the woods. Who is it that comes slowly to my door and gently knocks? I vaguely see the face, not a word is spoken, the stillness of the sky is all around. Turn away my silent guest I cannot. I look at the face through the dark, and hours of dreams pass by.",love "The Gardener IX: When I Go Alone at Night When I go alone at night to my love-tryst, birds do not sing, the wind does not stir, the houses on both sides of the street stand silent. It is my own anklets that grow loud at every step and I am ashamed. When I sit on my balcony and listen for his footsteps, leaves do not rustle on the trees, and the water is still in the river like the sword on the knees of a sentry fallen asleep. It is my own heart that beats wildly --I do not know how to quiet it. When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars. It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do not know how to hide it. ",love "The Gardener LI: Then Finish the Last Song Then finish the last song and let us leave. Forget this night when the night is no more. Whom do I try to clasp in my arms? Dreams can never be made captive. My eager hands press emptiness to my heart and it bruises my breast.",sad "The Gardener LIX: O Woman O woman, you are not merely the handiwork of God, but also of men; these are ever endowing you with beauty from their hearts. Poets are weaving for you a web with threads of golden imagery; painters are giving your form ever new immortality. The sea gives its pearls, the mines their gold, the summer gardens their flowers to deck you, to cover you, to make you more precious. The desire of men's hearts has shed its glory over your youth. You are one half woman and one half dream. ",love " The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day It was mid-day when you went away . The sun was strong in the sky. I had done my work and sat alone on my balcony when you went away. Fitful gusts came winnowing through the smells of may distant fields. The doves cooed tireless in the shade, and a bee strayed in my room hum- ming the news of many distant fields. The village slept in the noonday heat. The road lay deserted. In sudden fits the rustling of the leaves rose and died. I gazed at the sky and wove in the blue the letters of a name I had known, while the village slept in the noonday heat. I had forgotten to braid my hair. The languid breeze played with it upon my cheek. The river ran unruffled under the shady bank. The lazy white clouds did not move. I had forgotten to braid my hair. It was mid-day when you went away. The dust of the road was hot and the fields panting. The doves cooed among the dense leaves. I was alone in my balcony when you went away. ",sad "The Gardener LXI: Peace, My Heart Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet. Let it not be a death but completeness. Let love melt into memory and pain into songs. Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest. Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night. Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence. I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.",joy "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. ",sad "The Gardener LXIX: I Hunt for the Golden Stag I hunt for the golden stag. You may smile, my friends, but I pursue the vision that eludes me. I run across hills and dales, I wander through nameless lands, because I am hunting for the golden stag. You come and buy in the market and go back to your homes laden with goods, but the spell of the homeless winds has touched me I know not when and where. I have no care in my heart; all my belongings I have left far behind me. I run across hills and dales, I wander through nameless lands--because I am hunting for the golden stag. ",courage " The Gardener LXVIII: None Lives For Ever, Brother None lives for ever, brother, and nothing lasts for long. Keep that in mind and rejoice. Our life is not the one old burden, our path is not the one long journey. One sole poet has not to sing one aged song. The flower fades and dies; but he who wears the flower has not to mourn for it for ever. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. There must come a full pause to weave perfection into music. Life droops toward its sunset to be drowned in the golden shadows. Love must be called from its play to drink sorrow and be borne to the heaven of tears. Brother, keep that in min and rejoice. We hasten to gather our flowers lest they are plundered by the passing winds. It quickens our blood and brightens our eyes to snatch kisses that would vanish if we delayed. Our life is eager, our desires are keen, for time tolls the bell of parting. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. There is not time for us to clasp a thing and crush it and fling it away to the dust. The hours trip rapidly away, hiding their dreams in their skirts. Our life is short; it yields but a few days for love. Were it for work and drudgery it would be endlessly long. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice. Beauty is sweet to us, because she dances to the same fleeting tune with our lives. Knowledge is precious to us, because we shall never have time to complete it. All is done and finished in the eternal Heaven. But earth's flowers of illusion are kept eternally fresh by death. Brother, keep that in mind and rejoice.",peace "The Gardener LXXV: At Midnight At midnight the would-be ascetic announced: ""This is the time to give up my home and seek for God. Ah, who has held me so long in delusion here?"" God whispered, ""I,"" but the ears of the man were stopped. With a baby asleep at her breast lay his wife, peacefully sleeping on one side of the bed. The man said, ""Who are ye that have fooled me so long?"" The voice said again, ""They are God,"" but he heard it not. The baby cried out in its dream, nestling close to its mother. God commanded, ""Stop, fool, leave not thy home,"" but still he heard not. God sighed and complained, ""Why does my servant wander to seek me, forsaking me?"" ",sad "The Gardener LXXVI: The Fair Was On The fair was on before the temple. It had rained from the early morning and the day came to its end. Brighter than all the gladness of the crowd was the bright smile of a girl who bought for a farthing a whistle of palm leaf. The shrill joy of that whistle floated above all laughter and noise. An endless throng of people came and jostled together. The road was muddy, the river in flood, the field under water in ceaseless rain. Greater than all the troubles of the crowd was a little boy's trouble-- he had not a farthing to buy a painted stick. His wistful eyes gazing at the shop made this whole meeting of men so pitiful.",joy "The Gardener LXXXI: Why Do You Whisper So Faintly Why do you whisper so faintly in my ears, O Death, my Death? When the flowers droop in the evening and cattle come back to their stalls, you stealthily come to my side and speak words that I do not understand. Is this how you must woo and win me with the opiate of drowsy murmur and cold kisses, O Death, my Death? Will there be no proud ceremony for our wedding? Will you not tie up with a wreath your tawny coiled locks? Is there none to carry your banner before you, and will not the night be on fire with your red torch-lights, O Death, my Death? Come with your conch-shells sound- ing, come in the sleepless night. Dress me with a crimson mantle, grasp my hand and take me. Let your chariot be ready at my door with your horses neighing impatiently. Raise my veil and look at my face proudly, O Death, my Death! ",courage "The Gardener LXXXIII: She Dwelt on the Hillside She dwelt on the hillside by edge of a maize-field, near the spring that flows in laughing rills through the solemn shadows of ancient trees. The women came there to fill their jars, and travellers would sit there to rest and talk. She worked and dreamed daily to the tune of the bubbling stream. One evening the stranger came down from the cloud-hidden peak; his locks were tangled like drowsy snakes. We asked in wonder, ""Who are you?"" He answered not but sat by the garrulous stream and silently gazed at the hut where she dwelt. Our hearts quaked in fear and we came back home when it was night. Next morning when the women came to fetch water at the spring by the deodar trees, they found the doors open in her hut, but her voice was gone and where was her smiling face? The empty jar lay on the floor and her lamp had burnt itself out in the corner. No one knew where she had fled to before it was morning--and the stranger had gone. In the month of May the sun grew strong and the snow melted, and we sat by the spring and wept. We wondered in our mind, ""Is there a spring in the land where she has gone and where she can fill her vessel in these hot thirsty days?"" And we asked each other in dismay, ""Is there a land beyond these hills where we live?"" It was a summer night; the breeze blew from the south; and I sat in her deserted room where the lamp stood still unlit. When suddenly from before my eyes the hills vanished like curtains drawn aside. ""Ah, it is she who comes. How are you, my child? Are you happy? But where can you shelter under this open sky? And, alas! our spring is not here to allay your thirst."" ""Here is the same sky,"" she said, ""only free from the fencing hills,-- this is the same stream grown into a river,--the same earth widened into a plain."" ""Everything is here,"" I sighed, ""only we are not."" She smiled sadly and said, ""You are in my heart."" I woke up and heard the babbling of the stream and the rustling of the deodars at night. ",peace "The Gardener LXXXIV: Over the Green Over the green and yellow rice-fields sweep the shadows of the autumn clouds followed by the swift-chasing sun. The bees forget to sip their honey; drunken with light they foolishly hover and hum. The ducks in the islands of the river clamour in joy for mere nothing. Let none go back home, brothers, this morning, let none go to work. Let us take the blue sky by storm and plunder space as we run. Laughter floats in the air like foam on the flood. Brothers, let us squander our morning in futile songs.",joy "The Gardener X: Let Your Work Be, Bride Let your work be, bride. Listen, the guest has come. Do you hear, he is gently shaking the chain which fastens the door? See that your anklets make no loud noise, and that your step is not over- hurried at meeting him. Let your work be, bride, the guest had come in the evening. No, it is not the ghostly wind, bride, do not be frightened. It is the full moon on a night of April; shadows are pale in the court- yard; the sky overhead is bright. Draw your veil over your face if you must, carry the lamp to the door if you fear. No, it is not the ghostly wind, bride, do not be frightened. Have no word with him if you are shy; stand aside by the door when you meet him. If he asks you questions, and if you wish to, you can lower you eyes in silence. Do not let your bracelets jingle when, lamp in hand, you lead him in. Have no words with him if your are shy. Have you not finished you work yet, bride? Listen, the guest has come. Have you not lit the lamp in the cowshed? Have you not got ready the offering basket for the evening service? Have you not put the red lucky mark at the parting of your hair, and done your toilet for the night? O bride, do you hear, the guest has come? Let your work be!",joy "The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing I asked nothing, only stood at the edge of the wood behind the tree. Languor was still upon the eyes of the dawn, and the dew in the air. The lazy smell of the damp grass hung in the thin mist above the earth. Under the banyan tree you were milking the cow with your hands, tender and fresh as butter. And I was standing still. I did not say a word. It was the bird that sang unseen from the thicket. The mango tree was shedding its flowers upon the village road, and the bees came humming one by one. On the side of the pond the gate of Shiva's temple was opened and the worshipper had begun his chants. With the vessel on your lap you were milking the cow. I stood with my empty can. I did not come near you. The sky woke with the sound of the gong at the temple. The dust was raised in the road from the hoofs of the driven cattle. With the gurgling pitchers at their hips, women came from the river. Your bracelets were jingling, and foam brimming over the jar. The morning wore on and I did not come near you. ",peace " The Gardener XIV: I Was Walking by the Road I was walking by the road, I do not know why, when the noonday was past and bamboo branches rustled in the wind. The prone shadows with their out- stretched arms clung to the feet of the hurrying light. The koels were weary of their songs. I was walking by the road, I do not know why. The hut by the side of the water is shaded by an overhanging tree. Some on was busy with her work, and her bangles made music in the corner. I stood before this hut, I know not why. The narrow winding road crosses many a mustard field, and many a mango forest. It passes by the temple of the village and the market at the river landing-place. I stopped by this hut, I do not know why. Years ago it was a day of breezy March when the murmur of the spring was languorous, and mango blossoms were dropping on the dust. The rippling water leapt and licked the brass vessel that stood on the landing-step. I think of that day of breezy March, I do not know why. Shadows are deepening and cattle returning to their folds. The light is grey upon the lonely meadows, and the villagers are waiting for the ferry at the bank. I slowly return upon my steps, I do not know why.",surprise "The Gardener XIX: You Walked You walked by the riverside path with the full pitcher upon your hip. Why did you swiftly turn your face and peep at me through your fluttering veil? That gleaming look from the dark came upon me like a breeze that sends a shiver through the rippling water and sweeps away to the shadowy shore. It came to me like the bird of the evening that hurriedly flies across the lampless room from the one open window to the other, and disappears in the night. You are hidden as a star behind the hills, and I am a passer-by upon the road. But why did you stop for a moment and glance at my face through your veil while you walked by the river- side path with the full pitcher upon your hip? ",love "The Gardener XL: An Unbelieving Smile An unbelieving smile flits on your eyes when I come to you to take my leave. I have done it so often that you think I will soon return. To tell you the truth I have the same doubt in my mind. For the spring days come again time after time; the full moon takes leave and comes on another visit, the flowers come again and blush upon their branches year after year, and it is likely that I take my leave only to come to you again. But keep the illusion awhile; do not send it away with ungentle haste. When I say I leave you for all time, accept it as true, and let a mist of tears for one moment deepen the dark rim of your eyes. Then smile as archly as you like when I come again. ",courage " The Gardener XLII: O Mad, Superbly Drunk O mad, superbly drunk; If you kick open your doors and play the fool in public; If you empty your bag in a night, and snap your fingers at prudence; If you walk in curious paths and play with useless things; Reck not rhyme or reason; If unfurling your sails before the storm you snap the rudder in two, Then I will follow you, comrade, and be drunken and go to the dogs. I have wasted my days and nights in the company of steady wise neighbours. Much knowing has turned my hair grey, and much watching has made my sight dim. For years I have gathered and heaped up scraps and fragments of things: Crush them and dance upon them, and scatter them all to the winds. For I know 'tis the height of wisdom to be drunken and go the dogs. Let all crooked scruples vanish, let me hopelessly lose my way. Let a gust of wild giddiness come and sweep me away from my anchors. The world is peopled with worthies, and workers, useful and clever. There are men who are easily first, and men who come decently after. Let them be happy and prosper, and let me be foolishly futile. For I know 'tis the end of all works to be drunken and go to the dogs. I swear to surrender this moment all claims to the ranks of the decent. I let go my pride of learning and judgment of right and of wrong. I'll shatter memory's vessel, scattering the last drop of tears. With the foam of the berry-red wine I will bathe and brighten my laughter. The badge of the civil and staid I'll tear into shreds for the nonce. I'll take the holy vow to be worthless, to be drunken and go to the dogs.",sad "The Gardener XLIII: No, My Friends No, my friends, I shall never be an ascetic, whatever you may say. I shall never be and ascetic if she does not take the vow with me. It is my firm resolve that if I cannot find a shady shelter and a companion for my penance, I shall never turn ascetic. No, my friends, I shall never leave my hearth and home, and retire into the forest solitude, if rings no merry laughter in its echoing shade and if the end of no saffron mantle flutters in the wind; if its silence is not deepened by soft whispers. I shall never be an ascetic.",joy "The Gardener XLIV: Reverend Sir, Forgive Reverend sir, forgive this pair of sinners. Spring winds to-day are blowing in wild eddies, driving dust and dead leaves away, and with them your lessons are all lost. Do not say, father, that life is a vanity. For we have made truce with death for once, and only for a few fragrant hours we two have been made immortal. Even if the king's army came and fiercely fell upon us we should sadly shake our heads and say, Brothers, you are disturbing us. If you must have this noisy game, go and clatter your arms elsewhere. Since only for a few fleeting moments we have been made immortal. If friendly people came and flocked around us, we should humbly bow to them and say, This extravagant good fortune is an embarrassment to us. Room is scarce in the infinite sky where we dwell. For in the spring- time flowers come in crowds, and the busy wings of bees jostle each other. Our little heaven, where dwell only we two immortals, is too absurdly narrow.",peace " The Gardener XLV: To the Guests To the guests that must go bid God's speed and brush away all traces of their steps. Take to your bosom with a smile what is easy and simple and near. To-day is the festival of phantoms that know not when they die. Let your laughter be but a meaning- less mirth like twinkles of light on the ripples. Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. Strike in chords from your harp fitful momentary rhythms.",joy "The Gardener XLVI: You Left Me You left me and went on your way. I thought I should mourn for you and set your solitary image in my heart wrought in a golden song. But ah, my evil fortune, time is short. Youth wanes year after year; the spring days are fugitive; the frail flowers die for nothing, and the wise man warns me that life is but a dewdrop on the lotus leaf. Should I neglect all this to gaze after one who has turned her back on me? That would be rude and foolish, for time is short. Then, come, my rainy nights with pattering feet; smile, my golden autumn; come, careless April, scatter- ing your kisses abroad. You come, and you, and you also! My loves, you know we are mortals. Is it wise to break one's heart for the one who takes her heart away? For time is short. It is sweet to sit in a corner to muse and write in rhymes that you are all my world. It is heroic to hug one's sorrow and determine not to be consoled. But a fresh face peeps across my door and raise its eyes to my eyes. I cannot but wipe away my tears and change the tune of my song. For time is short. ",sad "The Gardener XLVIII: Free Me Free me from the bonds of your sweetness, my love! Nor more of this wine of kisses. This mist of heavy incense stifles my heart. Open the doors, make room for the morning light. I am lost in you, wrapped in the folds of your caresses. Free me from your spells, and give me back the manhood to offer you my freed heart. ",sad "The Gardener XVI: Hands Cling to Eyes Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on eyes: thus begins the record of our hearts. It is the moonlit night of March; the sweet smell of henna is in the air; my flute lies on the earth neglected and your garland of flowers is unfinished. This love between you and me is simple as a song. Your veil of the saffron colour makes my eyes drunk. The jasmine wreath that you wove me thrills to my heart like praise. It is a game of giving and with- holding, revealing and screening again; some smiles and some little shyness, and some sweet useless struggles. This love between you and me is simple as a song. No mystery beyond the present; no striving for the impossible; no shadow behind the charm; no groping in the depth of the dark. This love between you and me is simple as a song. We do not stray out of all words into the ever silent; we do not raise our hands to the void for things beyond hope. It is enough what we give and we get. We have not crushed the joy to the utmost to wring from it the wine of pain. This love between you and me is simple as a song.",love "The Gardener XVIII: When Two Sisters When the two sisters go to fetch water, they come to this spot and they smile. They must be aware of somebody who stands behind the trees when- ever they go to fetch water. The two sisters whisper to each other when they pass this spot. They must have guessed the secret of that somebody who stands behind the trees whenever they go to fetch water. Their pitchers lurch suddenly, and water spills when they reach this spot. They must have found out that somebody's heart is beating who stands behind the trees whenever they go to fetch water. The two sisters glance at each other when they come to this spot, and they smile. There is a laughter in their swift- stepping feet, which makes confusion in somebody's mind who stands behind the trees whenever they go to fetch water. ",joy "The Gardener XX: Day After Day He Comes Day after day he comes and goes away. Go, and give him a flower from my hair, my friend. If he asks who was it that sent it, I entreat you do not tell him my name-- for he only comes and goes away. He sits on the dust under the tree. Spread there a seat with flowers and leaves, my friend. His eyes are sad, and they bring sadness to my heart. He does not speak what he has in mind; he only comes and goes away. ",sad "The Gardener XXI: Why Did He Choose Why did he choose to come to my door, the wandering youth, when the day dawned? As I come in and out I pass by him every time, and my eyes are caught by his face. I know not if I should speak to him or keep silent. Why did he choose to come to my door? The cloudy nights in July are dark; the sky is soft blue in the autumn; the spring days are restless with the south wind. He weaves his songs with fresh tunes every time. I turn from my work and my eyes fill with the mist. Why did he choose to come to my door? ",love "The Gardener XXII: When She Passed by Me When she passed by me with quick steps, the end of her skirt touched me. From the unknown island of a heart came a sudden warm breath of spring. A flutter of a flitting touch brushed me and vanished in a moment, like a torn flower petal blown in the breeze. It fell upon my heart like a sigh of her body and whisper of her heart. ",love "The Gardener XXIV: Do Not Keep to Yourself Do not keep to yourself the secret of your heart, my friend! Say it to me, only to me, in secret. You who smile so gently, softly whisper, my heart will hear it, not my ears. The night is deep, the house is silent, the birds' nests are shrouded with sleep. Speak to me through hesitating tears, through faltering smiles, through sweet shame and pain, the secret of your heart! ",love "The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands ""What comes from your willing hands I take. I beg for nothing more."" ""Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has."" ""If there be a stray flower for me I will wear it in my heart."" ""But if there be thorns?"" ""I will endure them."" ""Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has."" ""If but once you should raise your loving eyes to my face it would make my life sweet beyond death."" ""But if there be only cruel glances?"" ""I will keep them piercing my heart."" ""Yes, yes, I know you, modest mendicant, you ask for all that one has."" ",love "The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love ""Trust love even if it brings sorrow. Do not close up your heart."" ""Ah no, my friend, your words are dark, I cannot understand them."" ""Pleasure is frail like a dewdrop, while it laughs it dies. But sorrow is strong and abiding. Let sorrowful love wake in your eyes."" ""Ah no, my friend, your words are dark, I cannot understand them."" ""The lotus blooms in the sight of the sun, and loses all that it has. It would not remain in bud in the eternal winter mist."" ""Ah no, my friend, your words are dark, I cannot understand them.""",love "The Gardener XXVIII: Your Questioning Eyes Your questioning eyes are sad. They seek to know my meaning as the moon would fathom the sea. I have bared my life before your eyes from end to end, with nothing hidden or held back. That is why you know me not. If it were only a gem, I could break it into a hundred pieces and string them into a chain to put on your neck. If it were only a flower, round and small and sweet, I could pluck it from its stem to set it in your hair. But it is a heart, my beloved. Where are its shores and its bottom? You know not the limits of this kingdom, still you are its queen. If it were only a moment of pleasure it would flower in an easy smile, and you could see it and read it in a moment. If it were merely a pain it would melt in limpid tears, reflecting its inmost secret without a word. But it is love, my beloved. Its pleasure and pain are boundless, and endless its wants and wealth. It is as near to you as your life, but you can never wholly know it.",sad "The Gardener XXXIV: Do Not Go, My Love Do not go, my love, without asking my leave. I have watched all night, and now my eyes are heavy with sleep. I fear lest I lose you when I'm sleeping. Do not go, my love, without asking my leave. I start up and stretch my hands to touch you. I ask myself, ""Is it a dream?"" Could I but entangle your feet with my heart and hold them fast to my breast! Do not go, my love, without asking my leave.",love "The Gardener XXXVIII: My Love, Once upon a Time My love, once upon a time your poet launched a great epic in his mind. Alas, I was not careful, and it struck your ringing anklets and came to grief. It broke up into scraps of songs and lay scattered at your feet. All my cargo of the stories of old wars was tossed by the laughing waves and soaked in tears and sank. You must make this loss good to me, my love. If my claims to immortal fame after death are scattered, make me immortal while I live. And I will not mourn for my loss nor blame you.",courage " The Gift I want to give you something, my child, for we are drifting in the stream of the world. Our lives will be carried apart, and our love forgotten. But I am not so foolish as to hope that I could buy your heart with my gifts. Young is your life, your path long, and you drink the love we bring you at one draught and turn and run away from us. You have your play and your playmates. What harm is there if you have no time or thought for us! We, indeed, have leisure enough in old age to count the days that are past, to cherish in our hearts what our hands have lost for ever. The river runs swift with a song, breaking through all barriers. But the mountain stays and remembers, and follows her with his love.",love "The Hero Mother, let us imagine we are travelling, and passing through a strange and dangerous country. You are riding in a palanquin and I am trotting by you on a red horse. It is evening and the sun goes down. The waste of Joradighi lies wan and grey before us. The land is desolate and barren. You are frightened and thinking-""I know not where we have come to."" I say to you, ""Mother, do not be afraid."" The meadow is prickly with spiky grass, and through it runs a narrow broken path. There are no cattle to be seen in the wide field; they have gone to their village stalls. It grows dark and dim on the land and sky, and we cannot tell where we are going. Suddenly you call me and ask me in a whisper, ""What light is that near the bank?"" Just then there bursts out a fearful yell, and figures come running towards us. You sit crouched in your palanquin and repeat the names of the gods in prayer. The bearers, shaking in terror, hide themselves in the thorny bush. I shout to you, ""Don't be afraid, mother. I am here."" With long sticks in their hands and hair all wild about their heads, they come nearer and nearer. I shout, ""Have a care, you villains! One step more and you are dead men."" They give another terrible yell and rush forward. You clutch my hand and say, ""Dear boy, for heaven's sake, keep away from them."" I say, ""Mother, just you watch me."" Then I spur my horse for a wild gallop, and my sword and buckler clash against each other. The fight becomes so fearful, mother, that it would give you a cold shudder could you see it from your palanquin. Many of them fly, and a great number are cut to pieces. I know you are thinking, sitting all by yourself, that your boy must be dead by this time. But I come to you all stained with blood, and say,""Mother, the fight is over now."" You come out and kiss me, pressing me to your heart, and you say to yourself, ""I don't know what I should do if I hadn't my boy to escort me."" A thousand useless things happen day after day, and why couldn't such a thing come true by chance? It would be like a story in a book. My brother would say, ""Is it possible? I always thought he was so delicate!"" Our village people would all say in amazement, ""Was it not lucky that the boy was with his mother?""",love "The Journey The morning sea of silence broke into ripples of bird songs; and the flowers were all merry by the roadside; and the wealth of gold was scattered through the rift of the clouds while we busily went on our way and paid no heed. We sang no glad songs nor played; we went not to the village for barter; we spoke not a word nor smiled; we lingered not on the way. We quickened our pace more and more as the time sped by. The sun rose to the mid sky and doves cooed in the shade. Withered leaves danced and whirled in the hot air of noon. The shepherd boy drowsed and dreamed in the shadow of the banyan tree, and I laid myself down by the water and stretched my tired limbs on the grass. My companions laughed at me in scorn; they held their heads high and hurried on; they never looked back nor rested; they vanished in the distant blue haze. They crossed many meadows and hills, and passed through strange, far-away countries. All honor to you, heroic host of the interminable path! Mockery and reproach pricked me to rise, but found no response in me. I gave myself up for lost in the depth of a glad humiliation ---in the shadow of a dim delight. The repose of the sun-embroidered green gloom slowly spread over my heart. I forgot for what I had traveled, and I surrendered my mind without struggle to the maze of shadows and songs. At last, when I woke from my slumber and opened my eyes, I saw thee standing by me, flooding my sleep with thy smile. How I had feared that the path was long and wearisome, and the struggle to reach thee was hard!",joy "The Judge Say of him what you please, but I know my child's failings. I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my little child. How should you know how dear he can be when you try to weigh his merits against his faults? When I must punish him he becomes all the more a part of my being. When I cause his tears to come my heart weeps with him. I alone have a right to blame and punish, for he only may chastise who loves",love "The Land of the Exile Mother, the light has grown grey in the sky; I do not know what the time is. There is no fun in my play, so I have come to you. It is Saturday, our holiday. Leave off your work, mother; sit here by the window and tell me where the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale is. The shadow of the rains has covered the day from end to end. The fierce lightning is scratching the sky with its nails. When the clouds rumble and it thunders, I love to be afraid in my heart and cling to you. When the heavy rain patters for hours on the bamboo leaves, and our windows shake and rattle at the gusts of wind, I like to sit alone in the room, mother, with you, and hear you talk about the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale. Where is it, mother, on the shore of what sea, at the foot of what hills, in the kingdom of what king? There are no hedges there to mark the fields, no footpath across it by which the villagers reach their village in the evening, or the woman who gathers dry sticks in the forest can bring her load to the market. With patches of yellow grass in the sand and only one tree where the pair of wise old birds have their nest, lies the desert of Tepantar. I can imagine how, on just such a cloudy day, the young son of the king is riding alone on a grey horse through the desert, in search of the princess who lies imprisoned in the giant's palace across that unknown water. When the haze of the rain comes down in the distant sky, and lightning starts up like a sudden fit of pain, does he remember his unhappy mother, abandoned by the king, sweeping the cow-stall and wiping her eyes, while he rides through the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale? See, mother, it is almost dark before the day is over, and thee are no travellers yonder on the village road. The shepherd boy has gone home early from the pasture, and men have left their fields to sit on mats under the eaves of their huts, watching the scowling clouds. Mother, I have left all my books on the shelf-do not ask me to do my lessons now. When I grow up and am bid like my father, I shall learn all that must be learnt. But just for today, tell me, mother, where the desert of Tepantar in the fairy tale is.",love "The Last Bargain ""Come and hire me,"" I cried, while in the morning I was walking on the stone-paved road. Sword in hand, the King came in his chariot. He held my hand and said, ""I will hire you with my power."" But his power counted for nought, and he went away in his chariot. In the heat of the midday the houses stood with shut doors. I wandered along the crooked lane. An old man came out with his bag of gold. He pondered and said, ""I will hire you with my money."" He weighed his coins one by one, but I turned away. It was evening. The garden hedge was all aflower. The fair maid came out and said, ""I will hire you with a smile."" Her smile paled and melted into tears, and she went back alone into the dark. The sun glistened on the sand, and the sea waves broke waywardly. A child sat playing with shells. He raised his head and seemed to know me, and said, ""I hire you with nothing."" From thenceforward that bargain struck in child's play made me a free man. ",love "The Little Big Man I am small because I am a little child. I shall be big when I am as old as my father is. My teacher will come and say, ""It is late, bring your slate and your books."" I shall tell him, "" Do you not know I am as big as father? And I must not have lessons any more."" My master will wonder and say, ""He can leave his books if he likes, for he is grown up."" I shall dress myself and walk to the fair where the crowd is thick. My uncle will come rushing up to me and say, ""You will get lost, my boy; let me carry you."" I shall answer, ""Can't you see, uncle, I am as big as father? I must go to the fair alone."" Uncle will say, ""Yes, he can go wherever he likes, for he is grown up."" Mother will come from her bath when I am giving money to my nurse, for I shall know how to open the box with my key. Mother will say, ""What are you about, naughty child?"" I shall tell her, ""Mother, don't you know, I am as big as father, and I must give silver to my nurse."" Mother will say to herself, ""He can give money to whom he likes, for he is grown up."" In the holiday time in October father will come home and, thinking that I am still a baby, will bring for me from the town little shoes and small silken frocks. I shall say, ""Father, give them to my data, for I am as big as you are."" Father will think and say, ""He can buy his own clothes if he likes, for he is grown up."" ",joy "The Lotus On the day when the lotus bloomed, alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not. My basket was empty and the flower remained unheeded. Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance in the south wind. That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and it seemed to me that is was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion. I knew not then that it was so near, that it was mine, and that this perfect sweetness had blossomed in the depth of my own heart. ",sad " The Rainy Day Sullen clouds are gathering fast over the black fringe of the forest. O child, do not go out! The palm trees in a row by the lake are smiting their heads against the dismal sky; the crows with their dragged wings are silent on the tamarind branches, and the eastern bank of the river is haunted by a deepening gloom. Our cow is lowing loud, ties at the fence. O child, wait here till I bring her into the stall. Men have crowded into the flooded field to catch the fishes as they escape from the overflowing ponds; the rain-water is running in rills through the narrow lanes like a laughing boy who has run away from his mother to tease her. Listen, someone is shouting for the boatman at the ford. O child, the daylight is dim, and the crossing at the ferry is closed. The sky seems to ride fast upon the madly rushing rain; the water in the river is loud and impatient; women have hastened home early from the Ganges with their filled pitchers. The evening lamps must be made ready. O child, do not go out! The road to the market is desolate, the lane to the river is slippery. The wind is roaring and struggling among the bamboo branches like a wild beast tangled in a net.",fear "The Recall The night was dark when she went away, and the slept. The night is dark now, and I call for her, ""Come back, my darling; the world is asleep; and no one would know, if you came for a moment while stars are gazing at stars."" She went away when the trees were in bud and the spring was young. Now the flowers are in high bloom and I call, ""Come back, my darling. The children gather and scatter flowers in reckless sport. And if you come and take one little blossom no one will miss it."" Those that used to play are playing still, so spendthrift is life. I listen to their chatter and call, ""Come back, my darling, for mother's heart is full to the brim with love, and if you come to snatch only one little kiss from her no one will grudge it."" ",love "The Sailor The boat of the boatman Madhu is moored at the wharf of Rajgunj. It is uselessly laden with jute, and has been lying there idle for ever so long. If he would only lend me his boat, I should man her with a hundred oars, and hoist sails, five or six or seven. I should never steer her to stupid markets. I should sail the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. But, mother, you won't weep for me in a corner. I am not going into the forest like Ramachandra to come back only after fourteen years. I shall become the prince of the story, and fill my boat with whatever I like. I shall take my friend Ashu with me. We shall sail merrily across the ever seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. We shall set sail in the early morning light. When at noontide you are bathing at the pond, we shall be in the land of a strange king. We shall pass the ford of Tirpurni, and leave behind us the desert of Tepantar. When we come back it will be getting dark, and I shall tell you of all that we have seen. I shall cross the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. ",joy "The Source The sleep that flits on baby's eyes-does anybody know from where it comes? Yes, there is a rumour that it has its dwelling where, in the fairy village among shadows of the forest dimly lit with glow-worms, there hang two shy buds of enchantment. From there it comes to kiss baby's eyes. The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps-does anybody know where it was born? Yes, there is a rumour that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born in the dream of a dew washed morning-the smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps. The sweet, soft freshness hat blooms on baby's limbs-does anybody know where it was hidden so long? Yes, when the mother was a young girl it lay pervading her heart in tender and silent mystery of love-the sweet, soft freshness that has bloomed on baby's limbs.",joy "The Unheeded Pageant Ah, who was it coloured that little frock, my child, and covered your sweet limbs with that little red tunic? You have come out in the morning to play in the courtyard, tottering and tumbling as you run. But who was it coloured that little frock, my child? What is it makes you laugh, my little life-bud? Mother smiles at you standing on the threshold. She claps her hands and her bracelets jingle, and you dance with your bamboo stick in your hand like a tiny little shepherd. But what is it makes you laugh, my little life-bud? O beggar, what do you bed for, clinging to your mother's neck with both your hands? O greedy heart, shall I pluck the world like a fruit from the sky to place it on your little rosy palm? O beggar, what are you begging for? The wind carries away in glee the tinkling of your anklet bells. The sun smiles and watches your toilet. The sky watches over you when you sleep in your mother's arms, and the morning comes tiptoe to your bed and kisses your eyes. The wind carried away in glee the tinkling of your anklet bells. The fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying through the twilight sky. The world-mother keeps her seat by you in your mother's heart. He who plays his music to the stars is standing at your window with his flute. And the fairy mistress of dreams is coming towards you, flying through the twilight sky. ",love "The Wicked Postman Why do you sit there on the floor so quiet and silent, tell me, mother dear? The rain is coming in through the open window, making you all wet, and you don't mind it. Do you hear the gong striking four? It is time for my brother to come home from school. What has happened to you that you look so strange? Haven't you got a letter from father today? I saw the postman bringing letters in his bag for almost everybody in the town. Only father's letters he keeps to read himself. I am sure the postman is a wicked man. But don't be unhappy about that, mother dear. Tomorrow is market day in the next village. You ask your maid to buy some pens and papers. I myself will write all father's letters; you will not find a single mistake. I shall write from A right up to K. But, mother, why do you smile? You don't believe that I can write as nicely as father does! But I shall rule my paper carefully, and write all the letters beautifully big. When I finish my writing do you think I shall be so foolish as father and drop it into the horrid postman's bag? I shall bring it to you myself without waiting, and letter by letter help you to read my writing. I know the postman does not like to give you the really nice letters.",sad " Threshold I was not aware of the moment when I first crossed the threshold of this life. What was the power that made me open out into this vast mystery like a bud in the forest at midnight! When in the morning I looked upon the light I felt in a moment that I was no stranger in this world, that the inscrutable without name and form had taken me in its arms in the form of my own mother. Even so, in death the same unknown will appear as ever known to me. And because I love this life, I know I shall love death as well. The child cries out when from the right breast the mother takes it away, in the very next moment to find in the left one its consolation. Twelve O'Clock by Rabindranath Tagore Mother, I do want to leave off my lessons now. I have been at my book all the morning. You say it is only twelve o'clock. Suppose it isn't any later; can't you ever think it is afternoon when it is only twelve o'clock? I can easily imagine now that the sun has reached the edge of that rice-field, and the old fisher-woman is gathering herbs for her supper by the side of the pond. I can just shut my eyes and think that the shadows are growing darker under the madar tree, and the water in the pond looks shiny black. If twelve o'clock can come in the night, why can't the night come when it is twelve o'clock? ",peace "Untimely Leave No more noisy, loud words from me---such is my master's will. Henceforth I deal in whispers. The speech of my heart will be carried on in murmurings of a song. Men hasten to the King's market. All the buyers and sellers are there. But I have my untimely leave in the middle of the day, in the thick of work. Let then the flowers come out in my garden, though it is not their time; and let the midday bees strike up their lazy hum. Full many an hour have I spent in the strife of the good and the evil, but now it is the pleasure of my playmate of the empty days to draw my heart on to him; and I know not why is this sudden call to what useless inconsequence! ",sad "Vocation When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane. Every day I meet the hawker crying, ""Bangles, crystal bangles!"" There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no road he must take, no place he must go to, no time when he must come home. I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road, crying, ""Bangles, crystal bangles!"" When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school, I can see through the gate of that house the gardener digging the ground. He does what he likes with his spade, he soils his clothes with dust, nobody takes him to task if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet. I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody to stop me from digging. Just as it gets dark in the evening and my mother sends me to bed, I can see through my open window the watchman walking up and down. The lane is dark and lonely, and the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head. The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow at his side, and never once goes to bed in his life. I wish I were a watchman walking the streets all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern. ",peace "When and Why When I bring you coloured toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colours on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints-when I give coloured toys to you, my child. When I sing to make you dance, I truly know why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth-when I sing to make you dance. When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands, I know why there is honey in the cup of the flower, and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice-when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands. When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling, I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light, and what delight the summer breeze brings to my body-when I kiss you to make you smile.",love "When Day Is Done If the day is done, if birds sing no more, if the wind has flagged tired, then draw the veil of darkness thick upon me, even as thou hast wrapt the earth with the coverlet of sleep and tenderly closed the petals of the drooping lotus at dusk. ",peace "Our Meeting Two of us once met Where the streams of life and death had stopped Where time stood still. Today it is so far and away Now I am sailing alone My boat is rocking in the storm I now remember again How once we met At the end of the world Where had descended the heaven. Forgetting all We sat there side by side That day I realized What sways the blades of grass Throughout the world In what delight everything shivers; In the dark how shine stars; In what great urge The breaths of life rush That day I realized When we woke up and looked at each other’s face. Taking your hand in my hand I kept looking at the sky We had no words And didn’t know how our time passed That day I had realized in my heart of hearts Where end the meanings of our words How music rises from the core of the universe How the pining woods blossom into flowers These we realized when both of us wept In endless pleasure. Then we came to know in what fire Silently burn the winds of spring Why the morning sun Yearns to get lost in everything Why day and night the river runs To meet the sea Why the lightning is hurt by its own light What game the night plays with dawn Accepting defeat All these we realized When with each other we played Staking our everything. - See more at: http://allpoetry.com/Our-Meeting#sthash.S3s6knFp.dpuf",love "Unending Love I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times… In life after life, in age after age, forever. My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs, That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms, In life after life, in age after age, forever. Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain, Its ancient tale of being apart or together. As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge, Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time: You become an image of what is remembered forever. You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount. At the heart of time, love of one for another. We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell- Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever. Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you The love of all man’s days both past and forever: Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life. The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours – And the songs of every poet past and forever. ",love "Tumi Sandhyar Meghamala - You Are A Cluster Of Clouds - Translation You are a cluster of clouds of the evening sky I have sought only you all my life It is you who fills my empty sky I have made you with the sweet fancies of my mind You are mine, you are mine O you wanderer of my boundless sky. With the blood of my heart I have beautified your feet My evening dreams are full of you I have coloured your lips with poison and honey Mixing with my joys and sorrows You are mine, you are mine You have filled my lonely being. I have coloured your eyes with collyrium Made of the fancies of my love You always fill the view of my spellbound eyes With my music I have dressed all your limbs You are mine, you are mine Both in my life and death you fill my being. - See more at: http://allpoetry.com/Tumi-Sandhyar-Meghamala---You-Are-A-Cluster-Of-Clouds---Translation#sthash.qoF52Bgo.dpuf",love "Freedom from fear is the freedom I claim for you my motherland! Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head, breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning call of the future; Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith you fasten yourself in night's stillness, mistrusting the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths; freedom from the anarchy of destiny whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds, and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death. Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet's world, where movements are started through brainless wires, repeated through mindless habits, where figures wait with patience and obedience for the master of show, to be stirred into a mimicry of life. ",courage "This Dog Every morning this dog, very attached to me, Quietly keeps sitting near my seat Till touching its head I recognize its company. This recognition gives it so much joy Pure delight ripples through its entire body. Among all dumb creatures It is the only living being That has seen the whole man Beyond what is good or bad in him It has seen For his love it can sacrifice its life It can love him too for the sake of love alone For it is he who shows the way To the vast world pulsating with life. When I see its deep devotion The offer of its whole being I fail to understand By its sheer instinct What truth it has discovered in man. By its silent anxious piteous looks It cannot communicate what it understands But it has succeeded in conveying to me Among the whole creation What is the true status of man. ",joy "One Day In Spring.... One day in spring, a woman came In my lonely woods, In the lovely form of the Beloved. Came, to give to my songs, melodies, To give to my dreams, sweetness. Suddenly a wild wave Broke over my heart's shores And drowned all language. To my lips no name came, She stood beneath the tree, turned, Glanced at my face, made sad with pain, And with quick steps, came and sat by me. Taking my hands in hers, she said: 'You do not know me, nor I you— I wonder how this could be?' I said: 'We two shall build, a bridge for ever Between two beings, each to the other unknown, This eager wonder is at the heart of things.' The cry that is in my heart is also the cry of her heart; The thread with which she binds me binds her too. Her have I sought everywhere, Her have I worshipped within me, Hidden in that worship she has sought me too. Crossing the wide oceans, she came to steal my heart. She forgot to return, having lost her own. Her own charms play traitor to her, She spreads her net, knowing not Whether she will catch or be caught. ",sad "Krishnakali In the village they call her the dark girl but to me she is the flower Krishnakali On a cloudy day in a field I saw the dark girl's dark gazelle-eyes. She had no covering on her head, her loose hair had fallen on her back. Dark? However dark she be, I have seen her dark gazelleeyes. Two black cows were lowing, as it grew dark under the heavy clouds. So with anxious, hurried steps, the dark girl came from her hut. Raising her eyebrows toward the sky, she listened a moment to the clouds' rumble. Dark? However dark she be, I have seen her dark gazelle-eyes. A gust of the east wind rippled the rice plants. I was standing by a ridge, alone in the field. Whether or not she looked at me Is known only to us two. Dark? However dark she be, I have seen her dark gazelle-eyes. This how the Kohldark cloud rises in the northeast in Jaistha; the soft dark shadow descends on the Tamal grove in Asharh; and sudden delight floods the heart in the night of Sravan. Dark? However dark she be, I have seen her dark gazelle-eyes. To me she is the flower Krishnakali, whatever she may be called by others. In a field in Maynapara village I saw the dark girl's dark gazelle-eyes. She did not cover her head, not having the time to feel embarrassed. Dark? However dark she be, I have seen her dark gazelle-eyes. ",joy "Waiting The song I came to sing remains unsung to this day. I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument. The time has not come true, the words have not been rightly set; only there is the agony of wishing in my heart….. I have not seen his face, nor have I listened to his voice; only I have heard his gentle footsteps from the road before my house….. But the lamp has not been lit and I cannot ask him into my house; I live in the hope of meeting with him; but this meeting is not yet.",courage " Fireflies My fancies are fireflies, — Specks of living light twinkling in the dark. he voice of wayside pansies, that do not attract the careless glance, murmurs in these desultory lines. In the drowsy dark caves of the mind dreams build their nest with fragments dropped from day's caravan. Spring scatters the petals of flowers that are not for the fruits of the future, but for the moment's whim. Joy freed from the bond of earth's slumber rushes into numberless leaves, and dances in the air for a day. My words that are slight my lightly dance upon time's waves when my works havy with import have gone down. Mind's underground moths grow filmy wings and take a farewell flight in the sunset sky. The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. My thoughts, like spark, ride on winged surprises, carrying a single laughter. The tree gazes in love at its own beautiful shadow which yet it never can grasp. Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and yet give you illumined freedom. Days are coloured vbubbles that float upon the surface of fathomless night. My offerings are too timid to claim your remembrance, and therefore you may remember them. Leave out my name from the gift if it be a burden, but keep my song. April, like a child, writes hieroglyphs on dust with flowers, wipes them away and forgets. Memory, the priestess, kills the present and offers its heart to the shrine of the dead past. From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit in the dust, God watches them play and forgets the priest. My mind starts up at some flash on the flow of its thoughts like a brook at a sudden liquid note of its own that is never repeated. In the mountain, stillness surges up to explore its own height; in the lake, movement stands still to contemplate its own depth. The departing night's one kiss on the closed eyes of morning glows in the star of dawn. Maiden, thy beauty is like a fruit which is yet to mature, tense with an unyielding secret. Sorrow that has lost its memory is like the dumb dark hours that have no bird songs but only the cricket's chirp. Bigotry tries to keep turth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it. Wishing to hearten a timid lamp great night lights all her stars. Though he holds in his arms the earth-bride, the sky is ever immensely away. God seeks comrades and claims love, the Devil seeks slaves and claims obedience. The soil in return for her service keeps the tree tied to her, the sky asks nothing and leaves it free. Jewel-like immortal does not boast of its length of years but of the scintillating point of its moment. The child ever dwells in the mystery of ageless time, unobscured by the dust of history. Alight laughter in the steps of creation carries it swiftly across time. One who was distant came near to me in the morning, and still nearer when taken away by night. White and pink oleanders meet and make merry in different dialects. When peace is active swepping its dirt, it is storm. The lake lies low by the hill, a tearful entreaty of love at the foot of the inflexible. There smiles the Divine Child among his playthings of unmeaning clouds and ephemeral lights and shadows. The breeze whispers to the lotus, ""What is thy secret?"" ""It is myself,"" says the lotus, ""Steal it and I disappear!"" The freedom of the storm and the bondage of the stem join hands in the dance of swaying branches. The jasmine's lisping of love to the sun is her flowers. The tyrant claims freedom to kill freedom and yet to keep it for himself. Gods, tired of their paradise, envy man. Clouds are hills in vapour, hills are clouds in stone, — a phantasy in time's dream. While God waits for His temple to be built of love, men bring stones. I touch God in my song as the hill touches the far-away sea with its waterfall. Light finds her treasure of colours through the antagonism of clouds. My heart to-day smiles at its past night of tears like a wet tree glistening in the sun after the rain is over. I have thanked the trees that have made my life fruitflul, but have failed to remember the grass that has ever kept it green. The one without second is emptiness, the other one makes it true. Life's errors cry for the merciful beauty that can modulate their isolation into a harmony with the whole. They expect thanks for the banished nest because their cage is shapely and secure. In love I pay my endless debt to thee for what thou art. The pond sends up its lyrics from its dark in lilies, and the sun says, they are good. Your calumny against the great is impious, it hurts yourself; against the small it is mean, for it hurts the victim. The first flower that blossomed on this earth was an invitation to the unborn song. Dawn—the many-coloured flower—fades, and then the simple light-fruit, the sun appears. The muscle that has a doubt if its wisdom throttles the voice that would cry. The wind tries to take the flame by storm only to blow it out. Life's play is swift, Life's playthings fall behind one by one and are forgotten. My flower, seek not thy paradise in a fool's buttonhole. Thou hast risen late, my crescent moon, but my night bird is still awake to greet thee. Darkness is the veiled bride silently waiting for the errant light to return to her bosom. Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. The burden of self is lightened when I laugh at myself. The weak can be terrible because they try furiously to appear strong. The wind of heaven blows, The anchor desperately clutches the mud, and my boat is beating its breast against the chain. The spirit of death is one, the spirit of life is many, Whe God is dead religion becomes one. The blue of the sky longs for the earth's green, the wind between them sighs, ""Alas."" Day's pain muffled by its own glare, burns among stars in the night. The stars crowd round the virgin night in silent awe at her loneliness that can never be touched. The cloud gives all its gold to the departing sun and greets the rising moon with only a pale smile. He who does good comes to the temple gate, he who loves reaches the shrine. Flower, have pity for the worm, it is not a bee, its love is a blunder and a burden. With the ruins of terror's triumph children build their doll's house. The lamp waits through the long day of neglect for the flame's kiss in the night. Feathers in the dust lying lazily content have forgotten their sky. The flowers which is single need not envy the thorns that are numerous. The world suffers most from the disinterested tyranny of its well-wisher. We gain freedom whrn we have paid the full price for our right to live. Your careless gifts of a moment, like the meteors of an autumn night, catch fire in the depth of my being. The faith waiting in the heart of a seed promises a miracle of life which it cannot prove at once. Spring hesitates at winter's door, but the mango blossom rashly runs our to him before her time and meets her doom. The world is the ever-changing foam thet floats on the surface of a sea of silence. The two separated shores mingle their voices in a song of unfathomed tears. As a river in the sea, work finds its fulfilment in the depth of leisure. I lingered on my way till thy cherry tree lost ist bossom, but the azalea brins to me, my love, thy forgiveness. Thy shy little pomegranate bud, blushing to-day behind her veil, will burst into a passionate flower to-morrow when I am away. The clumsiness of power spoils the key, and uses the pickaxe. Birth is from the mystery of night into the grerater mystery of day. These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not to reach any destination. Migratory songs wing from my heart and seek their nests in your voice of love. The sea of danger, doubt and denial around man's little island of certainty challenges him to dare the unknown. Love punishes when it forgives, and injured beauty by its awful silence. You live alone and unrecompensed because they are afraid of your great worth. The same sun is newly born in new lands in a ring of endless dawns. God is world is ever renewed by death, a Titan's ever crushed by its own existence. The glow-worm while exploring the dust never knows that stars are in the sky. The tree is of to-day, the flower is old, it brings with it the message of the immemorial seed. Each rose that comes brings me greetings from the Rose of an eternal spring. God honours me when I work, He loves me when I sing. My love of to-day finds no home in the nest deserted by yesterday's love. The fire of pain tracse for my soul a luminous path across her sorrow. The grass survives the hill through its resurrections from countless deaths. Thou hast vanished from my reach leaving an impalpable touch in the blue of the sky, an invisible image in the wind moving among the shadows. In pity for the desolate branch spring leaves to it a kiss that fluttered in a lonely leaf. The shy shadow in the farden loves the sun in silence, Flowers guess the secret, and mile, while the leaves whisper. I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight. The fireflies, twinkling among leaves, make the stars wonder. The mountain remains unmoved at its seeming defeat by the mist. While the rose said to the sun, ""I shall ever remember thee,"" her petals fell to the dust. Hills are the earth's gesture of despair for the unreachable. Though the thorn in thy flower pricked me, O Beauty, I am grateful. The world knows that the few are more than the many. Let not my love be a burden on you, my friend, know that it pays itself. Dawn plays her lute before the gate of darkness, and is content to vanish when the sun comes out. Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror. The dew-drop knows the sun only within its own tiny orb. Forlorn thoughts from the forsaken hives of all ages, swarming in the air, hum round my heart and seek my voice. The desert is imprisoned in the wall of its unbounded barrenness. In the thrill of little leaves I see the air's invisible dance, and in their glimmering the secret heart-beats of the sky. You are like a flowering tree, amazed when I praise you for your gifts. The earth's sacrifical fire flames up in her trees, scattering sparks in flowers. Foretsts, the clouds of earth, hold up to the sky their silence, and clouds from above come down in resonant showers. The world speaks to me in pictures, my soul answers in music. The sky tells its beads all night on the countless stars in memory of the sun. The darkness of night, like pain, is dumb, the darkness of dawn, like peace, is silent. Pride engraves his frowns in stones, loe offers her surrender in flowers. The obsequious brush curtails truth in diference to the canvas which is narrow. The hill in its longing for the far-away sky wishes to be like the cloud with its endless urge of seeking. To justify their own spilling of ink they spell the day as night. Profit smiles on goodness when the good is profitable. In its swelling pride the bubble doubts the turth of the sea, and laughs and bursts into emptiness. Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain its. My clouds, sorrowing in the dark, forget that they themselves have hidden the sun. Man discovers his own wealth when God comes to ask gifts of him. You leave your memory as a flame to my lonely lamp of separation. I came to offer thee a flower, but thou must have all my garden,— It is thine. The picture—a memory of light treasured by the shadow. It is easy to make faces at the sun, He is exposed by his own light in all directions. History slowly smothers its truth, but hastily struggles to revive it in the terrible penance of pain. My work is rewarded in daily wages, I wait for my final value in love. Beauty knows to say, ""Enough,"" barbarism clamours for still more. God loves to see in me, not his servant, but himself who serves all. The darkness of night is in harmony with day, the morning of mist is discordant. In the bounteous time of roses love is wine,— it is food in the famished hour when their petals are shed. An unknown flower in a strange land speaks to the poet: ""Are we not of the same soil, my lover?"" I am able to love my God because He gives me freedom to deny Him. My untuned strings beg for music in their anguished cry of shame. The worm thinks it strange and foolish that man does not eat his books. The clouded sky to-day bears the visior of the shadow of a divine sadness on the forehead of brooding eternity. The shade of my tree is for passers-by, its fruit for the one for whom I wait. Flushed with the glow of sunset earth seems like a ripe fruit ready to be harvested by night. Light accepts darkness for his spouse for the sake of creation. The reed waits for his master's breath, the Master goes seeking for his reed. To the blind pen the hand that writes is unreal, its writing unmeaning. The sea smites his own barren breast because he has no flowers to offer to the moon. The greed for fruit misses the flower. God in His temple of stars waits for man to bring him his lamp. The fire restrained in the tree fashions flowers. Released from bonds, the shameless flame dies in barren ashes. The sky sets no snare to capture the moon, it is her own freedom which binds her. The light that fills the sky seeks its limit in a dew-drop on the grass. Wealth is the burden of bigness, Welfare the fulness of being. The razor-blade is proud of its keenness when it sneers at the sun. The butterfly has leisure to love the lotus, not the bee busily storing honey. Child, thou bringest to my heart the babble of the wind and the water, the flower's speechless secrets, the clouds' dreams, the mute gaze of wonder of the morning sky. The rainbow among the clouds may be great but the little butterfly among the bushes is greater. The mist weaves her net round the morning, captivates him, and makes him blind. The Morning Star whispers to Dawn, ""Tell me that you are only for me."" ""Yes,"" she answers, ""And also only for that nameless flower."" The sky remains infinitely vacant for earth there to build its heaven with dreams. Perhaps the crescent moon smiles in doubt at being told that it is a fragment awaiting perfection. Let the evening forgive the mistakes of the day and thus win peace for herself. Beauty smiles in the confinement of the bud, in the heart of a sweet incompleteness. Your flitting love lightly brushed with its wings my sun-flower and never asked if it was ready to surrender its honey. Leaves are silences around flowers which are their words. The tree bears its thousand years as one large majestic moment. My offerings are not for the temple at the end of the road, but for the wayside shrines that surprise me at every bend. Hour smile, my love, like the smell of a strange flower, is simple and inexplicable. Death laughs when the merit of the dead is exaggerated for it swells his store with more than he can claim. The sigh of the shore follows in vain the breeze that hastens the ship across the sea. Truth loves its limits, for there it meets the beautiful. Between the shores of Me and Thee there is the loud ocean, my own surging self, which I long to cross. The right to possess boasts foolishly of its right to enjoy. The rose is a great deal more than a blushing apology for the thorn. Day offers to the silence of stars his golden lute to be tuned for the endless life. The wise know how to teach, the fool how to smite. The centre is still and silent in the heart of an enternal dance of circles. The judge thinks that he is just when he compares The oil of another's lamp with the light of his own. The captive flower in the King's wreath smiles bitterly when the meadow-flower envies her. Its store of snow is the hill's own burden, its outpouring if streams is borne by all the world. Listen to the prayer of the forest for its freedom in flowers. Let your love see me even through the barrier of nearness. The spirit of work in creation is there to carry and help the spirit of play. To carry the burden of the insturment, count the cost of its material, and never to know that it is for music, is the tragedy of deaf life. Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark. I bring to thee, night, my day's empty cup, to be cleansed with thy cool darkness for a new morning's festival. The mountain fir, in its rustling, modulates the memory of its fights with the storm into a hymn of peace. God honoured me with his fight when I was rebellious, He ignored me when I was languid. The sectarina thinks that he has the sea ladled into his private pond. In the shady depth of life are the lonely nests of memories that shrink from words. Let my love find its strength in the service of day, its peace in the union of night. Life sends up in blades of grass its silent hymn of praise to the unnamed Light. The stars of night are to me the memorials of my day's faded flowers. Open thy door to that which must go, for the loss becomes unseemly when obstructed. True end is not in the reaching of the limit, but in a completion which is limitless. The shore whispers to the sea: ""Write to me what thy waves struggle to say."" The sea writes in foam again and again and wipes off the lines in a boisterous despair. Let the touch ofthy finger thrill my life's strings and make the music thine and mine. The inner world rounded in my life like a fruit, matured in joy and sorrow, will drop into the darkness of the orogonal soil for some further course of creation. Form is in Matter, rhythm in Force, meaning in the Person. There are seekers of wisdom and seekers of wealth, I seek thy company so that I may sing. As the tree its leaves, I shed my words on the earth, let my thoughts unuttered flower in thy silence. My faith in truth, my vision of the perfect, help thee, Master, in thy creation. All the delights that I have felt in life's fruits and flowers let me offer to thee at the end of the feast, in a perfect union of love. Some have thought deeply and explored the meaning of thy truth, and they are great; I have listened to catch the music of thy play, and I am glad. The tree is a winged spirit released from the bondage of seed, pursuing its adventure of life across the unknown. The lotus offers its beauty to the heaven, the grass its service to the earth. The sun's kiss mellows into abandonment the miserliness of the green fruit clinging to its stem. The flame met the earthen lamp in me, and what a great marvel of light! Mistakes live in the neighbourhood of truth and therefore delude us. The cloud laughed at the rainbow saying that is was an upstart gaudy in its emptiness. The rainbow calmly answered, ""I am as inevitably real as tha sun himself."" Let me not grope in vain in the dark but keep my mind still in the faith that the day will break and truth will appear in its simplicity. Through the silent night I hear the returning vagrant hopes of the morning knock at my heart. My new love comes bringing to me the eternal wealth of the old. The earth gazes at the moon and wonders that she sould have all her music in her smile. Day with its glare of curiosity puts the stars to flight. My mind has itstrue union with thee, O sky, at the window which is mine own, and not in the open where thou hast thy sole kingdom. Man claims God's flowers as his own when he weaves them in a garland. The buried city, laid bare to the sun of a new age, is ashamed that is has lost all its song. Like my heart's pain that has long missed its meaning, the sun's rays robed in dark hide themselves under the ground. Like my heart'spain at love's sudden touch, they change their veil at the spring's call and come out in the carnival of colours, in flowers and leaves. My life's empty flute waits for its final music like the primal darkness before the stars came out. Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree. The tapestry of life's story is woven with the threads of life's ties ever joining and breaking. Those thoughts of mine that are never captured by words perch upon my song and dance. My soul to-night loses itself in the silent heart of a tree standing alone among the whispers of immensity. Pearl shells cast up by the sea on death's barren beach,— a magnificent wastefulness of creative life. The sunlight opens for me the word's gate, love's light its terasure. My life like the reed with ist stops, has its play od colours through the gaps in its hopes and gains. Let not my thanks to thee rob my silence of its fuller homage. Life's aspirations come in the guise of children. The faded flower sighs that the spring has vanished for ever. In my life's garden my wealth has been of the shadows and lights that are never gathered and stored. The fruit that I Have gained for ever is thet which thou hast accepted. The jasmine knows the sun to be her brother in the heaven. Light is young, the ancient light; shadows are of the moment, they are born old. I feel that the ferry of my songs at the day's end will brong me across to the other shore from where I shall see. The butterfly flitting from flower to flower ever remains mine, I lose the one that is netted by me. Your voice, free bird, reaches my sleeping nest, and my drowsy wings dream of a voyage to the light above the clouds. I miss the meaning of my own part in the play of life because I know not of the parts that others play. The flower sheds all its petals and finds the fruit. I leave my songs behind me to the bloom of the ever-returning honeysuckles and the joy of the wind from the south. Dead leaves when they lose themselves in soil take part in the life of the forest. The mind ever seeks its words from its sounds and silence as the sky from its darkness and light. The unseen dark plays on his flute and the rhythm of light eddies into stars and suns, into thoughts and reams. My songs are to sing that I have loved Thy singing. When the voice of the Silent touches my words I know him and therefore I know myself. My last salutations are to them who knew me imperfect and loved me. Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted. When death comes and whispers to me, ""Thy days are ended,"" let me say to him, ""I have lived in love and not in mere time."" He will ask, ""Will thy songs remain?"" I shall say, ""I know not, but this I know that often when I sang I found my eternity."" ""Let me light my lamp,"" say the star, 'and never debate if it will help to remove the darkness."" Before the end of my journey may I reach within myself the one which is the all, leaving the outer shell to float away with the drifting multitude upon the current of chance and change. ",anger "On The Nature Of Love The night is black and the forest has no end; a million people thread it in a million ways. We have trysts to keep in the darkness, but where or with whom - of that we are unaware. But we have this faith - that a lifetime's bliss will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips. Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs brush us, pass us, give us delightful shocks. Then peradventure there's a flash of lightning: whomever I see that instant I fall in love with. I call that person and cry: `This life is blest! for your sake such miles have I traversed!' All those others who came close and moved off in the darkness - I don't know if they exist or not. ",love "The Kiss Lips' language to lips' ears. Two drinking each other's heart, it seems. Two roving loves who have left home, pilgrims to the confluence of lips. Two waves rise by the law of love to break and die on two sets of lips. Two wild desires craving each other meet at last at the body's limits. Love's writing a song in dainty letters, layers of kiss-calligraphy on lips. Plucking flowers from two sets of lips perhaps to thread them into a chain later. This sweet union of lips is the red marriage-bed of a pair of smiles.",love "The Sun Of The First Day The sun of the first day Put the question To the new manifestation of life- Who are you? There was no answer. Years passed by. The last sun of the last day Uttered the question on the shore of the western sea In the hush of evening- Who are you? No answer came again. ",sad "Lord Of My Life Thou who art the innermost Spirit of my being, art thou pleased, Lord of my Life? For I give to thee my cup filled with all the pain and delight that the crushed grapes of my heart had surrendered, I wove with rhythm of colors and song cover for thy bed, And with the molten gold of my desires I fashioned playthings for thy passing hours. I know not why thou chosest me for thy partner, Lord of my life. Didst thou store my days and nights, my deeds and dreams for the alchemy of thy art, and string in the chain of thy music my songs of autumn and spring, and gather the flowers from my mature moments for thy crown? I see thine eyes gazing at the dark of my heart, Lord of my life, I wonder if my failure and wrongs are forgiven. For many were my days without service and nights of forgetfulness; futile were the flowers that faded in the shade not offered to thee. Often the tied strings of my lute slackened at the strains of thy tunes. And often at the ruin of wasted hours my desolate evenings were filled with tears. But have my days come to their end at last, Lord of my life, while my arms round thee grow limp, my kisses losing their truth? Then break up the meeting of this languid day! Renew the old in me in fresh forms of delight; and let the wedding come once again in a new ceremony of life. ",love "Keep Me Fully Glad II Keep me fully glad with nothing. Only take my hand in your hand. In the gloom of the deepening night take up my heart and play with it as you list. Bind me close to you with nothing. I will spread myself out at your feet and lie still. Under this clouded sky I will meet silence with silence. I will become one with the night clasping the earth in my breast. Make my life glad with nothing. The rains sweep the sky from end to end. Jasmines in the wet untamable wind revel in their own perfume. The cloud-hidden stars thrill in secret. Let me fill to the full my heart with nothing but my own depth of joy. ",love "Maran-Milan (Death-Wedding) Why do you speak so softly, Death, Death, Creep upon me, watch me so stealthily? This is not how a lover should behave. When evening flowers droop upon their tired Stems, when cattle are brought in from the fields After a whole day’s grazing, you, Death, Death, approach me with such gentle steps, Settle yourself immovably by my side. I cannot understand the things you say. Alas, will this be how you will take me, Death, Death? Like a thief, laying heavy sleep On my eyes as you descend to my heart? Will you thus let your tread be a slow beat In my sleep-numbed blood, your jingling ankle-bells A drowsy rumble in my ear? Will you, Death, Death, wrap me, finally, in your cold Arms and carry me away while I dream? I do not know why you thus come and go. Tell me, is this the way you wed, Death, Death? Unceremonially, with no Weight of sacrament or blessing or prayer? Will you come with your massy tawny hair Unkempt, unbound into a bright coil-crown? Will no one bear your victory-flag before Or after, will no torches glow like red Eyes along the river, Death, Death? Will earth not quake in terror at your step? When fierce-eyed Siva came to take his bride, Remember all the pomp and trappings, Death, Death: the flapping tiger-skins he wore; His roaring bull; the serpents hissing round His hair; the bom-bom sound as he slapped his cheeks; The necklace of skulls swinging round his neck; The sudden raucous music as he blew His horn to announce his coming - was this not A better way of wedding, Death, Death? And as that deathly wedding-party’s din Grew nearer, Death, Death, tears of joy Filled Gauri’s eyes and the garments at her breast Quivered; her left eye fluttered and her heart Pounded; her body quailed with thrilled delight And her mind ran away with itself, Death, Death; Her mother wailed and smote her head at the thought Of receiving so wild a groom; and in his mind Her father agreed calamity had struck. Why must you always come like a thief, Death, Death, always silently, at night’s end, Leaving only tears? Come to me festively, Make the whole night ring with your triumph, blow Your victory-conch, dress me in blood-red robes, Grasp me by the hand and sweep me away! Pay no heed to what others may think, Death, Death, for I shall of my own free will Resort to you if you but take me gloriously. If I am immersed in work in my room When you arrive, Death, Death, then break My work, thrust my unreadiness aside. If I am sleeping, sinking all desires In the dreamy pleasure of my bed, or I lie With apathy gripping my heart and my eyes Flickering between sleep and waking, fill Your conch with your destructive breath and blow, Death, Death, and I shall run to you. I shall go to where your boat is moored, Death, Death, to the sea where the wind rolls Darkness towards me from infinity. I may see black clouds massing in the far North-east corner of the sky; fiery snakes Of lightning may rear up with their hoods raised, But I shall not flinch in unfounded fear - I shall pass silently, unswervingly Across that red storm-sea, Death, Death. ",sad "Broken Song Kasinath the new young singer fills the hall with sound: The seven notes dance in his throat like seven tame birds. His voice is a sharp sword slicing and thrusting everywhere, It darts like lightening - no knowing where it will go when. He sets deadly traps for himself, then cuts them away: The courtiers listen in amazement, give frequent gasps of praise. Only the old king Pratap Ray sits like wood, unmoved. Haraj Lal is the only singer he likes, all others leave him cold. From childhood he has spent so long listening to him sing - Rag Kafi during holi, cloud-songs during the rains, Songs for Durga at dawn in autumn, songs to bid her farewell - His heart swelled when he heard them and his eyes swam with tears. And on days when friends gathered and filled the hall There were cowherds' songs of Krsna, in raags Bhupali and Multan. So many nights of wedding-festivity have passed in that royal house: Servants dressed in red, hundreds of lamps alight: The bridegroom sitting shyly in his finery and jewels, Young friends teasing him and whispering in his ear: Before him, singing raag Sahana, sits Baraj Lal. The king's heart is full of all those days and songs. When he hears some other singer, he feels no chord inside, No sudden magical awakening of memories of the past. When Pratap Ray watches Kasinath he just sees his wagging head: Tune after tune after tune, bu none with any echo in the heart. Kasinath asks for a rest and the singing stops for a space. Pratap Ray smilingly turns his eyes to Baraj Lal. He puts his mouth to his ear and says, 'Dear ustad, Give us a song as songs ought to be, this is no song at all. It's all tricks and games, like a cat hunting a bird. We used to hear songs in the old days, today they have no idea.' Old Baraj Lal, white-haired, white turban on his head, Bows to the assembled courtiers and slowly takes his seat. He takes the tanpura in his wasted, heavily veined hand And with lowered head and closed eyes begins raag Yaman-kalyap. His quavering voice is swallowed by the enormous hall, Is like a tiny bird in a storm, unable to fly for all it tries. Pratap Ray, sitting to the left, encourages him again and again: 'Superb, bravo!' he says in his ear, 'sing out loud.' The courtiers are inattentive, some whisper amongst themselves, Some of them yawn, some doze, some go off to their rooms; Some of them call to servants, 'Bring the bookah, bring some pan.' Some fan themselves furiously and complain of the heat. They cannot keep still for a minute, they shuffle or walk about - The hall was quiet before, but every sort of noise has grown. The old man's singing is swamped, like a frail boat in a typhoon: Only his shaky fingering of the tanpura shows it is there. Music that should rise on its own joy from the depths of the heart Is crushed by heedless clamour, like a fountain under a stone. The song and Baraj Lal's feelings go separate ways, But he sings for all he is worth, to keep up the honour of his king. One of the verses of the song has somehow slipped from his mind. He quickly goes back, tries to get it right this time. Again he forgets, it is lost, he shakes his head at the shame; He starts the song at the beginning - again he has to stop. His hand trembles doubly as he prays to his teachers name. His voice quakes with distress, like a lamp guttering in a breeze. He abandons the words of the song and tries to salvage the tune, But suddenly his wide-mouthed singing breaks into loud cries. The intricate melody goes to the winds, the rhythm is swept away - Tears snap the thread of the song, cascade like pearls. In shame he rests his head on the old tanpura in his lap - He has failed to remember a song: he weeps as he did as a child. With brimming eyes king Pratap Ray tenderly touches his friend: 'Come, let us go from here,' he says with kindness and love. They leave that festive hall with its hundreds of blinding lights. The two old friends go outside, holding each other's hands. Baraj says with hands clasped, 'Master, our days are gone. New men have come now, new styles and customs in the world. The court we kept is deserted - only the two of us are left. Don't ask anyone to listen to me now, I beg you at your feet, my lord. The singer along does not make a song, there has to be someone who hears: One man opens his throat to sing, the other sings in his mind. Only when waves fall on the shore do they make a harmonious sound; Only when breezes shake the woods do we hear a rustling in the leaves. Only from a marriage of two forces does music arise in the world. Where there is no love, where listeners are dumb, there never can be song.' ",sad "From Afar The 'I' that floats along the wave of time, From a distance I watch him. With the dust and the water, With the fruit and the flower, With the All he is rushing forward. He is always on the surface, Tossed by the waves and dancing to the rhythm Of joy and suffering. The least loss makes him suffer, The least wound hurts him-- Him I see from afar. That 'I' is not my real self; I am still within myself, I do not float in the stream of death. I am free, I am desireless, I am peace, I am illumined-- Him I see from afar. - See more at: http://allpoetry.com/From-Afar#sthash.je7WwINk.dpuf",peace "The Golden Boat Clouds rumbling in the sky; teeming rain. I sit on the river bank, sad and alone. The sheaves lie gathered, harvest has ended, The river is swollen and fierce in its flow. As we cut the paddy it started to rain. One small paddy-field, no one but me - Flood-waters twisting and swirling everywhere. Trees on the far bank; smear shadows like ink On a village painted on deep morning grey. On this side a paddy-field, no one but me. Who is this, steering close to the shore Singing? I feel that she is someone I know. The sails are filled wide, she gazes ahead, Waves break helplessly against the boat each side. I watch and feel I have seen her face before. Oh to what foreign land do you sail? Come to the bank and moor your boat for a while. Go where you want to, give where you care to, But come to the bank a moment, show your smile - Take away my golden paddy when you sail. Take it, take as much as you can load. Is there more? No, none, I have put it aboard. My intense labour here by the river - I have parted with it all, layer upon layer; Now take me as well, be kind, take me aboard. No room, no room, the boat is too small. Loaded with my gold paddy, the boat is full. Across the rain-sky clouds heave to and fro, On the bare river-bank, I remain alone - What had has gone: the golden boat took all. ",sad "At The Last Watch Pity, in place of love, That pettiest of gifts, Is but a sugar-coating over neglect. Any passerby can make a gift of it To a street beggar, Only to forget the moment the first corner is turned. I had not hoped for anything more that day. You left during the last watch of night. I had hoped you would say goodbye, Just say 'Adieu' before going away, What you had said another day, What I shall never hear again. In their place, just that one word, Bound by the thin fabric of a little compassion Would even that have been too much for you to bear? When I first awoke from sleep My heart fluttered with fear Lest the time had been over. I rushed out of bed. The distant church clock chimed half past twelve I sat waiting near the door of my room Resting my head against it, Facing the porch through which you would come out. Even that tiniest of chances Was snatched away by fate from hapless me; I fell asleep Shortly before you left. Perhaps you cast a sidelong glance At my reclining body Like a broken boat left high and dry. Perhaps you walked away with care Lest you wake me up. Awaking with a start I knew at once That my vigil had been wasted I realised, what was to go went away in a moment, What was to stay behind stayed on For all time. Silence everywhere Like that of a birds' nest bereft of birds On the bough of a songless tree. With the lifeless light of the waning moon was now blended The pallor of dawn Spreading itself over the greyness of my empty life. I walked towards your bedroom For no reason. Outside the door Burnt a smoky lantern covered with soot, The porch smelt of the smouldering wick. Over the abandoned bed the flaps of the rolled-up mosquito-net Fluttered a little in the breeze. Seen in the sky outside through the window Was the morning star, Witness of all sleepless people Bereft of hope. Suddenly I found you had left behind by mistake Your gold-mounted ivory walking stick. If there were time, I thought, You might come back from the station to look for it, But not because You had not seen me before going away. ",sad "The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love Speak to me, my love! Tell me in words what you sang. The night is dark. The stars are lost in clouds. The wind is sighing through the leaves. I will let loose my hair. My blue cloak will cling round me like night. I will clasp your head to my bosom; and there in the sweet loneliness murmur on your heart. I will shut my eyes and listen. I will not look in your face. When your words are ended, we will sit still and silent. Only the trees will whisper in the dark. The night will pale. The day will dawn. We shall look at each other's eyes and go on our different paths. Speak to me, my love! Tell me in words what you sang. ",love "Paper Boats Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream. In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live. I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am. I load my little boats with shiuli flower from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night. I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting thee white bulging sails. I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats! When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars. The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading ins their baskets full of dreams. ",surprise "I I wonder if I know him In whose speech is my voice, In whose movement is my being, Whose skill is in my lines, Whose melody is in my songs In joy and sorrow. I thought he was chained within me, Contained by tears and laughter, Work and play. I thought he was my very self Coming to an end with my death. Why then in a flood of joy do I feel him In the sight and touch of my beloved? This 'I' beyond self I found On the shores of the shining sea. Therefore I know This 'I' is not imprisoned within my bounds. Losing myself, I find him Beyond the borders of time and space. Through the Ages I come to know his Shining Self In the life of the seeker, In the voice of the poet. From the dark clouds pour the rains. I sit and think: Bearing so many forms, so many names, I come down, crossing the threshold Of countless births and deaths. The Supreme undivided, complete in himself, Embracing past and present, Dwells in Man. Within Him I shall find myself - The 'I' that reaches everywhere. ",peace "Hard Times Music is silenced, the dark descending slowly Has stripped unending skies of all companions. Weariness grips your limbs and within the locked horizons Dumbly ring the bells of hugely gathering fears. Still, O bird, O sightless bird, Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings. It's not melodious woodlands but the leaps and falls Of an ocean's drowsy booming, Not a grove bedecked with flowers but a tumult flecked with foam. Where is the shore that stored your buds and leaves? Where the nest and the branch's hold? Still, O bird, my sightless bird, Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings. Stretching in front of you the night's immensity Hides the western hill where sleeps the distant sun; Still with bated breath the world is counting time and swimming Across the shoreless dark a crescent moon Has thinly just appeared upon the dim horizon. —But O my bird, O sightless bird, Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings. From upper skies the stars with pointing fingers Intently watch your course and death's impatience Lashes at you from the deeps in swirling waves; And sad entreaties line the farthest shore With hands outstretched and crooning 'Come, O come!' Still, O bird, O sightless bird, Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings. All that is past: your fears and loves and hopes; All that is lost: your words and lamentation; No longer yours a home nor a bed composed of flowers. For wings are all you have, and the sky's broadening countryard, And the dawn steeped in darkness, lacking all direction. Dear bird, my sightless bird, Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings!",sad "Poems On Love Love adorns itself; it seeks to prove inward joy by outward beauty. Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom. Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it. Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted. ",love "Palm Tree Palm-tree: single-legged giant, topping other trees, peering at the firmament - It longs to pierce the black cloud-ceiling and fly away, away, if only it had wings. The tree seems to express its wish in the tossing of its head: its fronds heave and swish - It thinks, Maybe my leaves are feathers, and nothing stops me now from rising on their flutter. All day the fronds the windblown tree soar and flap and shudder as though it thinks it can fly, As though it wanders in the skies, travelling who knows where, wheeling past the stars - And then as soon as the wind dies down, the fronds subside, subside: the mind of the tree returns. To earth, recalls that earth is its mother: and then it likes once more its earthly corner. ",love "I Cast My Net Into The Sea In the morning I cast my net into the sea. I dragged up from the dark abyss things of strange aspect and strange beauty -- some shone like a smile, some glistened like tears, and some were flushed like the cheeks of a bride. When with the day's burden I went home, my love was sitting in the garden idly tearing the leaves of a flower. I hesitated for a moment, and then placed at her feet all that I had dragged up, and stood silent. She glanced at them and said, ""What strange things are these? I know not of what use they are!"" I bowed my head in shame and thought, ""I have not fought for these, I did not buy them in the market; they are not fit gifts for her."" Then the whole night through I flung them one by one into the street. In the morning travellers came; they picked them up and carried them into far countries.",sad "Poems On Time The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. Time is a wealth of change, but the clock in its parody makes it mere change and no wealth. Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. ",joy "Poems On Beauty Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror. Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the universal being; truth the perfect comprehension of the universal mind.",peace "A Love Song from the North Tell me no more of thy love, papeeha, Wouldst thou recall to my heart, papeeha, Dreams of delight that are gone, When swift to my side came the feet of my lover With stars of the dusk and the dawn? I see the soft wings of the clouds on the river, And jewelled with raindrops the mango-leaves quiver, And tender boughs flower on the plain..... But what is their beauty to me, papeeha, Beauty of blossom and shower, papeeha, That brings not my lover again? Tell me no more of thy love, papeeha, Wouldst thou revive in my heart, papeeha Grief for the joy that is gone? I hear the bright peacock in glimmering woodlands Cry to its mate in the dawn; I hear the black koel's slow, tremulous wooing, And sweet in the gardens the calling and cooing Of passionate bulbul and dove.... But what is their music to me, papeeha Songs of their laughter and love, papeeha, To me, forsaken of love? ",sad "Alabaster LIKE this alabaster box whose art Is frail as a cassia-flower, is my heart, Carven with delicate dreams and wrought With many a subtle and exquisite thought. Therein I treasure the spice and scent Of rich and passionate memories blent Like odours of cinnamon, sandal and clove, Of song and sorrow and life and love. ",sad " An Indian Love Song He Lift up the veils that darken the delicate moon of thy glory and grace, Withhold not, O love, from the night of my longing the joy of thy luminous face, Give me a spear of the scented keora guarding thy pinioned curls, Or a silken thread from the fringes that trouble the dream of thy glimmering pearls; Faint grows my soul with thy tresses' perfume and the song of thy anklets' caprice, Revive me, I pray, with the magical nectar that dwells in the flower of thy kiss. She How shall I yield to the voice of thy pleading, how shall I grant thy prayer, Or give thee a rose-red silken tassel, a scented leaf from my hair? Or fling in the flame of thy heart's desire the veils that cover my face, Profane the law of my father's creed for a foe of my father's race? Thy kinsmen have broken our sacred altars and slaughtered our sacred kine, The feud of old faiths and the blood of old battles sever thy people and mine. He What are the sins of my race, Beloved, what are my people to thee? And what are thy shrines, and kine and kindred, what are thy gods to me? Love recks not of feuds and bitter follies, of stranger, comrade or kin, Alike in his ear sound the temple bells and the cry of the muezzin. For Love shall cancel the ancient wrong and conquer the ancient rage, Redeem with his tears the memoried sorrow that sullied a bygone age. ",love "Autumn Song Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow, The sunset hangs on a cloud; A golden storm of glittering sheaves, Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves, The wild wind blows in a cloud. Hark to a voice that is calling To my heart in the voice of the wind: My heart is weary and sad and alone, For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone, And why should I stay behind? ",sad " Corn Grinders O little mouse, why dost thou cry While merry stars laugh in the sky? Alas! alas! my lord is dead! Ah, who will ease my bitter pain? He went to seek a millet-grain In the rich farmer's granary shed; They caught him in a baited snare, And slew my lover unaware: Alas! alas! my lord is dead. O little deer, why dost thou moan, Hid in thy forest-bower alone? Alas! alas! my lord is dead! Ah! who will quiet my lament? At fall of eventide he went To drink beside the river-head; A waiting hunter threw his dart, And struck my lover through the heart. Alas! alas! my lord is dead. O little bride, why dost thou weep With all the happy world asleep? Alas! alas! my lord is dead! Ah, who will stay these hungry tears, Or still the want of famished years, And crown with love my marriage-bed? My soul burns with the quenchless fire That lit my lover's funeral pyre: Alas! alas! my lord is dead. ",sad "Coromandel Fishers Rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light, The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night. Come, let us gather our nets from the shore and set our catamarans free, To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the kings of the sea! No longer delay, let us hasten away in the track of the sea gull's call, The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother, the waves are our comrades all. What though we toss at the fall of the sun where the hand of the sea-god drives? He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives. Sweet is the shade of the cocoanut glade, and the scent of the mango grove, And sweet are the sands at the full o' the moon with the sound of the voices we love; But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray and the dance of the wild foam's glee; Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge, where the low sky mates with the sea. ",courage " Cradle Song FROM groves of spice, O'er fields of rice, Athwart the lotus-stream, I bring for you, Aglint with dew A little lovely dream. Sweet, shut your eyes, The wild fire-fiies Dance through the fairy neem; From the poppy-bole For you I stole A little lovely dream. Dear eyes, good-night, In golden light The stars around you gleam; On you I press With soft caress A little lovely dream. ",joy "Damayante To Nala In The Hour Of Exile SHALT thou be conquered of a human fate My liege, my lover, whose imperial head Hath never bent in sorrow of defeat? Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feet Have shattered armies and stamped empires dead? Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen? Wear thou thy majesty inviolate. Earth's glories flee of human eyes unseen, Earth's kingdoms fade to a remembered dream, But thine henceforth shall be a power supreme, Dazzling command and rich dominion, The winds thy heralds and thy vassals all The silver-belted planets and the sun. Where'er the radiance of thy coming fall, Shall dawn for thee her saffron footcloths spread, Sunset her purple canopies and red, In serried splendour, and the night unfold Her velvet darkness wrought with starry gold For kingly raiment, soft as cygnet-down. My hair shall braid thy temples like a crown Of sapphires, and my kiss upon thy brows Like çithar-music lull thee to repose, Till the sun yield thee homage of his light. O king, thy kingdom who from thee can wrest? What fate shall dare uncrown thee from this breast, O god-born lover, whom my love doth gird And armour with impregnable delight Of Hope's triumphant keen flame-carven sword? ",sad "Ecstasy Cover mine eyes, O my Love! Mine eyes that are weary of bliss As of light that is poignant and strong O silence my lips with a kiss, My lips that are weary of song! Shelter my soul, O my love! My soul is bent low with the pain And the burden of love, like the grace Of a flower that is smitten with rain: O shelter my soul from thy face! ",love "Harvest Hymn Mens Voices: LORD of the lotus, lord of the harvest, Bright and munificent lord of the morn! Thine is the bounty that prospered our sowing, Thine is the bounty that nurtured our corn. We bring thee our songs and our garlands for tribute, The gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit; O giver of mellowing radiance, we hail thee, We praise thee, O Surya, with cymbal and flute. Lord of the rainbow, lord of the harvest, Great and beneficent lord of the main! Thine is the mercy that cherished our furrows, Thine is the mercy that fostered our grain. We bring thee our thanks and our garlands for tribute, The wealth of our valleys, new-garnered and ripe; O sender of rain and the dewfall, we hail thee, We praise thee, Varuna, with cymbal and pipe. Womens Voices: Queen of the gourd-flower, queen of the har- vest, Sweet and omnipotent mother, O Earth! Thine is the plentiful bosom that feeds us, Thine is the womb where our riches have birth. We bring thee our love and our garlands for tribute, With gifts of thy opulent giving we come; O source of our manifold gladness, we hail thee, We praise thee, O Prithvi, with cymbal and drum. All Voices: Lord of the Universe, Lord of our being, Father eternal, ineffable Om! Thou art the Seed and the Scythe of our harvests, Thou art our Hands and our Heart and our Home. We bring thee our lives and our labours for tribute, Grant us thy succour, thy counsel, thy care. O Life of all life and all blessing, we hail thee, We praise thee, O Bramha, with cymbal and prayer ",joy "Humayun To Zobeida (From the Urdu) You flaunt your beauty in the rose, your glory in the dawn, Your sweetness in the nightingale, your white- ness in the swan. You haunt my waking like a dream, my slumber like a moon, Pervade me like a musky scent, possess me like a tune. Yet, when I crave of you, my sweet, one tender moment's grace, You cry, ""I sit behind the veil, I cannot show my face."" Shall any foolish veil divide my longing from my bliss? Shall any fragile curtain hide your beauty from my kiss? What war is this of Thee and Me? Give o'er the wanton strife, You are the heart within my heart, the life within my life. ",love "In Praise Of Henna A KOKILA called from a henna-spray: Lira! liree! Lira! liree! Hasten, maidens, hasten away To gather the leaves of the henna-tree. Send your pitchers afloat on the tide, Gather the leaves ere the dawn be old, Grind them in mortars of amber and gold, The fresh green leaves of the henna-tree. A kokila called from a henna-spray: Lira! liree! Lira! liree! Hasten maidens, hasten away To gather the leaves of the henna-tree. The tilka's red for the brow of a bride, And betel-nut's red for lips that are sweet; But, for lily-like fingers and feet, The red, the red of the henna-tree. ",joy "In Salutation to the Eternal Peace Men say the world is full of fear and hate, And all life's ripening harvest-fields await The restless sickle of relentless fate. But I, sweet Soul, rejoice that I was born, When from the climbing terraces of corn I watch the golden orioles of Thy morn. What care I for the world's desire and pride, Who know the silver wings that gleam and glide, The homing pigeons of Thine eventide? What care I for the world's loud weariness, Who dream in twilight granaries Thou dost bless With delicate sheaves of mellow silences? Say, shall I heed dull presages of doom, Or dread the rumoured loneliness and gloom, The mute and mythic terror of the tomb? For my glad heart is drunk and drenched with Thee, O inmost wind of living ecstasy! O intimate essence of eternity! ",peace "In The Bazaars of Hyderabad What do you sell O ye merchants ? Richly your wares are displayed. Turbans of crimson and silver, Tunics of purple brocade, Mirrors with panels of amber, Daggers with handles of jade. What do you weigh, O ye vendors? Saffron and lentil and rice. What do you grind, O ye maidens? Sandalwood, henna, and spice. What do you call , O ye pedlars? Chessmen and ivory dice. What do you make,O ye goldsmiths? Wristlet and anklet and ring, Bells for the feet of blue pigeons Frail as a dragon-fly’s wing, Girdles of gold for dancers, Scabbards of gold for the king. What do you cry,O ye fruitmen? Citron, pomegranate, and plum. What do you play ,O musicians? Cithar, sarangi and drum. what do you chant, O magicians? Spells for aeons to come. What do you weave, O ye flower-girls With tassels of azure and red? Crowns for the brow of a bridegroom, Chaplets to garland his bed. Sheets of white blossoms new-garnered To perfume the sleep of the dead. ",sad "In The Forest HERE, O my heart, let us burn the dear dreams that are dead, Here in this wood let us fashion a funeral pyre Of fallen white petals and leaves that are mellow and red, Here let us burn them in noon's flaming torches of fire. We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long we have borne The heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest, Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn; We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west. But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng; Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain, We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song. ",sad "Indian Dancer EYES ravished with rapture, celestially panting, what passionate bosoms aflaming with fire Drink deep of the hush of the hyacinth heavens that glimmer around them in fountains of light; O wild and entrancing the strain of keen music that cleaveth the stars like a wail of desire, And beautiful dancers with houri-like faces bewitch the voluptuous watches of night. The scents of red roses and sandalwood flutter and die in the maze of their gem-tangled hair, And smiles are entwining like magical serpents the poppies of lips that are opiate-sweet; Their glittering garments of purple are burning like tremulous dawns in the quivering air, And exquisite, subtle and slow are the tinkle and tread of their rhythmical, slumber-soft feet. Now silent, now singing and swaying and swinging, like blossoms that bend to the breezes or showers, Now wantonly winding, they flash, now they falter, and, lingering, languish in radiant choir; Their jewel-girt arms and warm, wavering, lily-long fingers enchant through melodious hours, Eyes ravished with rapture, celestially panting, what passionate bosoms aflaming with fire! ",joy "Indian Love Song She LIKE a serpent to the calling voice of flutes, Glides my heart into thy fingers, O my Love! Where the night-wind, like a lover, leans above His jasmine-gardens and sirisha-bowers; And on ripe boughs of many-coloured fruits Bright parrots cluster like vermilion flowers. He Like the perfume in the petals of a rose, Hides thy heart within my bosom, O my love! Like a garland, like a jewel, like a dove That hangs its nest in the asoka-tree. Lie still, O love, until the morning sows Her tents of gold on fields of ivory. ",love "Indian Weavers WEAVERS, weaving at break of day, Why do you weave a garment so gay? . . . Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild, We weave the robes of a new-born child. Weavers, weaving at fall of night, Why do you weave a garment so bright? . . . Like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green, We weave the marriage-veils of a queen. Weavers, weaving solemn and still, What do you weave in the moonlight chill? . . . White as a feather and white as a cloud, We weave a dead man's funeral shroud. ",peace "Leili The serpents are asleep among the poppies, The fireflies light the soundless panther's way To tangled paths where shy gazelles are straying, And parrot-plumes outshine the dying day. O soft! the lotus-buds upon the stream Are stirring like sweet maidens when they dream. A caste-mark on the azure brows of Heaven, The golden moon burns sacred, solemn, bright The winds are dancing in the forest-temple, And swooning at the holy feet of Night. Hush! in the silence mystic voices sing And make the gods their incense-offering. ",joy "Life CHILDREN, ye have not lived, to you it seems Life is a lovely stalactite of dreams, Or carnival of careless joys that leap About your hearts like billows on the deep In flames of amber and of amethyst. Children, ye have not lived, ye but exist Till some resistless hour shall rise and move Your hearts to wake and hunger after love, And thirst with passionate longing for the things That burn your brows with blood-red sufferings. Till ye have battled with great grief and fears, And borne the conflict of dream-shattering years, Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife, Children, ye have not lived: for this is life. ",sad "My Dead Dream HAVE YOU found me, at last, O my Dream? Seven eons ago You died and I buried you deep under forests of snow. Why have you come hither? Who bade you awake from your sleep And track me beyond the cerulean foam of the deep? Would you tear from my lintels these sacred green garlands of leaves? Would you scare the white, nested, wild pigeons of joy from my eaves? Would you touch and defile with dead fingers the robes of my priest? Would you weave your dim moan with the chantings of love at my feast? Go back to your grave, O my Dream, under forests of snow, Where a heart-riven child hid you once, seven eons ago. Who bade you arise from your darkness? I bid you depart! Profane not the shrines I have raised in the clefts of my heart. ",sad "Nightfall In The City Of Hyderabad SEE how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat, Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote. See the white river that flashes and scintillates, Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates. Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's call Floats like a battle-flag over the city wall. From trellised balconies, languid and luminous Faces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous. Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes, Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains. Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades. Over the city bridge Night comes majestical, Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival. ",joy "Ode to H.H. The Nizam Of Hyderabad DEIGN, Prince, my tribute to receive, This lyric offering to your name, Who round your jewelled scepter bind The lilies of a poet's fame; Beneath whose sway concordant dwell The peoples whom your laws embrace, In brotherhood of diverse creeds, And harmony of diverse race: The votaries of the Prophet's faith, Of whom you are the crown and chief And they, who bear on Vedic brows Their mystic symbols of belief; And they, who worshipping the sun, Fled o'er the old Iranian sea; And they, who bow to Him who trod The midnight waves of Galilee. Sweet, sumptuous fables of Baghdad The splendours of your court recall, The torches of a Thousand Nights Blaze through a single festival; And Saki-singers down the streets, Pour for us, in a stream divine, From goblets of your love-ghazals The rapture of your Sufi wine. Prince, where your radiant cities smile, Grim hills their sombre vigils keep, Your ancient forests hoard and hold The legends of their centuried sleep; Your birds of peace white-pinioned float O'er ruined fort and storied plain, Your faithful stewards sleepless guard The harvests of your gold and grain. God give you joy, God give you grace To shield the truth and smite the wrong, To honour Virtue, Valour, Worth. To cherish faith and foster song. So may the lustre of your days Outshine the deeds Firdusi sung, Your name within a nation's prayer, Your music on a nation's tongue. ",love "Palanquin Bearers Lightly, O lightly we bear her along, She sways like a flower in the wind of our song; She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream, She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream. Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing, We bear her along like a pearl on a string. Softly, O softly we bear her along, She hangs like a star in the dew of our song; She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide, She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride. Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing, We bear her along like a pearl on a string. ",love "Past and Future The new hath come and now the old retires: And so the past becomes a mountain-cell, Where lone, apart, old hermit-memories dwell In consecrated calm, forgotten yet Of the keen heart that hastens to forget Old longings in fulfilling new desires. And now the Soul stands in a vague, intense Expectancy and anguish of suspense, On the dim chamber-threshold . . . lo! he sees Like a strange, fated bride as yet unknown, His timid future shrinking there alone, Beneath her marriage-veil of mysteries. ",sad "Song Of A Dream ONCE in the dream of a night I stood Lone in the light of a magical wood, Soul-deep in visions that poppy-like sprang; And spirits of Truth were the birds that sang, And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed, And spirits of Peace were the streams that flowed In that magical wood in the land of sleep. Lone in the light of that magical grove, I felt the stars of the spirits of Love Gather and gleam round my delicate youth, And I heard the song of the spirits of Truth; To quench my longing I bent me low By the streams of the spirits of Peace that flow In that magical wood in the land of sleep. ",joy "Street Cries WHEN dawn's first cymbals beat upon the sky, Rousing the world to labour's various cry, To tend the flock, to bind the mellowing grain, From ardent toil to forge a little gain, And fasting men go forth on hurrying feet, Buy bread, buy bread, rings down the eager street. When the earth falters and the waters swoon With the implacable radiance of noon, And in dim shelters koïls hush their notes, And the faint, thirsting blood in languid throats Craves liquid succour from the cruel heat, Buy fruit, buy fruit, steals down the panting street. When twilight twinkling o'er the gay bazaars, Unfurls a sudden canopy of stars, When lutes are strung and fragrant torches lit On white roof-terraces where lovers sit Drinking together of life's poignant sweet, Buy flowers, buy flowers, floats down the singing street. ",sad "Suttee LAMP of my life, the lips of Death Hath blown thee out with their sudden breath; Naught shall revive thy vanished spark . . . Love, must I dwell in the living dark? Tree of my life, Death's cruel foot Hath crushed thee down to thy hidden root; Nought shall restore thy glory fled . . . Shall the blossom live when the tree is dead? Life of my life, Death's bitter sword Hath severed us like a broken word, Rent us in twain who are but one . . Shall the flesh survive when the soul is gone? ",sad "The Bangle Sellers Bangle sellers are we who bear Our shining loads to the temple fair... Who will buy these delicate, bright Rainbow-tinted circles of light? Lustrous tokens of radiant lives, For happy daughters and happy wives. Some are meet for a maiden's wrist, Silver and blue as the mountain mist, Some are flushed like the buds that dream On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream, Some are aglow wth the bloom that cleaves To the limpid glory of new born leaves Some are like fields of sunlit corn, Meet for a bride on her bridal morn, Some, like the flame of her marriage fire, Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire, Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear, Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear. Some are purple and gold flecked grey For she who has journeyed through life midway, Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest, And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast, And serves her household in fruitful pride, And worships the gods at her husband's side. ",joy "The Coromandel Fishers Rise, brothers, rise; the wakening skies pray to the morning light, The wind lies asleep in the arms of the dawn like a child that has cried all night. Come, let us gather our nets from the shore and set our catamarans free, To capture the leaping wealth of the tide, for we are the kings of the sea! No longer delay, let us hasten away in the track of the sea gull's call, The sea is our mother, the cloud is our brother, the waves are our comrades all. What though we toss at the fall of the sun where the hand of the sea-god drives? He who holds the storm by the hair, will hide in his breast our lives. Sweet is the shade of the cocoanut glade, and the scent of the mango grove, And sweet are the sands at the full o' the moon with the sound of the voices we love; But sweeter, O brothers, the kiss of the spray and the dance of the wild foam's glee; Row, brothers, row to the edge of the verge, where the low sky mates with the sea. ",courage "The Illusion of Love Beloved, you may be as all men say Only a transient spark Of flickering flame set in loam of clay – I care not …since you kindle all my dark With the immortal lustres of the day. And as all men deem, dearest, you may be Only a common shell Chance-winnowed by the sea-winds from the sea – The subtle murmurs of eternity. And tho’ you are, like men or mortal race, Only a hapless thing That Death may mar and destiny efface – I care not … since unto my heart you bring The very vision of God’s dwelling-place. ",love "The Indian Gipsy In tattered robes that hoard a glittering trace Of bygone colours, broidered to the knee, Behold her, daughter of a wandering race, Tameless, with the bold falcon's agile grace, And the lithe tiger's sinuous majesty. With frugal skill her simple wants she tends, She folds her tawny heifers and her sheep On lonely meadows when the daylight ends, Ere the quick night upon her flock descends Like a black panther from the caves of sleep. Time's river winds in foaming centuries Its changing, swift, irrevocable course To far off and incalculable seas; She is twin-born with primal mysteries, And drinks of life at Time's forgotten source",courage "The Pardah Nashin HER life is a revolving dream Of languid and sequestered ease; Her girdles and her fillets gleam Like changing fires on sunset seas; Her raiment is like morning mist, Shot opal, gold and amethyst. From thieving light of eyes impure, From coveting sun or wind's caress, Her days are guarded and secure Behind her carven lattices, Like jewels in a turbaned crest, Like secrets in a lover's breast. But though no hand unsanctioned dares Unveil the mysteries of her grace, Time lifts the curtain unawares, And Sorrow looks into her face . . . Who shall prevent the subtle years, Or shield a woman's eyes from tears? ",sad "The Poet To Death TARRY a while, O Death, I cannot die While yet my sweet life burgeons with its spring; Fair is my youth, and rich the echoing boughs Where dhadikulas sing. Tarry a while, O Death, I cannot die With all my blossoming hopes unharvested, My joys ungarnered, all my songs unsung, And all my tears unshed. Tarry a while, till I am satisfied Of love and grief, of earth and altering sky; Till all my human hungers are fulfilled, O Death, I cannot die! ",peace "The Poet's Love-Song In noon-tide hours, O Love, secure and strong, I need thee not; mad dreams are mine to bind The world to my desire, and hold the wind A voiceless captive to my conquering song. I need thee not, I am content with these: Keep silence in thy soul, beyond the seas! But in the desolate hour of midnight, when An ectasy of starry silence sleeps And my soul hungers for thy voice, O then, Love, like the magic of wild melodies, Let thy soul answer mine across the seas. ",love " The Queen's Rival QUEEN GULNAAR sat on her ivory bed, Around her countless treasures were spread; Her chamber walls were richly inlaid With agate, porphory, onyx and jade; The tissues that veiled her delicate breast, Glowed with the hues of a lapwing's crest; But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed ""O King, my heart is unsatisfied."" King Feroz bent from his ebony seat: ""Is thy least desire unfulfilled, O Sweet? ""Let thy mouth speak and my life be spent To clear the sky of thy discontent."" ""I tire of my beauty, I tire of this Empty splendour and shadowless bliss; ""With none to envy and none gainsay, No savour or salt hath my dream or day."" Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose: ""Give me a rival, O King Feroz."" II King Feroz spoke to his Chief Vizier: ""Lo! ere to-morrow's dawn be here, ""Send forth my messengers over the sea, To seek seven beautiful brides for me; ""Radiant of feature and regal of mien, Seven handmaids meet for the Persian Queen."" . . . . . Seven new moon tides at the Vesper call, King Feroz led to Queen Gulnaar's hall A young queen eyed like the morning star: ""I bring thee a rival, O Queen Gulnaar."" But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed: ""O King, my heart is unsatisfied."" Seven queens shone round her ivory bed, Like seven soft gems on a silken thread, Like seven fair lamps in a royal tower, Like seven bright petals of Beauty's flower Queen Gulnaar sighed like a murmuring rose ""Where is my rival, O King Feroz?"" III When spring winds wakened the mountain floods, And kindled the flame of the tulip buds, When bees grew loud and the days grew long, And the peach groves thrilled to the oriole's song, Queen Gulnaar sat on her ivory bed, Decking with jewels her exquisite head; And still she gazed in her mirror and sighed: ""O King, my heart is unsatisfied."" Queen Gulnsar's daughter two spring times old, In blue robes bordered with tassels of gold, Ran to her knee like a wildwood fay, And plucked from her hand the mirror away. Quickly she set on her own light curls Her mother's fillet with fringes of pearls; Quickly she turned with a child's caprice And pressed on the mirror a swift, glad kiss. Queen Gulnaar laughed like a tremulous rose: ""Here is my rival, O King Feroz."" ",joy "The Royal Tombs Of Golconda I MUSE among these silent fanes Whose spacious darkness guards your dust; Around me sleep the hoary plains That hold your ancient wars in trust. I pause, my dreaming spirit hears, Across the wind's unquiet tides, The glimmering music of your spears, The laughter of your royal brides. In vain, O Kings, doth time aspire To make your names oblivion's sport, While yonder hill wears like a tier The ruined grandeur of your fort. Though centuries falter and decline, Your proven strongholds shall remain Embodied memories of your line, Incarnate legends of your reign. O Queens, in vain old Fate decreed Your flower-like bodies to the tomb; Death is in truth the vital seed Of your imperishable bloom Each new-born year the bulbuls sing Their songs of your renascent loves; Your beauty wakens with the spring To kindle these pomegranate groves. ",surprise "The Snake Charmer WHITHER dost thou hide from the magic of my flute-call? In what moonlight-tangled meshes of perfume, Where the clustering keovas guard the squirrel's slumber, Where the deep woods glimmer with the jasmine's bloom? I'll feed thee, O beloved, on milk and wild red honey, I'll bear thee in a basket of rushes, green and white, To a palace-bower where golden-vested maidens Thread with mellow laughter the petals of delight. Whither dost thou loiter, by what murmuring hollows, Where oleanders scatter their ambrosial fire? Come, thou subtle bride of my mellifluous wooing, Come, thou silver-breasted moonbeam of de- sire! ",love "The Song Of Princess Zeb-Un-Nissa In Praise Of Her Own Beauty WHEN from my cheek I lift my veil, The roses turn with envy pale, And from their pierced hearts, rich with pain, Send forth their fragrance like a wail. Or if perchance one perfumed tress Be lowered to the wind's caress, The honeyed hyacinths complain, And languish in a sweet distress. And, when I pause, still groves among, (Such loveliness is mine) a throng Of nightingales awake and strain Their souls into a quivering song. ",joy "The Soul's Prayer In childhood's pride I said to Thee: 'O Thou, who mad'st me of Thy breath, Speak, Master, and reveal to me Thine inmost laws of life and death. 'Give me to drink each joy and pain Which Thine eternal hand can mete, For my insatiate soul can drain Earth's utmost bitter, utmost sweet. 'Spare me no bliss, no pang of strife, Withhold no gift or grief I crave, The intricate lore of love and life And mystic knowledge of the grave.' Lord, Thou didst answer stern and low: 'Child, I will hearken to thy prayer, And thy unconquered soul shall know All passionate rapture and despair. 'Thou shalt drink deep of joy and fame, And love shall burn thee like a fire, And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame, To purge the dross from thy desire. 'So shall thy chastened spirit yearn To seek from its blind prayer release, And spent and pardoned, sue to learn The simple secret of My peace. I, bending from my sevenfold height, Will teach thee of My quickening grace, Life is a prism of My light, And Death the shadow of My face.' ",peace "To A Buddha Seated On A Lotus LORD BUDDHA, on thy Lotus-throne, With praying eyes and hands elate, What mystic rapture dost thou own, Immutable and ultimate? What peace, unravished of our ken, Annihilate from the world of men? The wind of change for ever blows Across the tumult of our way, To-morrow's unborn griefs depose The sorrows of our yesterday. Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife, And Death unweaves the webs of Life. For us the travail and the heat, The broken secrets of our pride, The strenuous lessons of defeat, The flower deferred, the fruit denied; But not the peace, supremely won, Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne. With futile hands we seek to gain Our inaccessible desire, Diviner summits to attain, With faith that sinks and feet that tire; But nought shall conquer or control The heavenward hunger of our soul. The end, elusive and afar, Still lures us with its beckoning flight, And all our mortal moments are A session of the Infinite. How shall we reach the great, unknown Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne? ",sad "To India O YOUNG through all thy immemorial years! Rise, Mother, rise, regenerate from thy gloom, And, like a bride high-mated with the spheres, Beget new glories from thine ageless womb! The nations that in fettered darkness weep Crave thee to lead them where great mornings break . . . . Mother, O Mother, wherefore dost thou sleep? Arise and answer for thy children's sake! Thy Future calls thee with a manifold sound To crescent honours, splendours, victories vast; Waken, O slumbering Mother and be crowned, Who once wert empress of the sovereign Past. ",courage "To My Children Jaya Surya GOLDEN sun of victory, born In my life's unclouded morn, In my lambent sky of love, May your growing glory prove Sacred to your consecration, To my heart and to my nation. Sun of victory, may you be Sun of song and liberty. Padmaja Lotus-maiden, you who claim All the sweetness of your name, Lakshmi, fortune's queen, defend you, Lotus-born like you, and send you Balmy moons of love to bless you, Gentle joy-winds to caress you. Lotus-maiden, may you be Fragrant of all ecstasy. Ranadheera Little lord of battle, hail In your newly-tempered mail! Learn to conquer, learn to fight In the foremost flanks of right, Like Valmiki's heroes bold, Rubies girt in epic gold. Lord of battle, may you be, Lord of love and chivalry. Lilamani Limpid jewel of delight Severed from the tender night Of your sheltering mother-mine, Leap and sparkle, dance and shine, Blithely and securely set In love's magic coronet. Living jewel, may you be Laughter-bound and sorrow-free. ",love "To My Fairy Fancies NAY, no longer I may hold you, In my spirit's soft caresses, Nor like lotus-leaves enfold you In the tangles of my tresses. Fairy fancies, fly away To the white cloud-wildernesses, Fly away! Nay, no longer ye may linger With your laughter-lighted faces, Now I am a thought-worn singer In life's high and lonely places. Fairy fancies, fly away, To bright wind-inwoven spaces, Fly away! ",joy "To The God of Pain UNWILLING priestess in thy cruel fane, Long hast thou held me, pitiless god of Pain, Bound to thy worship by reluctant vows, My tired breast girt with suffering, and my brows Anointed with perpetual weariness. Long have I borne thy service, through the stress Of rigorous years, sad days and slumberless nights, Performing thine inexorable rites. For thy dark altars, balm nor milk nor rice, But mine own soul thou'st ta'en for sacrifice: All the rich honey of my youth's desire, And all the sweet oils from my crushed life drawn, And all my flower-like dreams and gem-like fire Of hopes up-leaping like the light of dawn. I have no more to give, all that was mine Is laid, a wrested tribute, at thy shrine; Let me depart, for my whole soul is wrung, And all my cheerless orisons are sung; Let me depart, with faint limbs let me creep To some dim shade and sink me down to sleep. ",sad "To Youth O YOUTH, sweet comrade Youth, wouldst thou be gone? Long have we dwelt together, thou and I; Together drunk of many an alien dawn, And plucked the fruit of many an alien sky. Ah, fickle friend, must I, who yesterday Dreamed forwards to long, undimmed ecstasy, Henceforward dream, because thou wilt not stay, Backward to transient pleasure and to thee? I give thee back thy false, ephemeral vow; But, O beloved comrade, ere we part, Upon my mournful eyelids and my brow Kiss me who hold thine image in my heart. ",sad "Transcience Nay, do not grieve tho' life be full of sadness, Dawn will not veil her spleandor for your grief, Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf. Nay, do not pine, tho' life be dark with trouble, Time will not pause or tarry on his way; To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter, Will soon be some forgotten yesterday. Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces, The unspent joy of all the unborn years, Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow, And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears. ",sad "Village Song HONEY, child, honey, child, whither are you going? Would you cast your jewels all to the breezes blowing? Would you leave the mother who on golden grain has fed you? Would you grieve the lover who is riding forth to wed you? Mother mine, to the wild forest I am going, Where upon the champa boughs the champa buds are blowing; To the köil-haunted river-isles where lotus lilies glisten, The voices of the fairy folk are calling me: O listen! Honey, child, honey, child, the world is full of pleasure, Of bridal-songs and cradle-songs and sandal-scented leisure. Your bridal robes are in the loom, silver and saffron glowing, Your bridal cakes are on the hearth: O whither are you going? The bridal-songs and cradle-songs have cadences of sorrow, The laughter of the sun to-day, the wind of death to-morrow. Far sweeter sound the forest-notes where forest-streams are falling; O mother mine, I cannot stay, the fairy-folk are calling. ",sad "Anger fills my heart and soul Anger fills my heart and soul Anger takes a mighty toll Anger lessens but can never leave Anger you hope to never receive, Anger stays forever within Anger acts with the might of all sin Anger is deadly to all around Anger gets mad at the thought of sound Anger is the thoughts in my head Anger that’s mine all should dread Anger for me is different from you Anger you see tells me what to do Anger will sit and whisper in my ear Anger he sits and tells me all that you fear, Anger… He is here He’s here to stay Anger is the hole In which we lay Anger is And Anger will Always be with us He is in me, and he is in you He can make you do What he wants you to Anger will make you Make you cry Anger can make you Want to die Anger can make you Go insane Anger….. ... A blood filled rain No more anger No more….. Walk to the bright light Shinning through that door…Not knowing what’s in store But even then Anger lives on But you… nevermore ",anger "anger anger is anger anger makes you scream anger makes you hate anger takes control anger want let go anger wants you to hurt anger wants you to sufer anger makes you mad anger makes you cry anger turns people against you anger is anger m ",anger anger anger is anger anger makes you scream anger makes you hate anger takes control anger want let go anger wants you to hurt anger wants you to sufer anger makes you mad anger makes you cry anger turns people against you anger is anger ,anger "anger anger is anger anger makes you scream anger makes you hate anger takes control anger want let go anger wants you to hurt anger wants you to suffer anger makes you mad anger makes you cry anger turns people against you anger is anger ",anger "anger This ill temper I have is making me mad I blow up and I don’t know why I wish for just a moment I could handle my anger right I wish for just a moment I could love you right I wish my attitude would just go away I wish my anger would stay at bay This outlook I have on life needs to change This outlook I have you needs to say the same I love you deep down inside I wish you would see That you’re the only princess for me The anger I have deep in side Comes out when I least expect it This anger I have in me should just go away This anger I have is an annoyance This anger I have has messed my life up This anger I have is stupid Anger you have messed up my love for you Anger you have messed up my life Anger you have destroyed who I am inside and out Anger you are the devil Anger you are all that is bad This anger I have in me has made me fight A fight that was not worth it Anger you made me hit the wrong person Anger you made me do the wrong things Anger you are the feeling that I would never miss Anger you have caused me so much sorrow Anger you have caused nothing but grief. Anger just go away ",anger "Anger My Friend/Enemy Anger is a form of fear Anger is what I’m waiting to hear Anger is deep down inside me Anger drives me crazy Anger is what turns me on Anger is what turns me off Anger is my enemy Anger is my pal Anger is gonna kill me Anger is gonna save me Anger might just help me Find my true love............. ..........................Mayb e? Anger and Me Anger is a form of fear Anger is what I’m waiting to hear Anger is deep down inside me Anger drives me crazy Anger is what turns me on Anger is what turns me off Anger is my enemy Anger is my pal Anger is gonna kill me Anger is gonna save me Anger might just help me Find my true love............. ..........................Mayb e? ",anger "Anger Is Evil Anger is evil, Anger is bad, Anger is when I'm mad. Anger makes me scream and shout. Anger makes me lose control. Anger turns people against me. Anger Makes me suffer... Again Anger is Evil!",anger "PLENTY OF ANGER There is plenty of anger inside of me It has to stop Why is there so much anger inside of me? My anger is part of my frustration I have to control it now My anger causes me plenty of trouble There is plenty of anger inside of me And what is anger do I know? Anger is a strong feeling of displasure It is a grief that I have inside of me How can I control it? What triggers my anger? Can I recognize it?",anger "anger anger is a force that can never die anger is a force that lies deep within us anger is the force that can change a man life anger is the force that can create a kill anger is the force that can ruin your life anger is the thing we all fear anger is the force that will kill us all anger is the force that we shall take to are grave",anger "The New Fake Me The blade is cold But not old I didn’t go deep I didn’t even weep Just one cut is all I need And my mind goes calm, while my cut bleeds It was harmless but helped so much I stopped being mad and such No more angry thoughts went through my mind Just fascination, everything else left behind Is the start or the end? All I know is I don’t want to disappoint my friend Is it too late for me? I thought I was getting better but I only pretended to be The cut now stains my arm Nothing big or deep, nothing to cause much harm A cat scratch is what I’ll say But I doubt people will see any day They won’t see the real me and who I am They won’t see my body is disconnected from my brain stem I don’t want attention, I don’t deserve it I play along with the world, but my candle is not lit I’m a lost soul on this land My minds drifting, my body sinking in sand I’ve given up on people It’s now me alone in my own steeple I get so mad so quick Like a switch on the wall, tense with every click Maybe I’m only meant to be there for others Don’t the daughters learn from the mothers? Only my mother does not know me She only sees who she wants to see There’s no way her sweet child Cut her arm to keep her mind from going wild Do they realize their actions affect me so? That sometimes they cause me to hit my low? No they don’t, all they see is him They can’t even see the pattern; my cups reached its brim. He angers then he lies To get people to take him back. I bet he even denies The wrongs that he’s done All because he thinks life is fun But when will he see That he’s just another wanna be It’s possible I just don’t belong There are parts of me I’ve discovered are gone Like my patience to wait I’m done waiting there’s nothing to debate Once I’m of age you’ll barely see me Once I get a car I’ll never be here to be I witness to the yells or shouts A witness to the pattern of oh okay and get out A witness to tears and uproars A witness to hurtful words and slamming doors A witness to a father who’s confused Because my mother is either okay or blowing a fuse I’ll stop being the victim of being on the edge Because I’ll stop being around, I won’t be on the ledge I won’t be the victim of feeling guilty anymore I won’t be the victim or witness anytime I walk out that door Am I lost? That’s easy to say Is there hope? We’ll see with each coming day. My name does not matter all that matters is the story my friend The one with a strong beginning, unclear middle, but no end. It’s a screwed up world even a blind man could see That to fake happiness you have to be who others expect you to be ",anger "I Don't Understand How are you Daddy? It's been forever since we've spoken. I guess we let this whole time pass, And now we're completely broken. Do you miss me the way I wish you would? I can't imagine you do. You've never sent cards or letters, Even though I'm missing you. My past attempts seem to mean nothing, It's nice to know you care. And even though you don't know how, I've always wished you were there. So, how are you daddy? It's been a while. I miss your laugh And I've forgotten your smile. I'm not even gonna ask, If you've ever missed me. Through the unanswered phone calls and the time that's passed The answers I can see. It's funny how fast the time goes, But six years have come and gone. Maybe you thought I didn't need you, But you were oh so wrong. How are you daddy? I hope you're doing well. I'm learning how to deal with the pain, I think you can probably tell. Don't ever try to make things right, They'll never be the same. In fact if it makes you feel any better, You can just forget my name. To you I doubt I even exist, I don't have a place in your world. I hope you're doing well daddy, Love, your little girl",anger "Please Make The Yelling Stop Everyday no matter how well I do in school or how well I clean the house still they aren't happy from the time I walk in the door till the time I go to bed every night the screaming never seems to stop it used to be just from my mother but now my father too sometimes even my older brother the one I considered my hero it hurts... they tell me I'm crazy, stupid, a mess up I just want to be good enough for them but it seems I never will be they say they care and they say they love me but I'm not blind, I can see the hate they have for me I was a mistake, they didn't believe in abortion so, here I am, the mistake child in the dark I sit in my room and cry day in and day out their words and looks slice into me deeper than any razor ever could this has went on for years now, when will it end?? sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I just got up and left... or if I ended it all for good.. or even if I called the police... but I'm not strong enough to do any of that I can't last any longer these people are not my family the people I see everyday are monsters they don't love me, my family did where did my family go, they are missing :( all this yelling is really getting to me it's breaking me down day by day soon there will be nothing left I just want to be left in silence.. please, make the yelling stop ",anger "Who Would Know?? mom dad brother sister friend... listen... if I told you my life story, would you listen... would you understand? would you cry as I have cried? I am human, though others don't see it, the say I'm emo, they say I'm Gothic, they say I'm a devil worshiper who are they to judge me? I am who I am, but who would know that? mother, you have given birth to me, you gave me life father you were never there for me, sister you watched me as I took the pills, brother, you have criticized me, you have hurt me. if I told you why I did it, you would not understand for you have never understood me. who would even care if I died? no one! I was a nobody... now I'm dead ",anger "Can You Not See Can you not see this pain I have inside For so long It had to hide Pain surrounds me day by day It just doesn't seem to go away Pain that comes and pain that goes Pain that keeps you on your toes There is pain in my heart And it seems to never part Pain stuffed inside of me Can't let anyone near me Can't let anyone see the real me Can't let anyone even hug me It seems that nobody cares still yet to bare I can't take this pain anymore I just want to walk out the door",anger "No One Will Ever Understand You think you understand me? I can hear you speak, you see? You go on about my perfect life. You have no idea of the pain and the strife. You don't know about how I stress. Worried to know if you'll like the way I dress. Worried to know if you'll see past my look. To find out it I like sports, hugs, or books. All you see is the careless look I show. So you automatically know me? No. You only see the sarcasm, and the ""I don't care"" You only see perfect clothes and hair. You don't take the time to find out my fears. Which is why every night, ends in tears.",anger "No Longer She thinks its all okay. She expects me to forget the pain, She caused me every day. Things seen and heard being drilled in my head, She doesn't love me, she doesn't care, Is what she has said. It is so hard for me but I am forced to be normal ..She chooses not to see.. She tore my life apart. with all this hate and despise It was hard to make a new start. What have I done to deserve this. A monster in my life, She thanks my crying for her bliss. My heart sinking deeper then the ocean at just the sound of her name. hiding my true emotion. Sitting, waiting. . all night I pray. For her to stop to go away. but will she ever leave? so I can stop this same old Prayer Maybe then it won't be so hard to breathe Maybe then life will seem fair. Thoughts of her go through my mind, I try to block them out. But I was stuck there for such a long time. They make me mad. so No she hasn't succeeded for I am no longer sad. I have cried enough tears to fill up the sea, there is nothing left to do but let the bad thoughts flee. I tell myself to forget but the dreams that haunt me every night are about one thing. . her ..and the time that I regret. She made me realize I have no trust. Not even for myself, She made me forget the feeling of lust. So I want to thank her, for I can no longer be hurt. Maybe one day we will meet again. I cant wait for that day to come, just so I can remind her She is no longer my mum",anger "Complete The hurt you put me through the tears that I have cried The pain that I have to deal with the times of hate won't succeed I can't be hurt much more I would like to say I plan on being OK soon and again this will be complete ",courage "She Is Such A Weirdo, Yet Your Super Hero. I may be another girl you look at and walk away from I'm interested in hip-hop dance and Track. This world is full of uncaring, inconsiderate assholes and I'm done with having to deal with them. I'd like to direct myself to paths I've wished to take. I'm clingy and friendly, But not ready for relationship stuff. I've been hurt many times by people I thought were good friends and I'm still healing from those bad memories. I Believe no one has the Authority to say JUDGMENTAL or NASTY comments to another person. It's quite immature I don't expect everyone to like me. That's just life I'm living to do it right, not just have fun. I don't drink smoke or take drugs. mainly because I respect my body. That's my choice. I'm not the prettiest or smartest girl. But I have a perfect family and great friends who love me for who I am and give me great advice. I admit I'm not perfect. But I try my best. Life's unexpected. But it's the people around you who make it expected ",courage "It Hurts Me It hurts me to hear you crying, it hurts me that you have thoughts of dying. I know you need a friend, so I'll be with you till the very end. I'll be with you through thick and thin, and this fight I promise we'll win. I hope you know I'll always be there, you no longer have to live in despair. I just want you to know, the love that I have to show. ",courage "The Silent Girl She walks in the classroom proud and strong She talks like she's been good all along She smiles and waves and looks happy But deep down inside she's anything but proud and snappy She has cuts on her arms And bruises near her eyes But that's all she needs to be satisfied When she's at home She feels so alone She lost so many loves All of the above An abusive life And feels like no one cares Beaten, tortured and broken inside All she ever did was run and hide For something that is to hard to describe All she ever needs is love Like that message of white doves All she ever did is hide For what's going on in her life ",courage "I Am Different We may have the same eye's but I use mine differently We may have the same heart but I use mine differently I'm Different cause I do things differently I'm different cause I wear things differently I may stand out differently in many ways but I love it and I love begin different",courage "I Am Different I am black because I stand out from all the bright colors. I am a circle; all my great points are as good as the next one. I am a jog because I take life easy. I am a bang, no one can ignore me. I am a bird, flyin high above the clouds and everyone else. I am ""Love me or hate me,"" by Lil Wayne, I don’t care how people feel about me. I am infinity, I have endless possibilities. I am a fully customized ’64 Impala, because nobody can be like me. I am a shelf, at times I have so much on my mind and others it’s blank. I am a lobster; it’s hard to get to my soft side. I am the bass, because I keep the rhythm of my life. I am the sky; endless. I am a rock, to tough for anyone to break. I am an oak tree; once my mind is planted I won’t move. I am afraid of lightening, because it’s so quick and deadly. Frightened is the world behind my eyes, because I’m scared about my future ",courage "Your Dimension Of Greatness No one can know the potential, Of a life that is committed to win; With courage - the challenge it faces, To achieve great success in the end! So, explore the Dimension of Greatness, And believe that the world CAN be won; By a mind that is fully committed, KNOWING the task can be done! Your world has no place for the skeptic, No room for the DOUBTER to stand; To weaken your firm resolution That you CAN EXCEL in this land! We must have VISION TO SEE our potential, And FAITH TO BELIEVE that we can; Then COURAGE TO ACT with conviction, To become what GOD MEANT us to be! So, possess the strength and the courage, To conquer WHATEVER you choose; It's the person WHO NEVER GETS STARTED, That is destined FOREVER to lose! ",courage "You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be! There is inside you all of the potential to be whatever you want to be, all of the energy to do whatever you want to do. Imagine yourself as you would like to be, doing what you want to do, and each day, take one step towards your dream. And though at times it may seem too difficult to continue, hold on to your dream. One morning you will awake to find that you are the person you dreamed of, doing what you wanted to do, simply because you had the courage to believe in your potential and to hold on to your dream. ",courage "Within You Is The Strength To Meet Life's Challenges! You are stronger than you think, remember to stand tall. Every challenge in your life helps you to grow. Every problem you encounter strengthens your mind and your soul. Every trouble you overcome increases your understanding of life. When all your troubles weigh heavily on your shoulders, remember that beneath the burden you can stand tall, because you are never given more than you can handle... and you are stronger than you think. ",courage "Words To Live By It's not how much you accomplish in life that really counts, but how much you give to other. It's not how high you build your dreams that makes a difference, but how high your faith can climb. It's not how many goals you reach, but how many lives you touch. It's not who you know that matters, but who you are inside. Believe in the impossible, hold tight to the incredible, and live each day to its fullest potential. You can make a difference in your world. ",courage "A Creed To Live By Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you. Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless. Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life. Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying. Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other. Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave. Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love. The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings. Don't dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope; to be without hope is to be without purpose. Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you're going. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. ",courage "Don't give Up! Your Dreams May Be Closer Than You Think! There may be times when you feel as if you have taken a million steps towards your dreams, and acted on your plans, only to find yourself in the same place that you began from. At times like this, you must not give up. You must continue on. Though you may feel lost, bewildered, and alone, continue to believe in yourself. Do not allow discouragement and doubt to blur your vision and wash away your dreams. Visualize your way beyond the detours, standstills, and obstacles. You will realize your dreams. You have worked hard and taken so many productive steps in a positive direction that you are bound to succeed. Whatever the hurt of the moment may be, it will pass. Tomorrow is always a new dawn. Today, you must pause, rest, catch your breath, and then look ahead. Each step will bring you closer to your dreams. The rainbows and the love that you deserve are in sight. Happiness is just around the next turn. ",courage "You Can Do Anything You Believe You Can Just start somewhere. Resolve to do something. You might even write out what you want to accomplish. Then explore what you need to do to reach you goal, and start doing it, step by step. It's the same as if you were planning a trip: you get a map, make your preparations, and then start traveling the right road. Don't get ""bound up"" in any problems that stand in your way. Do something every day to resolve them. Trust your instincts. Do one thing at a time. Remember... i f you sow seeds of fear, doubt, panic, and procrastination, it will most likely work against you. If you keep doing the same things you're doing now, you will keep ending up in similar places to where you are now. Once you start making progress towards your goal, you will be magically propelled towards eventual reward. Just keep listening and taking direction from inside you. Be patient; your dreams will not come true overnight. But start now, and go with love and courage and confidence. Don't be afraid. You can do anything you believe you can. And don't forget to keep an open mind and heart to check yourself along the way. You can do it! Go for it, and good luck. ",courage "Dare To Dream Let nothing hold you back from exploring your wildest fantasies, wishes, and aspirations. Don't be afraid to dream big and to follow your dreams wherever they may lead you. Open your eyes to their beauty; open your mind to their magic; open your heart to their possibilities. Dare to dream. Whether they are in color or in black and white, whether they are big or small, easily attainable or almost impossible, look to your dreams, and make them become reality. Wishes and hopes are nothing until you take the first step towards making them something! Dare to dream, Because only by dreaming, will you ever discover who you are, what you want, and what you can do. Don't be afraid to take risks, to become involved, to make commitment. Do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true. Always believe in miracles, and always believe in you! ",courage "Always Have A Dream In Your Heart Follow your heart, never surrender your dreams. Constantly work towards your goals. Believe in yourself, and always be truthful. Take time to enjoy life's pleasures. Keep your mind open to new experiences. Think before acting, but don't forget the joys of spontaneity. Make your own decisions. Look out for yourself, but remember that you share this universe with others. Look for the good in others, everybody has their own song to sing. Live each moment to the fullest, for a moment too soon becomes a memory. Look for opportunities, not guarantees. Hope for the best. Give people a chance to love you, for that is how you learn to love. Live your life for yourself, but always be considerate of others. Believe in tomorrow, for it holds the key to your dreams. ",courage "Be True to Your Heart And Your Dreams Will Come True Stay true to all your beliefs and goals. Stand tall. Through all life's setbacks and disappointments, your dreams will come true. When no one else is with you, and no one seems to care, just whisper to yourself, ""I am the controller of my destiny. It's up to me what comes to pass, and if I keep my thoughts positive and strong, my dreams will come true."" When what seem to be impossible obstacles stand in your way, just think of all the times you got through yesterday. There is a place for you in this world. Stay on your chosen path. All the power is within you; be true to what is in your heart. Be honest within yourself; if you are, then you cannot fail. Your dreams will come true. ",courage "Never Let Go Of Hope One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself, ""How did I get through all of that?"" Just never let go of hope. Just never quit dreaming. And never let love depart from your life. ",courage "Anything Is Possible Believe in Yourself, and Remember that Anything Is Possible Believe in what makes you feel good. Believe in what makes you happy. Believe in the dreams you've always wanted to come true, and give them every chance to. Life holds no promises as to what will come your way. You must search for your own ideals and work towards reaching them. Life makes no guarantees as to what you'll have. It just gives you time to make choices and to take chances and to discover whatever secrets might come your way. If you are willing to take the opportunities you are given and utilize the abilities you have, you will constantly fill your life with special moments and unforgettable times. No one knows the mysteries of life or its ultimate meaning, but for those who are willing to believe in their dreams and in themselves, life is a precious gift in which anything is possible. ",courage "Reaching Your Dream Takes Courage Courage is admitting that you're afraid and facing that fear directly. It's being strong enough to ask for help and humble enough to accept it. Courage is standing up for what you believe in without worrying about the opinions of others. It's following your own heart, living your own life, and settling for nothing less than the best for yourself. Courage is daring to take a first step, a big leap, or a different path. It's attempting to do something that no one has done before and all others thought impossible. Courage is keeping heart in the face of disappointment and looking at defeat not as an end but as a new beginning. It's believing that things will ultimately get better even as they get worse. Courage is being responsible for your own actions and admitting your own mistakes without placing blame on others. It's relying not on others for your success, but on your own skills and efforts. Courage is refusing to quit even when you're intimidated by impossibility. It's choosing a goal, sticking with it, and finding solutions to the problems. Courage is thinking big, aiming high, and shooting far. It's taking a dream and doing anything, risking everything, and stopping at nothing to it make it a reality. ",courage "Today's Dreams Are Tomorrow's Successes Don't be afraid of high hopes or plans that seem to be out of reach. Life is meant to be experienced, and every situation allows for learning and growth. Motivation is a positive starting point, and action places you on a forward path. A dream is a blueprint of a goal not yet achieved; the only difference between the two is the effort involved in attaining what you hope to accomplish. Let your mind and heart urge you on; allow the power of your will to lead you to your destination. Don't count the steps ahead; just add up the total of steps already covered, and multiply it by faith, confidence, and endurance. Always remember that for those who persist, today's dreams are transformed into tomorrow's successes. ",courage "Believe In Yourself And Your Dreams Will Come True Know what you can and want to do in life. Set goals for yourself and work hard to achieve them. Strive to have fun every day. Use your creativity as a means of expressing your feelings. Be sensitive in viewing the world. Develop a sense of confidence. Be honest with yourself and with others. Follow your heart and adhere to your own truths. Know that the more you give the more you will receive. Believe in yourself and your dreams will come true. ",courage "Take These Thoughts With You On Your Journey To Your Dreams Don't ever forget that you are unique. Be your best self and not an imitation of someone else. Find your strength and use them in a positive way. Don't listen to those who ridicule the choices you make. Travel the road that you have chosen and don't look back with regret. You have to take chances to make your dreams happen. Remember that there is plenty of time to travel another road - and still another - in your journey through life. Take the time to find the route that is right for you. You will learn something valuable from every trip you take, so don't be afraid to make mistakes. Tell yourself that you're okay just the way you are. Make friends who respect your true self. Take the time to be alone, too, so you can know just how terrific your own company can be. Remember that being alone doesn't always mean being lonely; it can be a beautiful experience of finding your creativity, your heartfelt feelings, and the calm and quiet peace deep inside you. Don't ever forget that you are special and you have within you the ability to make your dreams come true. ",courage "Go After Your Dreams You're good, but you're going to be great. You're the best, but you're going to get better. Sometimes the paths we take are long and hard, but remember: those are always the ones that lead to the most beautiful views. Challenges come along inevitably: how you respond to them determines who you are - deep down inside - and everything you're going to be. Increase the chances of reaching your goals by working at them gradually. The very best you can do is all that is asked of you. Realize that you are capable of working miracles of your own making. Remember that opportunities have a reason for knocking on your door, and the right ones are there for the taking. You don't always have to win, but you do need to know what it takes to be a winner. It's up to you to find the key that unlocks the door to a more fulfilling life. Understand that increased difficulty brings you nearer to the truth of how to survive it - and get beyond it. Cross your bridges. Meet your challenges. Reach out for your dreams, and bring them closer and closer to your heart. Get rid of the ""if only's"" and get on with whatever you need to do to get things right. Go after what you want in life, with all the blessings of all the people who care about you. And find out what making your wishes come true really feels like. ",courage "The Serenity Prayer God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference.",courage "Have Courage life is not just waking up one morning and saying ok I want this to happen, it's about getting out there and going for it. . . . life is full of surprises, here, there and everywhere, you never know where you will end up, or who you will end up with, you just have to trust your faith and keep God close. never say never cause you know you can do it, never say later do it right now, never let people bring you down, they will do anything to watch you fall, so keep your head up and your heart strong, and then my dear you can never go wrong. ",courage "Blood red, Shing evily, Silently laughing at my pain. He enjoys it, No...He loves it, The pain he makes others feel. He does not speak, But I know when I feel his eyes piercing mine, He is laughing inside. I shiver in fear, When his eyes, Come near. It is true im scared, Of his eyes and him, His eyes tell the things he does not. His eyes, Blood red, Tourment me.",fear "Untamed Sitting in a corner so scared and afraid, he's standing there yelling at me, and he's the one to blame, Marks across my face, From where he had hit me, People always say that I’ve got it easy. Bruises on my back, The blood courses through my veins, In this dark old room, There is something untamed. Scared to say a word, Just one word to come out, For no one knows what happens when the beast has made his rounds. People always stare at me, I now know what they say, For all these scars left on my wrist, The past has been revealed. I do it one last time, So no blood runs through these veins ",fear "Harry, I'm Scared I had always been the odd one out, in this world of people who seemed to be better than me. I could always hope that one day I would be accepted, but now a days, that hope has turned into misery. I turned to my best friend and I said; ""Harry, I'm scared, I can't do it, they would hurt me if I said it."" He just looked at me and frowned and said; ""You need to learn to stand your ground, Teagan, you're a tough girl you're a fighter, who cares about the unwanted fire."" When Harry said unwanted fire, he meant the heated arguments between my parents. ""All you need to do is be brave, and you'll be on your way."" ""But I'm not brave like you Harry!"" ""You are in your own way."" I went home that night befuddled by what Harry had said, it didn't explain anything, it made no sense in my head. My mum saw me from outside, and came out shouting about the time of night. ""Do you know what time it is? I was so worried."" she would say, but it was only an act, I knew she didn't care, she continues to tell me what a waste of space I am, and that she wasted her money when she adopted me. ""I don't care."" I said, as I walked past her, I aimed for the door, and next thing you know, I get slapped in the face, it stings for awhile and I turn around, to see another frown. ""Now listen to me, do as I say, I know what's right, and from this day, you will not stay out late, you will come home early, you are not the type of girl who wanders the street!"" Me being the smart arse I am had to reply which earned me another slap and a Punch from behind. ""Technically, it is not day, it is night, so your instruction means nothing what so ever, now leave me be!"" Now, my story lays in the hands of the sequel of my soul, and even though you're dead now Harry, here's my message to you, ""Harry, I'm scared, I am sorry, but I cannot be brave, when I'm filled with worry, I know your story, but you don't know mine, but I think it's time I told you, I was adopted, I was raped, and abused, my parents hurt me in so many ways, these memories will stay with me to my dying days, Harry I miss you, I don't know what to do, I know what your would say to me now, you would say; ""Yep, your screwed."" I love you Harry, you will always be my best friend, no one will ever replace you, you were right, I can be brave, in my own way, by telling this short story of mine, and publishing it for the world to see, I hope your proud of me. xx ",fear "Escape Trees, trees, trees Branches, sticks, leaves Whipping, gashing, slashing at my arms I can't get away no matter how fast I run Tripping, falling, crawling on the floor Ragged cuts, tattered clothes, jagged breathing as I start to slow My eyes are heavy, my vision blurred Distant images start to stir He's right behind me, he's catching up I have to keep moving but my legs have had enough Getting dizzy about to pass out, a distant figure starts to stand out A distant scream, a whispered plea, I can't believe it came from me Pulse is racing, a feeling of hands, a gentle hush as I'm helped to stand It's him, he's caught me, please strength don't leave me yet Let me be anything but his sullied pet I have to leave, I have to get away, I fall to my knees and let my head sway Stopping he stares at me and gives a mirrored laugh Then he reaches for me as I start to move back I'm to slow, he's to fast, I can't get away, he's taking me back I can't let this happen, I must react Heads to fuzzy, I'm getting to weak I'm stumbling over my own feet One chance, a pull, a twist, a po+A71p and a moan I'm not the one with a broken bone I'm still running, he's still coming My strength's about to give out Dead end, cliffs end, water and rocks below Tell me, if you had a choice which way would you go? ",fear "Stay Strong I have this illness that I've suffered from for so long and I don't know how but I've got to find a way to stay strong, I wish I could get over it really quick because it's making me go insane and it hurts when people pick It just causes so much pain I just wish I could stay strong It really bothers me because I don't know what's wrong I'm telling myself not to cry but it's so hard to try there's got to be a way for me to stay strong As the days go by I feel worse and worse so many things have gone wrong and it's just so hard to stay strong I've got to cry so as the tears run down my eyes I realized I don't have the strength to stay strong ",fear "Fear I'm so tired of all the pain, Just please let it rain, So I can hide my tears, So no one can see my fears, That are going to keep haunting, For the rest of my life, Just want it all to disappear, So I don't have to deal with my fears, Just want it all to go away, I just hope I can be okay, I'm so tired of running, I'm so sick of hiding, All my pain is building up, It all just hurts way too much, I'm so tired of all the pain, Just please let it rain, So I can hide all my tears, So no one can tell I am full of fear",fear "It I'm running out of breath I can't believe its so hard to breath My hearts pounding in my chest As I wonder if IT found me I hide under the covers and pretend I'm invisible Then I turn around and IT is still there I scream and pray IT would just go away I'm running and running but IT is Right behind me I've been running from this thing for 5 years now I stop running and decide to face my fears Once and for all As I stand face to face to what has caused me So much misery and pain I stop I look deeper and deeper into IT's eyes Than I realize that IT is me ",fear "Mirror I want you to have it all My soul, my mistakes, my heart, You have the key to my innermost thoughts Slowly unlocking every door That shades you from me, from what I don't want you to see MY TRUE COLORS Running away from you, from the one who relates, listens ,and appreciate me for who I AM Chasing you away from my heart, willing to feel lonely Just so you wont have a way to hurt me. Constantly chasing you in circles never knowing were it began and were it will end You've unlocked everything, you've seen my fears, my secrets, my joy, Only one door left as you open it all you see is a MIRROR, my biggest fear facing fear itself, my mistakes MYSELF",fear "Im Sorry For Me We have been friends for about a year, And this is honestly my worst fear. I'm scared of our friendship ending, I think it is, and my heart is mending. I'm sorry if I did something wrong, I'm sorry if I wasn't strong. I'm sorry that our friendship didn't work out, But most of all, I'm sorry that I gave you doubt. I didn't mean to be mean at all, I didn't mean to give you a fall. I just wanted our friendship to work out, I didn't want you to scream and shout. I just fear you're going to be a popular one day, I fear that and if you do, I'm going to have to pay. You don't know what it's like to cry yourself to sleep, And this whole time I've really been hurting underneath. Anyway, I just hope you see the sky not cloudy but starry, And all I wanted to say was I'm sorry ",fear "Dear Father, Why I'm Sorry Dear Father, I'm sorry I disappointed you I'm sorry I made you so mad I'm sorry I wasn't a great daughter I'm sorry you where a horrible dad I'm sorry I let you break me I'm sorry I walked away I'm sorry I couldn't take it I'm sorry is all that I can say I'm sorry you where always to busy I'm sorry I pushed you out of my life I'm sorry I wasn't important as your new wife I'm sorry you always made up lies I'm sorry I hated you I'm sorry you never cared I'm sorry I cut your name in my wrist I'm sorry I acted like I wasn't pissed I'm sorry I wasn't your favorite kid I'm sorry for all of this I'm sorry I'm acting just like you I'm sorry for all the things you put me through I'm sorry I went to the hospital I'm sorry you came to see me and I told you leave I'm sorry I said you meant something when you didn't I'm sorry I was a fool I'm sorry that my blood wasn't enough to show you I'm sorry that I tried so hard to be enough for you I'm sorry I wasn't perfect I'm sorry I told you that you never where there I'm sorry that your gone I'm sorry that I spent my time to hold on To a lost cause, because I knew you where never there I'm sorry that this pain was to much for me to bear I'm sorry I'm dead inside and you'll never see I'm sorry that all the things you put me through did this to me Love your daughter, Sara ",hate "Don't Call Me It Say what you want Though I hear what you say I hear it's gay I hear it's a whore I hear it's evil I hear it's a demon It's a girl It's a boy It's a witch It's a murderer Say what you want Though I hear what you say Say what you want BUT DON'T CALL ME IT!!! ",hate "I Hate You I longed for the nightmare to end, I hurt for the long years passed, I feel for the ones like me, but I hate all the ones like YOU!! ",hate "Love is my Sin Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate, Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving: O, but with mine compare thou thine own state, And thou shalt find it merits not reproving; Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine, That have profaned their scarlet ornaments And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine, Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents. Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lovest those Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee: Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows Thy pity may deserve to pitied be. If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide, By self-example mayst thou be denied!",hate "Hate You But I Love You: I hate the way you tell me you love me When your with her I hate when you tell me you miss me I hate the way you make me think of you I was getting over you But you had to call And tell me you still love me I don't wanna wait I don't wanna be played I want to be over you You give me more and more pain I just wanna scream I hate you for doing this to me I hate how I still love you I wish I would stop loving you I am that kind of girl that loves you but hates you My heart wants to hate you Not Love you anymore It hurts way to much I wanna hate you. ",hate "Hate I hate myself for this I hate this person I've become I hate who I am and who I thought I would never be I hate my father for making me this way I hate the selfishness I have now become I hate the endless pain I put people through I hate the way I hide myself in this pain I hate the crazy world I'm living in called my life I hate when my friends suffer because of my problems I hate the fact that everything I've worked so hard not to be is what defines me I hate that people cant see who I really am I hate that my heart is broken with no one to put it back together ",hate "So Says the Boss I'm the boss You do not cross The king of my domain For the day No work, all play Is found in my refrain Love to eat The prime of meat So sad 'til I get some 'Tis so sweet And such a treat Boy, they can be so dumb Hate to dress Give me caress No bother with the slime Have to dig In it real big Archaeology time When I'm beat I have a seat Take my favorite spot No compete It's so complete Out of my royal cot! Here to stay I love to lay Napping is not a farse I'm a dog Who's a couch hog So move your big fat arse! ",joy "Let get laughter way out of yourself Let get laughter way out of yourself Make the happy sound awake Laughter magic and enchanting Don't sustain it in your soul Let yourself go into joy May it help forever People from wherever Getting circled together Laughter can be a kind of help A worthy enemy to distress Rise this laughter so dear To be heard by human ears Make it go on around the world Little chuckles happy giggles So many ways of laughing Don't fear the others comment Let laughter way out of yourself Be assured laughter is magic Open your heart to this very Very special kind of sound Let get laughter way out of yourself Make the happy sound awake ",joy "LAUGHTER - LAUGHTER laughter - laughter here I come to make my friend smile and calm jump and jump to the left to the right thru the day time and night laughter - laughter here I am to make true all the sweetest dreams like my friend always has in sleep thru the very beautiful night that will never skip laughter - laughter here we are my friend and I are blab - blab - blab and we are happy and careless cause the better future are waiting for us laughter - laughter, who are you? WHAT! you don't recognize me? I am sorry, I thought I know you but just let it be because a real friendship doesn't care who we are ",joy "Giggles, Laughter and Stabbing Stares Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, It would kill them to be nice, It would hurt them to be kind, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, The notes are being passed around, They don’t see, no one cares, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, Tearing at all I’ve built up, But it won’t work anymore, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, What they don’t know is, I just don’t care, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, Every one is doing it, But I just sit and laugh, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, It’s so funny they think I care, They are stupid to think I do, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares, I laugh and laugh Because they don’t see that no one cares, Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares… Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares… Giggles, laughter and stabbing stares… ",joy "A Child's Laughter One of a kind this cheerful sound A child's laughter wherever it's found From the giggling of a baby in a playpen To the laughter of a toddler again and again A child's laughter can bring a smile To one who hasn't done so in such a long while I know because that one was me Until my daughter's laugh set mine free A child's laughter so gleeful and pure An innocence adults miss for sure Laughter that can bring back the past And memories of a youth that flew by so fast A child's laughter can bring out the best Of most any man when he's depressed Cause his spirit that's fall to soar Until at last he laughs once more ",joy "Love, Laughter, And You Three things that make my life complete Are love, laughter, and you, my sweet The laughter has lasted since day one Loving you darling, has been so much fun Whether it's giggles at the kitchen table Or all out laughter wherever we're able Each and every laugh, a symbol of our love You're my everything, all I ever dreamt of Our love, now that's a bit more serious Shining through when our laughter is delirious Starting the day with love's tenderness Saying goodnight with a sweet caress Love, laughter, and of course you. You bring into my life the other two From the day we met, and for every single day Love and laughter in our lives will stay ",joy "Live with Laughter So much time passess We have moments of saddness At other times it seems like we are passed depressed One thing will keep us together Its the sound of joy Laughter from a little kid The sound of there high pitch laughter The laughter at every new thing they see Laughter makes our day better Laughter makes our life worth living Nothing can make you feel better rather than laughter So make someone laugh make yourself laugh and live life ",joy " Laughter Laughter is a pleasant sound, it spreads joy all around Whether you're young or old, laughter can be like Magic to our souls, whenever we're feeling sad Laughter can sustain us so that things don't seem Quite so bad, if we give into laughter, it can be like A cure for something that seems impossible to endure So any time your spirits need a lift fill yourself With laughter and you will find, a much happier Person with a peaceful frame of mind ",joy "YOUR LAUGHTER YOUR LAUGHTER Your laughter, a blossoming bud, eyes like peacock, vivacious, sweet your laughter, what are the feelings, on your faces, your laughter, like a melodious rain, creates sensations in the heart, your laughter benumbs the eyes i pray, you carry on laughing ",joy "Me and Laughter Together Always Sometimes I laugh out loud Showing you that I could care less what you have to say All that matters is that my feelings are hidden Hiding from those who judge me and those who love me And Laughter helps me do just that Laughter is my better half Laughter stands with me when I’m bored Laughter comforts me when I want to cry He keeps me company through grief and through happiness For better or worse, in sickness and health, through thick and thin I love Laughter and Laughter loves me back And yet you don’t know why Laughter makes Me Look deep into my eyes when I laugh and you’ll see You will find all the hate, all the pain, and all the hurt But if that’s all you see You’re not looking deep enough Look past the tears that I won’t allow to flow Look past the memories that I can’t let go of And when you see through all the hate, all the pain and all the hurt You'll find Me I cover Me up with Laughter There are none who can see the true Me They can’t see through my Laughter And if you should happen to see Me I won’t need Laughter to hide anymore Because I can cry on your shoulder I can smile and enjoy you company without a single sound Only then, Laughter won’t be my protector Until then, it’s Me and Laughter together always I hide my feelings through Laughter So if you’re trying to figure out what I’m thinking, Laugh with me and you will then see...-Me ",joy " THE LAUGHTER THERAPY (I) Every morning the ritual is the same, - I say my prayers and take His name; As I settle down to read the papers, – About our politician’s famous ‘blame game’! It is then I always hear, loud peals of laughter from our adjacent park, A man dedicated to laughter therapy, With his loud guffaw and reverberating bark! Trying to resolve this laughing mystery, - I read several articles about Laughter Therapy! (II) Amongst all created things and living beings, Man alone suffers deeply in his body, mind, and soul; With peals of laughter he must suppress his tears, To balance this life and control! Yet during those rare and supreme happy moments of life, - Tears are seen to well-up in our eyes! Laughter gets mingled with our tears, - I wonder why? ! Perhaps laughter and tears are two sides, Of the same coin of our worldly life! While our lacrymal glands perform this feat, - As laughter and tears join hands to make this life complete! (III) While hearty, non-ridiculing and connecting laughter does provide, Physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits - on hindsight! Laughter brings a twinkle in our eyes, destroying our conservative reputation; Improving our cardiovascular flexibility, increasing our spiritual quotient! Laughter like internal jogging, gives us an internal massaging; Performed both silently and rapidly beyond imagining! Revitalizing those unexplored internal crannies – all automatic! Far better than all our know antibiotics! Laughter a tranquilizer without side effects, Releases our pent-up tension relaxing us instead! (IV) An optimist always laughs to forget, while a pessimist forgets to laugh, My man in the park is perhaps an optimist, Who has embraced this therapy as an art! Or perhaps that man laughs daily at the frailties of a meaningless life, In this life of absurdities as he adapts himself to survive! This laughter therapy is a tranquilizer both healthy and free, Perhaps that man in the park is laughing at both you and me! Our life becomes a tragedy for those who only feel! But a comedy of laughter, if you pause a while to think! So let us try to make others laugh while we try to control our tears, Laughing is a healing process and drives away our fears! Let us make a New Year’s resolution, making laughter our altruistic mission; Coupled with a loving and caring heart all true, - Let this laughter as a therapy - benefit both me and you! ",joy "There once was a boy named Foople Dee Doo Foople Dee Doo wanted to eat something new, So he went in the kitchen and tried some pea soup Then ran to the toilet and threw up the goop Then Foople Dee Doo felt sick So he called the doctor named Mick Mick said he was fine, Then went home to dine, On mac & cheese which he ate with a stick The doctor named Mick had a wife Who pricked herself with a knife The blood oozed out, The wife started to shout, Mick sighed and said ""Get a life!"" The wife's name was Mary She had a son named Larry She worried about him day and night, Until they got in a great big fight, In the end she gave him to his aunt named Terry Larry met a girl who said she liked puffins But he thought she said she liked muffins So he went to the store, And there were more, Muffins than he'd ever seen The girl's name was Tasha But she liked to go by Sasha She really loved puffins But a boy bought her some muffins And she started to love those instead Larry and Sasha got married Which they had to have slightly tarried They had a baby boy The first word he said was ""toy"" He later grew up to be a prince The prince was always sad Some people thought he was mad Then one day he saw a girl Who looked like she was about to hurl He sat her down and gave her a crown, then said, ""This will be the one I marry!"" From that day on The prince never did frown For he had a lovely wife, Who never pricked herself with a knife, And they lived happily ever after THE END! ",joy "The Mental Dental Viva A viva examination was almost done, All the students had left but one, This dental student was taking ages, Because he couldn't answer a single question asked by the sages, Frustrated by the long wait, The examiner asked in haste, ""What would be the biggest problem we would face, If nobody had teeth in the entire human race?"" He expected ""chewing"", ""speech"" or ""aesthetics"", The question was so easy, it made the other students sick, To hear the answer he leaned a little closer to the student, Who simply smiled and answered ""Unemployment"" By Dr. Sumaiya Khan ",joy "Idiot Box-N-Couch Potato Idiot box - n - couch potato Man invented TV, pet named idiot box. TV is too clever and cunning to be an idiot. With its little remote, holds the family under its spell. So what?? If the family becomes couch potato. Libraries, stadiums, playgrounds wear a deserted look. To be informed, watch sports, movies or news on TV. What's better than our own cozy, cool living room with the idiot (?) Box. Theaters lose thrill; revenue lost to idiot box(?) Movie halls get converted to malls. Hail idiot box!!! This small box is a shrewd robber. Robs money for coming home. Highly fussy the idiot is; needs a special unit to stay. Robs children of their valuable time. Precious study, play, leisure hours are in its pocket!!! Senior members are no exception; medicines and exercises are well forgotten. Every member succumbs to the idiot's charm. Pin drop silence prevails. Jaws dropped, wives watch soaps, weep with emotional scenes. Men folk, so serious faced, watch world news as if, World's problems are on their not-so-strong shoulders. Children watch cartoons with bursts of laughter, With the mother shouting in the background. Buffets replace dine-togethers; Dining table belongs to bygone era. With the plate in the hand, oblivious to the contents, Whole family ogles at TV...oops...I am sorry...idiot box.. Husbands, no longer receive warm welcome by a tight hug or least of least, A sweet smile, after the day's hard work. Engrossed are their beloveds in some cookery show, movie or whatever. Flirting with idiot box is in top priority. No tea, no coffee; poor husbands are left fuming. Night sets in; hubbys are in full control of remote!!! Every dog (oops.... Sorry) has its day.!!!??? Idiot box is now his girlfriend. Surfing news channels is his passion. Intelligent, informed flirt. Wives and kids give looks; only if these looks could kill??? Husbands will be in urns!!! Entire family is in its pocket or is it box??? Enchanted and smitten is the family, mesmerized by its spell. This spell transforms the family in to couch potatoes. Couch potatoes become couch pumpkins. They hog while watching or watch while hogging, Is best left unanswered. Gymnasiums, health clubs, diet counselors flourish. Adhering to ""make hay while the sun shines"". Man invented idiot box. Idiot box invented couch potato. Couch potato loves idiot dearly. Misplaced love???!!! Idiot box can never be true love. Whoever holds the remote, it is theirs. An incorrigible flirt. Poor, poor couch potatoes, They are fooled and made idiots By None other than the idiot box. Ha.........ha.........ha. ",joy "Fecal Farm My horse is there in front of me Clip-cloppin' down the road. He stops and flips his tail straight up And drops another load. My cows dump in the meadow, My chickens foul their coop, And flies are buzzin' 'round and 'round Eatin' all that poop. The sheep are out there bleatin'... I gotta' get a grip! The stupid things are standin' Knee-deep in their dip! I swear on this here farm There's every barnyard species, And each and every one of them Is makin' tons of feces. I'm tired of smellin' livestock. I'd like to take a nap. But I can't sleep 'cause I dream of Hogs wallowin' in their crap. Now my wife is in the kitchen Cookin' soup du jour, But nothin' smells real good to me; I'm surrounded by manure. ",joy "Will you still love Once upon a time, you were so good to me, and you were proud, you wanted everyone to see, and I did shine like a penny that is new, or a brand new dime, I think I meant the world to you.... Will you still love me when my carburator's busted? When my radiator springs a leak or two? Will you let the other fella repossess me, just because what's under my hood isn't new? Will you still want me when my oil pan starts drippin? Or if ah'll need a lot of anti-freeze? Will you dump me if I get a little rusty? Oh tell me baby will you still love me? It's been a while since you took me for a spin, or touched me like, you did way back when, it makes me think, that somewhere down the road, you're not gonna want me much after ah get old... Will you still love me when my carburator's busted? when my radiator springs a leak or two? will you let the other fella repossess me, just because what's under my hood isn't new? Will you still want me when my oil pan starts drippin? Or if ah'll need a lot of anti-freeze? will you dump me if I get a little rusty? Oh tell me baby , will you still love me? ",joy "Devote Your Life to Money Oh, money, the life-giving juice of society! It brings us its blessings of every variety, It softens the blows that lifetime delivers, It favors the brave and it crowns achievers. It renders us free from oppression by jerks, From mockings, and putdowns, and scoldings,and smirks. It lets us buy tickets and travel away From where we're not welcome but are forced to just stay. From creditors' letters and big ugly urbs, From all that don't matter, from stuff that disturbs, To wide sandy beaches and azure blue waters, Away from the smoke of ten million motors. With money it all starts to fall into place- No longer respect is what you have to chase. It follows you like an afternoon shadow Thank money, it makes you a prince from a padow. With money, all people will treat you much better, As you are no longer society's debtor. Sweet smiles on you they will now bestow, Obsequious looks in their eyes then will glow. And women forgetting your age and your weight, Your looks and your height and your bald, shining pate, Will wink and remark how handsome you are For, in their minds, you are now a star. Oh, how pathetic society is! A ""Miss"" is now where there used to be ""Ms."" For quickly they learned that you've got all this dough, And then they appear from above and below. For freedom, for joy and enjoyment of senses, Don't waste precious time chasing empty pretenses. Just line up your pockets with luscious green money And soon you'll be hugging a cute Playboy bunny. As long as you're here on our green Earth, And want to be living in freedom and mirth, Devote your existence to dollar and pound For cash makes the world go smoothly around. ",joy "Wet And Wild I left the city a while back now and came to the mountain top, I parked me combie in the main street, and said, ""Yeah, this is where I'll stop"". I'll be seventy-five next birthday, a woman who dives into life, I missed the hazy hippy years, I think I was someone's wife. I've changed the way I wear me clothes, no granny prints for me, A sarong and sandals will do me fine, and dreadlocks wild and free. I've dispensed with wearin' undies 'cause I want to explore meself, I burnt the bra long ago and put me bloomers on the shelf. So, I came up to this magical place to practice me feminine wiles, I'll not dwell on the years gone past or the fact that I've got piles. So I sat in a sidewalk café sipping on herbal tea, I saw him comin' a long way off and shook me dreadlocks free. I drew the sarong up above me knees, I know he saw me fringe, 'Cause he sat right down in front of me, and said, ""My spiritual name is Quinge"", I said, ""I'm a mountain woman. Are you a mountain man?"", A grin split his face from ear to ear and we began to make a plan. He said, ""I think you're very sexy"", and me fringe began to flutter, ""So when shall we get down to it?"" was all that I could utter. ""With or without sugar?"", he stirred his tea and asked of me, ""With or without teeth?"" I said, my thoughts advanced, you see. He seemed shocked at my direct reply but I call a spade a spade, ""If you intend to play around with me you'd better sharpen ya blade."" So Quinge and me got on with it, I taught him a trick or two, Over fifty don't mean a thing, I know just what to do, Wisdom and experience, no games and no bullshit Is what the years have taught to me and now I'm full of it. Yeah, I'm just a mountain woman who has a lot of life to live, I'm just a mountain woman with a lotta love to give. Gay Liddington ",joy "The Godfather An Italian family that lives near me had a welcome addition to their family And for miles around with vino and grins happy folk celebrated the birth of twins. So proudly their father named Anthony - well he was Italian, what else could it be? Gave serious thought to who he would rather honour his family by being Godfather. Though he'd lived in Australia all of his days still he respected the old country's ways. Standing beside his new babies asleep, he thought of the custom he wanted to keep. The honour in store could go to no other, The choice of tradition was Bruno, his brother. Bruno, of course, he had Italian blood too, with pride in his heart knew the things he must do. He gathered the forms; saw all was in order; to register the births just like he oughta And he felt like a king around ten feet tall as he fronted the man at the local town hall. He said he was there to register the twins ""And now I'm an uncle,"" he said between grins. The man at the counter, a typical Norm, said, ""Well let's see what you've done with these forms ...."" He looked at the forms and said, ""Don't play games! Do this thing properly! You've left out their names. I'll fill it in then you can leave me in peace. What do you call the girl?"" Bruno said, ""Denise!"" As Norm looked up you might think he approved. There's even a remote chance he was moved. He said, ""Did the boy get called something too?"" Bruno replied, ""Of course! He's da nephew!"" Wally (The Bear) Finch ",joy "What's So Funny? There was a tall man from Quebec, Who wrapped his legs around his neck, And then he forgot, How to undo the knot, And now, he's an absolute wreck! And then... Roses are red, Delphiniums are blue, Your father is tall, What happened to you? The limerick and play with thought Tickle the funny bone you know, And the best part is knowing naught, That the bone is at the elbow! Then, ""what's so funny?"", I ask, Is it all in image and sound? Tell me while in another I bask, And enjoy vision profound. ",joy "Teenage Princess I know how it is to need money-- As much as I can get; My teenager goes to the mall, And I go into debt. Most kids' first words are ""Ma-ma,"" She said ""Vi-sa"" with a smile; She has a black belt in shopping, And a package from every aisle!",joy "How to Paint A Wall While I went off to work one day, She decided to paint the wall. And when I came back home that night, She was curled into a ball. Her eyes were closed, she was breathing hard, Her hair was very wet. From her head to the tips of her pretty toes, She was covered all in sweat. She was wrapped in a jacket made of down, With a fur coat on top of that. The wall was glowing with new, fresh paint; On the floor, the paint can sat. ""Sweetheart!"" I cried, with a worried look, ""Are you all right, my dear?"" She lazily opened her lovely eyes, And smiled from ear to ear. ""I knew I could do it,"" she said with a grin; ""I followed the paint can notes. It clearly said 'For best results, Be sure to put on two coats.'"" ",joy "Golf Chat Three old men on the golf course, (Each had trouble hearing well) Were playing a round on a breezy day, When one blew over and fell. ""Windy, isn't it?"" said one of them, While helping the other to rise. ""No, it's Thursday,"" said the second man. And they walked off to exercise. The third man had listened intently; Now he chimed in, with good cheer; As he followed the others, he called out, ""So am I. Let's have a beer!""",joy "Wolves and Liars My five year-old-son, he lies a lot, And I wanted it to end, So I told him about the boy who cried ""wolf!"" Hoping he would comprehend. ""He kept crying 'wolf!' when there was no wolf,"" I told my son, whom I adore. ""When the wolf came to eat him, he called for help, But no one listened anymore."" My son's eyes grew wide; It looked like he got it; My heart was all aglow. But he dashed my hopes when he nodded and said, ""I was eaten by a wolf once, you know."" ",joy "Too Careful I don't believe in taking excess risks, But a person can be excessively careful, too. A friend of mine checks every detail twice; He's the most meticulous man I ever knew. We went to the copy store the other day; I thought we'd be a few minutes, and then be done. But he counted all his copies several times, And then proceeded to proofread every one! ",joy "Poodle Insurance A life insurance salesman Was talking to a wife: ""What will you get if your husband dies, You know...at the end of his life."" The woman thought and thought some more, And then she scratched her noodle. ""Well, I guess, you know, with my husband gone, I’d probably get a poodle."" ",joy "Seven Foot Lunch Three genteel ladies went lunching At a sophisticated hotel. Their elevator door opened; They gasped, and their faces fell. A seven-foot man was inside, With an intimidating expression. They got in anyway; They were the very souls of discretion. ""Sit!"" the man yelled, and they sat, In their luncheon finery, They went up; then the door slid aside; The man left, abashedly. His dog had been behind him; At lunch they got a note. The basketball star paid their bill; ""My apologies, and my treat,"" he wrote. ",joy "The Experiment A curious lad from Dover Crossed poison ivy with a four-leaf clover. This young man was struck With a rash of good luck, Before his experiment was over. ",joy "Cop Contest A dispute among three kinds of cops, CIA, FBI, LAPD: Who can catch bad guys the quickest? We'll set up a contest and see. A rabbit was set loose in the trees; ""We'll get him first,"" they all said. They gathered up all of their gear, And into the forest they sped. The CIA with informants, Questions animals and plants on its list, And after four months investigation, Concludes rabbits do not exist. The FBI searches and searches, But can't find a single clue. After three weeks they burn down the forest, Killing the poor bunny, too. The LAPD takes an hour; Solving crimes fast is their habit. Their perp is a badly bruised cougar, Shouting, ""Whatever you say! I'm a rabbit!""",joy "Thank God For Plumbers Two old friends met on the street, Hadn't talked in many a year; ""How's your family,?"" asked this dear old friend, ""I'd really like to hear."" ""George has a Master's in literature,"" The other said, with pride, ""And Mary's a grad in modern art, Her career she has yet to decide."" ""And How's Willy,"" the first friend kindly asked, While the other displayed defeat; ""Oh, Willy's a plumber,"" she sighed, hanging her head, ""But without him, we'd be out on the street.""",joy "Thank God For Plumbers Two old friends met on the street, Hadn't talked in many a year; ""How's your family,?"" asked this dear old friend, ""I'd really like to hear."" ""George has a Master's in literature,"" The other said, with pride, ""And Mary's a grad in modern art, Her career she has yet to decide."" ""And How's Willy,"" the first friend kindly asked, While the other displayed defeat; ""Oh, Willy's a plumber,"" she sighed, hanging her head, ""But without him, we'd be out on the street.""",joy "Two Beers Larry came into my bar Every day to drink two beers. ""My brother’s dying; one’s for him,"" He said, his eyes full of tears. Each day it was the same, Two beers and then he’d go, One for his brother, one for him, He’s sad but sweet, this schmo. One day he orders just one. His brother’s dead, I’m thinking. I asked him, but he replied, ""No, it’s me; I’ve given up drinking."" ",joy "Famous Funny Poem by Alfred Noyes Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey. We had nothing to do and nothing to say. We were nearing the end of a dismal day, And then there seemed to be nothing beyond, Then Daddy fell into the pond! And everyone's face grew merry and bright, And Timothy danced for sheer delight. ""Give me the camera, quick, oh quick! He's crawling out of the duckweed!"" Click! Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee, And doubled up, shaking silently, And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft, And it sounded as if the old drake laughed. Oh, there wasn't a thing that didn't respond When Daddy Fell into the pond! ",joy "FLUFFERS LOVES AND THE WORLD LOVES HER BACK I showed you my belly You showed me your love I showed you my love and you loved me right back I roll on my back I show you my belly You rub it You scratch it You laugh You show that you love me I know that you love me You love me You love me All of me Fluffers I nudge you Come on there Walk time Walk time Car time Play time Time for me Time for me You pat me You love me But hey there Give me Walk time Treat time Love me I know you love me and I love you I love you I love you and I loved being with you being with you loving with you I wanted you all to me and now I'm gone from your life from your hands I'll keep loving and I'll keep looking back to your love to your loving and I'll wait not for long I'll keep loving you'll keep living now I long for your love I showed you my belly You showed me your love I showed you my love and you loved me right back I'm your Fluffers your Fluffers I run jump play chase I love you You love me I get on the bed on the couch on your lap for your loving I jump on the window ledge I see I bark I love you You love me I love you and you love me back I love you I love you Fluffers I steal your panties pajamas jeans tops I lie on all I take and you love me back I love you You love me I steal a slipper a shoe a scarf You catch me You laugh You love me and I love you back I love you I love you Fluffers I know you hated my chasing cars You stopped me But not last night I'm sorry so sorry it hurt now you hurt I'm sorry so sorry I love you You love me I love you You love me Fluffers Fluffers Flufferduff Fluffery Fluff Monkeyface Fluffers",love "HEART BREAKING OPEN WIDE heart breaking heart breaking heart breaking open wide like a grown-up bride ready to commit with joy and pride feeling so very full inside like the sea at the highest tide that will draw back opening wide a stretch of beach for footprints made side by side and then swirl inland a rushing tide oh I feel so much",love "TIME FOR THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER I want to live with you in a house by the river the shyest violets in the twilight the darkest greens on the island in the river I want to give you my love my loving Time for building and refining the plans and the designing buying lumber then constructing so next summer if we're lucky we'll live in our house by the river that house that lives inside me I'll build it with you We'll build it and reside there in our house by the river Heavy breezes by the river bring me to dreaming of our house that we'll be building by the river Large white-framed windows a glassed-in veranda flowing water until winter rustling leaves in the darkness near that house that lives inside me time to build and reside there that house by the river I want to live with you in a house by the river the shyest violets in the twilight the darkest greens on the island in the river I want to give you my love my loving Time for building and refining the plans and the designing buying lumber then constructing so next summer - I feel so lucky - we'll live in our house by the river ",love "IT'S TABOO TO SAY I LOVE YOU It's taboo to say I love you just because I feel the words rising in me strong and clear and real I hear the words I love you rising in my throat But my throat closes on them I try to say the words and almost choke It's taboo It's taboo to say I love your touch the feeling of your skin the warmth of your flesh your heartbeat deep within It's taboo I don't know who taught me must have been long ago But clearly, strongly, deeply I know It's taboo I almost broke the silence many, many times But was held back by the feeling that to say I love you was not just taboo but to lie To feel love is taboo an even deeper taboo I don't know who taught me must have been long ago But clearly, strongly, deeply I know It's taboo The punishment? Humiliation The punishment? Shame The punishment? Consternation The punishment? Blame or blankness or a thankless sigh I'm unsure of the punishment But I'd rather die No one can make me say I love you No one can break me or my heart in two Except I long to say I love you I long to praise all of you I long to feel a closeness that's taboo It's taboo to say I love you Yet I long to say the words It's taboo to feel such feelings What if the words fall once more on deaf ears? What if they once more go unheard? And what if I'm wrong? What if this isn't love I'm feeling at all? Yet you say you love me That's not taboo for you And I feel your words throughout me That's not taboo Inside me, turmoil Outside, a quiet look As inside I struggle with an age-old taboo ",love "THE WARMTH WITHIN touch me with your hand my dear pull me close against your chest hold me in your arms my dear your heartbeat giving me rest let my hands my dear caress your skin feeling the warmth my dear the warmth within ",love "STOP WAIT GO Stop my heart is aching Stop my heart is waiting Hold I've stopped breathing Cold Can't you see how your love wakens my being every atom of me freeing Cold Can't stop shaking Bold yet fearful waiting Hot and Warm and Loving Stop my heart is racing Stop desire is lacing my blood with fire making me bold yet quiet letting the love that's breaking sweep through me taking me to closeness nearness love Go I'm not leaving Go Keep believing Go on until we meet in loving that Stops the aching Soothes the heart making more closeness breaking through to my heart Your heart beating Two bodies meeting gentle caressing the touch a blessing a loving meeting lasting fleeting then repeating holding making the deepest greeting until Stop Hold Go and take me in your arms your life your heart making more than one plus one making a love that flows throughout time Let me love you sweetheart of mine Stop Wait Floodgates are breaking sweeping away the hesitating Hold me close I've been feeling loving lately Stop Go on with the loving Hold me close Hold me close Hold me close Let me break free of waiting hesitating Wait for me as I lie trembling in your arms hoping remembering your tender loving Hold me I know you're staying Wait There's still no saying where this flow will take us but no use complicating this game of love we're playing with fears you'll be betraying me or you better things to do Love I feel safety Love is what's generating slowly quickly thinly thickly Stop Wait Go on ",love "DO WE MEET AGAIN? do we meet again cross the street again court defeat again or could we complete what we once almost were we could try again but we could fry again can't deny what we once almost were could we try again can't deny though we could fry again court in vain again could we meet again cross the street again court defeat again or could there be more? could we try again we could fry again it could be in vain or could there be more? there could be war again what could be in store if we try again could there be more? we could yearn again it could be in vain or we could solve resolve there could be love again stars above again it could be bliss again or we could miss again the way to the stars it's our turn again we could spurn the chance to gain again or try in vain again but in the main again it could be more we could meet again cross the street again we could say again we will try again to reach the sky again build a life again that's not in vain we're not quite the same again and again I'll cross the street we could meet again we might match this time we might catch again fire and keep warm we could be warm again love up a storm again when the storm subsides again will that be all? we could try again and not in vain we could meet we could match we could catch a life deeply ours we could try again love of my heart ",love "THERE'S SOMETHING THE STORY I HAVE TO SAY there's something I have to say honey there's moon rise there's star rise then sun rise and honey there's something I have to say there's something honey there's something I have to say there's moon rise there's star rise there's sun rise and there's something I have to say whenever I start whenever I plan no words come out now there's something I have to say there's moon rise there's star rise there's sun rise and I honey I have something I have to say I've planned this I've jammed I've thought this tonight I am I am going to say the something I have to say honey there's something I have to say like the star right at sunset the first star, star bright honey there's something I have to say if I have if I have my wish I might have you tell me yes tonight honey there's something I have to say like the first star at sunset star light, star bright if I have if I have my wish tonight you will tell me yes tonight honey there's something I have to say will you be mine forever as of tonight ",love "LOVE IS MY KIND OF TANGLE roulette makes my nerves jangle poker plays are not my angle casino games can't hold a candle to love love is my kind of gamble love is my kind of tangle I'm winning more than I can handle love tangle love tango caught up in the brambles snagged when on a ramble I didn't need even a preamble to love love tangle love tango love wild love mild love returned to me my feet step on your shoes I get ready to sing the blues then you whisper the news you love you love me love tangle love tango I've tried alone pride cool snide And I can't hide cool cat can't hold a candle to love distant glamor fades beside love love is my kind of gamble love is my kind of tangle I'm winning more than I can handle love is my style tame and mild deep and wild love tangle love tango the cold shoulder keeps apart the icy stare cuts the heart blasé snubs frost the air distant glamor wears and tears love ooh, the cold shoulder chills the heart snobs lose before they start love tame and mild deep and wild love tangle love tango gentle, scary seering, daring filling the heart love love is my kind of gamble love is my kind of tangle I'm winning all that I can handle love tangle love tango love wild love mild love returned to me",love "IF WE KEEP FLIRTING I'm not confused I'm uncertain If we keep flirting Could it be Could we be making creating this thing called love? I'm uncertain hesitating My heart is waiting ... ",love "DO YOU THINK OF ME? Do you think of me? Do you think of me? and I don’t mean, like e=mc2 Not that kind of thinking Do you think of me? Do you think of me? and I don’t mean, are you obsessed? are you possessed? Not that kind of think of me ... ",love "ALIENS HAVE LANDED Aliens have landed at the movies in my dreams in my head and my life They come in peace destroy the world rupture chests devour, invade overthrow, save are just like us have alien gifts Take your pick In my dream they're at the door I quickly hide the radio beacon I've used to call them inside icing. That takes the cake. Icing a sweet but frosty exterior like mine when I am afraid I am afraid They come to raid invade betray my hope my trust will use my signal just to fulfill an evil lust for death Aliens have landed at the movies in my dreams in my life They come in peace destroy the world rupture chests devour, invade overthrow, save are just like us have alien gifts We do not know In my dream I take the cake and then I break into laughter shaking awakening to joy And in life someone wants me wants me to be alien concept - his wife Yet I did invite him into my life and now he wants me wants me to be an alien concept It leaves me reeling It's not unappealing Yet I am afraid he will betray my hopes and longings. I hide my fears under warmth, silence, icing. My radio beacon waits. ",love "DO YOU LONG FOR ME TENDERLY do you long for me tenderly do you long for my embrace do you long for me tenderly do you long to touch softly your palm to my face do you long to hold me do you long to caress do you long to love me with tenderness do you long for me do you long for me tenderly do you long do you hold in your heart a thousand memories of loving me do you love me ",love "IT'S YOU AND ME You and me one day we met You and me we went to bed You and me we were wed And now it's our anniversary You and me in the park You and me in the dark You and me had a lark And now it's our anniversary It doesn't take an advanced degree to see it starts with chemistry And it's our anniversary You and me learned to ski You and me went to the sea You and me each found a key Me to you and you to me Basically it's you and me I married you You married me I still love you You still love me And that is our history It doesn't take an advanced degree to see it's more than chemistry I'm here for you and you're for me And it's our anniversary You and me caught a flu Both went through tough times too Cat in a tree Cat with fleas You and me endlessly You and me learned to mend nicks and cracks to stay best friends You and me have to agree I love you and you love me There isn't any mystery To our basic recipe I'm here for you and you're for me It doesn't take an advanced degree to see it's elementary I love you and you love me And it's our anniversary You and me one day we met You and me we went to bed You and me we were wed And now it's our anniversary ",love "READY TO SETTLE Leave me in this eddy in this idle tidal pool I am ready to settle not to settle for to settle with to settle down to settle into a steady loving with you I am steady in an eddy floating on a float Gentle rocking from wavelets lapping Gentle rustling from leaves brushing while I'm steady never better like butter soaking into toast and I'm ready like flannel bedding that keeps me warm as toast Leave me in this eddy in this idle tidal pool I need your steady loving as time flows by And I want you to know I am ready steady to settle not to settle for to settle with down into a steady loving with you Sometimes I unsettle the settling Sometimes you pull back we lose track crack the steady loving But I need you to know I am ready for the steady settled living with you I am aching for the steady settled living with you Autumn sunshine heats the coolness Leaves glow tinged with brown as I'm steady floating coasting soaking in the sun Toast with jam and butter with juice and coffee with yogurt and fresh fruit is settling in my stomach while I'm readying for lunch while I'm holding steady in an eddy floating on a float And I want you to know I am ready steady to settle not to settle for to settle with down into a steady loving with you Leave me in this eddy in this idle tidal pool I bask in your steady loving as time flows by And I want you to know I am ready steady to settle not to settle for to settle with to settle down to settle into a steady loving with you You move with determination across the field stand steady on the shore watch me floating on the float in the eddy You're unsure should you get wet? but you breathe contentment in and out Our gazes meet hold steady Ready Ready Steady Ready to settle ",love "do you long for me long for me long for me tenderly do you long to touch your hand to my face do you long to embrace to embrace me tenderly gently caressing do you long for me? ",love "A Love So Great Have you ever felt a love so great I have. Just by looking into your eyes By watching you when your asleep Your chest rise and fall with every breathe you take. Have you ever felt a love so great I have. When you walk into a room My heart still skips a beat The butterflies in my stomache flap their gentle wings. Have you ever felt a love so great I have and I hope you have too. Remember that everytime we fight That everytime we shout No matter what, my love for you is always strong Yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever and all eternity. This love I feel and have will always be yours. So hold it and care for it like I do yours. ",love "Love and Hate Love is for those who care hate is for those who hate friends are those who will be there till the end parents are those to say never be late You said you loved me because you cared but at the same time you said you hated me as long as your there i will never leave Why do u make me mad Make me sad? Make me cry? Make me wanna die? You say u love me then u play games with my heart and eventually tear it all you said u would always love me I thought it was true but all it was was u being you I will always love you no matter what this may be true even though u always turn me blue. ",love "What I Love About You The sparkle in your eye, The warmth of your skin. Your breath on my neck, That shakes me within. The touch of your hand, The smell of your hair. The naughtiness in your smile, That strength in your stare. Your kiss on my lips, Your body near mine. The stroke of your touch, That feeling inside. The Compassion in your embrace. The power in your face. The beating of your heart. That we may never part The beauty of your kiss, and that magic in your touch. It is for all these reasons and more, Why I love you so much………. ",love "Words From The Heart When I fell in love my heart was on fire To be with you was my one desire And if you love me I’ll give you everything you need A lifetime of promises and a world full of dreams For only my heart knows what it means And I promise you it won’t be wrong One love, two hearts we will make it strong, But now my love is lost in your sweet kiss Honey when I’m alone you’re the one I miss And your sweet, tender love it hard to resist Darling it's true my heart has fallen in love with you Looking upon the stars tonight wishing with all my might Hoping someday you will realize this passion I hold inside Honey it doesn’t cost a dime. And if you give in your love could be mine I feel truly blessed for this feeling the Lord has given me Accompany by faith and much understanding And I know this gift will guide me for all eternity As my heart fly by with angel wings And the clouds form into wedding rings A woman in love the angels sing On and on a soft melody That’s how it feels to be in love like me. For thoughts from the heart are never ending ",love "Love. Plain And Simple I get butterflies, every time, You look at me, touch me, talk to me. Big cheesy smiles across my face, You fill that empty place, Deep in my heart, Where it has been lonely for such a long while, I hope we never part. Because if we did… I don’t know if I could take it.. I’m giving you my heart.. Please don’t break it. Oh I feel for you so much, When your not with me Oh how I miss your touch. I go crazy waiting for your reply, When I can’t talk to you I want to cry. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way.. Feelings for you come more and more each and every day, You know how to make me smile I hate being away from you Even for a little while You’re so sweet When I'm near you, my whole body fills with heat, And I have an out of control heart beat. I cant control myself I cant help but want you all to myself. I can’t think of enough words to explain, My feelings for you are simple, there plain. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I'm so glad we found each other I'm so glad we love one another. There are only so many words to use to say You are more then okay You’re mine babe ",love "Super Mom Mom, you're a wonderful mother, So gentle, yet so strong. The many ways you show you care Always make me feel I belong. You're patient when I'm foolish; You give guidance when I ask; It seems you can do most anything; You're the master of every task. You're a dependable source of comfort; You're my cushion when I fall. You help in times of trouble; You support me whenever I call. I love you more than you know; You have my total respect. If I had my choice of mothers, You'd be the one I'd select! ",love "Everything Mom How did you find the energy, Mom To do all the things you did, To be teacher, nurse and counselor To me, when I was a kid. How did you do it all, Mom, Be a chauffeur, cook and friend, Yet find time to be a playmate, I just can’t comprehend. I see now it was love, Mom That made you come whenever I'd call, Your inexhaustible love, Mom And I thank you for it all. ",love "Life Lessons You may have thought I didn't see, Or that I hadn't heard, Life lessons that you taught to me, But I got every word. Perhaps you thought I missed it all, And that we'd grow apart, But Dad, I picked up everything, It's written on my heart. Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be The (woman)(man) I am today; You built a strong foundation No one can take away. I've grown up with your values, And I'm very glad I did; So here's to you, dear father, From your forever grateful kid. ",love "Best Friend Poem I still remember the first day we met We were too shy to say much at all It's funny to think back to that time Because now we're having a ball! They say that true friendship is rare An adage that I believe to be true Genuine friendship is something that I cherish I am so lucky to have met you. Our bond is extremely special It is unique in it's own way We have something irreplaceable I love you more and more each day. We've been through so much together In so little time we've shared I will never forget all the moments That you've shown me how much you cared. Friends are forever Especially the bond that you and I possess I love your fun-filled personality Somehow you never fail to impress. The world could use more people like you It would certainly be a better place I love everything about you You are someone I could never replace. You are always there for me When my spirits need a little lift I cannot thank you enough for that You are truly an extraordinary gift. You are everything to me and more I could never express that enough Life is such a treacherous journey, and Without you it would be even more tough. Our story will continue to grow With each passing day Because I trust that with you by my side Everything will always be Okay. You are so dear to me You know I will love you until the end I will always be there for you, and You will always (and forever) be my best friend ",love "Little Sister You've changed my life completely the day that you were born. Never knew how wonderful it would be, to explore motherhood. But since I got the chance to I have to confess and say, that I was so scared to hold you always thought that you would break cause you were so tiny an fragile there was no thinking twice but as time went on you got bigger every moment and the next thing I knew is you were trying to crawl and walk there were times when you'd fall and cry but I would dry them tears and you would get right back up and try again Just thinking and looking back at the past I've figured out that seeing you and those cute little faces you make is what gets me through each day I'm so happy your here little sis I love you very much and nothing will ever change that. ",love "She lives only in winter She lives only in winter Even under summer’s sun She’s re-living every moment When she thought he was the one She lives only in winter Getting frozen in this time Steeling the future from her life And getting punished for her crime She lives only in winter Away from the springs rain Away from heartbreak summer And all of autumn’s pain She lives only in winter In a world that is unsure In a world of make-believe And a world where he loves her She lives only in winter Cause she cant bare to feel The truth of her depressing loss The truth and all that’s real She lives only in winter Even under summer’s sun She’s just re-living moments When she thought he was the one",love "A Special World A special world for you and me A special bond one cannot see It wraps us up in its cocoon And holds us fiercely in its womb. Its fingers spread like fine spun gold Gently nestling us to the fold Like silken thread it holds us fast Bonds like this are meant to last. And though at times a thread may break A new one forms in its wake To bind us closer and keep us strong In a special world, where we belong. ",love "An Entrapment My love, I have tried with all my being to grasp a form comparable to thine own, but nothing seems worthy; I know now why Shakespeare could not compare his love to a summer’s day. It would be a crime to denounce the beauty of such a creature as thee, to simply cast away the precision God had placed in forging you. Each facet of your being whether it physical or spiritual is an ensnarement from which there is no release. But I do not wish release. I wish to stay entrapped forever. With you for all eternity. Our hearts, always as one. ",love "Never Have I Fallen Your lips speak soft sweetness Your touch a cool caress I am lost in your magic My heart beats within your chest I think of you each morning And dream of you each night I think of your arms being around me And cannot express my delight Never have I fallen But I am quickly on my way You hold a heart in your hands That has never before been given away",love "Honey Did You Know Honey did you know?? That you had me all the way With those softly spoken words That you chose to say Honey did you know?? You always amaze me And that is one thing, That I would like you to see Honey did you know?? You've changed the way I see things You make me happy to look forward to, What tomorrow will bring Honey did you know?? When I'm singing in the mirror I imagine I'm singing in front of you And I'm holding you near Honey did you know?? That even though your not here I can always feel you love, Cause I hold your feelings near Honey did you know?? I run all the things you say, around in my head It usually brings me peace at night, Before I go to bed Honey did you know?? That you are in my dreams at night And honey you look just like an angel And you send me on a flight Honey did you know I will always think of you this way That is why forever With you my heart will stay ",love "Breath Of Love There comes a gentle knocking in this night, This night where my slumber lays restless. I tumble and turn to stir my tears. My eyes open with the rhythm of the memories that are tapping at my door. You have come again to haunt my dreams And pull back the covers of my heart. I lay here willing to think of you and The youth you gave me so long ago. How long the breath of love has lay dormant Resting and waiting, eager to fill me again. It has slept with its own aloneness where My canyons echoed the sounds of its silence. Like a torrent of honey bees your Love comes to me and steels my sleep. It wakes my soul and shuffles The moments of life that live forever. Your embrace is welcomed like an old friend. I gladly let it wrap its feelings around me. The tenderness of your kiss quenches me until the dawn comes to hide you away. ",love "Like The Waves From The Shore I must now ebb The time has come to sail my oceans Rolling away from you like the waves from the shore rippling out to the vastness of the sea that beckons my ship of folly I'll not ask you to stand the night vigil on the shoreline of memory You are here on the beaches of my memory even though I drift the tides If you should look into a starlit night and see a reflection of me know only that I will one day come crashing again to the shore swept homeward by the pull of the tide and you ",love "Defining Peace The first smile of newly born baby is peace Mother’s love for the baby is peace Parenting the baby is peace Become a part of growing process of the baby is peace Peace is opposite of violence Peace is Truth, Order and Harmony Peace is love, affection and empathy Equity, sustainability and eco-friendly Peace is a source of energy Creating spriton and then Proton, neutron and electron Peace creates life Consciousness is a product of peace and That of the universe and the life Peace is infinite and time and spaceless But creates temporal objects Peace is a bridge between ‘science and sprituality"" Peace provides life-support systems Creating resources and ecological equilibrium Peace creates prosperity With adoption of appropriate technology Peace is divine and material Peace stimulates wisdom And peaceful behavior To develop ecology and human systems Sustaining universal laws OH humans accept and develop The definition of peace for Creating one world-one peaceful global human family Without violence, wars and terrorism ",peace "GLORY OF PEACE Day begins With visuals of material world Some virtual and some real But the ""INNERSELF"" is left alone Craving to infuse truths of life The energy of peace which Is overshadowed either by poverty or By material-abundance Without a sense of enousness Eyes remain open seeing poverty and luxury Disregarding the consciousness Till the day ends Night takes us to beds with closed eyes Which is more bright to realise the truths Establishing connectivity with spriton Closing eyes are more powerful than open eyes Which arouse our consciousness To access peace energy That illuminates innerself and the outside world Which calls for closing of the eyes When eyes are open to enjoy the glory Of Peace ",peace "PEACE-THE ULTIMATE TECHNOLOGY Peace comes when Ego is emitted out Amity spreads out Comforting other’ pain Encashing human values and virtues Timeless is the nature of peace Enlightening the urge to Care for and share with all Harmony, order and Nobleness of heart and soul Owning the precious spriton that Luminates the innermost Only to spread truth, order and happiness Giving the solace to humanity Year after years to live happily in peace PEACE, ECOLOGY AND HOMO SAPIENS Universal laws Give Birth to Mother Nature A Unique blending of beauty Serenity, resources and harmony Peace is inbuilt to Mother Nature The sun rise, sun set and bounty of Flora and fauna express peace Stimulating the innerness of Life forms transforming them Reptile to mammalian ones Ecology, the science of relationship Between life forms and their environment Based on the energy of peace Creates and dissolves To be again part of universal peace A wonderful and beautiful universe Would have been there With colorful peace and ecology But the misadventure of Homo sapiens Greedy and crooked Destroy peace and ecology Without peeping into their consciousness Beleiving more and more on virtuality As days pass by civilization after civilization Inviting the ""doomsday"" Which is not far away today ",peace " SEPTEMBER11,2001 AND PEACE September11,2001 A day in human civilization A dark day of Terror Dissolving thousands of lives Babies, children ,old and youths Without any reasons or rhymes Buried the innocent souls in the WTO The world’s most powerful Trade center Of mightiest Americans Who with all their wealth and prosperity Succumbed to un preccedent violence of death Prosperity devoid of peace failed to Counter the violence Giving a call for A new America’s war Will it be a war of violence or A war of Peace The science of time still not understood fully Will document in history the form in which The event will be acknowledged by the posterity But the message that PEACE is always victorious Will continue to rule the humanity till life continues In the biosphere. ",peace "PEACE- MY HEART When I lost my only heart To a place where peace was absent I lost everything When I have forgotten The love of peace The address of peace What remains now A jilted soul with A strong desire to become A part of universal peace ",peace "PEACE- MY LIFE I have laughed a lot Cried a lot For material adequacy and inadequacy Tears rolled out of my eyes For the virtual objects I was hankering after Life devoid of peace is no life Even with material abundance If peace does not find a place in a corner My life The rhythm of my wave of life continues In a vegetative manner. ",peace "PEACE AND DRAMA OF UNIVERSE When I ask for peace I get violence Under the pretension of peace Gazing at the sun, moon and universe Ignites my soul towards peace For a transitory period Present culture of humanity Snatches away even that transitory peace And throws me to an environment Of inaccessible inner, domestic and global peace I love peace Desires to contribute to peace But violent human environment Dramatise my emotion Not to utilize my potential of peace power For the benefit of humanity Creating roadblocks And a desire arises to Request my spirton to leave the body For merging with universal peace Let the drama of universe Decide my role towards peace Anything may unfold in the drama But I shall be at peace for ever PEACEFULLY IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD.",peace "7/7 and 9/11 Poverty and global Warming High affluence and intolerance In equity and unsustainably In equal access to resource Lack of psychic of share and care And understanding of cosmic laws And its application Erupt reptile mind With violence, crimes & terrorism Dissolving millions of life Calls to counter 9/11 has not succeeded fully Which recurred 7/7 again with invisible enemies How many ages will be spent in the cosmic time ? In killing each other and disconnecting Man from man and Man from nature How the invisible enemies be visible ? Cultivating humanity’s intellect and emotion Be accepted as the top most priority To generate ideas and technology With the principles of PEACE TECHNOLOGY Through “collective minds” of Humanitarianism and biosphereism Only then the violence and bloodiest terror of 9/11 and 7/7 Will be wiped out on earth and Peace will prevail on earth As the energy of creating Prosperity for all Without any discrimination To establish a peaceful Human and ecological society ",love "PEACE POEMS -- MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS Without fear, desperation and terrorism And with love , affection, compassion, and equilibrium To live with security, comfort and happiness And with truth, order and harmony But development goals adopted in last two millenniums Have failed creating more and more pessimisms Raising serious apprehension For survival of humans In the planet earth and cosmic world Instead of creative construction Creative destruction has increased manifold In the last two millenniums Because of in equilibrium relationship between “spiriton and atom” “non-matter and matter” and gradually loss of reins by the mind (The driver) on the five senses human body leading it to the path of suicide and to a process self combustion of matter Reverting back to a stage of status-quo Of “nothingness” which was there before “The Big Bang” With absolute peace of spiriton of universe Without giving any scope to Big Bang Development goals of third millennium calls for Evaluation of goals of last two millenniums So that appropriate intellectualism Without any discrimination and inequity in use of atom And learning the principles of spiriton linked to atom Deepening our roots with oneness, friendship, compassion, cooperation Love ,caring, sharing, tolerance and value education Truth, order and harmony to be inbuilt to goals To meet the material needs of all With the principle of humanitarianism and biosphereism All such elements constitute peace technology concept Collectively represent spiriton and atom oncology To erase violence from the mind and Root out terrorism from the mortal world OH humans accept millennium development goals As peace with its sources and constituents of technology To ensure saga of humanity To continue in the biosphere Through designing human activities both for biosphere and human peace for making millennium development goals peaceful, sustainable and vibrant free of crime, violence and terrorism root. ",peace "A call to the Mother-to-be of the World Adam and Eve Adam is seed Eve is soil Seeds put in Eve makes Eve pregnant Mother-to-be The seed and soil relationship results in creation of a life Man and Women relation like seed and soil passages through different stages of childhood, adulthood and old Nothing remains static science of time is least understood And in no time childhood transforms to old age Human body craves for satisfaction of biological, sexual, and metabolical needs Manage the three stages of life Especially the adulthood Enjoy material objects, sex, places And relationship In a responsible manner to ensure bright future of your progeny After all that mother-to- be stage arrives to create a new life only with the energy of PEACE Understand and cultivate your mind remembering that an offspring is not the product of vulgar sex Neither it is product of disco or dating Quality of offspring is determined by internal impulses of mother's body and family, community and society impulses to mould his/her life-body-mind relationship here the peace energy modulates More the peace- consciousness energy the child in the mother's womb vibrates with peace energy resulting in creation of a peaceful human being without any violence mind oh mothers -to- be of the world learn the techniques of infusing peace energy to your child in the womb to create a peaceful offspring who will enrich your life with real joy and making you proud who will spread the fragrance of peace throughout the world to make our planet earth ""Green and Peace""-A place to live in peace and prosperity Will you not do it? Do it to spend a meaningful life ",peace """PEACE POEM"" FOR CHILDREN - CALL TO CHILDREN OF THE WORLD OH CHILDREN YOU ARE SO SWEET SO PURE AND SERENE YOUR HEART, MIND AND SOUL SPREAD FRAGRANCE OF PEACE HAPPINESS AND EMPATHY RETAIN THE FRAGRANCE WHEN YOU GROW UP FOR IGNITING YOUR INNER PEACE THE SOURCE OF ""CONSCIOUS ENERGY"" THAT MAKE YOUR LIFE-BODY-MIND TO INTERACT WITH ""MATTER"" FOR ENJOYING WORLDLY COMFORTS OF SECURITY AND HAPPINESS BUT COMFORT FROM ""MATTER"" GIVES YOU VIRTUAL HAPPINESS WHEREAS REAL HAPPINESS COMES FROM ""NON-MATTER""-LOVE, AFFECTION, EMPATHY TOLERANCE, CONCERN FOR OTHERS SENSE OF ENOUGH NESS OF MATERIALISTIC PRODUCTS SO THAT YOU SHARE AND CARE FOR OTHER CHILDREN OF THE WORLD TO ACQUIRE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF YOUR LIFE- THE PEACE TO LEARN MORE, CULTIVATE YOUR MIND ASK YOUR TEACHERS TO EXPLAIN YOU THE INGREDIENTS OF PEACE SO THAT TEACHERS BECOME AWARE AND DEVELOP YOU AS A PEACEFUL HUMAN BEING SPREADING THE SWEETNESS OF PEACE WITHIN YOU AND ALL AROUND YOU CREATING ONE WORLD-ONE PEACEFUL GLOBAL FAMILY. THEN ONLY YOU SURVIVE ",peace "I HOLD YOU In the silent space of my heart I hold you know you are going forevermore apart I keep you in a silent space in my heart You are dying I am not crying But inside a silence I hold you know you are dying I keep you while you are going I hold you I hope you know it silent grieving, silent loving",sad "WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE  WORDS CANNOT CONTAIN WORDS CANNOT                 words cannot describe words cannot describe your leaving words cannot contain words cannot contain the pain of your leaving your dying words are empty shells words can only tell the shell of the story inside is the pain inside I cry in vain cannot stop your leaving you don't want to go my son this story shows your pain at your leaving                     my son  if I could hot the pain your pain I would you know my heart can't contain the grief of your leaving my heart cannot contain my longing in vain to change your dying my son I cry again inside my shell of pain my shell it cracks my life it lacks words to contain your leaving words cannot describe words can't bring alive my son who has died leaving a child  grandson of mine just three and you have died words cannot contain can't bring alive my son who has died his life just begun a three year old son a wife by his side her grief like a tide no holding it contained a world of love and pain my son my son I lack words but I hope you can hear the love so near the love like a tide the grief that you have died I just cannot believe my son I am numb my son I can't believe my son I am numb my son has died",sad "SADNESS IN YOUR EYES sadness in your eyes sadness but you don't cry sadness it's not about goodbye it's the love has died sadness you can't try to pretend pretend it's not goodbye sadness sadness in your eyes sadness in my eyes ",sad "BROUGHT TO GRIEF BY LOVE I am brought to grief brought to grief I am touched by caring warmed by kindness disarmed Yes I am brought to grief by love A man is dying of Aids He can no longer hide that he is gay from the small straight tight-knit tight-lipped community where he has taught math for twenty-three years He expects censure He receives an outpouring of caring And I am brought to grief brought to grief I am touched by the caring warmed by the kindness disarmed Yes I am brought to grief by love A woman is raped in an old pick-up truck A man is dying shot in the guts I am a rock But I am brought to grief brought to grief I am touched by caring warmed by kindness disarmed Yes I am brought to grief by love A child is outside not the same out of luck not Jewish not Christian not French not Wasp I am a rock The child is included by a child by the teacher in a game on the street I am disarmed by the caring Instead of disapproval, love Instead of exclusion, love Yes, I am brought to grief brought to grief I am touched by caring warmed by kindness disarmed Yes I am brought to grief by love ",sad "THE NIGHT BEFORE THE FOREVER DARK the night before the dark the day before the forever night the evening before the total dark the closing of my father's mind I fall down crying in a dream he has died and I have not said good-bye because he lives at moments because he flickers in and out so on the day before the forever night I still see him my father alive his mind is not yet forever dark it blinks in and out he asks he asks questions like a child he wonders like a child the cat has a second litter of kittens so she is, he says, a grandmother now no, she is, once more, a mother, I reply oh, he goes, not sure why this time she is not a grandmother a few minutes later, he again says, so she is a grandmother now he is seventy-four so young, so very young he is the age to be a grandfather and he has no grandchild he is not forever young but on the night before the total dark I hold him in my heart in my wakeful mind and wonder where has the time gone? I am your daughter I used to be a child your child I am not a child though still your child and on this night before the forever dark I ask what has happened to my father with his questioning, ever-wondering mind?",sad "Just There Where you were, I did not see you. So close to me, but yet so veiled. Quietly you waited, upon my invitations; but still, somehow, I failed to note of you, yearning to be with me, but finding just a void. So sadly, you retreated; bowed, dejected. Finally when I knew of you, your devotion, so foolishly I did feel, like a simpleton. For I had looked so very hard for you, up/down/everywhere. but I just did not looked clear, in front of me, where you were just there. ",sad "My Pain My pain feels like bones breaking, Day after day. I feel so stressed and tired, that my hair may turn gray. I keep on crying, like an old tissue tatty and wear. What if I don't get better, That is my biggest fear. I feel so dizzy, like I might fall down, but no matter what my family has been around. However lately I feel like I might give up, as I have so many pills that they could fill up a cup. This year hasn't been so great for me, and not for a lot of my family. My grandma is forgetting simple things, like who she is and what she brings. My uncle and best friend have cancer, I wish somehow that they will both find the answer. These horrible things are making me mad, I love them so much it makes me sad. Believe me I'm not trying to make it all about me, I just don't know the last time my pain was a three. All I've been getting is nines and nines, there's no way this pain is in my mind. Without god I would not be here, he saved my life this year. The pain is only a small price to pay, as I wish to walk with my lord someday ",sad "O Death Rock Me Asleep a sad and poignant poem by Anne Boleyn just before her execution Death, rock me asleep, Bring me to quiet rest, Let pass my weary guiltless ghost Out of my careful breast. Toll on, thou passing bell; Ring out my doleful knell; Let thy sound my death tell. Death doth draw nigh; There is no remedy. My pains who can express? Alas, they are so strong; My dolour will not suffer strength My life for to prolong. Toll on, thou passing bell; Ring out my doleful knell; Let thy sound my death tell. Death doth draw nigh; There is no remedy. Alone in prison strong I wait my destiny. Woe worth this cruel hap that I Should taste this misery! Toll on, thou passing bell; Ring out my doleful knell; Let thy sound my death tell. Death doth draw nigh; There is no remedy. Farewell, my pleasures past, Welcome, my present pain! I feel my torments so increase That life cannot remain. Cease now, thou passing bell; Rung is my doleful knell; For the sound my death doth tell. Death doth draw nigh; There is no remedy. ",sad "The House with Nobody in it a poem by Joyce Kilmer Whenever I walk to Suffern along the Erie track I go by a poor old farmhouse with its shingles broken and black. I suppose I've passed it a hundred times, but I always stop for a minute And look at the house, the tragic house, the house with nobody in it. I never have seen a haunted house, but I hear there are such things; That they hold the talk of spirits, their mirth and sorrowings. I know this house isn't haunted, and I wish it were, I do; For it wouldn't be so lonely if it had a ghost or two. This house on the road to Suffern needs a dozen panes of glass, And somebody ought to weed the walk and take a scythe to the grass. It needs new paint and shingles, and the vines should be trimmed and tied; But what it needs the most of all is some people living inside. If I had a lot of money and all my debts were paid I'd put a gang of men to work with brush and saw and spade. I'd buy that place and fix it up the way it used to be And I'd find some people who wanted a home and give it to them free. Now, a new house standing empty, with staring window and door, Looks idle, perhaps, and foolish, like a hat on its block in the store. But there's nothing mournful about it; it cannot be sad and lone For the lack of something within it that it has never known. But a house that has done what a house should do, a house that has sheltered life, That has put its loving wooden arms around a man and his wife, A house that has echoed a baby's laugh and held up his stumbling feet, Is the saddest sight, when it's left alone, that ever your eyes could meet. So whenever I go to Suffern along the Erie track I never go by the empty house without stopping and looking back, Yet it hurts me to look at the crumbling roof and the shutters fallen apart, For I can't help thinking the poor old house is a house with a broken heart ",sad "Darkness - a poem by Lord Byron I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morn came, and went and came, and brought no day, And men forgot their passions in the dread Of this desolation; and all hearts Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light: And they did live by watchfires - and the thrones, The palaces of crowned kings, the huts, The habitations of all things which dwell, Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed, And men were gathered round their blazing homes To look once more into each other's face; Happy were those who dwelt within the eye Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch: A fearful hope was all the world contain'd; Forest were set on fire but hour by hour They fell and faded and the crackling trunks Extinguish'd with a crash and all was black. The brows of men by the despairing light Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits The flashes fell upon them; some lay down And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled; And others hurried to and fro, and fed Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up With mad disquietude on the dull sky, The pall of a past world; and then again With curses cast them down upon the dust, And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd, And, terrified, did flutter on the ground, And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes Came tame and tremolous; and vipers crawl'd And twined themselves among the multitude, Hissing, but stingless, they were slain for food: And War, which for a moment was no more, Did glut himself again; a meal was bought With blood, and each sate sullenly apart Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left; All earth was but one thought and that was death, Immediate and inglorious; and the pang Of famine fed upon all entrails men Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; The meagre by the meagre were devoured, Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one, And he was faithful to a corpse, and kept The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay, Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food, But with a piteous and perpetual moan And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand Which answered not with a caress, he died. The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two Of an enormous city did survive, And they were enemies; They met beside The dying embers of an altar-place Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things For an unholy usage; they raked up, And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath Blew for a little life, and made a flame Wich was a mockery; then they lifted up Their eyes as it grew lighter, and Each other's aspects. saw, and shriek'd, and died, beheld Even of their mutual hideousness they died, Unknowing who he was upon whose brow Famine had written Fiend. The world was void, The populous and the powerful was a lump, Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless, A lump of death, a chaos of hard clay. The rivers, lakes, and ocean stood still, And nothing stirred within their silent depths; Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea, And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropp'd They slept on the abyss without a surge The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave, The moon their mistress had expired before; The winds were withered in the stagnant air, And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need Of aid from them. She was the universe. ",sad " As soft winds sweep away the days I look back on life through a haze. Remember playgrounds, parks and friends, In childlike gaze that never ends. The laughter in a game of catch, Shall memory ever attach... To innocence in youthful eyes, Catching the ball to Dad's surprise. I recall my first bike, first wreck, Who picked me up, said, ""What the heck?"" Convinced me to give one more try, While, knees skinned, I forgot to cry. Just the joy knowing he was there, Making him proud my only care. There was nothing I couldn't do, My heart held fast that to be true. Though teenage years were kind of rough, I sure wasn't too big or tough. You taught me to defend what's right And never back down from a fight. So I learned the hard way to stand, Still, with each lump, I found your hand. Drawing from you an inner strength, And stubborn pride of equal length. But there the line of fate was drawn, As though I blinked and you were gone. I found myself facing the sun, Not man, not boy, fatherless, one. Eyes blinded by a void inside, I could not live that you had died. Alas finding it to be true, I could do nothing without you. Please, Dad, today just hear my call, I'm sorry that I dropped the ball. My life is wrecked, my knees are skinned, My emotions undisciplined. I can't get up although I try, Please don't be upset if I cry. Though I can't fight what I can't see, Please, Dad, say you're still proud of me. ",sad "Dance Of Terror Window panes come crashing down Amidst the tears and pain Vanishing hopes are gone and flew away Up above through twilight Shadows cast across the floor Reflections of the past Trembling thoughts of one Dwelling deep within the soul A mystical sense of reality Captured by the craze All in bewilderment Of the shock in the wave Creatures of the dimness Chattering amongst the green Everything slows in stillness What is this we see? ",sad "My Father, My Son As a son I lost a father, As a father, a son - If the choice was mine I'd rather Had not lost either one. I do not know where I come from Or where I am to go. True, this fate is less than some And more than some can know. My father, my son - you both I miss But we shall meet someday In the kingdom where angels kiss To chase the clouds away. ",sad "Surprise! Surprise! I dreamt death came the other night And heaven's gate swung wide; With kindly grace an angel came To usher me inside. Yet there to my astonishment Stood folks I'd known on earth, Some I had judged as quite unfit Or of but little worth. Indignant words rose to my lips But never were set free; For every face showed stunned surprise NO ONE expected me! ",surprise "This morning’s surprise This morning’s surprise is how much I’ll miss rail travel. The green fields looming up and falling behind, the milky tea wobbling in a plastic cup, the engine’s steady vibration. This afternoon’s surprise is how many shades of red there are, each one sitting in a room of its own, dense in meditation. Each one a field of conflict, a medium of conciliation. This evening’s surprise is not that the novel ends in a desultory return to the working week - loose ends trimmed and tucked out of sight - but the ferocity of my recoil at the author’s glib contrivance. Midnight’s surprise is Lorca’s moon floating over Hackney full-faced, round-eyed and speaking Spanish. ",surprise "I Hate Poems user img I try to write a poem, but poems are too hard Rhyming is for losers and airy-fairy bards To put a pen to paper and write about your life I've had enough of all of those, they only cause me strife Free-verse script is awful, for fools without a beat Repetition's far too simple just repeat, repeat, REPEAT Those lovey-dovey ode-things, that wishy-washy crap And poems about hatred, you all deserve a slap Spare me all your ramblings, I don't care how you feel Your self-expression surely stinks of mouldy day-old eel To tell a tale of wonder never ceases to be trite To sing of magic wonders is nothing but pure ****e Your metaphors are useless, your imagery is vile Your sense of diction makes me gag, I cannot stand your ""style"" So save me your quotations, please spare me all your rhyme Shove that poem up your rear and cease to waste my time I look at what I've written, this jumble of clichés Looks like I wrote a bloody poem so I'm the one to blame! ",fear "This Will Be The Last Time I currently drown in a black sea of a swirling abyss, as you mould me to how you see fit -- to how you wish me to be. You can’t hear it, but I’m screaming on the inside. It’s been days, but feels like it’s been years. I’ve become used to so much torture that my lace fringed heart stopped breathing. Now the empty shell of a woman only remains, but you’re pleased with what you’ve done, as you marvel at the girl you destroyed. Now once that coppery sun has set, I shall seek my deserving revenge. With all the hurt and anger I have bottled up you won’t make it out alive; you can count on that darling. The last thing you’ll see will be my charcoal eyes and the psychotic harlequin smile I don. Be sure that I will rip out your ugly heart with my bare hands; staining and tarnishing their porcelain finish. This will be the last I waste my time on you. With hugs and love always, ",hate "Sorry, my mask fell, what emotion was I wearing? Since the day I was born humanity always hated me Anytime I accomplish something The critics always slated for free Speaking of this weak flow And of each illiterate rhyme Always hearing ""Last in Show"" So I retained every word of mine... But, look at me now, every rhyme will be sublime And this flow of corrupt power runs the show So now they call it another crime To express the feelings I don't know To write emotions in lifes spare time And for each new critic who trys to dictate Another tear sheds, emotions slow Defenses shatter, breaking I let go. Wake as essence torn asunder under bright stars Minds obscured in this black I call mine Mental blacklists entwine with physical scars Losing control waiting for god's loving light to shine Stepping forward, critics rejoice, with headlights and black cars ",hate "here is hate-prejudice which thinks ill of others and there is love-prejudice which thinks well of others without sufficient warrant. It's your choice, practice hate-prejudice or try God's way with love-prejudice. Is it worth the argument?",hate "Gone and Forgotten Rotting away like time and wear I become frail like wilting roses yet they walk on by without a care and no one even supposes. Another page, another turn but time after time they are blank and then my edges start to burn in place of where my heart sank. I sit alone and decompose simmer out like a dying light and despite the poetry and the prose I slowly loose the fight. Now just a pile of cinder and soot I am swept to a corner to lay swept by society's heartless foot with nothing to feel and nothing to say. Slowly over time I start to disperse and blow away in specks of black and in this lonely pathetic verse it's too late for you to take it back. ",hate "The Inevitable End Coming Sooner than Expected Tell me one reason why I shouldn't do it Jump from this building Or tighten this noose Swallow these pills, or cut at my wrist, Why shouldn't I? Life is a **** Why should I ""deal""? Or try to get by When all that I get is for me to cry It can be over, ended, and done If I jump, or I can be hung My stomach is boiling with the vile of society The cause for this bile coming out of me For my image, does it matter though? We all look the same when we meet our fate ",hate "Night Flights I'm closer to the night sky than to the earth below me here amongst the peaceful stars whose dazzling lights enclose me I've sat upon the crescent moon spoke of many wishes and dreams I've watched the glow of shooting stars fall down in spiralled streams I'm sure I saw the spherical shimmer of other planets far beyond here I sent subliminal thoughts to them in the hope that they would answer I cried tears of loss and happiness for loved ones who breathe no more I miss their presence in my life and the times we shared before I know that with times passage hope will slowly flower and grow I feel its touch within my soul warming me and making me whole I've spent many a night flying free adrift in heavens splendour I'll stay in this velvet blue haven until the sun, my soul awakens ",peace "Night Flights I'm closer to the night sky than to the earth below me here amongst the peaceful stars whose dazzling lights enclose me I've sat upon the crescent moon spoke of many wishes and dreams I've watched the glow of shooting stars fall down in spiralled streams I'm sure I saw the spherical shimmer of other planets far beyond here I sent subliminal thoughts to them in the hope that they would answer I cried tears of loss and happiness for loved ones who breathe no more I miss their presence in my life and the times we shared before I know that with times passage hope will slowly flower and grow I feel its touch within my soul warming me and making me whole I've spent many a night flying free adrift in heavens splendour I'll stay in this velvet blue haven until the sun, my soul awakens ",peace "In His Hands In His hands I feel safe no harm can come to me for He holds me to his breast and whispers ""I love thee."" In His hands There is love this gift He gave to me It is this gift of love that set my spirit free. In His hands there is life I am not alone He met me there at Heaven's gate and softly said ""Come Home."" I am sorry Mom and Dad for leaving you so soon even though I'm in His hands He is there with you.",peace "Sunspeed I feel my mind drifting drowsy now as dawn draws near. The shift in season means I'll soon be gone, I fear. I feel my body tire while my spirit soars on higher. Down my face there rolls one lonely, laughing tear. And oh, I hope the sun shines bright today. Its shining spectacle will send me on my way. Seems I've seen it all in a dream I know it's closer than it seems. For I've lost the urge to hideaway. There's no need to wander now; squandered too much anyhow and failed to find a thing I'd keep. Perhaps true patience lies in lasting sleep. And oh, I pray the sun shines bright today. Its light will speed my flight and guide me to my grave. The dream's come clear now, it calls to me, ""Run through the woods, boy and to the sea. Only there shall you be saved."" And blazed upon that forest floor there is a path I've walked before which wildly winds then finally finds the shore. I'll watch the waves until they crest then calmly lay these bones to rest. Just another shell upon the sand forevermore. And hey, look how the sun shines bright today! Poised on the horizon its rays riding every wave. Such a lovely sight to see. Think I'll take it away with me. To wherever it is I'll be.",peace "Christmas 2008 -- a Gift It is Christmas soon. Red and green and white on display. Cookies in jars; fruit cakes on trays; presents secretively wrapped, betoken with beloved names. Christmas carols resound. Joy glitters in eyes. Sorrow flares up. Fanfare cannot hide facades. The needy becomes more needy. Melancholic. Withdrawn. Or reach out, cutting the crust of indifference. Even those forgetting the Real Present, are inevitably embraced by the warmth of Love. At last I found the bread basket liners I was looking for: two red cotton squares, the only two in the shop, but part of a set of four, of which the other two disappeared. No, Madam, we may not sell those -- the set is incomplete. Oh! But to me it is complete! I want only these two! Will you please ask the Manager if I may buy it? I asked this with such hope. Over a distance I saw his friendly smile while the attendant spoke to him. He caught my eye, nodded, and grinned. The attendant smiled too, when she reached me: Madam -- with compliments of the Manager: your Christmas present! I waved at him, answered his grin, and nodded too. Joy to the World! our smiling eyes signaled. Back at home KitKat, a true Christmas Cat, looked at me with a clear, knowing gaze: It is Christmas ... and His Love is in the air. Our greatest Gift.",peace "Upon hitting the wall. . . Where the still water gathers the peace of clear skies -- after the tumbled traipse, rock and rill rollick -- mountain face carving in creative haste, all the youth of creek falling and stumbling ‘cross stone and branch in frothy dance, this place of solitary glance ‘neath the cool shadows of leaf near the fern and moss green mist. When I’ve lost my path amongst the wonders of love and bedazzled by mysteries beyond my grasp -- my poetic voice, a memory scratched upon papers, bound, to show where once my wonder pranced. Emotions caught in lyrical beat. I let myself be led to this source, this place of infinite relief. My aches pulse stilled, frustration shorn the inner cacaphony -- want and need -- my children, clutch and grab at who I be, finally close their eyes, allow the mind to slumber. the inner ear within the soul becomes alert waits with surety for the truly promised gift. The pond, bequeathed, unstirred by ripple or run becomes a reflection of the source -- all gifts, mine since birth, wait for what’s to be heard. The small still voice, we all seek, makes clear, without herald of storm, awakens the creative seeds to flourish and grow where I had only seen barren loam. Now reborn to the world’s harsh clatter, I am healed and whole where once wounded and shattered. My words, dried and dusty, sere, squeezed to no meaning, once again, trumpet joy, are cups rich in flavorful meaning to unclench the throat. Walled with a cell, caught by my own humanness, tossed and torn by competing needs -- I know I have the strength from the primal spring that love's me and has my constant thanks. Join me, upon the banks of this clear quiet pond, listen as you are imbued with serenity, for the voice with which miracles blossom. Whether recognized or not, you will be eternally changed and gifted for the time you have spent upon this spot. ",peace "Peaceful Abyss Join me in this simplistic environment. Immerse yourself in the sweet nothingness of this paradise. Allow the cool breeze to blow past your worry-free mind. Take my hand and embrace this feeling as we close our eyes. Like a dream it seems, while we slowly float above. Let’s savor this serene sensation. We'll bask in the dimming sunlight as the day evolves And we nurture our current elevation. Hold me while we observe the graceful flight of the souls of the sky And we witness the harmonic image of the lively sea spirits. Let your contentment seize control as we lay here, Listening to the subtle whistle of the calm wind. Sail away with me in the depths of euphoria. Let's embark on this beautiful journey and we'll slowly descend. Stay with me while we free-fall into my Nirvana. We'll share the wondrous flavor of bliss And feel the touch of pure tranquility, ",peace "Rejuvenation Is Here! Alone, perplexed beyond all solace you saw in the misted mirror as a red-eyed teardrop fell from the drip-pad of your soft cheek to land like a pearl in the palm of your hand right on your heart line..... Unexpectedly the pearl turns to gleaming gold with all hues of rainbow before exploding without any shock or any force transporting you to a heavenly place..... Under clear azure sky without a cloud in sight wandering through freesia vales and cyclamen dells scented piquant with pinks, yellows, and purples, lilting with rich Robin syllables and warbley Nightingale trills and edged entirely by magenta gobuleted magnolias each chalicing wine of enchanting to be alive! above blaze of flame of sweet wafting azalia blooms a fabled river enchantedly runs...... With droplets like sun dew every ripple scintillates with hue that magical mix of pure sunlight with pure water that glows with spontaneous fuse so you take off your shoes like bathing in champaigne the water is bubbly and warm dispersing all worldy worries making you feel lighter than a feather and you float peaceful as gossamer laying on your back in the spa of the water's form...... Elegent damsel flies and butterflies luster even more wonderful hues as the kiss of air from their wing-beats feels almost angelic on your skin! while waters sun-spangled ripples scintillatingly and safely pass completely right through you making you feel utterly refreshed, buoyant, pristine, effervesced! infused with vibrant health re-youthfulness returned you to your most zesty, mirthful best..... As sun-dappled scintillas dance an entrancing dance on the trunks of the Magnolias reflected from the streamy ripples projecting the lowering sun, and as humming-birds and shimmering green bees head off to roost you leave the water to go home yourself.... After pausing under the saintedly natural cathedral of a large green weeping willow to whisper within it's echo an appreciative prayer to the great Creator of all natural bounties then....whoosh, you're back at home! But you'll remember this place and come back here again to be at one with your maker and all that's lovingly made...... you'll know just when to return probably reminded by raindrops or whenever next you hold a tears pearl in your hand! ",peace "Bridge Parched earth crumbled at the slightest touch. roots shriveled, fruit rotted, fissures formed-- chasms ached with thirst. Your love seeps into my soil; breaches heal, roots swell-- I burst into bloom. Wind whispers forgiveness, limbs shiver with joy. Your colors kiss my soul-- we breathe a bow of peace. ",peace "Peace The World Together The world’s heartstrings, should strum in harmony, where oxygen longs only wars to cease. Blessed are benign souls who bestow beauty, as mindful poets, weave love's masterpiece. Such sweet quintessence, like stars in a row, where some stand, hand in hand, out of the blue. Let's unleash peace, a path we need follow, revealing rapport, our worlds never knew. Like starry lightshows, of lucid night skies, sparkling in unison, where silk songs play. Diplomatic minds, be still and think wise, let’s learn from history, starting today. Dreaming of all life, where we can share rain, where souls can feel warmth, healing in love's light. Embrace peace, after long eras of pain, so new generations won’t fear the night. May friendly smiles fill souls with gentleness, living anew, this peace our lips profess. ",peace "Spill Your Peace Lead lost sheep through vale of fear, where raging storms threaten to tear down fence of safe haven. Spill Your peace upon barren deserts torched by horror of war lighten our hearts heavy with regret, gather restless in your gracious embrace.",peace "the real victory! Kings, presidents and chiefs Rule the world with the people’s fear; Making law at their side, so they’ll keep ruling the world from their comfy seats. Mastering the language of wars and hostilities, nothing to lose, just send armies to the battlefield! Freedom, justice and independence, these concepts in politics are just theories Oh peace, will you ever be here? I’ve never seen you in this sphere, I’ve just read about you in the myths. But I know that one day, you’ll be real. They’ll see people screaming ‘’ cheers ‘’, as to celebrate the victory they have achieved . Now all I got to do is write this rhyme , and wait for someone to understand what it means. Wait for people not to be sheep, and for societies to wake up from their sleep; So as to push hierarchies down to the deep. That’s how our kids will know the truth peace. ",peace "Where There Is Love Where there is love there is life Regardless of strife Where there's desire there's a way Where there is sun a hopes ray Peace is present each day Where there is hope there is light Warmth lifts, renewed height When we open our closed heart When we search for a fresh start Peace will find a way Where there's kindness there is love All greed climb above where to give we don't dare Where walls fall, naked bare True peace must stay Where there is God there is fate Surplus love, less hate When his heart opened to give When we may love him and live In PEACE I pray ",peace "Vigil There is a magical peace in watching you sleep That’s not unlike the calm surrender Of quietly observing a meandering river As it slowly wends its way down its muddy banks Past reeds and grasses on the marshy shore To somewhere new and heretofore unknown The current, steady as your unconscious breath Moves through the cycles of your mind Bringing you respite from the troubling stream of consciousness And pulling you down to a course of dreams Where I like to think of you Like that warm brown river Flowing gently into me You lie so quiet, still Your breath bidding me closer Like the river beckons the thirsty to drink Would that I could drink you down So you really did flow through me Quench me And bestow on me your peace",peace "Surprise Surprise Surprise"" My Honey's a ""Gem"" and he pampers me and promised his love eternally. Valentine's Day was coming our way-- What beautiful gift would I see? The day broke clear that early morn. I expected a package with bow adorned. But, Woe is me! No gift did I see!~ I was feeling so sad and forlorn! My Honey had a ""Smirk"" on his face as he took me into his embrace. He said, ""Close your eyes-- There's a big surprise!"" I balled up my fist, just in case! Blindly, I was led to the lawn while I kept asking, ""What's going on?"" He said, ""Wait and See-- I'm sure you'll agree-- All your worries will soon, be gone!"" Alas, I became so excited and my inner-fires ignited! I felt so elated and anticipated that I would be so delighted. Slowly, I opened my eyes and much to my surprise-- What did I see in front of me ?? A ""Clothesline"" with all it implies! Now, the laughter filled the air! I didn't show signs of despair. I took control and embraced the pole-- He'll soon, have ""Starch"" in his Underwear! ",surprise "Surprise Surprise Pretty Surprise Oh boy, a brand new slate You're all in for a HUGE surprise, just wait You thought I had money before? Now I'll be sweating money from my pores This is just in time Seriously I'm on cloud nine! ",surprise "surprise, surprise surprise never know whats in store for me for today, doctors or patients, ear pain, back pain or stuffed throat? ",surprise "Surprise, Surprise!! When you started talking to me again yesterday, It took me by complete surprise. I didn't know what to say really, I was in total shock. I still am even after reading the whole conversation again. You seem to have had a change of heart, but I'm not sure why. I'm glad that you did though, because I missed talking to you. Maybe you realized that I had no part of it, That it was all just a misunderstanding. I still can't believe that you wanted to see me before you left, After telling me not to talk to you any more. Then to see the words ""You can call me some if you want."", Has just really blew my mind! I'm still not sure what to think of it all, I guess you can say that I am kind of confused. All of a sudden here you are saying you want to chill with me, After telling me that you had changed your mind about anything else. You acted just as interested as you did before, So I can't help but ask, What's up? Have you changed your mind, had a change of heart? I sure hope you have, I had high hopes of it being more. So I don't know where this will lead, I have to wait a while to see because you have already left, But I guess only time will tell! It is really up to you though, my friend. ",surprise "Surprise, Surprise I called you once and you didn't respond even though you specifically said to call you sometime. Okay, that's alright, maybe you were busy or didn't hear it. Either way, maybe I should try again later. . . Again, nothing. Alright, I'll leave a message, Even though I hate having to talk to a machine. I'll call sometime tomorrow. Once again nothing, maybe you're ignoring me, Maybe I was wrong to hope that you and me... Forget it. Okay one more time, yes you answered! You'll be coming down later? Awesome, great! I'll be waiting. And waiting. And waiting. I'll go watch TV. What? you were here? When? You just left, no NO! Okay, I'll try again. No answer... The next day, no answer... One more time, nothing... Maybe she doesn't like me after all. Curse that god damned hope. It got me again. ",surprise "Surprise, Surprise One moment can tell a story for years, Passed down with twists and turns... But no matter how many distortions are made, it is the original that is truly yours. 'Twas the first day of school, such an interesting day, I walked the halls nervously A lack of words to say. Turning a corner, I look up and around: A teacher asks a boy for his name, I myself shocked by the sound: The name has been spoken and time seems to stop; I look up at the boy in confusion and feel my jaw drop. No way! Is it really him? You? He? That guy? The one I thought lost now returned, how? why? Was he not gone for such a period that I'd thought his return unseen: Now this even is so abrupt! It happened so quickly... ",surprise "surprise surprise. We're best friends You & I but i love you and your brown eyes Just a boy and a girl never torn apart afraid to date afraid to start Never felt like this Never opened up my heart till just lately now i know wasn't smart you told me before we'll be together soon but today you changed your mind now everything seems ruined I don't know what to say My face a blank stare Tears flowing out my eyes Life really isn't fair You say you can't lose me And you didn't want to hurt me but there was no way around it now i ask you to let me be I need time to let you go I need space so i can think I'll never open up my heart again For it to only sink Your still my best friend I'll always wish we were more but i respect your wish Tho my feelings were tore. ",surprise "An 'Elegy' for Irony by Glen Martin Fitch Sharp trickster, how we loved to watch you tie our muddled minds into a knotted maze. Your jests and jokes did twist each question, ""Why?"" till heart and head were drugged in deadly daze. Wise cynic, never have you had such praise for tense distortion, farce and helplessness. With hope abandoned, darkest night betrays ""dead"" land, ""dead"" minds and only Death to bless. And yet in spite of Lethe, I must confess my heart still beats and wiser have I grown, for, while I have no spirit left to guess, I know the constants even you have known. And so if queer queens love and scapegoats die won't spring reveal the truth of every “lie”?",courage "Aquamarine Butterfly by Nina Gabriel Aquamarine Butterfly By Aquamarine waters of my Kingdom, Surrounded with splendor of treasures of my creations, In a hard shell of a Crab, I was sitting and contemplating on my Life’s Journey, One day, as the Golden rays of the Sun touched the Earth, The silky threads of my cocoon passed through my heart, Thus illuminating my spirit, warming my body and soul. And as the night sky touched the Earth, By the Silver rays of the Moon I was transformed into a Butterfly, Keeping the color of my Kingdom of Aquamarine colors I spread my wings as far as I could; Two Golden threads connected me to Heaven from Earth leading my path. And as I was transformed into a butterfly and given the wings to fly, And fly I did, as far as I could see. On my paths I discovered many places and many souls, Some went along with me, some stayed behind to discover their own paths. My journey is not over yet, it seems that it has just began, once more, And this time around I plan to fly even further, Spreading my wings far and wide, travel to different lands, Sharing the splendor of my creations and gifts with the whole world, Meeting the Souls that are transformed into butterflies as well, This way we may all spread our Sparkles of Love and Light, Illuminating the paths for the rest that plan to follow us, On our Souls’ path of the Life’s Journeys with Love and Light in our hearts. So you too, if you been transformed into a butterfly as well, Come and join us on our Flight to Freedom through Love, Because this way we can all create beautiful Heaven on Earth And in our hearts were it all began.",courage "BELIEVE YOUR HEART by SWETA LEENA PANDA Sometimes people says don’t make wrong choice You will be forever alone However I believe no choice make me alone Until & unless I want No doubt my tears are dry now & it’s now like river without water Still my eyes are live Who says many things? No doubt I hide it like the hidden treasure No one can open it Because I lost the key of my treasure knowingly I believe if a person understands it without saying anything He/she truly loves Tear may fake, however eyes are true always Sometimes words may fake However heart is true always Never judge a person by their words Judge them by their heart Because heart is a like an open precious treasure Where you find many things which you never know Try to steal it, as it is very precious Always believe the words of your heart Because it will never ever cheat you It always tells love & care for everyone However never ever take the words of everyone granted Sometimes when we really need help These people become good spectator & listeners Start saying about you Without knowing the story of you No person is copy of another So how people commenting others Stop discuss about others If you can’t help others, At least don’t pull their legs down ",courage "Branches by Ivy Page If I knew that those Sunday-school stories I heard would become a ball of uncertainty rolling around inside me, if my parents hadn’t kicked me out for dating the youth pastor wannabe, and I hadn’t moved in with the married lesbian. If the married lesbian hadn’t decided to divorce her husband I wouldn’t have ended up living in Athens, Georgia where I would, in the span of a week discover that my boyfriend was cheating on me, miscarry our baby, and get mugged. If I hadn’t moved in with my ex-boyfriend’s mother after that and then in with a distant cousin in Milledgeville, Georgia where I would find my perceptions altered by practicing the loss of time through smoke and mushrooms, multiple partners and practicing being Good Enough* at karaoke. Or if my drinking buddy hadn’t said that the guy running the karaoke night was gay, so that I challenged — I would bet her a beer that I could get him in the sack, and if he hadn’t asked for my number that same night only to tear it up a week later because I turned him down because I was still only seventeen and wouldn’t be let into the bar where he wanted to take me dancing. And if the drummer in the band I sang for hadn’t done twelve shots of white lightning the following New Year’s and then urinated on me in bed because he was in diabetic shock, and if I hadn’t covered the shift delivering pizzas for the girl I worked with, and if I hadn’t gone to the party, where the guy that ran karaoke read poetry, and I sang bad imitations of Janis Joplin— then I wouldn’t have ended up in place of eight month snows, married ten years to the guy that ran karaoke, and I wouldn’t be watching our two children recreating games of hopeful daisy chains, and animal clouds. And if we had chosen any other branch? * “Good Enough” Sarah McLachlan ** After W.S. Merwin’s “One of the Lives” From: Any Other Branch",courage "MYSELF Some call I m crazy Some say I m sick I think it’s freedom However ,it helps release the pain That I go through every day Feeling like everything's wrong I want to escape from my sadness However now I m looking forward I no longer feel like a coward Any challenge put before me to stand and face it Any blessing waiting for me to try and take it Although almost brought tears However I promise I’ll never cry Even if the battle seems lost never die Although adversity is long humanity stronger",courage "OURNEY OF A DAY Our days begin with sunrise & ends with sunset Often the days are seem useless, pointless We don’t think they matter but they do Everything that happens has a reason The truth will be revealed in due season Our life is a journey that we must make A road, a path, which we must take Our course is never easy The stakes may be high We should not let our life like the leaves in winter Life is a poem where we write our story everyday Life is a game which we must play Through trouble and disaster We never know what we will get Our hand is not always get what we want We always learn a lesson of hearts and minds is taught However from the failure We should not walks on a street of hopeless & blind Sometimes we find the face with in the face Which hurt us most of the time? Still we always expected to act like the world is as beautiful and clean If we struggle let it be With hope for things we wish to see So in every day let’s find you, knowing the world for its reality …+A184",courage "LET Go..A185 Let go, a truth so bitter; Let go, a wound so sore For nothing in life is permanent; And 'Change' is the only constant ! Let go, a hidden drop of tear; Let go, a secret concealed & obscured For a day that follows the night without remorse; From a grappling 'Dusk' to a delighting 'Dawn' ! Let go, the mask that covers your identity; Let go, the shield that safeguards your dignity 'Coz, you are the betrayer, the only traitor; Who can deceive others but the real 'You' ! Let go, the profound pain that agonizes you; Let go, the sinful urge that torments you For 'Time' alone is the best healer; Like a 'Boon' to mankind in disguise ! Let go, the evil neighboring you; Let go, the devil inside of you. Your overblown 'Ego' & overstated 'Attitude' Limitless Idiosyncrasy & Eccentricities! Let go, your fear, hurt & resentment; Let go, broken promises & hollow commitments. For Life is too petite to brood over 'Insignificant Issues' Like grains of sand; waiting to be eroded with ceaseless TIME !!!!",courage "Let us pull, pull the boat+A186 Let us pull, pull the boat, young man… away from the waters safe on to land just the while perhaps till the morning and pull, young one…take a deep breath and pull… generations have worked and gone past exertion and into a discovery of inner strength and a sudden illumination perhaps of the resilience within… feel and pull - see, there’s the boat and you and the forces and the ground and there’s much within you… there’s the mark of the effort in your mind as footprints in the sand pull, young one…safe to land – a little more and a little more… and we are come to completion, and you will see within yourself where the struggle, where the living and all these days of our lives between earth and the oceans begin and end…",courage "Shining Armour A chest of metal, an eagle’s vision A teeth of sour girdle, an insight of taught mentions A plunging foot, a never dragging heart There a princess stood, but never a hint of look or any dart Scorching suns were braved Torenting skies were naived Dust like a life stuck up in every breadth But the bronze turned skin shows his worth of every mile A sweet child’s look, an outsmarting tangle A heart wrapped up in pure satin To be lent, to without crave given... to the Bronze man in the shining armour A metal built but without any doubt, human emotions he felt A mask of ignorance worn, A mask of love that was thrown Days of blooming flowers, Ages of moving clouds A touch of line upon the princess’ radiant skin shone A wage of a tower, but yet never held any power... His people mattered most he splattered Wars of brave ones gone, yet he seemed as strong as sun But just as unique and lovely he was A gray tress came along, but never did the princess Show a sign of crave w+A185ithdrawn She gazed and withheld the A184heart that was never given to hold Neigh a quarter century but seventeen years of doom stay Who says, every living moment was a precious day Until a battle came, the same messenger to call them away The torrent warnings and swords flocked, The persons in numbers, they were all brave soldiers that flocked A life’s battle…so long will take Maybe a fortnight or until the next full moon day Her heart leapt just like it had for every rage in these seventeen years She crouched; she leaned to have the clearest view Of her bronze man in the shining armour He was at his point’s sharpness, a heart of rage and a love for his men unmeasured A triumphant eagle’s scowl thrown A way to the highest he has never known But a look of gracious melodies, everlasting charms made a flash He turned to the tower, where he knew the princess stood and gave a look into her eyes and then to the skies as he always did A pleasure of pre-victory to have earned the world’s most precious gem But a look of plain bravery and everlasting plight But less did he know this would be his last sight With a brave leap onto his trustee He rode off... into the land of wilderness Into the air of plain aura Thus she held... Thus she will tell... That this is my Knight’s Shining Armour",courage "THE DAY I may never see tomorrow, There's no written guarantee, I don't seem to understand, However I know who hold tomorrow, The great power, which shows me light every time I walk besides him, for he knows what is ahead, And Things that happened yesterday belong to history, I cannot predict my future, I cannot change my past, I have just the present moment, I must treat it as my last, I must use this moment wisely for it soon will pass away, Every step is getting brighter as the golden stairs I climb. Every stars getting lighter, There the sun is always shining over my head, So there no fear for dark, I feel like touching the rainbow after a heavy rain, Still I don't know about tomorrow, It may bring poverty, However I have faith upon someone, The one who stands by me, And Path I follow & his presence always helps me to look forward, So I thanks God with humble heart for giving me this day, And His great blessing over my head...",courage "A Dream Girl Before I have too much expectations for a girl. She must be smoking hot and very beautiful. She must be conservative, educated and rich But I now realize, you can't have a perfect match. I was looking around the city Patiently waiting for a real love to say, ""Come, my baby. Marry me."" But I now realize, you can't buy or borrow love. I was a fool when I didn't notice a simple girl Who made me happy every single day. She took away my loneliness and put a big drill Into my closed and selfish heart. ",peace "A Big Idea? by Satish Verma Satish Verma The moral dilemma was unlearning. less than truth. Downgrading the- branded witch. Vaccine was spawning new virus. O Buddha, why did you started looking beautiful and began sitting in a living room? Trailing the smoke I was going to find the- burning home. What were those intimate- words of unthinkable dirty secrets? ",peace "Dying Rose... by Anselm Vaz I found a rose, not red to see. Its pettles with blisters crumpled down. It looked at me with a dead smile. Uttering drops of tears and silent shivers. No speach to define, the pain and plunder. Thinking of the past ectasy. Taking sometime to survive. In the dark sunshine, With no glittering light to see. Oh! How was it picked by the lover winds, and stamped by foreseen legs. The wounds so deep, can't be healed. The plunder pain, can't let it sleep. A magical prayer, I say to God. To heal this flower and take it away from me. So no pain would touch its hearts. And only smiles would make its way, To heavens gates, And the hells flames, Would be waiting for me.",peace "Tears by Alina Ahmed Every tear rolled out of the eye has different story, Every drop of it makes a different memory, Some lies in the corner, Whereas some in the shower. It follwes out when ones heart is full, makes a whole of pool, But no one understand its pull, And leaves it in a mad school, Where more tears comes together , Makes tear remind his fear, For which his soul had broken the swear, Now that tear has no intentions to be hearts near. He wants to live alone, Where there are no clones, Where he can live with his memories in that zone, That tear will then dry himself up with the help of o-zone....",peace "Tears Every tear rolled out of the eye has different story, Every drop of it makes a different memory, Some lies in the corner, Whereas some in the shower. It follwes out when ones heart is full, makes a whole of pool, But no one understand its pull, And leaves it in a mad school, Where more tears comes together , Makes tear remind his fear, For which his soul had broken the swear, Now that tear has no intentions to be hearts near. He wants to live alone, Where there are no clones, Where he can live with his memories in that zone, That tear will then dry himself up with the help of o-zone.... ",peace "Dear Mom Dear Mom, You said you'd always be there But you're nowhere to be found I can't believe you left me I feel so low beneath the ground There's nothing I can do now I trusted you with all my heart But now you're gone You're the one who tore my life apart I've learned not to trust There's nothing more to say You've lost someone special You can't get back each day Now you're the one left in the dark And all of a sudden you feel my pain You expect me to take you back But you still feel you're not to blame I could never forgive you Even if I tried You can never make up For the lonely nights I've cried You will never know the feeling Of losing the person you need the most To laugh and cry and love you Instead of making you feel like a ghost I've moved on with my life Without you by my side My pain has kept so long I'm telling you how I feel inside In a way I want to thank you Because of you I'm strong I just wanted you to know I didn't turn out wrong ",anger "Always My Father But Never My Dad I'm sorry you missed out when I went to school for the 1st time, And you didn't have me tell you that you were all mine, I'm sorry you weren't there to take me to the mall, And you weren't there to tell me I have to stand tall, Sorry you weren't the one I saw when I came home that day Or the one I'd run to when I had a bad day, I'm sorry you didn't hear me write these, you'd have been so proud, And you weren't there to lift me up on a cloud, Sorry you weren't there to tell me there's nothing to fear, But then again you should have been here, I'm sorry you weren't the one to teach me to ride a bike, Or the one who took me on my first ride. I'm sorry you weren't the one who carried me on his back, that was my other daddy, the one I actually had! Or the one who held me tight when strength is what I lacked, I'm sorry you weren't the one to hold me when I cried, Or tell me I did great when I really tried, I'm sorry you were never there to teach me how to cook, Or there at night to read me my favorite book, I'm sorry me as a daughter is what you never had, You will always be my father, but you will never be my dad. ",anger "Dear Mom Standing in self-hatred, drowning in my tears. Looking back on my life, what I've been through the past 18 years. Living in my brother's shadow, everything I do & say, wishing somehow things would change, praying for a way. Same old sh*t just another day, living this evil life that was created just for me. Starving for love, affection, & attention, I know none of this is how it's really supposed to be. I try to be strong, even though I feel so weak. Feel like just giving up, but I won't accept that level of defeat. Pretend like I'm always happy, although I'm never really okay. Waiting for this pain to end, that I feel every stupid day. It's hard to say what's wrong, when nothings going right. Hard to keep myself going, when I've been blinded by sight. This pain is never ending, it just goes on & on & on. It's all so unbelievably real, I just wish it all was gone. Trying to pick myself up, when I've fallen so far and hard. But I don't know where I'm going, It's all so very dark. My heart is weak, my emotions sore, I do my best to never let it show. But deep down inside I feel like, I'm dying & nobody knows. A lot of f***ed up thoughts, run through my head constantly. I just wish I didn't live, this life of MISERY! ",anger "How Do You Call Yourself A Mom? Looking in yours eyes Tells me something's wrong Never began to realize You've neglected for so long. It seems your never there You never really try And every time I want to be with you You make up stupid lies. I feel as if I'm just your friend That you hate being around So don't pretend Don't say you love me With that dreadful tone It doesn't make sense Why you never answer your phone It's pathetic to know You had three daughters But you have nothing to do with any of them that truly makes me wonder Sure our family has had problems But not that bad that u can ignore So if you expect me to stick around I'll walk right out of the door You wonder why I live with dad At least he does try Daddy has always cared about me Do you know how much this makes me cry I feel like your dead Because your never there Your dead to me How is that fair I have never done anything to hurt you And your boyfriend comes before your me? That's bull shit mom Pay attention to me Its always poor poor pitiful you You always have problems You tell me your troubles Like I'm supposed to stop them? You used to call every day Just to see how I was doing Now it's like you don't own a phone As my emotions are brewing It's so hard not to cry Knowing my mother is barely around I see girls so close the there mothers But it's as if mine is already in the ground Do you ever cry over me mom? Do you ever stop and wonder? About how I am doing Your just a silent thunder I hate loving you There's no point if it's not returned My sisters hate it too I feel like my skin is in a blazing fire being burned Trying to smile When I'm with you never seems to faze me You were always the ""cool mom"" But now you don't care about me. So now when you need me I hope you know I won't be here I hope one day you read this And it brings a world of fear I don't want your hugs And fake understanding I want a mom Who is never-ending I'm sorry mom But I gotta say I'll always love you But never look my way! ",anger "Daddy Told Me..... I was told I was living a lie I was told don't bother to cry I was told they no longer did care I was told I love you, they did not dare I was told I am a bad role model for my sister and brother I was told I was betrayed by my mother I was told my mother did not love me I was told that is why she chose to flee I was told, the love I have for my mother to hide I was told I later picked the wrong side I was told the abuse I got was 'tough love' I was told that while getting a shove I was told I brought them to shame I was told I were many horrible names I was told I was not the daughter they had in mind I was told the love for me they could not find I was told I was expected to fall I was told they would not help when they received that call I was told I was going no where I was told to stay far from there I was told I would not make much of my life I was told she'd be the one to cut with a knife I was told they would leave me alone I was told I was a daughter disowned Daddy no longer wants his little girl' ",anger "I Needed You When I was sad and depressed, I needed you to be cheer me up. Instead I drank till I was numb enough not to feel anything. When everyone was attacking me and putting me down, making me feel so low, I needed you to be the one to defend me and be on my side Instead I endured all the cruel words and criticism the world threw at me. When I lost all my friends and had no one, I needed you to be that only friend I had left, Instead I experience what the word ""friendless"" really meant. When I was scared and frightened, I needed you to be my security blanket. Instead I had to live in fear. When I was angry and full of rage, I needed you to calm me down, Instead I kept it all bottled up inside. When I felt so lonely and needed someone to care, I needed you to hold me tight and never let me go. Instead I grew up alone with no one to turn to. When I was hurt and in pain, I needed you to come running with you healing ways. Instead I remained scarred and bruised. When I would inflict self-torture, wanting to die, I needed you to stop me and tell me how important I was. Instead I hid my scars and became oblivious to everyone. When I would cry myself to sleep at night, I needed you to wipe the tears away. Instead I held my pillow tight while never ending tears streamed down my face. When my world was crashing down on me, I needed you to be the one I ran to. Instead I locked myself in my room in complete despair. When I felt unloved, I needed you to tell me how much you loved me. Instead I learned the words ""I love you"" are meaningless. ",anger "My Father Leaving behind others to take your place, Carrying on your name, walking around with your face, Knowing you go left behind, Wondering what's on my fathers mind. He didn't even think to try. To leave my mother with tears going down her face, Left me only to embrace, Only for me to ask her why? My mother can give me answers; My father left behind. For he can give his love to another, But can't give his love to me, My mother would give her life, As she's given life to me, My father I hope to love. Will he ever really love me? He can take and make a life and keep living on, But what is it like to live without a father, He doesn't even know, Because he doesn't even care, He left me alone. ",anger "Set Her Free Why do you do this to her? Why do you make her cry and hide her fears so deep inside? Is she not beautiful enough or does she not have enough wit or charm? Why is that you make her feel like a dog that you have chained to the tree and trained to answer only at you’re beck and call? Misery and pain is what you have taught her to believe in, Will she ever get the courage to run and get away? To me you are the devil in disguise Constantly standing over her watching from the corner of you’re eye. Do you think you’re perfect? Do you think that we should just sit back and watch her become more miserable every passing day Because you have taught her to believe that without you she can’t get by? You credent you rodent you evil man in my eyes I see the truth and from me that you can not hide!!!! Some may sit back and watch you make her die inside, But as for me I will bring back that sparkle I have seen in her eyes. I will not cover for you I will not lie. I will not sit back and let you’re wickedness slowly kill who she really is so deep inside. Courage and bravery is what I will make arise from my beautiful aunt. You try to keep for yourself to hide you’re own pity and worthlessness, you are no better, you are no good, Wake up and face the truth Without her you are nothing but a menace to society A fake a fraud and a pitiful excuse for anyone to call a husband But even more you’re not even worth having the title of being called a man. Let her go, let her live, let her be set free. Hide in you’re corner and reflect on what you are Because while you try to hold her there and constantly whisper how she is no good and can never do right. I will be there beside her constantly praising her and directing her to another world far from you. She will win, you will lose and one day she will wake and see you for the beast we know you to be. All the misery all the pain all the tears and agony you have dished out Will one day come to haunt you and bring you down The way you have her. While you huddle in a corner so lonely and cry your selfish tears. She will be happy and free to live her life And be able to finally become who she has always wanted to be......... You’re the devil on her shoulder I’m the angel And in the end the good always wins...Because you have to have her. I want to have her, you have to make her think you love her I just smile and she knows...It’s a fair game Let me show you who will win, it will not be you, it will not be me But it will be her And she will finally be the woman we know her to be. I wish you well and bid you goodbye Because from this day you are nothing to me but a speck of dirt passing by You credent you rodent goodbye!!! ",anger "Tell Me Tell me, how to love someone who doesn't love me back. Tell me, how to respect someone who doesn't deserve my respect. Tell me, how to trust someone who betrayed me so badly. Tell me, how to care for someone who never cared about me. Tell me, how to speak nicely to someone who only spoke down to me with bad words. Tell me, how to get along with someone who brought me nothing but endless tears. Tell me, how to get close to someone who caused me so much pain. Tell me, how to forgive someone who hurt me so severely. Tell me, how to open my heart to someone who broke it to pieces too many times. ",anger "Thanks, Mom Dear Mom, Thanks for the years the years of my tears you treat me bad and you make me sad I just want to die in heaven I'd lie I'd sail and I'd dream I wouldn't have time to scream I wouldn't take the tears I wouldn't have these fears I would be able to love I could rise high above and even though I seem to hate I don't hate as I probably should that I expect, you probably would you hate everything and even yourself so I'll hang the presence of you upon my highest shelf even though you cause a hole in my heart in years of time, you can always re-start. ",anger "Blind You are blind You can never see All the anger built up in me I hated life I wanted out You didn’t care You would just shout I felt so alone Thought I didn’t need anyone Turns out I just needed a mum The black sheep I was never apart Furthest away from your heart Things have changed I’m growing old I don’t need you You still feel cold I’m now out of sight Out of mind I don’t need you, I'll do alright I don’t need your blessing Or your cash Without your help I'll make a splash Land on my feet with a crash I’m happier than ever My life’s brand new And most of all I'm not like you. ",anger "Dad Thanks for believing in me. Thanks for showing me you care. Thanks for holding my hand Thanks for being there. Thanks for being the best Thanks for making me glad Thanks for loving me with all your heart. Thanks for being my dad. ^Now after every 'thanks for' add never. ",anger "Dear Mom Dear mom how could you Never care about me I’m dying inside Which you will never see You never even call Just to talk to me Heck you don’t write either So your love I don’t see You’re not the one Who wipes my tears at night Nor are you the one Who chases away my frights Dear mom how could you Just leave me like this You didn’t even come back For one last kiss Mom how could you Have a kid and just leave That’s no way to act That’s no way to behave Dear mom I want to know why You decided not To be part of my life I want to know why You have no heart at all And how you can have a child You don’t see, write, or call? ",anger "Father Of Mine You weren't around to help me out. You left my life without any doubts. You were never around to help me out, You were always the one who would shout. Violence was the answer for you, Well guess what? I'm growing up to be just like you. I always wanted you around but no matter how hard I tried you would just make me cry. Father of mine you're not a man. To this day I won't forgive you. I have grown strong and I have been through a lot but none of my strength comes from you because your someone who NEVER came through. ",anger "New Life Why can't you love me and accept me for who I am? I always try my hardest; I do the best I can. Can't you see how sad I've been? The way you treated me must have been a sin. For a long time, I've tried to make you proud. But instead of encouraging words, I get put down. Stop trying to live my life for me. I'm not a kid anymore, damn it, just let me be. You don't like my friends, boyfriend, or anything I do. Tell me, what the hell did I ever do to you? You married a jerk, who disrespects me. You always take his side, and turn against me. I've moved in with my dad and Joan. They welcomed me with open arms; this is my new home. They treat me with respect, and they love me for me. No matter what, I'm here for them, and they're here for me. I've never felt this happy before; happiness for me was rare. Now that I'm happy in this new life of mine, do you even care? ",anger "Father Everlasting Love Falling in my pit of darkness I sit upon the black rose of sadness Dreaming of day fill with happiness Only to end with loneliness Open eyes wonder why Looking at life pass by My hollow eyes begin to fill with crimson tear As you still don't see the fear My life starts to darken As my heart become broken I am trap in shame For you I blame Father everlasting love The love I hold for you is dying Why do you keep on trying Listen to my story For I do not feel sorry What’s wrong with you now Your smile is upside down Is it cause I'm taking a stand Or that you now want to give a hand My love is never lasting ",anger "Mom You lost me years ago And so I let go You are my sickness that slowly seeps in my brain with each spoken word A disease that spreads throughout my body What about you? It's always about you What about me? Why can't you just see what you are doing to me? I just hope your traits are not genetic I don't want to spread this disease any further Death is the only antidote ",anger "Where Did He Go? He's Right Here The man who made me is not here. But the man who was here half my life and treated me like his daughter and the man who is by my side everyday is with me today. That man is my step dad. The man who is not here for me is my daddy The man who called me his baby girl and his little Punkin, and said he would always be here for me and never leave my side. Well you ain't here right now. You screwed up are lives by doing drugs. But I don't care I have my step dad and I don't need you daddy. I don't want you to walk me down the isle and give me away I want him to. I don't want you to come to my house on Christmas and play airplanes with your grand kids I want him to. I don't want to say I love you daddy I want to say that to him. I don't want to cry on your shoulder when my boyfriend dumps me. I want to see you move away and never come back. ",anger "Just A Title Just a title Nothing more I am sorry to say We have no rapport Better this way Than playing pretend This is the way I have come to contend Just a title Nothing more I'm finally able to close the door You did this yourself All on your own I hope you like feeling alone I have tried too much Now I am tired of holding the clutch Just a title Nothing more Is what I have decided for You made your choice Now you must lie Now I see your chosen side Just a title Nothing more 'Mother' now I shut the door. ",anger "Can You Hear Me! Can You Hear Me! Where were you when the tears fell? When the blood began to flow? Where were you when I was scared? When all my skies were gray, And I lost all hope? Where were you through all the years? When it all began? Where were when I was hurt and bleeding, when I needed you? Where were you when I was sad and in jail? When there was no strength left, And where the hell are you now? When it all came down and the walls were crashing in, All was lost and gone, and when I fought? Where were you when I stayed up and cried myself to sleep each night, and I tossed and turned? And where are you now? That I'm stuck and there's nowhere to turn? So I ask you this where will you be, When the walls come down again? Where will you turn when the tables turn? And there is no wear to hide or no one to blame? ",anger "Daddy He pushes my sister in the cart, in place of the man that tore us apart. It's been a while since I've seen you last, but now you're becoming a part of my past. I don't feel bad for the hatred I've shown. Dad you'll be amazed at how much I have grown, Not only physically but emotionally too, I've learned to live my life without you. I've taught myself how to hate, & Dad it feels great. Moving on without you here, Learning to live with no fear. Now I'm cold, numb inside... Love or hate dad, you decide.. ",anger "I Hope You Understand You were like a father, And my world was all clear, I wasn't expecting much from you at first, Then you treated me like a daughter, I expected more then, I thought you would keep your promises, And now I know. You made my life a living nightmare, Yet I still loved you like a father, I wasn't sure if forgiving you was right, But every time I did anyways, You had many chances and many opportunities, But you used your last one. I will always think of you as a father, But if that last chance wasn't blown we would be together, I hope you never think you were replaced, Because I will always remember the good, But the bad will be there too in my thoughts everyday. Your life means a lot to many different people, So please don't blow that too, Because you only get one life and I love that life, And I hope you do too. Every night I worry about what you are doing, And sometimes I cry wondering, I just wish life didn't have to be this way, Then I remember it doesn't. I looked up to you and I wanted you to stay around forever, I wanted to grow up knowing you were always going to be there, Now I am not sure that will happen, You are killing the thing I love most, So now I am begging you to stop, I want you to spend the time you have left with me and your family. We deserve better than to sit and watch you fade away, Soon there won't be anything left, Think about these emotions and I hope you understand. ",anger "Learning My Lesson I gave you a chance, let you in and tried to be your friend, I should have known, you wouldn’t be there in the end. I wanted you to love me, I waited for so very long, I didn’t want to feel the hurt, but you still did me wrong. I always had hope, I never wanted it this way, No matter how hard I tried, You always pushed me away. I should have known, You never really cared, You let us leave, You were never even scared. We never turned back, your own brother helped us board. Never caring what was ahead, through it all we sure soared. There were times, whether good or bad, When I was a little girl, I should of had my dad. You weren’t there when I was young, You never got to see, You don’t have a clue, You don’t even know me. Every single birthday, They all went by, You never saw those candles go out, never my dad by my side. But you should know, I had someone there, He’s special to me, and his name is Ger. But not even him can take away, all these years of pain, Through all of this hurt, there is still a lot to gain. Without even knowing, you taught me good lessons for life, I will do what I can, because my husband deserves a good wife. I will stick by his side, never let things go bad. Because I have chosen a man, who will always be a good dad. You have made me wise, much more than my years, All this hurt and pain, I have learned a lot through the tears. I have been so mature, much more than even you, What can I say, I guess you didn’t know what to do. You think I don’t know, maybe it’s I didn’t want to, But me being younger, I will always be more mature than you. I stand up for myself, believe in what I say, And always know, I treat people the right way. There is no more to say, nothing more I can do. Any chance of a relationship for us, is now and forever through. You threw that away, many years ago with the lies, Funny thing though the truth, you must know, it never dies. ",anger "Never There You were never there for us, When we needed you the most, You would just disappear when things got tough. And when we did spend time together, it would just end in promises that would later be broken, and then you were gone giving us no reason at all. Did you not think that we would care? Was your life that bad that you had to go and end it there? Were we not good enough for you? Was that it? ",anger "Daddy My dad is never there, My dad is always gone... My dad really cares, he just is never there... I know he loves me so, I just wish he would let it show.. I hate how he always leaves, and stays away for so long.. I wish my daddy would show me love, for I am his little girl... Please daddy, don't go.... Mommy always misses you as I do too... So why keep going, when it hurts us so???? ",anger "FIRE red and hot blazing or not starts out small Then into a hall burning fiercely with all its might angry and tough putting up a fight I AM FIRE ",anger "Don't Be Sad When I Die When tomorrow starts without me, and I’m not there to comfort you, please know that I still love you, cause I know you love me too. When tomorrow starts without me, and you feel lost and blue, I hope these words I’ve written will help to see you through. Someday your pain will ease, sadness replaced by fond memories Come tomorrow you will hear I love you whispered on the breeze. When tomorrow starts without me cause God has called me home I turn, blowing a kiss for thee Sad that you may feel alone. I will miss you tomorrow as I take one last glimpse a tear falls from my cheek I’ll be going home. And tomorrow will start without me ",courage "Love In My Life I married a man too early in life and wasn’t prepared to be a good wife. I believed he loved me and things would be fine. My love for him would grow over time. The years passing by were good for awhile. Then came a time I could not see my smile. He cheated on me and I deserved more. With a heavy heart I went out the door. We parted as “friends”, which ended one day. With a baby conceived he went on his way. He now liked his freedom away from me. I carried our son -- he didn’t want to see. Soon after another cared about me; I ignored the things I didn’t want to see. I married that man -- I thought it’d be best. But soon after that, he was failing the test. Driven by fear, I mistakenly thought A son of “his own” was thing that he sought I now had a toddler and one on the way; there was no doubt, I now had to stay. Things started to spiral out of control. The alcohol had a firm grip his soul. Choosing to leave to protect us all; I was forced this time to really stand tall. Now on my own with two children to raise I examine my life in so many ways. My relationships failed, for that I am sad; but the result of those could never be bad. Now long gone are those men from my past replaced by a “true” love that forever will last. My love for my sons, my two little boys, erase all my pains and reveal only my joys. ",courage "Why Try Imagine a time... when everything was absolutely right. When you looked forward to waking up the next day. When you actually slept through the night. When you finally felt peace. That everything is going to be alright. When all of a sudden your dreams, your hopes and strength are gone forever. All you want to do is scream ""Please God, tell me it's a dream!"" When you wake in the morning to realize its reality. You try to fight the finality. You need just a little bit of normality. You try not to think of ""Why"" all you do is cry. You try to be angry with God, but end up angry at yourself. ""Why didn't I just stay home that day?"" ""Why can't anything ever go my way?"" You crawl out of bed. Decide to give life another whirl. You reach out. Some reach back. Some don't even call back. Just when you thought you had no more to lose. You do. These people you thought to be friends just wanted you to use. So you lay back down just wanting to snooze, thinking why me? Is it how I choose? You begin to give up. You don't see a reason any longer to even wake up. Then all of a sudden you hear the sound of the phone ring or a knock on the door. Someone there to tell you not to give up, you're worth so much more. You begin to cry while this other person is wondering why. You try to say ""Thank you for being my friend today, if it weren't for you I would’ve given up and died."" You now know the answer of ""Why"". It’s to remind you to never give up and to always try. Now when I cry I know and don’t ask why. I get out of bed and again I try. ",courage "Don't Look Back Just keep on walking A small voice said Don’t dare look back Look straight ahead Yes so many things Have changed Think they'd stay As you arranged? Be strong and brave Calm your fears Keep that chin up Dry your tears. Yes love hurt And broke your heart Keep your head And heart apart. Don’t cry over What you have had At least you had it Don't be sad. This will be tough But time will heal Perhaps a new life Will then reveal. You are not new To this whole game You gave your best You're not to blame. The hardest thing There is to do Is love someone Who not loves you. So is it worth it What's to gain When you love someone Who brings you pain? Just walk away And stand up tall Count your blessings One and all! ",courage "A Different Kind Of Hero A hero to me is not just a person who died for there country or went inside a burning building or stuff like that. A hero to me is a single mother who survives everyday by herself. A teenager against all odds getting through life. An alcoholic walking into a rehab center. A father being not just a father but a friend, a caregiver, supporter, a brick wall for his kids. A friend who no matter what or how wrong you are standing up for you and taking your side. A hero who no matter how hard they are being hit or pushed or beat down, no matter how bad they are emotionally or physically or psychologically they stand up and keep going. They push through the pain of life, love, kids, work, school, drugs, sports, parents, heartbreak, alcohol, that to me is a hero. A person who isn’t just there, but is there living, breathing, and surviving. ",courage "Time To Stop Struggling Life is unfair, sometimes the misery we can't bear.. This was a feeling I could never share... I am strong, strong enough to move on from this pain, I won't feel the shame, my life is not a game, tired of these tears and my fears... I will cherish my inspirations... I will find my dream, I promise, that's what I will achieve.. I will find a way to leave.. I'm not who you will deceive.. I believe in miracles, these people laugh like it's hysterical... I won't fall, I may be lost but I will be found... One day I will find the perfect life, life will run beautifully, I will fly like a butterfly through the night, will have a pleasant sight, afraid but I will fight... No boundaries, free my mind of all the pressure, leaving here will be my pleasure.. I want so much to be free, so much I want to see... I want to reach the sky, I want so bad too fly... See, I use to be a fool when I let you treat me cruel... I made a mistake but I wont let my self break.. Leave me, for gods sake... So now I kneel down to pray, for these times of struggle I will just say, I'll leave in your hands. God, I will let go.. ",courage "Sometimes Sometimes we see things that aren’t meant to be seen. Sometimes things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes we need someone to call our own, Especially when we’re alone. Sometimes people just can’t understand, Why things get out of hand. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, Especially when people just don’t care. And sometimes it's hard to say, Why things have to be this way. Sometimes it’s all you can do to get by, Especially when dreams continue to die. Sometimes it’s nice to sit in the rain. Even to just relieve the pain. And when we’ve had a really bad day, Sometimes we just need to get away. We never know what’s wrong with out pain. Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. And sometimes when people get hurt, Even the strongest ones may need comfort. ",courage "Have Courage life is not just waking up one morning and saying ok I want this to happen, it's about getting out there and going for it. . . . life is full of surprises, here, there and everywhere, you never know where you will end up, or who you will end up with, you just have to trust your faith and keep God close. never say never cause you know you can do it, never say later do it right now, never let people bring you down, they will do anything to watch you fall, so keep your head up and your heart strong, and then my dear you can never go wrong. ",courage "A Wing And A Prayer Under the wing of an angel, we feel protected Through prayers to God, we feel connected Peace is said to be offered on the wings of a dove Prayers can bring peace along with hope, faith, and love Wings of a jet plane provide steady flight I pray you remain steady and strong through this fight Butterflies have wings to fly playfully free And free from this monster is what I pray you'll soon be Birds spread their wings as they may leave their nest We're spreading our prayers that you'll always be Blessed Go fight and win this battle you didn't start On the wings of an angel and prayers from my heart ",courage "Memories Memories, memories I have had some were good though most were bad physical and sexual abuse occurred And madness and sadness reoccurred I feel as though I'm on display as CARLEY the messed up school girl here to stay but they will never know how I will grow and be someone some day so look at me in dismay and you discourage me for the last time today. ",courage "Life Will Go On when I was little my life was great but as I got older me and my mom were becoming farther apart my mom no longer cares for me she left me alone she never wants to talk or give kisses and hugs she just don't care anymore I used to try to take all my anger out on myself by trying to take drugs and drinking but now I realize that mom don't care and she never will so I'm trying to become something great something not like her I hate the fact that she's not around but I have learned to deal with it if she doesn't want to be with me why should I want to be with her I have learned that even if you love someone they might not feel the same about you even if it is your daughter I have learned to deal with life as it comes deal with it the best you can and don't let other people control your life life will go on as long as you let it ",courage "Life Is Hard our world is nothing don't you see there's people with money and there's people like me my life has never been anything or made me proud to see every day there's more troubles for me to carry around there's shooting and killing and guns all around I'm tired of waking up and hearing one of my people are down I'm black and Hispanic and its hard to get around some busses won't pick me up but I don't cause problems around racism is something I'm tired of being around but I'm me and I'm going to stand tall and still get around no matter how much hell is coming around ",courage "Our Outrageous Day What do you think Washington would say, If he saw the way our country operates? No Bibles allowed in schools, Everyone calling Christians fools, Hatred toward the founding beliefs, officials lying to keep their seats. Everything done today, Would be outrageous in his day. We are fine with drinking and drugs, Because our country is run by thugs. We want to take the rights of the parent, To somehow protect the children? We need to take a stand, To stop sin in this Christian founded land. All of Our forefather's broken laws, Are a good enough cause, To rebel against the coming evil, Which can be stopped at will. We just need to take a stand. ",courage "Darkness Befalls Gliding deep into the forest Darkness covers me like a blanket And the mist surrounding me I feel like there's no way to flee I look beyond the broad horizon See the moon shine over the sea Like the oceans filled with sadness I run, stumble and try to break free The path encloses and I’m shattered Tears of rain encumbers me Darkness embraces me like a child Now I wait for him to let me be ",courage "My One True Life One true story, Told by a child, Everyone thought, That she was wild. But it was her cousin, Who exceeded the truth, But that was only when, They were in their youth. All grown up, Getting ready to go, Bad little streets, They didn’t know. Her parents thought, She was a lie, But they were wrong, They said goodbye. Runaway, Just like a slave, To never come back, Any day. Live your life, And do what you do, Become the wife, That you want to, Get a job, Just be you, Because by the end of the day, That is only thing you can do… ",courage "Too Broken To Break Here’s to the girl with the invincible spirit, No matter how confused her soul may be. She’s been broken many times, Searching for love that was just not there. She’s learned her lesson now, put up her wall, And never again her heart she’ll bare. For she realized that in the end a body is still a body, No matter who’s it may be, And love may not exist for anyone So we should all just settle and it’ll be easy. But she’ll never give in, All she needs is herself, and who ever she is that day, But this she’ll never know, Because life is surreal When all she does is feel. She thinks with her passion, Sees the world through her heart Even though many times it’s cold, desolate, and dark. Yet at the same time she can see that there may be hope out there, The one nobody else possibly can. She’s a dreamer and an idealist, Life’s greatest pessimist and realist. She’s a contradiction sure, But never a hypocrite, Because in her soul this all somehow fits. She wants to explore the world just to understand what she’s thinking, Dig into the deepest corners of her heart to understand the universe. She often loses herself though, And who she used to be she can never know. Yet she’s happy like this, She’s free and to no one she’ll commit, Except sometimes when she’s all alone, She just wants some place she can call home. She knows every side of every story, Because she has felt absolutely everything, Often all at once. This contradiction, This ability to see in ways that no one else can, Is it a curse or is it a gift? Even she cannot understand how or when or why or what, And sometimes she doesn’t even know if it is. She wants something more, Even when she is sure there’s nothing else out there. But no, she’ll never settle, Especially for a love, if that even does exist. She’ll always hope there’s something out there to bring her bliss. But she doesn’t expect it and convinces herself she doesn’t want it. This is how her spirit is infinite. Oh, how I hope there’s something more than this. ",courage "Courage When it happened I was too young to know how much this affected him how much it took from him he forgot who he was he forgot how to shove food in his face he lost his mind he lost his place his case was called an Aneurysm his brain had dysfunction he could not talk anymore he could not walk anymore for sure we all thought he was done for sure we thought he would give up but he never quit he saw what he wanted he saw what he needed and he had succeeded his vessel had bled his head had sped over the limit but still he never stopped he never turned away and he is the grandpa that I love today ",courage "Fall You may see me struggle but you won't see me fall. Regardless if I'm weak or not I'm going to stand tall. Everyone says life is easy but truly living it is not. times get hard, people struggle and constantly get put on the spot. I'm going to wear the biggest smile even though I want to cry. I'm going to fight to live even though I'm destined to die. and even though it's hard and I may struggle through it all. you see me struggle...you will NEVER see me fall. ",courage "In Life In life there are people that will hurt us and cause us pain, but we must learn to forgive and forget and not hold grudges. In life there are mistakes we will make, but we must learn from our wrongs and grow from them. In life there are regrets we will have to live with, but we must learn to leave the past behind and realize it is something we can't change. In life there are people we will loose forever and can't have back, but we must learn to let go & move on. In life there are going to be obstacles that will cause interference, but we must learn to overcome these challenges and grow stronger. In life there are fears that will hold us back from what we want, but we must learn to fight them with the courage from within. God holds our lives in his hands. He holds the key to our future. Only he knows our fate. He see's everything and knows everything. Everything in life really does happen for a reason: ""God's Reason"". ",courage "Success The road to success is not straight There is a curve called Failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, and caution lights called Family But if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, and a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success!! ",courage "Never Let Go One by one take one step at a time said her daddy, teaching her to walk the little girl only one year old she looked up and smiled and let go of his hand. Now seventeen years old out driving in the snow driving to fast, hitting a pole after getting the news her dad rushes to her hearing the terrible news, she may never walk again. One by one, my dear take one step at a time said her daddy teaching her to walk again. She looked up with a smile as she did sixteen years ago and let go of his hand, for the last time. ",courage "Never Stop Never stop caring about the little things in life Never stop dreaming or give into strife Never stop wondering, are we on our own Never stop thinking has your spirituality grown Never stop building bridges that leads to better tomorrows Never stop trying or give into sorrow Never stop feeling amazed at the beauty that surrounds you Never stop hearing the music or give into the blues Never stop pushing away negative thoughts that make you feel sad Never stop looking at the all the miracles we have had Never stop loving the ones you hold dear Never stop giving or give into the fear Never stop smiling and look forward to each new day Never stop shining in your own special way Never forget that all storms will clear Remember brighter tomorrows are always near ",courage "My Morals Define Me I have never done drugs and never will. I don't give into peer pressure. I believe that drugs are lame. Drugs cause you to make irresponsible decisions. I'd rather be high on life than high on drugs. I choose not to harm my body with illegal substances. I do what I want and if this makes me a loser than so be it. I am proud to be a virgin. I'm not ditzy or dumb. I don't believe everything I am told. Abstinence is the key, so I believe. I am not ready for a child nor disgusting diseases. My virginity is my sanctuary. If this makes me a loser than so be it. Violence is never the answer . Physical disputes are pointless and solve nothing. It is unnecessary and a waste of time. I shall never stoop down to that level of immaturity. I'd rather walk away and be the bigger person. If this makes me a loser than so be it. Being a party girl is not who I am. Partying is not what life is all about. Life does not revolve around alcohol, drugs, and music. There are more important things in life than parties. I have the rest of my life to party, for now I choose to focus on my future and career. If this makes me a loser than so be it. I don't need to dress like a hoochie to get attention. I am classy not trashy. I'd rather be noticed for my intelligence than my looks. I choose to have dignity and respect for my body. I'd rather be liked for who I am than for what I look like. If this makes me a loser than so be it. I am not a follower, I control my own mind and make my own decisions. I stand up for what I believe in and defend my opinions. I'd rather be hated for being myself than liked for someone I am not. If this makes me a loser than so be it. I am unique and one of a kind. I am who I am, and will never change for anyone. I will always be me, now and forever. If this makes me a loser than maybe I am. ",courage "Am Not A Victim Of Breast Cancer I am not a victim of breast cancer. I am experiencing breast cancer. I am not dying. I am living. I am not curing. I am healing and restoring. I am not fearing. I am loving and trusting. I am not fighting. I am ceasing all hostility and conflict. I am not weak or diminished. I am strong and whole and complete. I am not coping or hoping. I am giving and receiving, creating and conceiving. I am not crying. I am laughing until the tears run down my leg. My body is not my enemy. My body is my loving friend, my gentle guide. My life story is not history. My life story is legendary. I am not powerless. I am powerful beyond measure. I am not a drop in the ocean. I am the ocean in a drop. I am not scattered. I am aligned. I am not being destroyed. I am building my sacred stature. I am not trapped or caged. I am as free as a feathery fledgling. My body is not a muddy puddle of despair. My body is a hallowed temple of spirit. I am not filled with shadows. I am filled with illuminating light. I am not a passive puppet. I am an active advocate and enthusiastic participant. I am not tired and bested. I am tied and invested. I am not without a voice or meaning or purpose. I am an angelic messenger. I am not discarded. I am needed. I am not descending, dragging or faltering. I am consistently inspiring and uplifting. I am not dwelling in the reflections of the past or the projections of the future. I am joyfully dancing naked in the unfolding mystery of the present moment. I am not alone or abandoned. I am infinitely connected by the soft, silky vibrational threads of love. I will not forget. I will remember. I will not burn out. I will sparkle forever. ",courage "Forjil You say you’re afraid of being alone You can’t do a thing on your own You don’t know where to get the courage to overcome those fears that bother you I sensed that you needed somebody And now I’m here to fill that somebody Never to leave you alone So you can stand on your own Remember what I’ve told you, that fear is only in the mind? I believe that you can make it, just like me… Because, for once, I’m also afraid And I don’t know where to get the strength to overcome my weakness Now, I am brave enough to stand beside you Yes, I am brave enough… Maybe you’ll ask, “Why are you brave enough?” My answer is simple and true: “I’m brave enough because of You” ",courage "My World the day is through, the sun is down, only the moon seems to be up. I go to bed, I lay to rest, I open my eyes, as into the world I step. I see green meadows, I feel the sun, I feel content as I look around. I keep on walking down the lane, I hear the giggles of kids at play. so many faces all come in glee, the cheer, the laughter, everyone at peace. singing and dancing, all around one man, I take a step forward to join in the clan. we all come together, no color no race, we all want to shout out and to Him give praise, our pastor, our savior, our only true love, the reign of mankind, if only in Him we trust. no rain, no pain, no evil, no shame this is my world, it is yours too. no tears, no fears, no aches, no blame this is my world, I share it with you. ",courage "Fear Itself Is Undefined I lay on my bed soaking my pillow with my tears, I try to remember exactly what it is that I fear. Is it the passing of time or the love that I lack? Is it the mistakes that I've made or the fact that I can't bring the past back? What is it that I'm afraid of? Why am I so scared? Is it the people I've hurt or the people that have hurt me? Am I afraid of everything that I cant seem to see? Is it the love of a friend, or the loss of my family? Is it the possibility that my life can end in a tragedy? What is it that I fear most? What do my eyes say I'm scared of? Is it the sun that sets but won't seem to rise? Is it the hope that I have that always seems to die? Is it the trust of a person that I cannot begin to grasp? Is it all the memories of my horrid past? Is it me? Can it possibly be that the thing I fear most is the thing I can't be? The things that I try to understand? The me that I try to be with when I'm feeling sad? The person I'm expected to be? Is that what I fear? . . . I think the thing I fear most . . .is me",fear "Last Resort A plethora of predicaments race in my mind at best, which one can I fathom to ponder about next. Shall I even think of acting upon what my mind stirs about, or cry my soul asleep by this never ending drought. What will my career be, the words last resort come screaming at me with no one to yell halt. The quick years will pass then they will hit me and it's my own fault. All of my solutions come bearing a bag of infinite errors, my late night thoughts give me shrieking terrors. At what point in time does this maze come to a close. On the inside I am slowly weeping but on the outside I pose. I look around my room and it does not express myself. Question creeps in my eyes at the princess sign of the shelf. I am feeling confusion, don't worry not despair. All I really want in this life is to be without a care. ",fear "He Is Here When her mother gone, the little child's body feels revealed, for the shadows speaks, you are not alone. Close the shower curtains, cover any holes and doors; I am afraid he can see you even more. He is listening to all calls, quiet, we have to be careful, what we say, can you hear him breathing … dogs barking through the phone? He is tapping in, everyday. Lounging in his recliner, daring any distractions in front of his screen, If you dare to cross it, there will a tree on your back, with blood easy to be seen. So never forget, once you cross him, you will be repaid, for he will always be watching, for a mess up, to get you that day. With our friends, he tickled or hugged, sexually and inappropriately, why? Just because. Jealous of the children, for his mind is like a child, needy at all times. wanting all attention from mommy, and If not gained, for this little child, she says, pain will be mine. Off from work he comes, releasing all anger held inside. I am hiding in my room as a child, covered ears, as tears rolled from my eyes. Mommy cries from the mental affects, I assured her it OK, but his voice shouted, he wanted me out of the way. He said the boys were always a sin, for being a male, told his story from before, all were afraid of him, even for a date, was an ungodly knock at door. In dreams, he touched, manipulated and lied, as an adult predator, in the midnight hour, mommy, please come home save me, I am telling the truth, your child not a liar. Wanting, not grateful for all that he can get, smiling, while fake as can be, after getting what he wants, he turns on you, stinging like a bee. Mommy please do not let him punish in anger, with a belt in his hand firm and anchored, but let it be in love, Please Jesus, help me from above. Never to love the children, he rather seek selfish desires, we will always be his enemies, in memory, his abuse remain ours. ",fear "How Do You? How do you tell a friend that you are worried about them? That you think that they are not making good decisions right now. That it scares you to see them like this. You know that you will be there for them, but how do you make them see that? How do you tell them so they don't get mad? Do you tell them straight up so they deny it saying they are ok? It's complicated no matter who you are. It hurts to see your friends like this. You don't want to push them away because you have a special bond. So how do you tell someone you love, this? There is no easy way. ",fear "Me, God And The Devil I've been tainted and shamed Behind my pretty facade Impured by lust and passion Corrupted by silly illusions My soul more broken than my heart. No saint can save me now I'm a sinner with no savior So I ask God to just take me now I want to feel numb forever Numb, cold, and dead. I didn't know innocence can be a sin Accessory to evil plots I fell against his will Leaving me hopelessly scared, Trapped and good as dead. No one knows I've got a secret A secret I couldn't trust someone to keep No one knows what I went through The pain and misery I still feel No one knows except me, God, and the devil too. ",fear "The Abuse When I was little you abused me in every way you hurt me and didn't care because you felt no shame. When I was little I didn't know what you were doing wasn't okay. When I was little I would cry myself to sleep I would try to hide the tears and try to hide from the pain. Bruises all over no more lies to cover up now no one to talk to because of the pain. Finally one day I came to a crossroad do I tell or just stay hidden beneath the covers all day? You now are in prison but I still feel the pain I don't want to cry no more because it's tearing me down... So for you dear daddy I won't shed another tear the end ",fear "Suicide Suicide tempts me every time I swallow, all because this destructive life lead, and the paths I follow. I'm invisible to myself, and will soon be to everyone who once cared. Many never believed me, others always dared. Hurting everyone whomever had my back. The only way I deserve to leave this world is in a black polyester sack. My life, what life, is all down the drain, the only love of my life and all my family left in pain. I'm sorry everyone, I'm sorry for all I've done, but the pain will end now, it will all end once I'm gone. A slice to wrist, a cut to the throat, sleeping pills for the pain hallucinating of being afloat. Lifting to the heaven that I could only dream, blood dripping from my torso like melting ice cream. No breath, no life, no soul, I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry dad, but finally I feel like I can unfold. ",fear "Cry For Help!!! I thirst for help before it’s to late..... I stand alone in the darkness as I lay...... the might of his fist feels like burning coal..... the power of his kick ordains the soul...... the fire in his eyes makes you blind.... but my cry for help you can not find..... I need help and someone to help me now.... he won’t let me leave him so I don't know how..... he is passive and controlling...... as he push me around my body rolling...... I don't think I can save myself...... someone listen to my cry for help!!! ",fear "I Wish I Knew Who I Am You tell me you love me I tell you the same I don't know who I am it's a shame it's insane I want to love me and you like I love my own son Inside I feel dead and I'm totally numb I prick my finger from a rose with a thorn A reminder that our children are of the purest of form A mirror reflection of body we are The more I look the more that I scar The more that I scar the better I feel In this crazy world that seems oh so unreal The whole world is my stage it helps cover my fear For we are all merely actors according to Shakespeare When I speak of the truth it feels like a noose That's slowly stretching my neck And then when I lie the noose opens wide And postpones the decent to my death I feel so amused or maybe confused Of the thoughts that run through my head Its just so unfair with these thoughts I compare My whole life I just can't stay ahead Is it me is it you Is it life is it truth Is it destiny or time Is it yours is it mine I don't know but I hope it comes soon Because it HURTS ",fear "She Wears My Shoes She rode on my wings, shared her dreams, and lit my life with such a glow. I was her protector, teacher and friend, and will be her mother until my end I made a lot of mistakes not knowing the cost in the end, I never intended to hand down the same shoes my mother handed me. But I see that is what I did. And crushing all her dreams. It has been over four years since we have last spoken, but never a day passes that I don't send my love to the stars above, and ask for an Angel to open up their wings and take my place and guide her to follow all her dreams. She will always have a place in my heart that will never be replaced, This is how a mothers love was always meant to be. I hope that someday our paths will cross again, and I can hold her in my arms and tell her I understand better than she could ever know I understand what I did in passing the shoes to her. If I could take it all back, believe me I would. But, for now it’s out of my hands. ",fear "Go Why do I stay when I want to go? Is it because I have hope? Or maybe it is because I don’t want to be alone. I stay and all I do is complain. Complain that I might be going insane. Insane of the thought that it might be my fault. But who is to blame? Is it me or is it him? Neither one of us will go. Although we know we must go. All we do is ignore the pain. Of all the words we exchange. I know I must go but I don’t know. If I go I will be alone. But why do I stay? Only to hear him say “You’re to blame for all my unhappiness and pain.” I know I’m not to blame for the choices he has made. So I stay hoping he will grow. Grow in love and be consoled knowing I will never go. ",fear "I Thank You You kept it real You told no lies I trusted your words And you said that it was okay to cry Hidden from an ocean of lies from the people closest to me.... But you, you revealed them all You answered questions never asked And you showed no regret And with that I Thank You! Wishing the truth were lies Expecting a laugh and you telling me that it was all a Joke! The truth hit me, then stabbed me, then killed me a thousand Times.... I cried that night with the never ending thought of the truth.... I thought I knew my life I thought I understood it all.... But you opened my eyes and unwrapped the hurtful truth.... And I Thank You for being there, to hold my hand....through it all.... And I can never thank you enough for opening the closet of Skeletons.... ",fear "The Voyage The vessel's memories haunt the gloom of the night, I survey its changed shape since days of yore, As I stumble, tremble and fumble to the fore, The mute faces stare with hope as they might, Dreaming of the New World's coming at first light, The pining youth cross the threshold of the door, They are visibly stricken and shaken to the core; We are ghastly, haggard shells and filled with fright, As our modern voyage sails into the shades of night. My heart breaks; A mother's fears, A sister's tears, My soul quakes, A brother nears, My Earth shakes. ",fear "The Storm The winds are wild The lightning strikes The thunder booms The storm is coming The storm represents your fears And all that you have run away from They’ve come back for their revenge Will you face it or run away? Run away, like you did before Let your friends fall, like you did before Or face it, like you should Help them, like you should Chin held high and heart strong Your blood races The lighting strikes, the thunder booms You will not run away You will fight ",fear "The Circle Your moving, but not getting to far. The path your on, will cause you no change. But in your deepest dreams, you suffer much pain. Will you expand yourself, or sit and cry? You want comfort, warmth and hope. And by yourself, It's like catching Smoke. You bend and twist, you scream and yell. For what can you do When it feels like hell. Frozen to the path.. Curse of The CIRCLE! ",fear "The Truth The truth is that she doesn't have, but what she needs to know This life she leads leaves so much space for seeds that need to grow What happened then, before this time, how did it come to be? That she would find herself so hurt and longing to be free The stories told do not ring true to what's inside her head Why can't she live each day with joy, not such an aching dread? When will the past come forth to show her how it all began? Till then she grieves in lonesome silence, coping while she can ",fear "If Perhaps... I sit here holding deep inside Feelings that others wish to hide Confide in me, the troubles go But in me they grow and grow. I know I said I could handle it But I wonder as I think about it. My heart screams for sweet release All it wants is the promise of peace The promise I freely give to others Can I promise myself above others? I’ll let my promise out to you If you will hold me as I would you. I'll trust you if you will me God please, protect me. Hold me and never let me go But if you do, I want you to know. I never meant to go away My heart released it’s own way Perhaps through fear it decided to go. But if that’s it, I did not know. Sometimes it acts without me But if so, now I am free. ",fear "Fear Is Only In Our Minds Taking Over All Our Time I awake... From the weirdest dream... I look I realize It wasn’t a dream The car crash I’m lying in the road In so much pain Lying in a pool of blood Jagged pieces of glass stab Pierce me Barely staying awake Wanting to scream Silent Strangled In the distance I hear sirens It must be an ambulance Everything is going all hazy and black I see blurred figures running up to me There trying to save me I’m not ready to die Someone should have told that kid Not to drink and drive And now I must die Because no one cared to tell him not to drink and drive As I lie here my breath getting shorter On the cold unforgiving road All I can think about is... The blackness Coldness Nothing can save me now ",fear "She Walks She walks alone in the dark. As she looks back there are sparks. She can hear the whispers, The steps, the jumps. She can hear the quickness, Just like darts. She walks at a pace, Not to fast. She hears the whispers, This makes her gasp. She runs as fast as she can, Until she hears the steps again, A hollow speech hard and cold. She wants to run but, It's to bold. She runs and runs, Until she finds, The sound was the wind, So she walks again. TRUTH!! ",fear "Best Of Brands Get that nit comb through those strands, This lice lotion best of brands, Nought point nought between the prongs, Not short hair, but two foot long. Look they’re dying, I think we’re winning, Eyes all bloodshot, red and stinging. Don’t be silly, don’t start to wine, Mummy’s got to be cruel to be kind. Crisis over! What do you think? Still got to get rid of that terrible stink. Back to school, back to civilization. Ready to pick up another infestation! ",joy "Fecal Farm My horse is there in front of me Clip-cloppin' down the road. He stops and flips his tail straight up And drops another load. My cows dump in the meadow, My chickens foul their coop, And flies are buzzin' 'round and 'round Eatin' all that poop. The sheep are out there bleatin'... I gotta' get a grip! The stupid things are standin' Knee-deep in their dip! I swear on this here farm There's every barnyard species, And each and every one of them Is makin' tons of feces. I'm tired of smellin' livestock. I'd like to take a nap. But I can't sleep 'cause I dream of Hogs wallowin' in their crap. Now my wife is in the kitchen Cookin' soup du jour, But nothin' smells real good to me; I'm surrounded by manure. ",joy "My Five Kitty Cats +A268 Buster, Sparkle, Newbie, Speedy and then there’s Pixie our smallest kitty, One, two, three and four and five, they’re so frisky, so alive. Sparkle is my number one, 14 years old and so much fun. Purrs and snuggles on my shoulder, she‘s getting slow and somewhat older. She meows for water from the sink, I turn it on, for her to drink. Speedy is my number two, proud and handsome, I tell you! He prances like a little pony, and you know what? That’s no baloney. He guards the others from above, and sometimes gives a little shove. Newbie is my number three, chubby, plump as one can be. Always cleaning, always licking, he tries to run but his paws keep sticking. He keeps on searching for a hand, to scratch under his collar band. Buster is my number four, always eating, more and more. Loves to snack on lots of munchies, Tender Vittles and some crunchies. Begging, pleading, day and nights. ""Give me crunchies, or I’ll bite!"" ",joy "Green Green is so important Because we see it all around It’s up very high on the trees And on the grass that is on the ground Green is the colour of The plants that grow in the south It’s also the colour of a Brussels sprout That I refuse to put in my mouth Green is on the traffic light When the cars can go All the green disappears When it starts to snow The most important thing about the colour green Is because of my mother NO she is not green It’s her favourite colour ",joy "Writing Utensil I marvel my pencil. My special, long, wooden utensil. I just can't keep my hands from it. I got him from a friend, and we've been inseparable since. I admit, I forgot to give him back. However regrets, I do lack. He scribbles my words, when I can't find what to say. He makes my thoughts audible, and in a neat and clear way. If I make any mistakes, he's always got my back. On the end of his long orange body, there's a pink square that's always keeping me on track. Though he's marked with the number 2, He'll always be number 1 in my book. I will never over-accessorize him or cause any damage to his look. Pens, markers, crayons: they just don't cut it for me. My perfectly sharpened buddy, is all that I need! ",joy "The Ballad Of The Turkey As I walked along the road one day Kicking up stones along the way, I saw a bird of unusual size Who had a large beak and small, beady eyes. He strutted about and ruffled his wings Then he did the most ominous thing. He let out a screech and puffed out his chest I wanted to run from this evil pest. As this bird's mighty exterior did appear The inside of my chest was filled with fear. He put one talon forward, the other one next This troublesome bird was making me vexed. I then did something that was a great chance. I kicked a stone at him to stop his advance. He then chased the stone, oh joy of great joys! I felt myself one of the luckiest boys! Around the corner I ran, straight to my home, Leaving that bird confused and alone. Don't befriend a turkey (for that's what he was) Or he will attack you simply because. ",joy "Lady Gagas Dress I was at home watching TV flicking the channels what could I see lady gaga got an award and as she got out of her seat I was amazed she was wearing a dress made of meat I thought if its good for gaga its good for me I was down the butchers by half past three stood at the counter clothes round my feet I said have you something to fit me that's stylish and neat he held up a chipolata cheeky sod hey this is what I was gifted from god well I got pork chops for pants and rump for a hat turkey trousers and a sausage cravat when he was finished I minced down the street walking on kidneys made for my feet but soon in the heat I started to foam then I walked passed the stray dog home well there was chaos I tried to run as German Sheppard pulled the steak from my bum a sausage dog grabbed my sausage a basset my chops it was such chaos I emptied the shops so my friends if a meat dress your tempted to make take it from me its a big big mis- steak. ",joy "Writing Block I can not write a poem; my brain feels fried. It can do no more. It is as though all my creativity has been trapped, isolated in a room without a door. I fell no inspiration, no ideas are coming to mind. And as I hold this pen in my hands I can form no words on the lines. When I think I'm finally on to something it quickly leaves my brain. Leaving me frustrated and thinking this is all in vain. So I'm sorry if you wanted to hear a poem that surprised or shocked but I just can't give you one, for I have WRITER'S BLOCK! ",joy "The Horse Ride Taking a romantic ride today, We sat upon the wagon. Suddenly the horse lifted his tail And we heard a roaring dragon! The deafening sound hurt my ears And the smell burned the hairs in my nose. My girlfriend sat and glared at me. Somehow my fault I suppose. It was my idea to take the ride, But how was I to know? It really wasn’t in my plans; Didn’t know the horse would blow. The noise and the smell were bad enough, As the wind blew quickly by. But I think the very worst of it, Was the brown stuff in my eye. My girlfriend’s face turned angry red. So I figured I wouldn’t dare, Advise her of the smelly pieces Of horse stuff in her hair. The horse finally stopped; my girl ran away, Stubbornly lifting her chin. I think that horse was enjoying himself, Cause I’m sure I saw him grin. A lesson learned for me today. Although I must confess, I laughed so hard I nearly cried As I wiped away the mess. ",joy "The Day I Remember I opened my eyes I looked to the sky the birds were singing and whistling by my heart got thirst to fly I stretched my hands and put on my band I got out of the bed and forced myself to go ahead I walked out of my room and saw a hand with a broom when I looked up I asked my mother WHAT'S UP! my mother was in anger in the other hand she took a hanger my mother was like in battle and played with me like a shuttle It was the month of NOVEMBER which I always REMEMBER.:) ",joy "A Night With My Lady Her body glistens in the light I urge to play with her all night I pick her up and hold her steady Take a deep breath, we both are ready. I run one hand up her long neck Just touching her makes me euphoric Across her body, my right hand goes I've been practicing, believe me, it shows. Her body glistens in the light I urge to play with her all night I pick her up and hold her steady Take a deep breath, we both are ready. Another deep breath, the tension mounts Have to stay focused, every moment counts I am ready lets get movin' Here it goes, we both start groovin'. Her body glistens in the light I urge to play with her all night I pick her up and hold her steady Take a deep breath, we both are ready. I start out slow to get in the swing As I do she starts to sing The sounds and feelings grow more immense The movements, become more intense. Her body glistens in the light I urge to play with her all night I pick her up and hold her steady Take a deep breath, we both are ready. She screams and screams, while I am gropin' My heart stops as I see the door open My mom walks in and with a frown Says, Your guitar is too loud, please turn it down. ",joy "Pet Port A Potty I took a walk in the city today to try to pass the time away. Saw lots of people walking too stepped right in a pile of doggy doo. I thought for a moment just what could be done to clean up the streets of doggie dung. Maybe I'll invent something really super even finer than a pooper scooper. A port a potty for our four legged friends on every street corner where every road bends. Then I'll become famous for this awesome invention at the monthly town meetings my name will be mentioned. They'll throw a big party and dance in the streets because never again will there be poop on our feet! ",joy "After The Operation So now he has had his eyes done, and at last he can see, but I was a bit worried, what would he think of me? You see, he hadn't seen me, out of two good eyes, would I be a total shock, or a nice surprise? He said ""my God, you are almost grey, you're eyes are much too small, you are old and fat and ugly, I'm not impressed at all"" But as I sat there crying, I suddenly noticed that--- he wasn't looking my way, but talking to the cat!! so yes I think he's very pleased with all that he can see He thinks every thing is lovely, and that includes me!! ",joy "Smarter Than Him I locked my brother in a closet T’see what he would do. And jus' before I think he lost it, He thoughta something new: “Ha-ha!” he said—I thought, “Oh, dear”— “You know, I think I got it! I’m not locked insida here, I locked you outta the closet!"" “Nuh-uh!” I said; he disagreed, So I opened the door on a whim To prove, before he made me bleed, That I was smarta than him ",joy "Picture Perfect She stood there by the ocean, The breeze gently lifted her hair. Of that seagull just above her, She was totally unaware. Seemingly floating in the sky, The seagull’s wings were still. I think it paused to take good aim, And drop a mess at will. Too late she looked above her head, Where the seagull hovered now. Then as I watched in horror, Bird droppings hit her brow. Her scream pierced the balmy air. Splat! The stuff hit her face. Then she saw my camera and me, And stomped off in disgrace. ",joy "Monkey In The Middle There once was a monkey in a city’s zoo, who dreamed of the outside sun. He did like hitting kids with poo, but he felt that that’s been done. So he climbed out in the middle of night, and explored through the cities streets. He stopped when it was turning light And felt he wanted to eat. That poor monkey needed cash to afford his exotic meals. But his stomach led him to the trash, where he ate a cube of butter and apple peels. If he wanted to eat, he needed a job, to pay for the food on his tummy. So he asked many snobs, but each time he left without money. He tried to be an actor, but found out he couldn't sing or cry. He had the smarts to be a politician, but found out he couldn't lie. None one wanted his application. No one gave him a chance. Some were scared because he was from another nation. Other because he didn’t own pants. He only found one job, that paid food and shelter instead of wages. All he was asked to do, was to sit inside steel cages, and dream of the outside sun. ",joy "Little Birdy I saw a little bird today sitting perched next to my bed she was singing such a pretty song I was thinking in my head so I sat and listened for a while calm as can be and quite still till she flew away and perched up on my sill She continued singing a different song louder than before curiously I watched her and started to get bored I thought to myself I am tired still and want to go to bed so I took my pillow sleepily and covered up my head I waited a while and removed the pillow till I saw she was still perched on my window sill I started to turn red I got up to slam the window closed and turned to go to bed When I saw what I had done the little bird was dead Where there was triumph and happiness guilt was replaced instead for in my eagerness to go to sleep I crushed her little head ",joy "A Dieter's Despair Oh my soul, be thou quiet This is not 'another diet' Just a program of exchange Though some things do seem strange Raw vegetables and 'brock-o-lee' Does not sound too good to me Lots of tofu and bean sprouts While my empty stomach shouts The meaning here is quite plain; This program is designed for pain Someone with anorexia planned A program that tastes like sand My hands are sweating, my soul is dreading I must keep this thing from spreading My only hope, the paper shredder It finally made this diet better ",joy "The Greatest Accessory Of Them All People care to much. How their hair looks or their clothes. They don't care about what matters The soul The soul is what truly matters that thing that is deep inside. The soul is always fashionable no matter what the season is. The soul is something that changes color a million times from when you are born to when you die. My soul is yellow today because I'm happy inside. On Thursday my soul was green for I envied another girl. The soul is by far the best accessory you can have. And that's what they should write in the magazines. ",joy "What A Life! I once applied for a life online Sadly however, I was declined They told me I was not eligible So I wrote them a letter to complain They sent it back, it was not legible So on with my search for a life This has given me a bit of strife I don't have enough money or any good looks I can't paint a picture or write a book I can barley chew gum and walk at the same time I can even be quiet enough to become a mime I once asked a professor where to find one He directed me straight to an insane Asylum I can't play the drums or even a fife I guess I'll have to re-apply, What a Life! ",joy "A Boy Named Sue Well, my daddy left home when I was three, and he didn't leave much to Ma and me, just this old guitar and a bottle of booze. Now I don't blame him because he run and hid, but the meanest thing that he ever did was before he left he went and named me Sue. Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke, and it got lots of laughs from a lot of folks, it seems I had to fight my whole life through. Some gal would giggle and I'd get red and some guy would laugh and I'd bust his head, I tell you, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue. Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean. My fist got hard and my wits got keen. Roamed from town to town to hide my shame, but I made me a vow to the moon and the stars, I'd search the honky tonks and bars and kill that man that gave me that awful name. But it was Gatlinburg in mid July and I had just hit town and my throat was dry. I'd thought i'd stop and have myself a brew. At an old saloon in a street of mud and at a table dealing stud sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue. Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad from a worn-out picture that my mother had and I knew the scar on his cheek and his evil eye. He was big and bent and gray and old and I looked at him and my blood ran cold, and I said, ""My name is Sue. How do you do? Now you're gonna die."" Yeah, that's what I told him. Well, I hit him right between the eyes and he went down but to my surprise he came up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear. But I busted a chair right across his teeth. And we crashed through the wall and into the street kicking and a-gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer. I tell you I've fought tougher men but I really can't remember when. He kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile. I heard him laughin' and then I heard him cussin', he went for his gun and I pulled mine first. He stood there looking at me and I saw him smile. And he said, ""Son, this world is rough and if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough and I knew I wouldn't be there to help you along. So I gave you that name and I said 'Goodbye'. I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's that name that helped to make you strong."" Yeah, he said, ""Now you have just fought one helluva fight, and I know you hate me and you've got the right to kill me now and I wouldn't blame you if you do. But you ought to thank me before I die for the gravel in your guts and the spit in your eye because I'm the guy that named you Sue."" Yeah, what could I do? What could I do? I got all choked up and I threw down my gun, called him pa and he called me a son, and I came away with a different point of view and I think about him now and then. Every time I tried, every time I win and if I ever have a son I think I am gonna name him Bill or George - anything but Sue. ",joy "Messy Room Whosever room this is should be ashamed! His underwear is hanging on the lamp. His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair, And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp. His workbook is wedged in the window, His sweater's been thrown on the floor. His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV, And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door. His books are all jammed in the closet, His vest has been left in the hall. A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed, And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall. Whosever room this is should be ashamed! Donald or Robert or Willie or-- Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear, I knew it looked familiar! ",joy "The Tyger Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? ",joy " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a lustre of midday to objects below, When what to my wondering eyes did appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer, With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name: ""Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blixen! To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"" As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; So up to the housetop the coursers they flew With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too— And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack. His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath; He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread; He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose; He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight— “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” ",joy "Rage I lay here to night in a dark silent room, Feeling only pain and uncontrollable gloom. Pictures of the blood flash in my head, Pictures of you laying on the floor dead. Never to come back and mess up my life, I smile as I wipe your blood from my knife. Your darkened red blood spills out on the street, Your Colden heart stop DEAD in its beat, I think back to all the pain and the hurt, As I cover your body and spit on the dirt. From you or you GAME I Can no longer run, And me killing you was my turn for FUN. Oh how they'll cry and Oh how they'll weep, But I know their Sorrow is ONLY SKIN DEEP. As I turn to walk down the cold empty street, I walk to the rhythm your heart USED to beat. I think Back to you lying dead on the floor And SMILE knowing your heart beats NO MORE!!!!!!!! ",hate "Prisioner Of Life Sitting alone in the dark corner. Knees against my chest, head in my hands. Watching the tears run from eye to floor. Happiness left my soul, now so dark and cold. Life in my eye is no longer shown. If only I could escape these chains and cuffs And once again run from my thoughts. I am a prisoner of life. Contaminated by this strife. With Death hanging by my side Black tears were all I cried. Anger was builtup in my blood All the revenge is creating a flood. These chains will one day break. You is all I will seek. Like a snake I will slither. Once you sleep I will smother. Look at me now, try to read my heart All my love and joy is forever departed. You shouldn't have locked me away. To think I was once your little girl. This is what you made me, sick and angry. I am a prisoner of life. Contaminated by this strife. With death hanging by my side Black tears were all I cried. Anger was built in my blood, This is what you made me. Your fast asleep in your bed. Your words echoing in my head. This is my soul being unleashed. In my pocket I reached, Grabbed the knife you once tried But unlike you, I will not fail. A sharp pain opened your eyes. You gave a look of surprise. Look at me now daddy. Aren't you happy? During your last breath I grabbed the key. I am finally free. ",hate "Hands In desperation I search, trying to find myself I look. I search and search, for my heart is lost I search. Too scared to run too scared to move. Paralyzed by pain and fear I search. I fight to live as I stager at the pain. I sit beside me staring at what I see. I shake my head at what I made me. I fight to not listen at the pain I created. The pain I will always see. As I twitch in emptiness my eyes begin to see. The more they find the more it hurts. They look at me as a piece of meat. Trembling legs, week arms, and scars from defeat. I fight my self because of what I see. It's me I'm looking at and me that won’t succeed. I stare and look, searching for answers, for that I concede. I shred my self and my sole with my eyes. They are too strong for me for that I am paralyzed. I see my hands as the grasper of pain. They are the retriever of all I have received from me. As my hands fight back I see. I am only what I want to be, and I still have a chance to defeat me. ",hate "You Better Be Ready For Me..... Hey you! Yeah, I'm talking to you, ""Dad""! Where were you when I needed you the most in my life? You were never at my side, You just wanted a carefree life. Where were you when I was growing up? You were busy starting over, Drinking from your golden cup. Did you pretend that I don't exist anymore, As you were finding someone new? Well, I hope you cherish everyday you live, Because I'm coming for you. Never at a birthday nor graduation, You didn't care for me, that's clear. I hope you have a good story for this, Because it's one I'm dying to hear. ",hate "My Father Is My Enemy If this is who you really are, than I want you far... If this is what a father is, than I never want one... You abandon me in my time of need, Left me with nothing to eat... I had to survive on my own two feet... All the money you had, and still you treated me so bad... You're the worst dad, and that makes you so glad!!! What comes around goes right around... I hate when you yell, I hate that sound!!! I looked for you and hell is what I found! I should of been your princess with a crown instead, you treated me like I was your clown.. Betrayed me and left me with a frown!! Look at my tears, what about my fears? You can't help me anymore, Don't even try, what for? I hate what you have done to me! I use to be so weak, I was afraid to ever speak... Now I have found strength and I'm not afraid... I'm not afraid of telling you to leave. You are my dad just by name, because of you I will never be the same... You are insane and that's how you will remain. My mom is good, she's not the one to blame... She had to play your roll as a dad... You were never there, she was always so fair... ",hate "Without You I HATE being patient, but I’ve got more of it than anyone else I know I HATE having to put my self aside for something else, but I care enough to do it I find myself filled with a lot of that lately... this… Hate… It sounds so weird to say it out loud… Hate…. It doesn’t have a nice feeling. I HATE- It’s just not me. It’s not how I want to be. It doesn’t sound right coming out of my mouth. It doesn’t sound right swirling through my head why is it that I find myself constantly forcing that word out of my head. I hate that… there it is again, lately It creeps up on me. I know what causes it. I’m tired. I’m tired of being patient and putting myself second second for you I hate you I don’t hate you. I hate the power you seem to have over me I hate that I can’t hate you. I feel helpless, The words echo through my head. They echo through the room. The room This room. I hate this room. The room you so kindly took the time to build for me. the room in my head. once my sanctuary. – now my enemy. I hate this room. I’m forced to sit in this damp windowless room. there is no way out. Not yet anyways. I have to wait. wait - And be patient. wait… for you. ",hate "Judgement Day I hate what you did to me I hate what you took from me I hate that it took all these years to get back a broken me Do you know what you did to me not only physically but mentally Do you know how this set me back spiritually I can't count the men I've been with All because of the confusion I was left with Mom too busy working, selling drugs, then finally doing drugs Dad with girls and then in jail who was I left with, who was I to tell But this is no surprise to you, you were there you knew this too Each and every one of you But for now all I can say is I hope I get to see you all on judgment day... Advertisements ",hate "Not Far Away Long ago, when a white man saw his brothers dark face He did not accept him because he was from a different race How could such a horrible thing be so true? The scares, the bruises, all black and blue Where was the love? The, finally, a man was sent from an angel above No more war He opened up for us a brand new door A door where there was no more violence Where we could live everyday in peaceful silence A door where we the right to choose were we wanted to sit on a bus And not make a fuss So, here we are today Each year getting more grey Do we accept people the way they are? We still have a while to go, but we are not very far ",hate "Our House Hate is a word used often in our house We hate every person everything every mouse We dance when we leave And beg not to stay Hate is a word to describe everyday Tears shed everyday laughter a forgotten sound Love is a word never ever found ",hate "Outburst As my heart explodes with hate I cannot but cogitate Your eyes, your voice, your soul divide Could lead my to suicide I hate you more than Jews hate Hitler I hate you my childhood hitter This anger fills me To the top This shaking will it ever stop? if you were but a sheet of paper I might kill you with my stapler But your not and woe betide I am not fit for parricide ",hate "Life Moves Way Too Fast You're the reason I get up to face each hectic day How did our lives get so consumed with nonsense on the way We used to take the time to laugh and play a game or two But now it seems we fight a lot and cry way too much too So when you go to sleep at night I'll slip in by your side I'll hold you close and squeeze you tight and feel amazing pride You're the one that I love best, it's very clear to see With every day I know I'm blessed that you're a part of me Now let's just try to slow it down and savor all that's past For that's what molds our future, and life moves way too fast ",love "A Lovers Dance A lovers dance is patient and kind It feeds your heart, soul and mind It brings you joy and happiness within Knowing that he or she will be with you Through thick and thin. A lovers dance can be recaptured Only if the partners heart has not been Fractured. A lovers dance has no mistakes It plays no one not even games. A lovers dance is slow and kind Easy to learn but hard to find. A lovers dance. ",love "A Moment Of Truth My dear love, I wanted to share My thoughts, my feelings and What makes me despair I want to share with you What makes me happy; what makes me feel blue.. So you can sense that my love is honest and true. Every day not a single minute Passes by without you in it Your skin, your voice, your body and your touch All of these moments, I miss them so much. You are so present, so deep in my heart And our souls, I just know, will never part, But circumstance and distance can be so overwhelming They close doors and create doubt and we start blaming.. There are actions of mine and I know that for sure.. That feel so wrong, though my intentions are pure They are painful and impossible to bear And you feel it's all so unfair. You can't run from yourself; There is no place to hide It just hurts you so deep It hurts your heart and your pride. Then I worry that if I continue to stay Will it be wrong and will I be in your way? I fear that I am not at all what you need And that this truth will make my heart break and bleed. Then I sit here and wipe away my tears Wishing you could kiss away my fears If only you knew how much€¦. I miss and need your embrace and your touch I know I can't hide from my thoughts and my fear And I know at these times I don't seem near But you break down these walls With the strength of your love And then I feel blessed From God above! My love for you runs so deep through my vein That I dream of you, in spite of the pain. ",love "What I Love About You The sparkle in your eye, The warmth of your skin. Your breath on my neck, That shakes me within. The touch of your hand, The smell of your hair. The naughtiness in your smile, That strength in your stare. Your kiss on my lips, Your body near mine. The stroke of your touch, That feeling inside. The Compassion in your embrace. The power in your face. The beating of your heart. That we may never part The beauty of your kiss, and that magic in your touch. It is for all these reasons and more, Why I love you so much……….. ",love "There's No Obscurity As I gaze into his liquid gold eyes, Poetry radiates from his warm soul His lips brush mine and I soar through the skies Passion seizes me; I loose my control An amalgam of thoughts pierce through my mind There is love, trust, yet I feel petrified I know destiny; our fate’s intertwined But what if he’s a dream, one I’m denied? A thousand years I could spend with those suns Amid his presence I’ve conquered all realms I’ve witnessed beauty that forever stuns And have basked beneath his forest of elms Then and there, I grasp truth with clarity He’s in my arms; there’s no obscurity ",love "Searching Soul I crawl in bed and lay my head upon my pillow, with thought’s of the day falling away Behind my eye’s your face comes to me with love, I can see your trust for me in your eye’s Your windows, I reach out my hand to you as you turn to leave me. I touch your hand you stop I move to face you to see your soul As I come to your face only for you to turn away again what are you hiding from, let me see, you tell me that you're worthy of love, you're not free in your heart, you don’t know how to give your heart away Pain keep’s you scared afraid to be open, fear has you frozen, I place my hand’s along your face bring you down to my eye’s look deep within your window’s to your soul I see your fear there holding tight to you, I place my lip’s to yours and breathe your air in, in return I breathe mine into you, with one deep breath your wall’s fall and a new feeling is replaced, Love is now within you I close my eye’s and kiss you good bye, you ask me to stay why must you go you say, I say I have gifted you, my love is now yours keep it safe, share it, love like never before, share the gift we are all giving, I turn from you and walk away with joy in my heart, my love for you now is never ending, you will always carry me within your soul, even though I have never been with you. ",love "Our Son What a glorious day When our souls intertwined and our hearts danced together. When you flowed in me and a flower blossomed inside. When a heart began to beat Life awoke from sleep all because of us. Our blood joined and formed a third party Like a supernatural show of illusion. Slowly a human was formed Inside of another, implanted by yet another. We amaze me, he amazes me! You helped me achieve what none can do alone. I gave you a piece of you and you a piece of me. The amazing transformation from inside to the world was just overwhelming. I wish you were there. Just the fact that our baby a living, breathing creature of God Came and looked at the world for the first time. He took his first gasp of air, made his first sound. We created life together. A bond was built forever in that instant That you touched so deep and implanted yourself. Every time I look at him I see you I see me I see yesterday I see today I see tomorrow I see eternity. I feel joy I feel love I feel loss I feel pride I feel wisdom I feel strength I feel stability I feel real. I love us so much, for together, we created our first son ",love "Untitled Love Your beauty is unspeakable. Your love is inescapable. And I have fallen deep for you. The heavens twilight stars, Lit up the night sky, And I saw you through the midnight gloom. Winters death, Took away my breath, And stopped the bloom of love. But the radiance that came from you. Reflected off the snow, Melted away all my fears. And dried all my tears. Now I pray to see you again. In the chilled wind, I smell your perfume. My love is only for you. How long I’ve waited to see your face again. I wish this wouldn’t end… I wish I could send, A love letter straight to your heart. From me to you, my love is true. A vampire, I wait outside my tomb. To see you again To be in a lovers sin… I pray unto the gods. I pray unto it all. So I wont fall, Far from you… Just please my lover take my heart… ",love "The Meaning Of Love To love is to share life together to build special plans just for two to work side by side and then smile with pride as one by one, dreams all come true. To love is to help and encourage with smiles and sincere words of praise to take time to share to listen and care in tender, affectionate ways. To love is to have someone special one who you can always depend to be there through the years sharing laughter and tears as a partner, a lover, a friend. To love is to make special memories of moments you love to recall of all the good things that sharing life brings love is the greatest of all. I've learned the full meaning of sharing and caring and having my dreams all come true; I've learned the full meaning of being in love by being and loving with you. BY KRINA SHAH HA COLLEGE ",love "My True Love I have a feeling That I can comprehend In my deepest thoughts your are More than just a friend. I wouldn't want to Rush us now As love we explore But there's a growing love inside That we just can't ignore. I love the times we Spend together. We are comfortable And free. I think of you when we are Alone. I think of you and me. We have a share Secrets to uncover. There’s more To life then we will both discover. I love you always. I’ll love you when you're dumb, I’ll love you when you're smart, I’ll love you anyway you are, Right from the start. I’ll love you if you're tall I’ll love you if you're short, I’ll love you if you're pretty, Or just an ugly dork. I’ll love you if you're toothless, I’ll love you if you're blind, Anything that's wrong with you, To me you'll be fine. My heart is opening up now, Unlike it used to do, I see the pain that's in your heart And sometimes I feel it to. I’ll love you tomorrow, I’ll love you today, I’ll love you forever, And forever always. ",love "Fires, Wine, Beach, And Time Crackling fires and glasses of wine a walk on the beach forgetting the time this is all nice and things we should do but these aren't the things that make me love you Fighting for bed sheets and racing for the better car aiming for my mouth with animal crackers from afar tipping the canoe and watching lunch float away these are the special things that make me want to stay Slapping an insect from my arm onto yours Holding everyone up taking pictures on tours Forget about reservations there's a hostel in site or maybe we'll backpack it and camp for the night These are the special things that make me love you Your educated, witty, funny and true So next time you kiss me or take me by the hand I want you to know just where I stand I don't need fires or glasses of wine I don't need beaches to forget about time And even though we have done that and more It's your love that makes me stay, it is you I adore I love you with all of my heart... ",love "Eyelid Dancer Eyelid Dancing Me on the left and you on the right the way we laid our bodies the start of the night. My head on two pillows as yours lay on one tired from the day and all we had done. One arm under pillow, the other kept you warm I'd pull you in close during thunder and storm. I still remember the sweet scent of your hair As we closed our eyes and I held you for prayer. The rise and fall of breath from your chest would remind me of that day that God had blessed. Your face would go soft and lips would yawn You'd fall asleep with the television still on. Middle of the night your house stayed warm The fan on high was always the norm. I'd stolen the blanket and kicked down the sheet The only pillow you had now lay at your feet. Sometimes I'd wake while there you still lay I'd creep to your bedside and kneel as to pray. I would lean in close as if to steal a kiss These moments of affection are the ones that I miss. I’d sit and watch while you lay there and snore I’d sometimes fall asleep with my head on the floor. You always thought you slept without peep Instead of counting them you baa’d like a sheep. Your body lay still ‘cept for the rise and fall Of your beautiful body that lay there in sprawl. But the most memorable part of those sleepless nights Wasn’t the snoring, the prayer or absence of lights- It was the way in which your eyes would flicker Beneath lid and lash I would try not to snicker. To me it was funny to just watch them move As if they were dancers stepping to groove. I could only guess what your mind would dream Maybe thoughts of our future and how it would seem. Would it be an uphill battle, a test for all time?, Or simply steps in a stairwell that together we’d climb. Most of the mornings you’d wake with a smile And some you slept in for at least a little while. But now these memories are just written in line And filed in a cabinet in the back of my mind. Memory of you sleeping, snoring, eyes wide shut Now my heart beating, bleeding, crimson and cut. Your eyelids would flutter as your eyes would dance And I’d pray to God to just give me the chance- To fix what I'd done and to right the wrong Of the poor choices that I'd hidden for oh so long. These are the thoughts I now remember the most the memories in my heart I still hold so close. Times I sat by your side as night was still grey All through the morning before dark turned to day. I’d ask Him to bless this love I’d forsaken Taken for granted and stole for the taking. Unfortunately I received a different kind of answer but you will always remain my eyelid dancer. ",love "Treasures We Own When my hand is wrinkled so, it's you that I will still want you know. As my hair turns silver and gray remember me as I was yesterday. My long red hair blowing in the breeze, we loved each other with ease. Now in the park your hand I hold, you keep me warm as it turns cold. We sit on a bench and feed the birds, not a single word needs to be heard. Remembrances of years gone by, we both smile...we both sigh. Remembering our first glance, and for hours how we danced. The flowers you gave to me for no reason, and the little things you did every season, made me a believer in true love. The kind that's been blessed from above. Our children have grown and left our home, all those memories we now own. A treasure of love is between two hearts, nothing has ever torn them apart. Our love has stood the test of time, we are still together our souls entwined. Until the day we shall pass from here, eternally we are one soul my dear. ",love "Dream Keeper I don't think you will, Ever fully understand How you touched my life And made me who I am. You are the keeper of my dreams The man who holds my heart The one I want to spend my life with. The one I always stand. Stand beside through thick and thin, Through all that life throws our way Knowing that this special love we share Will guide us each and everyday. I don't think you could ever feel All the love I have to give And I'm sure you never realize You've been my will to live. ",love "Forever Connected Every moment we spent together Has touched our lives, our souls forever The things that we shared and learned Is permanent growth that we've earned. The person that I have grown into today Did not get there by chance, no way I am who I am partly because of you And you are YOU because of me, too The changes I see and what I have learned about me are a response to how we affected our lives and what we discover in each others eyes. It is uncertain if we have to part or one day live together Either way, we have touched our lives forever! No matter what the future will show No matter what we are told. We are connected on such a deep levels That no one can remove that, not even the devil. Our feelings might be different a year from now But you are part of me forever somehow A part of me will always be you and a part of you will always be me. no matter what happens ,that much is certain our souls are one until life closes the curtain. I will love your forever For worse or for better You are tattooed in my heart And nothing can tear our souls apart. I will never forget you For my love is honest and true. ",love "Love So Pure its sweet like the nectar of the garden flower, its soothing like the buzzing of a bumble bee, its warm like the rays of the morning sun, its the search of a love so pure which keeps me on the run. its the pulse in my vein, the thoughts in my brain, in every breath that I take, the smile my lips make, its in the twinkle of my eye, till the day I die. its the dream in my sleep, its springs freshest leaf; a love so rare like this will always be with me for keeps. its the warmth of my blood, as my feelings flood, as says my heart's beat, its depth touches the ocean's feet. even if its heart searing pain, with nothing to gain, I will feel it as the tear on my cheek, and without words my soul will speak. a feeling so sincere, a bond so strong, I know my soul will never guide me wrong. I will wait till my last sunset, till my heart slows down with a dull ache, till my eyes are wet, till I meet my soul's mate, yes, I will wait. ",love "When I'm With You In your arms, I’m in my safe haven. With you holding me tight, I have no other craving. All I need, is that one look, that says you’re always there, just like in a fairy-tale book. Your eyes talk to me, as the world stands still. My once empty heart, now with love does fill. Your eyes tell me, that you'll love me everyday. No matter what may come, you'll be there to stay. I tell you everything and never with a lie. All my worldly secrets, and everything that once made me cry. Everything in my past, with you I can forget it all. I know I can trust you, to catch me if I fall. If only I could explain, how much love I have for you. Then maybe, just maybe you'd feel it too. ",love "I Will Always Be There For You I will always be there for you, I am your little friend.. I will always be in love with you, all the way till the end.. I will always care for you, I will never leave... you are one person, I can never deceive I shall go off to sleep, much before you think, Maybe I’m not with you, The next second you blink The day, when I'm not with you, Just close your eyes and take my name, I promise you dear. Your life will be the same. I will love you more and more, with each rising day, I will always be there for you even if we are far away ",love "Love, Love, Love She laughs when you make mistakes, And cries when you ache. She tells you silly things, And loves it when you sing.. So weird and funny but its true She could make you smile when you're blue. No matter what people say or do, She'll always stand beside you But the sad part is, You never noticed all of these. You took her for granted, yes you did Thought it was ok for she was easy to please. No chocolates, not even roses No special dates, never gone to places But it's ok for it didn't matter Coz you promised to hold her forever. Sweet words left unspoken, Romantic moments never happened. But though you never did what's in her dream, Holding her hand had always been a perfect scene. I laugh when you make mistakes And cry when you ache. I tell you silly things I love it when you sing. So weird and funny but it's true I've fallen so deeply in love with you And no matter what people say or do I'll be here forever loving you. Simple gestures of love give me shiver It's like a promise of love forever And though were not perfect I wont ask for more Coz you're the only one I've ever dreamt for!! ",love "I Love The Way You Love Me I love the way you look at me, I love the way you kiss, I love the way you have made my life fill with sudden bliss. I love the way I always feel whenever your around, I love the way I miss you when ever you leave town. I love the way you make love to me and then roll over and fart, I love the way you hold me so near and dear to your heart. I love the way you argue, I love the way you laugh, I love the way you sit inside a bubble bath. I love the way you love me and one other thing is true I more than anything in this world love how I am so in love with you. ",love "Dancing Under The Pale Moonlight We danced a dance to last for a life time. You held me close and told me you loved me. Forever, you shall be in my heart, soul and mind I knew you wore the sweetest man, so loving and so kind, to me. We are meant to be my love and be in love for all times. If you wore to come back to me, I would show you how much you mean to me. Oh don't you remember us dancing under that pale moonlight. Every thing was serene and beautiful. Every thing was right. You wore the one that held my hand and comforted me through the storms. You are the sunshine, the wind and rain.. and wiped away all the sadness and pain. Once again, you can be all these things to me, if only you return. Please come back my angel man and tell me those words of love into my ear. You have nothing to fear, as I will always be true to you and want only you. Together we can make the best couple around my love for you will never cease. So come back, I hope and pray that that someday will be today. ",love "Take My Hand Please take my hand, come walk with me I will show you the way, and let you see How love and happiness will make you feel And make your life feel so unreal I will hold you tight All through the night And never let you out of my sight For you belong to me For all the world to see ",love "Lying In Your Arms, San Francisco Awaits So in depth, hold on with all of my might. Waiting in the rain, a cold winter night. Inhale, exhale. Calm as I am. Hair blowing in the wind. Somebody take my hand. My eyes they close; As I breathe in deep You run through my mind And my life is complete. I open my eyes But you're still not there No one could take your place. With you my heart I share A cold afternoon, Hands as cold as ice Thoughts go through my mind My feelings are concise Lying in your arms We are the perfect match The distance is discouraging Yet still I am attached Sitting by the fire, Thinking in a distant stare Waiting under streetlights Nobody could compare ",love "When Love Begins I always knew that love would come find me someday but never did I know that it would be you who was headed my way you caught me off guard and took me by surprise but you simply captivated me, the same way you do when I look into your eyes It's true that every good and perfect gift is from above you were presented to me as a beautifully packaged gift full of humor, talent, intelligence, beauty and love ""it isn't finding the perfect person but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly"" we all have our flaws but when I view you through my eyes, perfection is all I see From when you laugh to when you're upset, I still love the little things you do especially hearing you laugh and seeing your nose wrinkle the same way mine does too coming into this relationship has been hard at times but we've made it through I know as long as we're on this journey together, there's nothing that we can't do. Sometimes I wonder if what we have is too good to be true too scared to get my heart broken and scared of the thought of losing you but in the end, I trust in the author and perfecter of what I believe because what we ask for in Him, we in return shall receive ""Where your treasure is, your heart will be also"" is how the saying goes I may not know what tomorrow may bring, for God is the only one who knows the one thing I do know is that you are my one and only a treasure in my heart that I want to devote my whole life to completely I know I don't need to prove my feelings to know they're true because what I've known in my past, doesn't come close to the experience I've shared with you I've had the experience of being in relationships before however, this is the first time I've been truly happy... I couldn't ask for anything more it's an honor to know that I am yours, as you are mine and I trust God that He'll bring us together in His beautiful time For now, I'll be waiting patiently for that day when we'll be together that precious moment in time when I'll say, ""it's you that I want to be with forever"" God made everything beautiful, precious and new just as beautiful and precious as the day will be, when I look into your eyes and say, ""I Love You"" ",love "Heart And Mind When I met you, my life changed Don't know when this feeling came I got out of bed one morning Shocked about this feeling It's not right to love you, I know But I can't force myself to forget you You gave color to my life Though I know the time is not right I told myself to stay away from you But I can't teach my heart not to love you This feeling I had for you keeps growing A reason for me to be afraid of what this could bring My mind always telling me to let you go But my heart is always saying ""I Love You"" This heart really rules my mind And that is why I can't stop this feeling inside Asking God to help me to decide Which one will I follow Heart or Mind? God has purpose to what I feel For He only knows about what is real One thing in common between my heart and mind Is that they're both saying what is right My mind is right and so with my heart But one thing is for sure, You are a part of my Life. ",love "Uninvited Guest Uninvited Guest Feel broken down, my body aches My heart it bleeds from past mistakes Can't stop the tears, they fall like rain The words are spinning 'round my brain So scared and feeling so alone The coldness fills my every bone No food, no sleep, can't think at all Each way I turn, another wall This darkness haunts my very soul My world seems dead I've lost control The only weapon is my pen Depression has moved in again ",sad "Depression Depression is running through my head, These thoughts make me think of death, A darkness which blanks my mind, A walk through the graveyard, what can I find? Black shadows walk in between the graves, How many lives have not been saved? Six feet under if not more, How I’d like to go down and explore, The feeling of lying in a box, I can’t get out, is it locked? Is it day or is it night? Are birds singing or have bats taken to flight? I know one day this is where I’ll go, Am I afraid? I don’t think so! Will I be able to explore the feeling of death? After I’ve taken my last breath? Or will I be a shadow in between the graves? Will I know how many lives have not been saved? After this life is there another one? With a different moon and a different sun, I won’t go to hell as I’m already there, A place full of sadness, a place full of despair, So there’s nothing to live for, no future no past, So I might as well end it, end this life at last. ",sad "Falling From Darkness Falling from darkness To a place I don't know Everything's moving with no place to go I feel so alone and scared As I fall, I wonder, ""Is anyone there?"" As the days and nights pass right by I count the nights I just lay and cry Falling from faith, falling from love Please, is there anyone up above? Never did I want to feel like this, When the answer lies with the slit of the wrist My mind is racing to find another solution Before it's too late and I'm just an illusion. No one knows how I really feel I just want him to hold me and help me heal As I fall, I feel the rain I begin to think that may be he isn't the key to ease my pain. ",sad "Echoes Of Goodbye Endless footsteps lead on along the ground The grieving people that were here cannot be found The black clouds come and hide the crying sky Amid those timeworn, lonely echoes of goodbye A young man lived here with a wife, a child, a song Life he had, but somewhere something went wrong A mistake--and he left a mourning crowd, Left them in a dark, black, and shadowed shroud They buried my daddy that day in the rain And I cried as I held Momma's hand Those tears on her face revealed all the pain We never could quite understand At the funeral, they'd said my daddy had been A good man and too young to die, And the child I had been asked over again Why hadn't he told me goodbye? Endless footsteps lead on along the ground The grieving people that were here cannot be found The black clouds come and hide the crying sky Amid those timeworn, lonely echoes of goodbye ",sad "Stress Stress is eating at me every minute and second of the day, how do I cope with the horrible effects and make it go away? I feel so tired and run down and I don't sleep, I lie in bed at night and wonder why it runs so deep. Everyone asks why do you look so sad, do I tell them that my stress is eating me up and that I feel really bad? Does everyone notice how I walk around in a daze, and that I have deep black bags under my eyes nowadays. I wake up every morning feeling so hopeless, like nothing ever goes right and wondering why my life has to be such a mess. Stress is my one worst enemy, it’s taken over my mind and my whole life in every single degree. ",sad "The Girl I Used To Be I tell myself that everything's going to be ok, that there is no reason for all this pain. The time it took to change, the time it took to see all those mistakes. The life I had, I can't have back. The choices I made, affected me in all those ways. The mistakes I made have not been forgotten. The tears I shed, the sounds I made, the feelings that left me feeling in a different way. Yet I can't see why these tears feel so unreal. I'm not the same, my words are unsaid. What I hide, is buried deep inside. To know, to love, to breathe. It hurts to know that I'll never be the girl I used to be. The one that would always laugh, the one that you knew would always be strong. The feeling is real, the truth is sealed. I cry in the dark, cuz I know I cut too deep. The blood is like the rain, in every way it drifts away. The scars are real, but the wounds in the heart are another mark. If you only knew what I've been through, or maybe you could take a walk in my shoes. I'm not fake, I'm not a doll, I just don't think I'm the same in any way. So where did my soul go? Why did I ever let it runaway? What happened to that girl? The one that could make you laugh, the one that would always take you out? What happened to that girl, cuz I'm lost without her? I'm no longer me, the mistakes changed me, but did they change her? If only I would know. ",sad "The Man It's hard to describe how I feel right now I want to explain it but I don't know how I can't believe its come to this it's our world, not just his no matter how hard we try the man can never hear us cry we could scream and yell but he is in his heaven while we're in our hell The little boy wants his acceptance but the man keeps his distance the little boy has so many ""whys?"" but the man won't open his eyes The little girl just wants her dad but the man doesn't understand the little girl just wants to be kissed and hugged but all the man does is shrug The woman just wants him But the light is getting dim She loves him with all her heart But the man keeps tearing it apart no matter how hard we try he can never hear us cry we could scream and yell but he is in his heaven while we're in our hell I want to know one more thing with my last bit of strength is this it? Is this the end? ",sad "Complicated Families... So many tears shed in the dark of night, hidden away in our private thoughts only to be shelved with morning's first light because of no courage to speak of the pain this part of our lives remain the same... Mother's and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers gather for holidays they hope will heal while gathered together sharing a meal what they bring, back from the past, perhaps they'll be able to bed it, at last. Years of analysis, a lifetime of good, can be shattered with just one word, maybe a look, or gesture of scorn; any of which destroys years of progress, all the good overturned, At least that's what I'm told, over and over again... I sit by a letter, addressed to my sister, no courage to post it, no guts to muster. I've written the things I needed to say; will she get my meaning or stray away? into her own thoughts to calm her that day... thoughts of comfort, truth not portrayed. It must be nice to be the favored child of choice, to not know the feelings of a life not rejoiced, to know through life, whatever wrong you've done in the eyes of the parents, you'll remain number one; to not know what it's like to give of your soul for recognition that you will never, ever know... ",sad "Stuck In The Past Stuck In The Past, Old memories, old actions, old regrets, It seems someone never forgets, They seem to return over and over again, When will they disappear, when when when... Why are the details so important, They aren't even related to us, Do they really have to add up, or have to be continuous? Feels like being stuck in the past, am curious to how long it will last, It eats away the present o so fast, that even our future will become the past. ",sad "My Papa Three years ago my papa died, I remember all the tears I cried. I remember the times of basketball, Eating ice cream, cookies, and all. He went through so much pain, I don’t think I could do the same. Staying alive through the years, Never letting me see his tears. I was writing him lots of letters, Hoping it would make him better. Although it made me sad, When he went to a better place it made me glad. Every time he gave me a hug, He made me feel snug as a rug. He died before my sister was born, It is very hard not to mourn. I remember how we use to talk, Making me laugh when my mom he mocked. I talk to him everyday, Never running out of things to say. I look up in the sky, Remembering of when I didn’t want to say goodbye. Forever I know we will never part, Because he is always in my heart. ",sad "Different As Black And White I dont understand why cant you see just what your yelling is doing to me open your eyes take a look you used to read me like a book but times have changed as they tend to do and my life is turning into a zoo tears fall hard my head starts to pound and all at once my heart hits the ground I dont know what i did to make you think i cant do anything right for lately it seems our hearts and our dreams are as different as black and white ",sad "Depressed? people say imp perfect but they don’t know that behind the grades my life crumbles before my eyes no one knows who I truly am well I’ll tell you who I am I’m a girl who wants to be wild and crazy like a normal kid but can’t because I’m expected to be a perfect little girl to live up to my perfect cousin but I’m not her and I don’t want to be her I’m a girl that has been picked on and called so many names that I’ve started to believe it I remember when I used to be an outgoing girl but now I hide in my shell afraid of what people might think my life is messed up behind the perfect show and no one knows it people in my family even try to hide it but they raised a smart girl and I know everything for now I’ll keep playing the perfect child but soon enough my outer shell is going to crack and they better be prepared for what emerges what conflicts I’ll cause what family disagreements will occur because even I don’t know... ",sad "How Dare You! How Dare you do this to me. How Dare you stand there and let us be. You not wanting this marriage and working late is how this began. I now know this has to end. I have a responsibility to be strong and be there for our boys. They are human they are not toys. They want-they need their dad instead of wishing and being sad. How dare you do this to me and I go on and let this be. How dare you stay married to be all these years and stand back and watch my tears. I know you don't want me and I know this much is true I am stronger now instead of being blue. To tell you the truth I don't care anymore your lies and you I no longer stand for or adore. You stole my heart-my pride-my soul you are not a human you are just cold. You don't love me or want to be married -I don't know how many times I have to be told but I realize now you were being you just bitter and cold. How dare you do this to me and stand there and let this be. Do you feel pain or are you just mad for once in your cold life I want you to feel sad. Payback is hell and that is what you deserve and I hope you will feel pain and unwanted everyday in everyway. How dare you do this to me-I have to let go and I now know this is how it has to be. I will eventually need to pack up and leave. When we say our goodbyes I will be drying my eyes. How dare you wanting to leave I just have to realize we were never meant to be. ",sad "Listen Up Mom will you sit down To listen what I have to say We can be in the same room And be miles and miles away We are not a happy family anymore Do you think you fix this You can’t be Cause you are never home Do you still remember my face Do you think a father figure will help It won’t I already have one I don’t want another You can marry a million guys We still won’t be a happy family Do you notice I’m slipping away Do you notice the scars on my arms I’m going crazy stuff just so you will notice me But the thing is I just want my mom back I want my best friend I just want to go back Where I told you everything Is that possible All the tears I’ve cried I just want my mom back! ",sad "Listen Up Mom will you sit down To listen what I have to say We can be in the same room And be miles and miles away We are not a happy family anymore Do you think you fix this You can’t be Cause you are never home Do you still remember my face Do you think a father figure will help It won’t I already have one I don’t want another You can marry a million guys We still won’t be a happy family Do you notice I’m slipping away Do you notice the scars on my arms I’m going crazy stuff just so you will notice me But the thing is I just want my mom back I want my best friend I just want to go back Where I told you everything Is that possible All the tears I’ve cried I just want my mom back! ",sad "A Smile A smile is just a Gesture, That's made on one's face, What if the knew, All I needed was space? I NEED to breathe, NEED to get away, Don't know how much longer, I am here to stay. We had such fun, Used to laugh all day. You said you wouldn't leave, You said you would stay. But know you are gone, And I must force a smile, Because you had told me, It was just for a while. Now we are leaving, Leaving all our pasts here. Ditching the friends and the family, That have grown so dear. You tell me to be happy, To have fun for a while, But how can I have fun, When I can't find a smile? ",sad "I Guess It Didn't I know I should I wish I could Just let you know What must not show Another life That is filled with strife I said no but I guess what I meant did't really show he drugged me then hugged me and after that he stripped me of my dignity and stripped me of my confidence I know I should I wish I could Just let you know what must not show another life That is filled with strife I said no But I guess what I meant didn't really show that when a girl says no she really means no ",sad "The Ghost The ghost that hunts, but hasn't died. He left after only a short time. Never wrote or so I thought. Years pass and something tore him a part. I've always thought something wasn't right. She tells me my father isn't who I love. My little mind only cries. My little mind only hates. He left and never saw all the wondrous things that I've done. The ghost that hunts, but never died. I haven't heard a word in a long time. I'm sweet sixteen, but without the sweetness. For the past eight or nine years on my birthdays before I blow out the candles, I wish for his presence to join the room. Or maybe later to see him in a dream. I pray constantly for God to bring him back to me. I see my friends with both their mommy's and daddy's. I wonder maybe that could be me. Jealously isn't a pretty thing and I wish not to be. I tell them love for what you have, because the someone unfortunately doesn’t have a dad. The ghost that haunts, but still lives. Will you HELP ME FIND MY DAD! ",sad "Not Letting You Go Grip my hand Don’t ever let go, Just give me one more chance To let you know, I didn’t mean what I said And I never thought you’d be here, In an hospital bed, Lying cold, numb, almost dead, And I can't take it, Please pull through I know you can make it, Don’t leave me here Make me shed this tear You’re all I’ve got, Even if I appreciated it or not, You’ve always been there, Near or far apart, Even though I didn’t realize, You were in my heart, And I know you’re strong And to this fate you don’t belong, I need you here to comfort me, I need to you to fight, Don’t shut your eyes, Don’t fall into the light, Because if you go, my world will fall apart, And I’ll have a broken heart, And now as you lie here I know, I’ve always needed you, Right from the very start, And I’m not letting you go. ",sad "The Pain Shows When I look into your eyes, I see the pain you try to hide. You try to be tough, But the pain shows The hurting, And the suffering that this is causing you The pain shows Although you act as if nothing is wrong, The pain shows You try to be brave But the pain shows You try to hide the tears But the pain shows Who knew looking into your eyes would reveal so much pain ",sad "Does My Daddy Love Me? Does my daddy love me when he doesn't talk to me? Does my daddy love me when he doesn’t spend time with me? Does my daddy love me when he doesn't make me feel special? Does my daddy love me when he doesn’t call me see how I'm doing? Does my daddy love me when he hasn't been to my birthday in 7 years? Dose my daddy love me? Really? If so, how come he doesn't show it? ",sad "I'm A Sad Fairy She is very beautiful one of a kind she's normal and simple but she's hard to find she holds her anger in but she dreams of fantasy's she commits many sin's but seeks a true destiny she has beautiful long brown hair she lets it down at night she's in the starry sky and everywhere her presents makes light I see her in the mirror but in her eyes she holds fear ",sad "Bravado alone again, just another day dedicated to love ones missed. As I sit with an empty soul, not sad, not glad but pissed, thinking back on happier times when those who are gone hugged and kissed. But they're gone and the world still turns. I put up a bravado that I'm happy, but really my heart yearns for those better days trips to the beach and sun burns. Family get-togethers laughs and smile. Food collecting on our plates in piles and piles. But now all that piles up on my tears, most out of heartache but some come from fears. I could have hydrated an entire nation over the years. Yet I mask them with smiles that are hollow in hope that there will always be a better tomorrow. But until then you will forever see is my bravado. ",sad "Daughter Taken By Mothers Lies Have you any clue ? To the pain You have put Me through ? Pain so deep With in me. That at night When I finally Close my eye's To sleep I can hear My SOUL WEEP ! ",sad "Involuntary Acceptance Even though We’re far apart You’ll always be In our heart He loved you then We love you now Kept from your life We don’t know how Perhaps one day A chance we’ll be given Until that time You’ll be missed where we’re liven We’ll hope for the best But expect the worst That you’ll change your mind For this we’ll thirst Whether you do or don’t We may never know But never forget We still love you so ",sad "Victim Of Poverty Poverty stricken youth jus trying to make a buck mom working two jobs and pops don't give a f**k daddy never comes around at night the only sound that can be heard are the sounds of the ghetto drug dealing, gang banging the sirens of the po po he finds himself posted on the corner slangin dope to him it seems like the only hope to finally get off the block or stay at a dead end job wit no raise so on the corner he stays high school dropout wit no time for class time at a desk could be spent in the spot making cash scarface dreams are clouding up his mind cocaine sales taking up his time greed has polluted his brain, spirit, and soul hatred and a heart as black as coal have takin over him what is he to do no one gives him an answer looking for a clue looking to the sky for some kind of sign all he can see is a life full of crime until the day the cops get him or his enemies catch him in the wrong hood wearin the wrong colors, throwin up the wrong signs if he could change things he'd do anything for a second chance times up he has a dance with the devil that's going to last an eternity another soul lost, but others see it as another victim of poverty. ",sad "Rain I sit and watch as the rain falls from a sky so dark and gray Is this life a crying sky if so, not even I can fight I'm tired of hurting I'm tired of tears I'm tired of being alone for all these years I want peace and I want love I want to break free to fly above! ",sad "The Face Of Sadness Its happened again. The moment when I thought nothing would go wrong, That everything would be alright, That there was nothing to worry about, That everything was perfect. But just like those other times, It didn't last. Another moment in life, Another piece to the puzzle. Slowly completing, And showing its face. The face that I've been longing to see. The face I was always aware of, The face I've been waiting for, The face I'm conscious of. Suddenly exposed into my eyes and heart. I stare motionless, Although expected, still surprised. Calmly, patiently, warmly, silently, soothingly, Able to realize that this is what I was sent to discover. Sent to vividly recognize what this is all about. Not a game but another rationally humanly way of living. Just another part I must adjust to. And when the end suddenly appears, Ill be proud to say that I learned something in life. Proud to say that I learned something thanks to you. Proud to say I saw the face and learned about it. Proud to say that that face was introduced by you, Fed by you, And lived by you. ",sad