I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
saw you take his kiss!' ''Tis true.' 'O, modesty!' ' 'Twas strictly kept: He thought me asleep; at least I knew He thought I thought he thought I slept.'
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
Oh, and this one. Which, BONUS! is also the lyrics to a song on Iris DeMent's new album The Trackless Woods, which is all Akhmatova's poetry put to song. She used a different translation, though. I prefer this one.
Last Toast
I’m drinking to a ruined home, And to my life in hell, To us together, yet alone, And to you too, as well, -
To lies of lips, betraying love, That ice-cold deathly stare, The world, so merciless and rough, And God, who wasn’t there.
Post by NewOrleans on Aug 21, 2015 10:56:13 GMT -5
I love this one by ee Cummings, whose poems have no titles.
You are tired, (I think) Of the always puzzle of living and doing; And so am I.
Come with me, then, And we'll leave it far and far away— (Only you and I, understand!)
You have played, (I think) And broke the toys you were fondest of, And are a little tired now; Tired of things that break, and— Just tired. So am I.
But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight, And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart— Open to me! For I will show you the places Nobody knows, And, if you like, The perfect places of Sleep.
Ah, come with me! I'll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon, That floats forever and a day; I'll sing you the jacinth song Of the probable stars; I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream, Until I find the Only Flower, Which shall keep (I think) your little heart While the moon comes out of the sea.
Thanks nursecramer. I'll have to look for The Trackless Woods. I love Anna Akhmatova. Her poem "The Sentence" helped me at a difficult time in my life:
And the stone word fell On my still-living breast. Never mind, I was ready. I will manage somehow.
Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again—
Unless . . . Summer's ardent rustling Is like a festival outside my window. For a long time I've foreseen this Brilliant day, deserted house.
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. First of all, there's the name that the family use daily, Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James, Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey-- All of them sensible everyday names. There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames: Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter-- But all of them sensible everyday names. But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular, Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride? Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat, Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum- Names that never belong to more than one cat. But above and beyond there's still one name left over, And that is the name that you never will guess; The name that no human research can discover-- But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess. When you notice a cat in profound meditation, The reason, I tell you, is always the same: His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name: His ineffable effable Effanineffable Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
Thanks nursecramer. I'll have to look for The Trackless Woods. I love Anna Akhmatova. Her poem "The Sentence" helped me at a difficult time in my life:
And the stone word fell On my still-living breast. Never mind, I was ready. I will manage somehow.
Today I have so much to do: I must kill memory once and for all, I must turn my soul to stone, I must learn to live again—
Unless . . . Summer's ardent rustling Is like a festival outside my window. For a long time I've foreseen this Brilliant day, deserted house.
(Translation by Judith Hemschemeyer)
It is part of a larger poem, a series of them, collectively called "Requiem" about the experience of her son and husband arrested by Stalin and of staying I. Russia instead of fleeing. In the Akhmatova Museum in Petersburg, you can see the little scraps she wrote it on.
We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life.
Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.
We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz, or arrow of carnations that propagate fire: I love you as one loves certain obscure things, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself, and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where, I love you directly without problems or pride: I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love, except in this form in which I am not nor are you, so close that your hand upon my chest is mine, so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
Post by omgzombies on Aug 21, 2015 11:09:36 GMT -5
Phenomenal Woman BY MAYA ANGELOU
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them, They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ’Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Post by omgzombies on Aug 21, 2015 11:10:43 GMT -5
Oh and another of my faves. I'm pretty sure this poem is responsible for my developing a love of poetry in the first place.
Sick Shel Silverstein
Sick "I cannot go to school today," Said little Peggy Ann McKay. "I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. My tonsils are as big as rocks, I've counted sixteen chicken pox And there's one more - that's seventeen, And don't you think my face looks green? My leg is cut, my eyes are blue - It might be instamatic flu. I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke, I'm sure that my left leg is broke - My hip hurts when I move my chin, My belly button's caving in, My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained, My 'pendix pains each time it rains. My nose is cold, my toes are numb, I have a sliver in my thumb. My neck is stiff, my spine is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak. My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out. My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, My temperature is one-o-eight. My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, There is a hole inside my ear. I have a hangnail, and my heart is - what? What's that? What's that you say? You say today is ... Saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
I took my love and took it down I climbed a mountain and I turned around And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills Till the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above? Can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Well, I've been afraid of changing 'Cause I've built my life around you But time makes you bolder Even children get older And I'm getting older too
I take my love, take it down I climb a mountain and turn around And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills Will the landslide bring you down And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills Will the landslide bring you down, oh, oh The landslide bring you down
The world is a vampire, sent to drain Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames And what do I get, for my pain? Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show All my cool and cold - like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Now I'm naked, nothing but an animal But can you fake it, for just one more show? And what do you want? I want to change And what have you got, when you feel the same?
Even though I know - I suppose I'll show All my cool and cold - like old job
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage Then someone will say what is lost can never be saved Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I'm the only one Tell me there's no other one Jesus was the only son, yeah. Tell me I'm the chosen one Jesus was the only son for you
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage And someone will say what is lost can never be saved Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a- Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a- Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage
Tell me I'm the only one Tell me there's no other one Jesus was the only son for you
Post by downtoearth on Aug 21, 2015 11:21:03 GMT -5
Just Wrinkles
Her face remembers thing she cant. The skin around her mouth and on her cheeks hangs down weighed down with smiles and laughs forever stored inside a pouch so full it had to stretch and curve. She never paced herself when she was young. She let her face and skin express her joy and sadness flowing, flowing fast through sharp new rocks becoming worn with life so smoothed and grooved into comfort, routine that now routine is all she has and grooves.
Post by meshaliuknits on Aug 21, 2015 11:21:59 GMT -5
For some reason Smashing Pumpkins makes me wanna listen to NIN. So I give you Closer.
Closer
You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you You let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you Help me I broke apart my insides, help me I’ve got no soul to sell Help me the only thing that works for me, help me get away from myself I want to fuck you like an animal I want to feel you from the inside I want to fuck you like an animal My whole existence is flawed You get me closer to god You can have my isolation, you can have the hate that it brings You can have my absence of faith, you can have my everything Help me tear down my reason, help me its' your sex I can smell Help me you make me perfect, help me become somebody else I want to fuck you like an animal I want to feel you from the inside I want to fuck you like an animal My whole existence is flawed You get me closer to god
Through every forest, above the trees Within my stomach, scraped off my knees I drink the honey inside your hive You are the reason I stay alive
Post by meshaliuknits on Aug 21, 2015 11:24:32 GMT -5
And NIN makes me want to listen to Pantera.
Fucking Hostile
Almost every day I see the same face On broken picture tube It fits the attitude If you could see yourself You put you on a shelf Your verbal masturbate Promise to nauseate Today I'll play the part of non-parent Not make a hundred rules For you to know about yourself Not lie and make you believe What's evil is making love and making friends and meeting God you're own way The right way
To see To bleed Cannot be taught In turn You're making us Fucking hostile
We stand alone
The truth in right and wrong The boundaries of the law You seem to miss the point Arresting for a joint? You seem to wonder why Hundreds of people die You're writing tickets man My mom got jumped -- they ran! Now I'll play a public servant To serve and protect By the law and the state I'd bust the punks That rape steal and murder And leave you be If you crossed me I'd shake your hand like a man Not a god
Come meet your maker, boy Some things you can't enjoy Because of heaven/hell A fucking wives' tale They put it in your head Then put you in your bed He's watching say your prayers Cause God is everywhere Now I'll play a man learning priesthood Who's about to take the ultimate test in life I'd question things because I am human And call NO ONE my father who's no closer that a stranger
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
- Wordsworth
I recently heard this from The Writer's Almanac about that poem and loved it even more after hearing the backstory for some reason:
It was on this day in 1802 that William Wordsworth (books by this author) was walking home with his sister, Dorothy, and saw a patch of daffodils that became the inspiration for one of his most famous poems.
They were returning from a visit to their friends Thomas and Catherine Clarkson, who lived on the shore of Ullswater, the second largest lake in England's lake district, a beautiful deep lake, nine miles long, surrounded by mountains. The Clarksons were good friends. Thomas was a fierce abolitionist who had made it his life's work to end slavery. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, also a neighbor in the Lake District, wrote: "I once asked Tom Clarkson whether he ever thought of his probable fate in the next world, to which he replied, 'How can I? I think only of the slaves in Barbados!'" Apparently Tom wasn't a fan of poetry, either. But Dorothy Wordsworth and Catherine exchanged letters. Later that year, Wordsworth got married, and he and his wife, Mary, named one of their daughters after Catherine. They all enjoyed the Clarksons' witty and intelligent conversation.
Dorothy and William had left Dove Cottage at the end of March for a round of visiting friends, including Coleridge. William left Dorothy with the Clarksons for eight days while he went to Yorkshire to visit Mary, the woman he would marry six months later. On Monday, April 12th, Wordsworth left Mary to head back to his friends' house. He got caught in a snowstorm and his horse needed new shoes, but he plodded on to stay at an inn for the night, and during the ride he wrote a poem, "The Glow-worm," which begins: Among all lovely things my Love had been; Had noted well the stars, all flowers that grew About her home; but she had never seen A glow-worm, never one, and this I knew.
He made it back to the Clarksons' the next evening, spent a day with friends, and after dinner on the 15th he and Dorothy set out to walk home. It was many miles back to Dove Cottage, but they were used to long walks, and took it slowly, stopping often either to seek shelter from the weather or to admire things they passed.
Dorothy wrote in her journal: "It was a threatening misty morning — but mild. [...] The hawthorns are black and green, the birches here and there greenish but there is yet more of purple to be seen on the Twigs. We got over into a field to avoid some cows — people working, a few primroses by the roadside, woodsorrel flower, the anemone, scentless violets, strawberries, and that starry yellow flower which Mrs C. calls pile wort. When we were in the woods beyond Gowbarrow park we saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and yet more and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore, about the breadth of a country turnpike road. I never saw daffodils so beautiful. They grew among the mossy stones about and about them, some rested their heads upon these stones as on a pillow for weariness and the rest tossed and reeled and danced and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind that blew upon them over the lake, they looked so gay ever glancing ever changing. This wind blew directly over the lake to them. There was here and there a little knot and a few stragglers a few yards higher up but they were so few as not to disturb the simplicity and unity and life of that one busy highway. We rested again and again."
For his part, William didn't write anything about the daffodils for at least two years, maybe more. No one is sure when he wrote the poem "I wander'd lonely as a cloud," but it was published in 1807. It didn't get a very good reception. One critic wrote, "He thinks it worth while to give a tame, matter-of-fact account of some daffodils blown about with the wind, because he thought of them afterwards." Another poet said, "Surely, if his worst foe had chosen to caricature this egotistic manufacturer of metaphysical importance upon trivial themes, he could not have done it more effectively." But these days it is one of Wordsworth's most famous poems, and when the BBC conducted a nationwide poll in 1995 for the country's favorite poems, it was ranked number five.
Wordsworth's 1807 version of the poem was only three stanzas long, 18 lines. When he revised it in 1815, he tinkered with some lines — changed "Ten thousand dancing in the breeze" to "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" — and he added another stanza, the stanza that is now second and begins, "Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way ..."
Not only did Wordsworth probably reference Dorothy's journal for inspiration, but his wife, Mary, came up with two lines: "They flash upon that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude." William said they were the best lines in the poem.
Post by charminglife on Aug 21, 2015 11:33:59 GMT -5
Boots Of Spanish Leather Bob Dylan
Oh I'm sailin' away my own true love I'm sailin' away in the morning Is there something I can send you from across the sea From the place that I'll be landing ?
No, there's nothin' you can send me, my own true love There's nothin' I wish to be ownin' Just carry yourself back to me unspoiled From across that lonesome ocean.
Oh, but I just thought you might want something fine Made of silver or of golden Either from the mountains of Madrid Or from the coast of Barcelona ?
Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night And the diamonds from the deepest ocean I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss For that's all I'm wishin' to be ownin'.
That I might be gone a long time And it's only that I'm askin' Is there something I can send you to remember me by To make your time more easy passin' ?
Oh, how can, how can you ask me again It only brings me sorrow The same thing I want from you today I would want again tomorrow.
I got a letter on a lonesome day It was from her ship a-sailin' Saying I don't know when I'll be comin' back again It depends on how I'm a-feelin'.
Well, if you, my love, must think that-a-way I'm sure your mind is roarmin' I'm sure your thoughts are not with me But with the country to where you're goin'.
So take heed, take heed of the western wind Take heed of the stormy weather And yes, there's something you can send back to me Spanish boots of Spanish leather.
won’t you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. born in babylon both nonwhite and woman what did i see to be except myself? i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay, my one hand holding tight my other hand; come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed.
sometimes, no words are needed - Jacqueline Woodson
“Deep winter and the night air is cold. So still, it feels like the world goes on forever in the darkness until you look up and the earth stops in a ceiling of stars. My head against my grandfather's arm, a blanket around us as we sit on the front porch swing. Its whine like a song.
You don't need words on a night like this. Just the warmth of your grandfather's arm. Just the silent promise that the world as we know it will always be here.”
Post by vaportrail on Aug 21, 2015 15:11:56 GMT -5
My favorite forever and ever.
Ophelia’s Confession by Tracey Herd
Every day God pats my head and calls me angel, his little broken woman and gives me flowers as if I hadn’t had enough of these and I choke back my rage and he mistakes this for distress as I stand there shaking in my little sackcloth dress.
Had I ever had the choice I’d have worn a very different dress, slit from breast to navel and far too tight and I’d have smoked and sworn and been out of my head on drugs, not grief, and the flowers would have been a tattoo around my ankle, not an anchor to drag me down, and as for being a virgin, I’d have slept with both men and women.