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Daily Poetry


saffron

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I love to read poetry. This is one for today. feel free to contribute.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Duty surviving Self-Love

THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE

A SOLILOQUY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unchanged within, to see all changed without,

Is a blank lot and hard to bear, no doubt.

Yet why at others' Wanings should'st thou fret ?

Then only might'st thou feel a just regret,

Hadst thou withheld thy love or hid thy light

In selfish forethought of neglect and slight.

O wiselier then, from feeble yearnings freed,

While, and on whom, thou may'st--shine on ! nor heed

Whether the object by reflected light

Return thy radiance or absorb it quite :

And tho' thou notest from thy safe recess

Old Friends burn dim, like lamps in noisome air,

Love them for what they are ; nor love them less,

Because to thee they are not what they were.

saffron

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Good Evening Saffron, great read.

Hope it's OK to add a Poem, This was inspired by

those Orange adverts...

Orange Life

I am the soulmate, who lights my way,

The times we've laughed and cried.

I am the silence which radiates,

Calls me to listen.

I am the Counsellor who saved my life,

Became a friend, ally.

I am the scumbag who stole my childhood,

Thief in the night.

I am a pariah of low intelligence,

The person I almost beat to death.

I am the word sorry,

A walking contradiction.

I am Borderline Personality Disorder,

The lowest of lows.

I am the blade which cut away the hurt,

Scarred me forever.

I am the wettest bed, the worst nightmare,

Ghost which visits through the dark.

I am eight years old,

When things get tough.

Slimboydim 2009.

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Hi slim

Yes of course its okay and thank you for sharing the poem, very thought provoking and stirred a lot of feelings.

best wishes

Saffron

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I wrote this at 27 when I found out I was infertile due to an STI I'd had as a teenager. It helped me cope with the torturous pain:

Raw pain sears it's way through my heart in slow motion,

The wrench of Karma takes it toll on my emotions

You see for me a child is not an option

I can never dream of having children

I pray one day god will have forgiven

All my misdemeanoura and transgressions

And give me hope that I can reverse this curse that I've begotten

I still live in hope...

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Here is one that I have always liked.

If - a poem by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Saffron

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Good Afternoon Saffron, nice to read Kipling on a damp Friday.

This is about the lady of my dreams...

Hush

Warmth rises gently, from her gorgeous skin,

My ambition to wake, the passion within.

Her body speaks in erotic verse,

Tastes sweet, as I dared envisage.

Her femininity greets me, welcomes my touch,

Love doth rise, I crave her so much.

Beauty personified Angelic Princess,

Brought together as one, our hearts entwine.

Love made in the dead of night,

Her gorgeous form, an exquisite sight.

Exhausted lovers tightly held,

Soul mates bonded, never to part...

You fill my wants, my needs, my life... My Heart.

Slimboydim 2009.

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aw, slim thats lovely, shes a lucky lady.

sometimes, when I dont feel right

i wonder if im sane

i can be moody, silent or angry

and hate myself again

i can be passionate, loving and fun

and make others feel good inside

i walk away without a care

but it is me im trying to hide

this mask is getting heavier

more than i can bear

but what if i took it off?

then would they have to care?

i dont know? what do you do?

keep up the status quo

or let them know your ups and downs

your tossing to and throw

The rollercoaster of emotion

is this natural pain?

sometimes when I feel like this

i wonder if im sane.

Saffron

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Wow, a poetry corner! I love poetry. :) Mary Oliver is one my favourite living poets, and one whose words I always find consoling. This is one of her best, and seems to speak to almost everyone in some way:

"Wild Geese"

by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

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By the way, Saffron, your poem is really moving. Thank you. I think many of us can connect with the feelings you express - that split between the public mask we wear, which others see, and the private self that people don't see. Thank you. :)

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i love Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, typical depressing poetry for me but beautiful

The Doctor Of the Heart by Anne Sexton

Take away your knowledge, Doktor.

It doesn't butter me up.

You say my heart is sick unto

You ought to have more respect!

you with the goo on the suction cup.

You with your wires and electrodes

fastened at my ankle and wrist,

sucking up the biological breast.

You with your zigzag machine

playing like the stock market up and down.

Give me the Phi Beta key you always twirl

and I will make a gold crown for my molar.

I will take a slug if you please

and make myself a perfectly good appendix.

Give me a fingernail for an eyeglass.

The world was milky all along.

I will take an iron and press out

my slipped disk until it is flat.

But take away my mother's carcinoma

for I have only one cup of fetus tears.

Take away my father's cerebral hemorrhage

for I have only a jigger of blood in my hand.

Take away my sister's broken neck

for I have only my schoolroom ruler for a cure.

Is there such a device for my heart?

I have only a gimmick called magic fingers.

Let me dilate like a bad debt.

Here is a sponge. I can squeeze it myself.

O heart, tobacco red heart,

beat like a rock guitar.

I am at the ship's prow.

I am no longer the suicide

with her raft and paddle.

Herr Doktor! I'll no longer die

to spite you, you wallowing

seasick grounded man.

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hi light

please share

Be the Best Whatever You Are

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill

Be a scrub in the valley--but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway some happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass--

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here.

There's big work to do and there's lesser to do,

And the task we must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail--

Be the best of whatever you are!

Douglas Malloch

saffron

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can we just do what we want to

in life and love and dreaming

let things evolve as they should be

no bitterness or scheming

no funny looks or secret signs

to make us feel we're judged

just need support and encouragement

without the offer begrudged

Why do we let things bother us

while others seem not to care

Why do we take things personally

why is life not fair

Should life be this confusing

should love appear so hard

should dreams be dark and scary

should we feel so scared

to live without depression

to love with hope and trust

to dream happiness and calm

to accept ourselves, we must

Saffron

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for light thoughts

poem may trigger. its a really haunting poem, beautiful.

Edge by Sylvia Plath

The woman is perfected

Her dead

Body wears the smile of accomplishment,

The illusion of a Greek necessity

Flows in the scrolls of her toga,

Her bare

Feet seem to be saying:

We have come so far, it is over.

Each dead child coiled, a white serpent,

One at each little

Pitcher of milk, now empty

She has folded

Them back into her body as petals

Of a rose close when the garden

Stiffens and odors bleed

From the sweet, deep throats of the night flower.

The moon has nothing to be sad about,

Staring from her hood of bone.

She is used to this sort of thing.

Her blacks crackle and drag.

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Come on you, laugh and play

take away the bad that day

keep on smiling so they say

try to see a brighter way

oh thats ok theres nothing wrong

my life and heart is strong

as breezy as a bird in song

as sunny as the day is long

please do not worry about me

I have this shell that you cant see

it makes me seem like i am free

its like yours, would you agree?

Give someone a friendly smile

Give time to yourself a while

Be proud of your own style

and always go the extra mile

Learn to love yourself today

Keep those demons well away

treat yourself with empathy

and you will smile and laugh all day.

Saffron

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This is a really good thing going on here! I've become very interested in poetry recently and tend to write a lot of my own as you see from my post called 'Unknown' from yesterday on here. If it's ok... then I may post some of my poetry in here... Here's one of my very first poem's, not very good but you have to start somewhere, right??

I’m still here...

Just because I don't talk

doesn't mean I'm not there

I'm still here

Just because I don't laugh

doesn't mean I don't see the funny side

I'm still here

Just because I don't go out

doesn't mean I won't have a good time in

I'll still be there when you get back in

Just because I don't interact

doesn't mean I wouldn't like you around me

I still have a voice, I'm still here

But... Just because I don't cry

doesn't mean I don't cry inside

and...

Just because you don't show you’re worried about me

doesn't mean I don't know you are.

So before you shed a tear,

just remember one thing

I'm still here

*Hugs*

Harmony

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Thats a great poem Harmony, it really says a lot. I hate the feeling of being invisible eh, sometimes I wish people would just accept me being there, whether I am happy, chatty or not. Thanks for sharing. Please feel free to add as many as you want.

Best wishes

Safffron

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Thank you saffron

Yes I also hate the feeling of being invisable... it was mainly meant for my mum to reassure her, sort of. But also to those people who just don't accept who I am and the way I feel (friends mainly which I don't have any of irl anymore :( )

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Thanks, Rael! What a poem. Incredible, but terrifying. Here is another poem that is a little gentler, by Mary Oliver:

"Lingering in Happiness"

After rain after many days without rain,

it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,

and the dampness there, married now to gravity,

falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf, down to the ground

where it will disappear--but not, of course, vanish

except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,

and the white threads of the grasses, and the cushion of moss;

a few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole's tunnel;

and soon so many small stones, buried for a thousand years,

will feel themselves being touched.

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Sorry, think I just posted my reply in the wrong place! Thanks for Edge, Rael - what a poem, and terrifying, too. This is a gentler poem:

"Lingering in Happiness"

After rain after many days without rain,

it stays cool, private and cleansed, under the trees,

and the dampness there, married now to gravity,

falls branch to branch, leaf to leaf, down to the ground

where it will disappear--but not, of course, vanish

except to our eyes. The roots of the oaks will have their share,

and the white threads of the grasses, and the cushion of moss;

a few drops, round as pearls, will enter the mole's tunnel;

and soon so many small stones, buried for a thousand years,

will feel themselves being touched.

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you are a friend, you are a traitor

you are the one, you are not here

you are to me, my whole desire

you are not here, when will you be

you make me wait, you keep me guessing

you are my world, but dont let me in'

you want me now, but not tommorow

you keep me tight, but let me loose

you are today, you make me feel

you share yourself, but only just

you miss me, but not enough

you let me down, you pick me up

you take me there, you bring me back

you are the one, you are not here

I miss you so much

Saffron

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for saking, for taking

you can have it both ways

i need you, I hate you

you keep me waiting always

come to me, you know you should

I am you heart, your soul to mind

we may get through this frustration

if we are free to live and love

so come to me, you know you want to

and I want you as much as life

cant break free from this self destruction

that keep me silent in my world

I think that you do understand

cos you are going through the same

reach out and say what you are thinking

its easier to hide behind closed minds

reach out and see the full potential

deny what you think otherwise

take each minute as a new life

born without a care or worry

or drown in thoughts that may be just ours

and no one really thinks that way

for once be brave, take the test

trust yourself to be ok

For one day it might all be gone.

just like that. what a waste.

Saffron

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  • 2 weeks later...

Change

is it change that we strive for

or unchanged acceptance or more

can change make a difference

or improve what makes us tense

is change necessary for the trial

to travel on for many miles

or is it okay just to be

who you are and who is me.

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I loved all your poems; they live in the private residence

Of the heart, all composed from that dark chasm, a real

Current of passion, all with the various shades that document

Your life, poetry are the gauze that cover the pain;

gavin

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