Your favorite poem

[freefallfreak 0]

Zennie,
You been hanging around Skreamer and skyhawk too long...they might be too short but Freefall??...have ya' been peeking??
FFF

[flyingferret 0]

Well I like too many poems to even try and isolate one. But the thread did make me think....Have any of you seen a website with a bunch of old (60s and 70s) skydiving songs? Cannot remember where I saw them, but they are pretty good. Think it might have been a site on the t.u. system.

[skreamer 1]

OK, here is a poem that I REALLY like. I had seen bits of it posted on different places on the net, then finally tracked down the full original version on the author's (Allan Roulston's) web-site. I have included a link to his site - click on his name at the end.
Back From Whence You Came
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am the essence of clear blue sky;
I am the yearning to climb very high.
I am the breeze you feel as you spot;
I am the rapture of building a blot.
I am the rustle of a canopy in flight;
I am the flicker of camp fire light.
When you pass through the door into open air,
I know you are smiling, I'm the wind in your hair.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.
Allen Roulston (June 1996)
That poem is really sad, but at the same time it just reminds me about how fortunate I am to have discovered this beautiful new world that was above me the whole time, but I never knew existed. And also, that laid back easy camaraderie on the plane on the ride to altitude - that is also something that I treasure. Whether people are joking feeding off the tandem passengers' and students' nervous energy, or everybody is just really introspective and rehearsing the jump ahead - every ride is special.
/s

[PalmettoTiger 1]

Are ya thinking of Wendy Faulkner's page?
Blues, squares,
PTiger

[Greg 0]

Not quite poetry, but I like it!!
Believer
Watching the time go and feeling belief grow
Rise above the obstacles
People beseech me but they'll never teach me
Things that I already know (I know)
Dreams that have shattered may not have mattered
Take another point of view
Doubts will arise though like chasing a rainbow
I can tell a thing or two (That's true)
You've got to believe in yourself or no one
Will believe in you
Imagination like a bird on the wing
Flying, free for you to use (O.K. baby)
I can't believe they stop and stare
And point their fingers doubting me
Their disbelief suppresses them
But they're not blind it's just that they won't see
I'm a believer, I ain't no deceiver
Mountains move before my eyes
Destiny planned out I don't need no handout
Speculation of the wise

[Merrick 0]

Quote

"This one should have been written and shown to me a few months ago...and I should have taken it to heart..."

One thing I've learned is that hindsight is a wonderful thing. What once seemed as big & important as the sky we fall thru..... couldn't hold up a fly's turd in comparison to what I have now!

Quote

"There once was a man named James,
Who had a passion for silly games.
He lighted the hair.
Of his young love's affair,
And laughed - as she pee'd through the flames...

Bwahahaha - Jim wouldn't be short for James, would it?!?!
"Grab the grass, it's the bounce that kills!"
Merrick

[nws01 0]

Bringing this back up to post my favorite when I get home off work and can get the words.

[howardwhite 5]

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church's protestant blessings
daughters,unscented shapeless spirited)
they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead,
are invariably interested in so many things--
at the present writing one still finds
delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?
perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D
.... the Cambridge ladies do not care, above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless, the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy

-e.e. cummings

[Jessica 0]

ooh, e.e. cummings....

i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite a new thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones, and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz
of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh . . . . And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you quite so new

Skydiving is for cool people only

[MarkM 0]

My favorite is a fable called The Princess:

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful Princess." The man bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful Princess, I will stay with you for a week." The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.

The frog called out yet again, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful Princess, I'll stay with you and do anything you ask." Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally the frog asked, "What is it? I've told you I'm a beautiful Princess, that I'll stay with you for as long as you like and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The man looked at the frog and replied, "Look, I'm a programmer. I don't have time for girlfriends, but a talking frog is really cool."

[f1freak 0]

Here is the first poem i wrote for the woman i love....
(you know who you are...
I want to give you the world
and all you could ever want or dream of,
anything your heart desires
would be what I would give, to you love.

I would move the mountains if I could
and stop the rain from coming down,
I'd whisper, 'I love you', softly
as I look into your eyes of deep brown.

I'd make all your days sunny and warm
and you would always know...
That whenever we're apart,
my love for you, even then, will show.

People will know that I'm in love
just from the thoughts that I have of you.
They will wonder what kind of woman it takes
to make me do the things I do.

I couldn't even tell them what it took
for even I don't know.
All I know is you have it all...
and it's you who gave me this glow.

No words will be needed as we hold each other
in the stillness of the night,
only warm embraces and soft kisses,
and the glow of the moon will be our only light.

HAVE FUN...
...JUST DONT DIE

[nws01 0]

Still searching...

[lowpull 0]

I am suprised no one has brought up Dylan Thomas

"Do not Go Gentle into that goodnite"

Do not go gentle into that goodnite
old age should burn and rage at close of day
Rage,Rage against the dying of the light
Though wise men at their end know dark is right
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that goodnite
Good men,the last wave by,crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green day
Rage,rage against the dying of the light
Wild men who caught the sun and sang in flight
And learn,too late,they grieved it on its way
Do not go gentle into that goodnite
Grave men,near death,who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
And you, my father,there on the sad height
Curse,bless me now with your fierce tears ,I pray
Do not go gently into that goodnite
Rage, rage against the dying of the light






I always get something new, everytime I read that poem


Dude, great thread!!!!


Ralph

[Kennedy 0]

I don't know. Most of my favorite poems are by my favorite story teller: the great Jimmy Buffet.

Honestly, my favorite poem is that little inspirational one given by the Master Sergeant in G.I. JANE. It may have been the only good thing to come out of the movie, but I liked it. I'll see if I can find the words somewhere. Any help would be appreciated.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[PLFKING 3]

Hey Jim....good to see you around again.

Quote

...as always, we degress.

Sangiro......and you're a Renaissance Man ! How dare you ?


I guess my tastes run towards the macabre when poetry is concerned. All my poems have been light-hearted, but I always appreciate a talent that can write of the fragility of life, and make it seem close. All of Paterson's work is darkly profound, as well as one of my favorites, from Thomas Nashe, about the inescapability of death.....

ADIEU, FAREWELL EARTH'S BLISS

Adieu, farewell earth's bliss,
This world uncertain is;
Fond are life's lustful joys,
Death proves them all but toys,
None from his darts can fly:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade;
All things to end are made;
The plague full swift goes by:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air,
Queens have died young and fair,
Dust hath clos'd Helen's eye:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Strength stoops unto the grave,
Worms feed on Hector brave,
Swords may not fight with fate,
Earth still holds ope her gate;
Come, come, the bells do cry.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Wit with his wantonness
Tasteth death's bitterness:
Hell's executioner
Hath no ears for to hear
What vain art can reply:
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!

Haste, therefore, each degree
To welcome destiny:
Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player's stage:
Mount we unto the sky.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us!



Great idea for a post, Mr. G.


Don

[Kennedy 0]

Quote

Honestly, my favorite poem is that little inspirational one given by the Master Chief in G.I. JANE. It may have been the only good thing to come out of the movie, but I liked it.

Self-Pity
- D.H. Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.


"When I see the sea once more/ will the sea have seen or not seen me?"
from Pablo Neruda's poem XLIX, from The Book Of Questions

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[skymama 35]

I had this one pasted to the back of my door almost my entire childhood when I was competing in swimming.

It’s All In The State Of Mind

If you think you're beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost
For out in the world you find,
Success begins with a fellow's will:
It's all in the state of mind.

Full many a race is lost
Ere ever a step is run;
And many a coward fails
Ere ever his work begun.
Think big, and your deeds will grow:
Think small, and you'll fall behind:
Think that you can, and you will.
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are:
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the fellow who thinks he can.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[wmw999 2,123]

What Do Women Want?
Kim Addonizio


I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
doughnuts in their cafe, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm you worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[AggieDave 6]

My favorite, its actually one that I wrote a few years ago:

Gazing reflection of hollow eyes stare
Death's cloud, it's inky cloak clinging to him
The thoughts of death come closer to his brim
The marbleized look of a dark despair
Death's blood-soaked hands running through the boy's hair
Bitter anger making his eyes grow dim
Violent tendencies compelling to him
Realizing that fate's dreams are liars
Embracing the bitter thought of death
This boy travels on and on alone
His will leaving life's well trotten path
Fingers red with blood, hands worked to the bone
His life's work falling off the master's lath
His life now void traversing the unknown

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[smiles 0]

My favorite poem-
Do not go gentle into that good night-
by: Dylan Thomas


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas


Smiles.

[Falko 0]

Quote

LET THIS END WHERE IT BEGAN.....

Beautifully written. My compliments!

BTW I'd want the same type of funeral if I ever should happen to bounce or die of cancer. No graveyard, no tombstone, no priest please. A nice 10-way star with me "pulling out" (being pulled out, that is) at 10000ft.

Ich betrachte die Religion als Krankheit, als Quelle unnennbaren Elends für die menschliche Rasse.
(Bertrand Russell, engl. Philosoph, 1872-1970)

[Casurf1978 0]

I love E.E Cummings.

One of my favs

The Eagle
by: e.e. cummings

It was one of those clear,sharp.mustless days
That summer and man delight in.
Never had Heaven seemed quite so high,
Never had earth seemed quite so green,
Never had the world seemed quite so clean
Or sky so nigh.
And I heard the Deity's voice in
The sun's warm rays,
And the white cloud's intricate maze,
And the blue sky's beautiful sheen.

2

I looked to the heavens and saw him there,--
A black speck downward drifting,
Nearer and nearer he steadily sailed,
Nearer and nearer he slid through space,
In an unending aerial race,
This sailor who hailed
From the Clime of the Clouds.--Ever shifting,
On billows of air
And the blue sky seemed never so fair,
And the rest of the world kept pace.

3

On the white of his head the sun flashed bright;
And he battled the wind with wide pinions,
Clearer and clearer the gale whistled loud,
Clearer and clearer he came into view,--
Bigger and blacker against the blue.
Then a dragon of cloud
Gathering all its minions
Rushed to the fight,
And swallowed him up in a bite;
And the sky lay empty clear through.

4

Long I watched. And at last afar
Caught sight of a speck in the vastness;
Ever smaller,ever decreasing,
Ever drifting,drifting awayInto the endless realms of day;
Finally ceasing.
So into Heaven's vast fastness
Vanished that bar
Of black,as a fluttering star
Goes out while still on its way.

5

So I lost him. But I shall always see
In my mind
The warm,yellow sun,and the ether free;
The vista's sky,and the white cloud trailing,
Trailing behind,--
And below the young earth's summer-green arbors,
And on high the eagle,--sailing,sailing
Into far skies and unknown harbors

[Girlfalldown 0]

Eyes of blue, I love you
forever and ever
through pain and pleasure
for all to see
our comrade ship
no one to say any shit
about you and me
no one on this earth can keep us apart
not even a day because you're in my heart
I wrote this poem in a minute
but my love for you is really in it
I hope that you'll see......

Justin Peirce, age 13. He was my first real crush and then first boyfriend during my last innocent summer.
I wonder where he is now. *sigh*
This just brought back some of the nicest memories of being a kid.

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

(Do not, I repeat DO NOT, take my posts seriously.)

[bob.dino 0]

Quite dense I'm afraid:

CLOUD-PUFFBALL, torn tufts, tossed pillows ' flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-	

built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs ' they throng; they glitter in marches.	

Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, ' wherever an elm arches,	

Shivelights and shadowtackle in long ' lashes lace, lance, and pair.	

Delightfully the bright wind boisterous ' ropes, wrestles, beats earth bare

Of yestertempest’s creases; in pool and rut peel parches	

Squandering ooze to squeezed ' dough, crust, dust; stanches, starches	

Squadroned masks and manmarks ' treadmire toil there	

Footfretted in it. Million-fuelèd, ' nature’s bonfire burns on.	

But quench her bonniest, dearest ' to her, her clearest-selvèd spark

Man, how fast his firedint, ' his mark on mind, is gone!	

Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark	

Drowned. O pity and indig ' nation! Manshape, that shone	

Sheer off, disseveral, a star, ' death blots black out; nor mark	

Is any of him at all so stark

But vastness blurs and time ' beats level. Enough! the Resurrection,	

A heart’s-clarion! Away grief’s gasping, ' joyless days, dejection.	

Across my foundering deck shone	

A beacon, an eternal beam. ' Flesh fade, and mortal trash	

Fall to the residuary worm; ' world’s wildfire, leave but ash:

In a flash, at a trumpet crash,	

I am all at once what Christ is, ' since he was what I am, and	

This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, ' patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,	

Is immortal diamond.

Gerard Manley Hopkins: "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection"

[misskriss 0]

Here's one to chew on in today's times...


Wislava Szymborska...

The End and the Beginning

After every war
someone has to tidy up.
Things won't pick
themselves up, after all.

Someone has to shove
the rubble to the roadsides
so the carts loaded with corpses
can get by.

Someone has to trudge
through sludge and ashes,
through the sofa springs,
the shards of glass,
the bloody rags.

Someone has to lug the post
to prop the wall,
someone has to glaze the window,
set the door in its frame.

No sound bites, no photo opportunities,
and it takes years.
All the cameras have gone
to other wars.

The bridges need to be rebuilt,
the railroad stations, too.
Shirtsleeves will be rolled
to shreds.

Someone, broom in hand,
still remembers how it was.
Someone else listens, nodding
his unshattered head.

But others are bound to be bustling nearby
who'll find all that
a little boring.

From time to time someone still must
dig up a rusted argument
from underneath a bush
and haul it off to the dump.

Those who knew
what this was all about
must make way for those
who know little.
And less than that.
And at last nothing less than nothing.

Someone has to lie there
in the grass that covers up
the causes and effects
with a cornstalk in his teeth,
gawking at clouds.