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Ponder SILENCE is GOLDEN

............................!

Post Script Don't say a word'
Only Smile

.....................Merry Xmas everyone

poem by Ken e Hall
Added by Poetry Lover
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Happy Xmas

(happy xmas kyoko
Happy xmas julian)
So this is xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight
A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
And so this is xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry xmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now
Happy xmas

song performed by Lennon John
Added by Lucian Velea
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VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi

Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright?
Have patience! In this sudden smoke from hell,—
So things disguise themselves,—I cannot see
My own hand held thus broad before my face
And know it again. Answer you? Then that means
Tell over twice what I, the first time, told
Six months ago: 't was here, I do believe,
Fronting you same three in this very room,
I stood and told you: yet now no one laughs,
Who then … nay, dear my lords, but laugh you did,
As good as laugh, what in a judge we style
Laughter—no levity, nothing indecorous, lords!
Only,—I think I apprehend the mood:
There was the blameless shrug, permissible smirk,
The pen's pretence at play with the pursed mouth,
The titter stifled in the hollow palm
Which rubbed the eyebrow and caressed the nose,
When I first told my tale: they meant, you know,
"The sly one, all this we are bound believe!
"Well, he can say no other than what he says.
"We have been young, too,—come, there's greater guilt!
"Let him but decently disembroil himself,
"Scramble from out the scrape nor move the mud,—
"We solid ones may risk a finger-stretch!
And now you sit as grave, stare as aghast
As if I were a phantom: now 't is—"Friend,
"Collect yourself!"—no laughing matter more—
"Counsel the Court in this extremity,
"Tell us again!"—tell that, for telling which,
I got the jocular piece of punishment,
Was sent to lounge a little in the place
Whence now of a sudden here you summon me
To take the intelligence from just—your lips!
You, Judge Tommati, who then tittered most,—
That she I helped eight months since to escape
Her husband, was retaken by the same,
Three days ago, if I have seized your sense,—
(I being disallowed to interfere,
Meddle or make in a matter none of mine,
For you and law were guardians quite enough
O' the innocent, without a pert priest's help)—
And that he has butchered her accordingly,
As she foretold and as myself believed,—
And, so foretelling and believing so,
We were punished, both of us, the merry way:
Therefore, tell once again the tale! For what?
Pompilia is only dying while I speak!
Why does the mirth hang fire and miss the smile?
My masters, there's an old book, you should con
For strange adventures, applicable yet,

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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It Was Love That We Needed

It was love that we needed
(Hmm, hmm)
We needed love (it was love)
It was love that we needed (oh, yeah)
(Yeah, yeah)
Love
It was love (it was love)
It was love (that we needed)
We needed love, darlin'
Yeah, yeah-eh
(We needed love)
Somewhat impossible
No idea what was happenin' to me
All of my life, things were cool till now
Then the feelin', the strangest feelin' came over me
(Ooh, oh, na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
My happiness just came with such surprise
The water just swelled up in my eyes
An all I could see was your pretty, pretty face (pretty face)
Jumpin' up and down
All around (round) the place
It was love (it was love)
It was love (that we needed) that we needed
It was love, it was love, it was love, it was love
We needed love
It was love (it was love)
It was love (that we needed) that we needed, oh, yeah
Yeah, yeah
We needed love
Never, never, never did I know till now
My deep, deep feelings for another
When just romancin' in the world
Dancin' with you, girl
I knew we'd soon discover, soon discover
(Ooh, oh, na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
My happiness just came with such surprise
The water just swelled up in my eyes
An all I could see was your pretty, pretty face (pretty face)
Jumpin' up and down
All around (round) the place
It was love (it was love)
It was love (that we needed) that we needed
It was love, it was love, it was love, it was love
We needed love
It was love (it was love)
It was love (that we needed) that we needed, yeah, yeah-eh
We needed love
Sing it, girl
Loves, merry go round, goes around and round (whoo, ooh)
Loves, merry go round, goes round (round)

[...] Read more

song performed by Rod Stewart
Added by Lucian Velea
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XI. Guido

You are the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, and you,
Abate Panciatichi—two good Tuscan names:
Acciaiuoli—ah, your ancestor it was
Built the huge battlemented convent-block
Over the little forky flashing Greve
That takes the quick turn at the foot o' the hill
Just as one first sees Florence: oh those days!
'T is Ema, though, the other rivulet,
The one-arched brown brick bridge yawns over,—yes,
Gallop and go five minutes, and you gain
The Roman Gate from where the Ema's bridged:
Kingfishers fly there: how I see the bend
O'erturreted by Certosa which he built,
That Senescal (we styled him) of your House!
I do adjure you, help me, Sirs! My blood
Comes from as far a source: ought it to end
This way, by leakage through their scaffold-planks
Into Rome's sink where her red refuse runs?
Sirs, I beseech you by blood-sympathy,
If there be any vile experiment
In the air,—if this your visit simply prove,
When all's done, just a well-intentioned trick,
That tries for truth truer than truth itself,
By startling up a man, ere break of day,
To tell him he must die at sunset,—pshaw!
That man's a Franceschini; feel his pulse,
Laugh at your folly, and let's all go sleep!
You have my last word,—innocent am I
As Innocent my Pope and murderer,
Innocent as a babe, as Mary's own,
As Mary's self,—I said, say and repeat,—
And why, then, should I die twelve hours hence? I—
Whom, not twelve hours ago, the gaoler bade
Turn to my straw-truss, settle and sleep sound
That I might wake the sooner, promptlier pay
His due of meat-and-drink-indulgence, cross
His palm with fee of the good-hand, beside,
As gallants use who go at large again!
For why? All honest Rome approved my part;
Whoever owned wife, sister, daughter,—nay,
Mistress,—had any shadow of any right
That looks like right, and, all the more resolved,
Held it with tooth and nail,—these manly men
Approved! I being for Rome, Rome was for me.
Then, there's the point reserved, the subterfuge
My lawyers held by, kept for last resource,
Firm should all else,—the impossible fancy!—fail,
And sneaking burgess-spirit win the day.
The knaves! One plea at least would hold,—they laughed,—
One grappling-iron scratch the bottom-rock

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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V. Count Guido Franceschini

Thanks, Sir, but, should it please the reverend Court,
I feel I can stand somehow, half sit down
Without help, make shift to even speak, you see,
Fortified by the sip of … why, 't is wine,
Velletri,—and not vinegar and gall,
So changed and good the times grow! Thanks, kind Sir!
Oh, but one sip's enough! I want my head
To save my neck, there's work awaits me still.
How cautious and considerate … aie, aie, aie,
Nor your fault, sweet Sir! Come, you take to heart
An ordinary matter. Law is law.
Noblemen were exempt, the vulgar thought,
From racking; but, since law thinks otherwise,
I have been put to the rack: all's over now,
And neither wrist—what men style, out of joint:
If any harm be, 't is the shoulder-blade,
The left one, that seems wrong i' the socket,—Sirs,
Much could not happen, I was quick to faint,
Being past my prime of life, and out of health.
In short, I thank you,—yes, and mean the word.
Needs must the Court be slow to understand
How this quite novel form of taking pain,
This getting tortured merely in the flesh,
Amounts to almost an agreeable change
In my case, me fastidious, plied too much
With opposite treatment, used (forgive the joke)
To the rasp-tooth toying with this brain of mine,
And, in and out my heart, the play o' the probe.
Four years have I been operated on
I' the soul, do you see—its tense or tremulous part—
My self-respect, my care for a good name,
Pride in an old one, love of kindred—just
A mother, brothers, sisters, and the like,
That looked up to my face when days were dim,
And fancied they found light there—no one spot,
Foppishly sensitive, but has paid its pang.
That, and not this you now oblige me with,
That was the Vigil-torment, if you please!
The poor old noble House that drew the rags
O' the Franceschini's once superb array
Close round her, hoped to slink unchallenged by,—
Pluck off these! Turn the drapery inside out
And teach the tittering town how scarlet wears!
Show men the lucklessness, the improvidence
Of the easy-natured Count before this Count,
The father I have some slight feeling for,
Who let the world slide, nor foresaw that friends
Then proud to cap and kiss their patron's shoe,
Would, when the purse he left held spider-webs,
Properly push his child to wall one day!

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Smile For The Camera

I see you standing out there in the hall
You seem so nervous waiting for his call
I focus on you
I reach for the lens
The shutter snaps again
(smile)
Smile for the camera
You know
(smile)
The camera never ever lies
Ive been watching you with
Eager hungry eyes
For sometime
(smile)
I hold my lens in the middle of the night
Visions of you dancing in the strobe light
Up on my wall is a picture or two
Of someone who looks like you
(smile)
Smile for the camera
You know
(smile)
The camera is my wide lens
(smile)
You know the camera is my private eye
I got color transparencies
I got black and white
(smile)
Smile for the camera
You know that
(smile)
Cameras never ever lies
(smile)
Ive been watching you with telephoto eyes
For some time
(smile)
Smile for me
(come on)
Smile for me
(come on)
Smile for me
(come on)
Smile for me
(come on)
Smile for me
(come on)
Smile for me
(come on)
(smile)
Wont you smile for the camera

[...] Read more

song performed by Rick Springfield
Added by Lucian Velea
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Christmas In Tha Hood

[verse 1:]
Guess who rolled up? big s with the d rolled up
Girls jockin so the gs loc up, know what, santa aint playin that stuff
See, santa steady ridin on them scrubs for xmas
Sleigh stay flyin on them dubbs and switches
Hes vicious, gear on point and iced out
When santa hit the floor ya know its lights out
From the west to the east up north and down south it
Ghetto santa claus is bout it
3l dub so throw ya hands up for me
You know wassup, get yo dance on home cuz
[chorus:]
We bout to get the shhhhh started
We given you just what you wanted
From yo block to my block, we gonna keep it hot
Its xmas in the hood
Ghetto xmas lights flickin
Police aint even round trippin
From yo block to my block, we gonna make it hot
Its xmas in the hood
[break:]
Its going down fa sho
Ghetto santa claus is at the door
Ima get mine, you get yours
Xmas in the ghetto yo
[verse 2:]
Yo today, I gotta fat knot, in my stash box
And from this block to that block, they be like thats hot
Santa hit the jackpot, seen him in the rag-top
Flossin, tossin toys at us have-nots
3l dub and tell it best to from dirty jerz to l.e.s.
Youd never guess who I seen on the dance floor up in the mix
Santa claus for the cause with a thousand chicks
Im like nick, tell me what you gots for me, we in the hood where its good
Like it oughts to be, havin the time of my life too
I gots to be back home with my peeps thats the spot for me cuz
[repeat chorus]
[verse 3:]
Celebrating from the west to east coastin
I stay posted, this is for my people on the block with toastaz
My down home hotties hold it down you know this
The goody goodies got no time to notice
How we get down from my town to your town
L.a. to the bricks, v.a. and back down
We clownin while we downin egg nog by the case
50 aint trippin today about your case
Aint nobody stressin turkey and dressing
At the table with the fam thankin God for the blessings
Its all good from the grimey to the meadow
It aint nothing like xmas in the ghetto, holla back

song performed by 3LW
Added by Lucian Velea
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Naughty On Christmas

[verse 1:]
You and me together alone
Fireplace, watchin the snow
Holding me up in your arms, watcha wanna do?
Im in the mood to put it down slow
Catchin you under the mistletoe
[chorus:]
Tonight is just for you and me
You can cut my xmas tree
Baby its alright to be naughty on xmas
Ill slide down your chimney
Misbehave its cool with me
Baby its alright to be naught on xmas
[verse 2:]
Melodie soothing the soul
Baby please dont say no
I know you got mine too
And you dont have to wrap it up (Im cool)
Youre all I want for xmas eve baby, thats the truth
No, we dont need no toys, you give me xmas joy
Well spend this holiday together like all lovers do
[repeat chorus]
[bridge:]
I just want to lay and cuddle boy, I love you babe
Dont you feel like causing trouble on this xmas day?
If I had to choose it wouldnt be no other way
I know it dont sound right but its okay

song performed by 3LW
Added by Lucian Velea
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Feliz Navidad

duet with Celine Dion's Family

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.

We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of our heart.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of our heart.

We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of our heart.

From the bottom of my heart.

Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero Ano y Felicidad.

We wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

[...] Read more

song performed by Celine Dion from These Are Special Times
Added by Lucian Velea
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Singing Merry Christmas

Another time of year
Has come
To be loved in a special
Way
We will try to do whats
Right
On this very merry christmas
Day
Candles burning
Children singing goodnight
Theres no worries
Because santas on his way
So merry christmas to you
Merry christmas to all who share
On christmas day
Merry christmas to you
Singing merry christmas
Although many years
Have passed
Im sure the (? ) of christmas
Remains the same
Candles burning
Children singing goodnight
Theres no worries
Because santas on his way
So merry christmas to you
Merry christmas to all who share
On christmas day
Merry christmas to you
Singing merry christmas
Through all the people I know
And all the people I care for
Well make christmas last
Forever
So come along everyone
And sing this song with us
Singing merry christmas
To you
Merry christmas to all
Who share on christmas day
Merry christmas to you
Singing merry christmas
Singing merry christmas
To you
Merry christmas to all
Who share on christmas day
Merry christmas to you
Singing merry christmas
Santas on his way
Santas on his way

[...] Read more

song performed by New Edition
Added by Lucian Velea
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Today... 'The Word

Word of love and the Word made flesh
Word incarnate forever blessed
Word of life and the Word of light
Word of power and Word of might.

Word that was spoken, Word of the Lord
Word of the Law and the Word of God
Word of peace and Word eternal
Word of truth and last Word of all.

Word of wisdom and the Word of healing
Word from heaven, a Word so appealing
Word fulfilling the Word of prophecy
Word of the Spirit and Word of destiny.

Word of exhortation and Word of grace
Word of encouragement and Word of faith
Word of promise and a Word of insight
Word from the beginning and Word of delight.

Word of knowledge and a Word of boldness
Word of peace and the Word of righteousness
Word of the covenant and Word of love
Word of the Father from heaven above.

(see also the additional information in the Poet's notes box)

poem by Roy Allen
Added by Poetry Lover
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Carol Of The Bells

Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away.
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song,
With joyful ring, all caroling
One seems to hear words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
O, how they pound, raising the sound
Oer hill and dale, telling their tale
Gaily they ring, while people sing
Songs of good cheer, christmas is here!
Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas!
Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas!
On, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone to every home
Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away.
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song
With joyful ring, all caroling.
One seems to hear words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
O, how they pound, raising the sound
Oer hill and dale, telling their tale
Gaily they ring, while people sing
Songs of good cheer, christmas is here!
Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas!
Merry, merry, merry, merry christmas!
On, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone to every home.
Ding dong ding dong

song performed by Carpenters
Added by Lucian Velea
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Carol Of The Bells

Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding dongy dong, that is their song
With joyful ring, all carolling
One seems to hear, words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
Oh, how they pound, raising their sound
O'er here and there, telling their tail
Gaily they ri-ing, while people si-ing
Songs of good chee-eer, christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Come, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone, to every home
Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away-ay-ay-ay-ay
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold
Ding dongy dong, that is their song
With joyful ring, all carolling
One seems to hear, words of good cheer
From everywhere, filling the air
O, how they pound, raising their sound
O'er here and there, telling their tail
Gaily they ri-ing, while people si-ing
Songs of good chee-eer, christmas is here
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
Come, on they send, on without end
Their joyful tone, to every home
Hark! how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, throw cares away-ay-ay-ay
Hallelujah
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere
Hallelujah - Christmas is here-ere-ere [fade]

song performed by Kenny Rogers
Added by Lucian Velea
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Merry Mending

Duke ellington
Merry mending to you
Merry mending merry mending
May your convalescence be fun as you chat about prevention
Merry mending merry mending
Think youre lucky you are the one
To get all of that attention
Forget about your pills forget about your ills
Forget about the bills
Get up get out get well again
Merry mending health and happiness blending
Merry mending to you
Merry mending merry mending
May your convalescence be fun as you chat about prevention
Merry mending merry mending
Think youre lucky you are the one
To get all of that attention
Forget about your pills forget about your ills
Forget about the bills
Get up get out get well again
Merry mending merry mending merry mending
Merry mending merry mending to you

song performed by Nina Simone
Added by Lucian Velea
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Father Xmas

Father xmas
Will be working all night today
So that he can deliver all the christmas presents on time
To the children and their families
Father xmas
Is living his workshop now
In his reinder to deliver the Christmas presents
To all the houses here at home
Father christmas
Won't have any time to sleep at all
Because all the christmas gifts have to be delivered by christmas
And he has to follow the clause in his contract or otherwise he will get fired
And he could even make the children upset
Because there will be no presents to open at christmas
Father xmas
Goes down through the chimney
And then he comes out in the living room of the houses
Inside of the living room of the houses at christmas time
Father xmas will find the christmas tree decorated and lighted up
Father xmas
Eat his shortbread cookies and drink his glass of milk

poem by Aldo Kraas
Added by Poetry Lover
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Father Xmas Song

Father xmas
Will be working all night today
So that he can deliver all the christmas presents on time
To the children and their families
Father xmas
Is living his workshop now
In his reinder to deliver the Christmas presents
To all the houses here at home
Father christmas
Won't have any time to sleep at all
Because all the christmas gifts have to be delivered by christmas
And he has to follow the clause in his contract or otherwise he will get fired
And he could even make the children upset
Because there will be no presents to open at christmas
Father xmas
Goes down through the chimney
And then he comes out in the living room of the houses
Inside of the living room of the houses at christmas time
Father xmas will find the christmas tree decorated and lighted up
Father xmas
Eat his shortbread cookies and drink his glass of milk

poem by Aldo Kraas
Added by Poetry Lover
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Feliz Navidad

Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
I want to wish you a merry christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Feliz navidad
Prospero ao y felicidad
I want to wish you...
Here are the two original verses:
I want to wish you a merry christmas
With lots of presents to make you happy
I want to wish you a merry christmas
From the bottom of my heart
I want to wish you a merry christmas
With mistletoe and lots of cheer
With lots of laughter throughout the years
From the bottom of my heart

song performed by Boney M.
Added by Lucian Velea
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O, How I Smile!

O, how I smile!
I smile at the morning sun,
I smile when the day is done;
I smile at a cup of tea,
I smile at the old oak tree;
I smile at the summer flower,
I smile at each sudden shower;
I smile at the horned moon,
I smile for poor Lorna Doone;
I smile on early Monday mornings,
I even smile when I'm yawning!
I smile in slow traffic jams,
I smile when I'm eating spam;
I smile when I miss my date,
I smile when the weekend's late;
I smile at the minimum wage,
I smile at the blank white page.
I smile when my hawks aren't fed,
I smile in my empty bed;
I smile at all my enemies,
(Which makes them rather ill at ease) !
I smile at horrid screaming babies,
I'll smile if my dogs get rabies;
I smile if the nights get cold,
I'll smile if I get too old;
I smile if I'm feeling vague,
I'll smile with bubonic plague;
(When I think of someone dear,
I'll smile with a little tear) .
I'll smile when the Furies call,
I'll smile when the cities fall;
I'll smile when all the cards are dealt,
I'll smile when the ice-caps melt;
I'll smile when all the bees have died,
I'll smile when the Earth has fried;
I'll still be smiling, there's no doubt,
Even when the Sun goes out.
But as I smile I'd like to say,
I smile out to sea each day,
Where once the summer wind had ranged,
And then so very quickly changed,
To leave me stranded in this place,
While fixing fast my smiling face.

(CBB Aug 2011)

poem by Colin Breck Boardman
Added by Poetry Lover
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The Undying One- Canto III

'THERE is a sound the autumn wind doth make
Howling and moaning, listlessly and low:
Methinks that to a heart that ought to break
All the earth's voices seem to murmur so.
The visions that crost
Our path in light--
The things that we lost
In the dim dark night--
The faces for which we vainly yearn--
The voices whose tones will not return--
That low sad wailing breeze doth bring
Borne on its swift and rushing wing.
Have ye sat alone when that wind was loud,
And the moon shone dim from the wintry cloud?
When the fire was quench'd on your lonely hearth,
And the voices were still which spoke of mirth?

If such an evening, tho' but one,
It hath been yours to spend alone--
Never,--though years may roll along
Cheer'd by the merry dance and song;
Though you mark'd not that bleak wind's sound before,
When louder perchance it used to roar--
Never shall sound of that wintry gale
Be aught to you but a voice of wail!
So o'er the careless heart and eye
The storms of the world go sweeping by;
But oh! when once we have learn'd to weep,
Well doth sorrow his stern watch keep.
Let one of our airy joys decay--
Let one of our blossoms fade away--
And all the griefs that others share
Seem ours, as well as theirs, to bear:
And the sound of wail, like that rushing wind
Shall bring all our own deep woe to mind!

'I went through the world, but I paused not now
At the gladsome heart and the joyous brow:
I went through the world, and I stay'd to mark
Where the heart was sore, and the spirit dark:
And the grief of others, though sad to see,
Was fraught with a demon's joy to me!

'I saw the inconstant lover come to take
Farewell of her he loved in better days,
And, coldly careless, watch the heart-strings break--
Which beat so fondly at his words of praise.
She was a faded, painted, guilt-bow'd thing,
Seeking to mock the hues of early spring,
When misery and years had done their worst

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poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
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VII. Pompilia

I am just seventeen years and five months old,
And, if I lived one day more, three full weeks;
'T is writ so in the church's register,
Lorenzo in Lucina, all my names
At length, so many names for one poor child,
—Francesca Camilla Vittoria Angela
Pompilia Comparini,—laughable!
Also 't is writ that I was married there
Four years ago: and they will add, I hope,
When they insert my death, a word or two,—
Omitting all about the mode of death,—
This, in its place, this which one cares to know,
That I had been a mother of a son
Exactly two weeks. It will be through grace
O' the Curate, not through any claim I have;
Because the boy was born at, so baptized
Close to, the Villa, in the proper church:
A pretty church, I say no word against,
Yet stranger-like,—while this Lorenzo seems
My own particular place, I always say.
I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high
As the bed here, what the marble lion meant,
With half his body rushing from the wall,
Eating the figure of a prostrate man—
(To the right, it is, of entry by the door)
An ominous sign to one baptized like me,
Married, and to be buried there, I hope.
And they should add, to have my life complete,
He is a boy and Gaetan by name—
Gaetano, for a reason,—if the friar
Don Celestine will ask this grace for me
Of Curate Ottoboni: he it was
Baptized me: he remembers my whole life
As I do his grey hair.

All these few things
I know are true,—will you remember them?
Because time flies. The surgeon cared for me,
To count my wounds,—twenty-two dagger-wounds,
Five deadly, but I do not suffer much—
Or too much pain,—and am to die to-night.

Oh how good God is that my babe was born,
—Better than born, baptized and hid away
Before this happened, safe from being hurt!
That had been sin God could not well forgive:
He was too young to smile and save himself.
When they took two days after he was born,
My babe away from me to be baptized
And hidden awhile, for fear his foe should find,—

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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