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The Random Poem Thread

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I have moved the thread here for now until we have time to discuss and deal with it. I don't have time right now.

They are all childish and yes, Andy needs to calm down, but so does everyone else. People need to grow thicker skin.
Rest in Peace
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Quote by Blue
I have moved the thread here for now until we have time to discuss and deal with it. I don't have time right now.


None of us have the time for this right now, or ever for that matter...I barely have time for much of anything these days as I have a lot going on at the moment...

And if you need a suggestion as to where to move this thread in the future, let me know...




Quote by Blue


They are all childish and yes, Andy needs to calm down, but so does everyone else. People need to grow thicker skin.



I think it's a shame that all this crap is happening in what is basically a poetry thread, as it really shouldn't be turning into a kindergarten like it has...I believe that one of the problems is that hard feelings from other threads are being carried over into this one...

I know Yas and I disagree on the issue, but personally I don't believe that threads about capital punishment, gun control, religion, etc. belong here on a writing site...one look over at the so-called "Think Tank" over on the red site will confirm that, and it's just been a constant headache for the mods over there...I believe that if you want to discuss those issues, there are literally countless forums on the internet that you can go to...there's no good reason to have stuff like that in the forum here...it just creates friction among the members, and we really don't need people deleting their accounts or whatever because of, what I consider at least, unnecessary bull crap...

My suggestion is, the next time someone starts a thread that resembles something in the Think Tank over on Lush, we should lock the thread, post a message saying that frankly this crap really doesn't belong here on a writing site, as it has nothing to do with writing...and then delete the whole thread a week or so later...

Just my two cents at the moment...I really don't like to see this stuff going on here...I did like Gypsy's response though...thought that was a lot better than her recent contest story...
I once knew a drinker who had a moderating problem...

Administration
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Let the thread rest here for a while, but the thread isn't the problem, the posters are. They will pollute another thread soon. I'm all out of suggestions. I will try talking to all parties involved, but that will have to wait until morning. One last attempt at making them see reason.

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”

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Is everyone okay with us opening up this forum thread again once we have remove the arguments and discussions that does not belong in a lovely poem thread?
Administration
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Yes, guess we can give the kids their ball back now.

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”

Administration
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Quote by Circle_Something
Macavity: The Mystery Cat
by T S Eliot

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw—
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime—Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime—Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—
But it's useless to investigate—Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
It must have been Macavity!'—but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumb;
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN'T THERE !
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!


It's been a while since I read this, it was a favourite of mine as a child. Did you know that Macavity was modeled after both Macheath (a fictional character better known as Mack the Knife) and Moriarty (the villain in the Sherlock stories)?

“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.”

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Lost without a thought.
Maybe they forgot,
That I was here for them in the end.

He ran without another glance,
And she fell into a binding trance,
Alone I watched the ruining of my friend.

I wanted to chase him, ready for flight.
And bring him back to see the light.
And get this tragedy to mend.

But she told me to stay.
He will find his own way.
And I let my own pride bend.

So here I sit still.
Wondering what will,
Stop this reoccuring trend.

But there's nothing to do.
That I can do.
So away my sanity, I send.
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Mirror, Mirror

by Spike Milligan

A young spring-tender girl
combed her joyous hair
'You are very ugly' said the mirror.
But,
on her lips hung
a smile of dove-secret loveliness,
for only that morning had not
the blind boy said,
'You are beautiful'?
Lurker
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This is something totally different to what I usually write:


Creepazoid.

Creepazoid, Creepazoid
Folks make sure that you avoid
The lecherous wolf sneakily posing
In the cuddly, woolly sheep’s clothing

Creepazoid, oh Creepazoid,
What successes he’s enjoyed!
The silver-tongued, but smarmy, creep
Those words from him are empty and cheap

Creepazoid, the Creepazoid
Everyone just needs to avoid
Being taken in by his so-called wit and charm
An act to disguise his sliminess and smarm

Creepazoid, oh Creepazoid
There must be times when you are buoyed
When you’ve fooled another young innocent
Into believing you’re nice and kind and decent

Creepazoid, you Creepazoid
It’s time that you were unmasked, destroyed
Take heed that your days left are few
The hunter’s got his gun trained on you!

Creepazoid, Creepazoid
Everybody make sure that you avoid
The creep that stalks each corridor and hall
For the Creepazoid will corrupt us all!


I'm not suggesting that it's good, clever or even interesting, just different.
Forum Facilitator
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I know it isn't a poem as such, but it sort of is. I've always believed, and a few people have agreed, that a song is merely a poem, set to music. When you look at the two forms, you find that they share a lot of the same trappings - rhythm, rhyme, meter, repetition, even stanzas, though they are called verses in songs.

White Stripes – I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman

Well I'm finding it harder
To be a gentleman every day
All the manners that I've been taught
Have slowly died away
But if I held the door open for you
It wouldn't make your day

You think that I care
About me and only me
When every single girl needs help
Climbing up a tree
Well I know it don't take much
To satisfy me

Maybe it's whatever's in my head
That's distracting me
But if I could find emotion
To stimulate devotion
Well then you'd see

Well I'm finding it hard to say
That I need you twenty times a day
I feel comfortable so baby why
Don't you feel the same?
Have a doctor come and visit us
And tell us which one is sane

I never said I wouldn't
Throw my jacket in the mud for you
But my father gave it to me so
Maybe I should carry you
Then you said
"You almost dropped me"
So then I did
And I got mud on my shoes
Ghosts, flamingos, guitars and vodka. Eclectic subjects, eccentric stories:

Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
Forum Facilitator
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A thread of ill-repute
lays here,
but that's the past,
and now it is resurrecting itself.

Once a place of darkness,
it is now one with hope and light,
no more conflict,
a land reborn.
Ghosts, flamingos, guitars and vodka. Eclectic subjects, eccentric stories:

Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
Lurker
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Will You?

Will you forgive clumsy indiscretions,
Mistakes and crass foolishness?
Will you look beyond a false impression
And seek an unbiased, un-blinkered truth?
Will you care enough to want to
Look any further than the obvious
And make the effort to overcome
Your preconceived notions?
Do you have it within you to agree
That mistakes have been made
By both parties in the conflict?
Do you have the willingness
And awareness to acknowledge
That to move forward what has passed
Needs to be left firmly in the past?
Can you forgive and forget?
More to the point, do you want to?
Most importantly:
Will you?
Lurker
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Saved (Ode to Ozzy)

You are what I desperately needed when I was lost
My life had demanded a massive emotional cost
Adrift, unwanted, alone and cruelly misused
My good nature and reputation cynically abused
Cowed and cautious, solitude my best defence
I clothed myself with an air of indifference
Shut away, out of sight and out of mind
Trying to leave the hurt and the bad memories behind.
But then I saw your face and realised I was wrong
To make myself believe that I did not belong
In a world where you urgently needed me
To be as strong as I possibly could be
To save you from an unpleasant fate
Another day or two and I would have been too late
To rescue not only you, but myself as well
From what was turning into a living hell
Your story was little better than mine, I heard
Rarely had you known affection or heard a kind word
I vowed to right that situation from the day that we met
And to never give you reason to ever regret
Trusting me to treat you with dignity and respect
And to love you as you had the right to expect
You gave me a reason to get up each day
To enjoy your company, to live, to laugh and play
To give to you freely and unashamedly
My love and and my heart unreservedly
I receive from you complete and utter devotion
Your loving looks fill me with such emotion
That I am proud to tell you every single day
How much I love you in every single way
You are more than a companion, you’re my best friend
And I’ll be with you all the way, right to the end
Until that final parting of our ways
When we reach the end of our days
But that time is a long way off yet,
Isn’t it, Ozzy, my beloved canine pet?
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by authorised1960
Saved (Ode to Ozzy)

You are what I desperately needed when I was lost
My life had demanded a massive emotional cost
Adrift, unwanted, alone and cruelly misused
My good nature and reputation cynically abused
Cowed and cautious, solitude my best defence
I clothed myself with an air of indifference
Shut away, out of sight and out of mind
Trying to leave the hurt and the bad memories behind.
But then I saw your face and realised I was wrong
To make myself believe that I did not belong
In a world where you urgently needed me
To be as strong as I possibly could be
To save you from an unpleasant fate
Another day or two and I would have been too late
To rescue not only you, but myself as well
From what was turning into a living hell
Your story was little better than mine, I heard
Rarely had you known affection or heard a kind word
I vowed to right that situation from the day that we met
And to never give you reason to ever regret
Trusting me to treat you with dignity and respect
And to love you as you had the right to expect
You gave me a reason to get up each day
To enjoy your company, to live, to laugh and play
To give to you freely and unashamedly
My love and and my heart unreservedly
I receive from you complete and utter devotion
Your loving looks fill me with such emotion
That I am proud to tell you every single day
How much I love you in every single way
You are more than a companion, you’re my best friend
And I’ll be with you all the way, right to the end
Until that final parting of our ways
When we reach the end of our days
But that time is a long way off yet,
Isn’t it, Ozzy, my beloved canine pet?
beautiful Andy, publish it.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
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Ice

by Charles G.D. Roberts

When Winter scourged the meadow and the hill
And in the withered leafage worked his will,,
The water shrank, and shuddered, and stood still,-
Then built himself a magic house of glass,
Irised with memories of flowers and grass,
Wherein to sit and watch the fury pass.
Lurker
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Quite some years ago when the following poem was published in a small-circulation magazine, it caused quite a stir...

Easter

Jesus rose, yawned
Shrugged off his shroud
And reached for a
Cadbury's Creme Egg

(How do you eat yours?)

I was accused of being disrespectful to Christians and of blasphemy, both of whch are nonsense. My intention was an anti-commercialisation message about Easter - the "How Do You Eat Yours" slogan was a big advertising campaign at the time - but very few actually saw it as that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYLXe3LH33M&feature=player_detailpage
Forum Facilitator
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Quote by authorised1960
Quite some years ago when the following poem was published in a small-circulation magazine, it caused quite a stir...

Easter

Jesus rose, yawned
Shrugged off his shroud
And reached for a
Cadbury's Creme Egg

(How do you eat yours?)

I was accused of being disrespectful to Christians and of blasphemy, both of whch are nonsense. My intention was an anti-commercialisation message about Easter - the "How Do You Eat Yours" slogan was a big advertising campaign at the time - but very few actually saw it as that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYLXe3LH33M&feature=player_detailpage



I'm not siding with them, but the poem is actually blasphemous. If you look at the meaning of blasphemy (From Wikipedia: Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God, to religious or holy persons or things, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable), you're taking the Mick from the Lord, so yeah, it is blasphemous. For what it's worth, I actually quite like that wee poem. It may not have been your intention to blaspheme, but devout folk do tend to take things a wee bit too literally. Personally, I think levity and religion need to go hand in hand, but this forum is not really the proper venue for such heavy discussions.
Ghosts, flamingos, guitars and vodka. Eclectic subjects, eccentric stories:

Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
Lurker
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Quote by Circle_Something
Quote by authorised1960
Quite some years ago when the following poem was published in a small-circulation magazine, it caused quite a stir...

Easter

Jesus rose, yawned
Shrugged off his shroud
And reached for a
Cadbury's Creme Egg

(How do you eat yours?)

I was accused of being disrespectful to Christians and of blasphemy, both of whch are nonsense. My intention was an anti-commercialisation message about Easter - the "How Do You Eat Yours" slogan was a big advertising campaign at the time - but very few actually saw it as that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYLXe3LH33M&feature=player_detailpage



I'm not siding with them, but the poem is actually blasphemous. If you look at the meaning of blasphemy (From Wikipedia: Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God, to religious or holy persons or things, or toward something considered sacred or inviolable), you're taking the Mick from the Lord, so yeah, it is blasphemous. For what it's worth, I actually quite like that wee poem. It may not have been your intention to blaspheme, but devout folk do tend to take things a wee bit too literally. Personally, I think levity and religion need to go hand in hand, but this forum is not really the proper venue for such heavy discussions.


You can say that again! I have learned my lesson...

Actually you have it wrong: I have not ripped into religion: the piss-take is of the Creme Egg and it lack of relevance to the Ressurection... The only thing I have 'blasphemed' about is knocking the 'religion' of the Mighty Dollar.

The poem is a dig at Cadbury's and all the commercial organisations who profit from Easter. If you place the the heaviest accent on the word 'how' it gives the poem it's proper context, as "How the hell can you eat chocolate". Laid plainly on paper (so to speak) it's impossible to get that across.

It's amazing how much upset just fourteen words can cause. However, I stand by the poem: it says what I meant it to say. Like everything even mildly contentious, it's open to individual interpretation. I would not have it any other way.
Lurker
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The Ballad of the Drama Queen

Not so long ago your heart was irreparably broken
You didn’t want to hear his name spoken
Your misery was so all-consuming -
And you were full of dooming and glooming -
That the threat of self-harm was bandied about
Just for attention, of that I have no doubt.
Yet here we are just a few weeks down the line
It seems to me that you’re doing perfectly fine
Professing yet more undying adoration
To the object of your latest infatuation
I’ll give it a couple of months at best
Until he works out that you’re an unbearable pest
And like those before him (me included)
He’ll conclude that you are emotionally deluded
He won’t want you clinging on like a limpet
He’ll be wanting, as quick as possible, to forget
That had the misfortune to learn your name
And became embroiled in your sick game
Because a stupid game is all it is to you
It’s the way you work; it’s what you do
To create drama in your sad and empty life
You engineer all the stress and strife
Then garner all the sympathy you can get
Whilst painting him as the worst one yet
Until the next unsuspecting guy comes into view
To be zeroed-in on by predatory you.
Then the whole charade will start again once more
But your game is tiresome now and you’re a bore.
There’s a chance that one day the tide will turn
And that you will finally come to learn
That love and relationships are a two-way street
And that you will somehow, some day meet
Someone who will refuse to play by your twisted rules
Just to end up on your List of Fools.
To see beyond your artifice and manipulations
And develop for you true and strong emotions
It may come to pass, who can tell
Meanwhile you’ll put through hell
Your latest beau who has yet to experience
The depth and extent of you malevolence
When you take umbrage at an imagined slight
And manufacture yet another fight
Just so that you can step back and say smugly
“Look how that nasty bastard treated me”
If I was the kind of person to interfere
I’d tell him all about you, ‘dear’
But, what the heck, he’s made his bed
He’s believed everything you said
It’s not down to me to save him from his fate
Besides it’s probably already too late
You’ve dug your claws in, good and fast
Which almost guarantees that this relationship cannot last!
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A dream that never came true

I woke up dreaming of you.
Holding me close to you.
But it wasn't meant to be you.
A dream that never came true.

It was then I had met you.
I just knew I had to get close to you.
I only chose you.
A dream that never came true.

I gave my heart to you.
I fell too quickly for you.
I let my breath fade as I look a you.
A dream that never came true.

I had faught for you.
Sometimes even against you.
Just because I love you.
A dream that never came true.

So now I still alone, it's true.
My heart so pure and true.
For my dream that never came true.
My dream that was always you.
Active Ink Slinger
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good job... it is a start in the right way... I am proud of you.
thank you....
Quote by authorised1960
Will You?

Will you forgive clumsy indiscretions,
Mistakes and crass foolishness?
Will you look beyond a false impression
And seek an unbiased, un-blinkered truth?
Will you care enough to want to
Look any further than the obvious
And make the effort to overcome
Your preconceived notions?
Do you have it within you to agree
That mistakes have been made
By both parties in the conflict?
Do you have the willingness
And awareness to acknowledge
That to move forward what has passed
Needs to be left firmly in the past?
Can you forgive and forget?
More to the point, do you want to?
Most importantly:
Will you?
Lurker
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In Primary School, one of the poets we studied was Pam Ayres. This installed in me a life long love of her work, she is wistful and funny and her perceptiveness captures both the Joy and the unfairness of life.

This is one that I read to my daughters last night...

OH, I WISH I'D LOOKED AFTER ME TEETH by PAM AYRES

Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the dangers beneath
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food.
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To give up gobstoppers,
From respect to me choppers,
And to buy something else with me shillin’.

When I think of the lollies I licked
And the liquorice allsorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.

My mother, she told me no end,
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.

Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time – I could bite!

If I’d known I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s,
Injections and drillin’s,
I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.

So I lie in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine
In these molars of mine.
‘Two amalgam,’ he’ll say, ‘for in there.’

How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s methey are beckonin’
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.
Lurker
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Quote by AriesDragon
In Primary School, one of the poets we studied was Pam Ayres. This installed in me a life long love of her work, she is wistful and funny and her perceptiveness captures both the Joy and the unfairness of life


Goodness, this a blast from my past.

I remember Pam when she first appeared on television back in the early 1970s - on a talent show (Opportunity Knocks). She became a huge star for a few years then faded from public view. She has done some TV work through the years, has toured pretty-much consistently and her books continue to sell well. A very talented and funny lady.


Quote by Rebellious_Soul
A dream that never came true


Talking of talented ladies...

Rebs, this needs to be on the main forum. It is wonderful! xx
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by authorised1960
Quote by Rebellious_Soul
A dream that never came true


Talking of talented ladies...

Rebs, this needs to be on the main forum. It is wonderful! xx

I agree Rebs, publish it
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
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Quote by paulus
Quote by authorised1960
Quote by Rebellious_Soul
A dream that never came true


Talking of talented ladies...

Rebs, this needs to be on the main forum. It is wonderful! xx

I agree Rebs, publish it


I would have to throw in a few more stanzas...
Lurker
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Quote by Rebellious_Soul
Quote by paulus
Quote by authorised1960
Quote by Rebellious_Soul
A dream that never came true


Talking of talented ladies...

Rebs, this needs to be on the main forum. It is wonderful! xx

I agree Rebs, publish it


I would have to throw in a few more stanzas...


It's fine just as it is, Rebs, honestly



Finite

If you were allowed
A finite number of kisses
Or times to say I love you:
Had a limited number of heartbreaks
Or a restricted amount of tears to cry
Would you still fall in love so readily?
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by Rebellious_Soul
Quote by paulus
Quote by authorised1960
Quote by Rebellious_Soul
A dream that never came true


Talking of talented ladies...

Rebs, this needs to be on the main forum. It is wonderful! xx

I agree Rebs, publish it


I would have to throw in a few more stanzas...
It's perfect as it is. Don't go changing it, just publish.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
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From underneath

I'm under the bed.
An old shirt in hand.
The scent welcoming and strong.

I close my eyes.
Block out the lies.
Pretending nothing is wrong.

The shirt dries my tears,
That nobody hears.
Wishing once again I was home.

Holding you near,
Calming my fear.
Even though I am actually alone.