Download - Tumbled Streams
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tumbled streams
raymond sapienza
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Copyright © 2007, Raymond Sapienza
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to Rachel, for her patience.
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tumbled streams i arrange my thoughts in fluid groups,
streams flowing to a river.
their purpose to go a scenic route
and pool where thoughts grow bigger.
but along the way are rocks and falls
and offshoots not intended
which tumble streams and shatter thoughts
…too shattered to be mended.
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twice each day
the mantle clock above my hearth
has long since lost its movement.
yet, twice each day i find it true
and cherish those quiet moments.
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full moon the moon has been full too long i fear,
and i, as a fool, behold her;
wishing i could find her ear
and whisper there to scold her.
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sigh i heard you sigh from across the room
though i could not see your face
as you stood at the window and gazed
at the moon;
it gazed back through the lace.
a sigh of contentment? of longing? of pain?
your emotion i could not trace
as i crossed to the window and gazed
at the moon;
it gazed back through the lace.
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deceitful flames i gaze into the night sky
seeking answers from the stars
as do countless other eyes
and countless other hearts
while the stars accept our yearnings
as fuel for their deceitful flames.
and though they never answer
they bid us ask again.
i gaze into the night sky
seeking answers from the stars
as do countless other eyes
and countless other hearts
each knowing, as morning threatens,
there will no answer be.
for the stars are self consuming
and so, alas, are we.
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the stream
the stream hastened to the fall
to conclude, too late,
that it wasn't at all
where she wanted to be.
silly girl,
till she fell she thought
she was free.
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silent times silent times,
touching very lightly
brushing only slightly
hand to hand.
quiet times,
nothing to be spoken
no need to be broken
by a word.
peaceful times,
although short in duration
a lifetime of sensation
a smile upon a sigh.
silent, silent times.
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the moment
if never the moment strikes,
if all remains silent and still,
if complacency darkens the light,
it’s then that the moment will kill.
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tryst upon midnight visits of the moon
i speak to her in veiled allusions,
for fear the stars will overhear
and leap to correct conclusions.
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i love a girl…
her arms are scarred by razor cuts,
carved words of hate and grief.
mingled tears and blood she spills
in an effort to find peace.
- i love a girl that won't be loved.
by day she hides in a smiling face,
by night all smiles cease.
she exacts the price alone in the dark
in an effort to find release.
- i love a girl that won't be loved.
deeper scars can be found on her heart
than those upon her skin.
if only I could share the dark,
if only she would let me in.
- i love a girl . . . .
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unreadable eyes
there are those whose eyes we cannot read,
not for lack there of emotion.
we simply do not share the same
devices nor devotions.
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the well wishes sealed within the well,
private dreams that none dare tell,
whispered to the water deep -
entrusted to the water's keep.
no source of magic is the well,
no power there over Heaven nor Hell.
just a quiet place with simple rules
where now and then a dream comes true.
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true hearts sun rises / sun sets /
night conceives / morning begets /
images come and go.
seasons change / skies race /
planets turn in time and space /
futures come and go.
love lifts / loss hurts /
happiness glows / anger bursts /
people come and go.
friendship stays / memory lives /
good things never cease to give /
true hearts never go.
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instinct
and as the crowd goes
so i go,
not due enough to
my own mind,
but drawn by instinct's
ebb and flow
to seek the comfort
of the kind.
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toil tranquil, tranquil is the light
of breaking dawn and setting sun
to all who toil for daily rest
and daily reckon up the sum.
but never will their joints be blest
who count their task as lifetimes run.
and darkness reigns both day and night
o'er those whose work is never done.
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promise 'twas a lifetime ago if it was a day
that i felt your breath upon my ear
and heard your whisper, sweet and clear,
promising you'd never stray.
'twas a lifetime ago if it was a day.
and though the promise was not kept
(perhaps such promises should not be
made)
'tis a memory i'd never trade
for a drying of all the tears i've wept.
'twas a lifetime ago if it was a day
that first i knew you'd never stay.
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fool
within every heart there's locked a fool
longing to express
the countless notions, thoughts, and acts
the mind strives to suppress.
oh, rue the day my fool i freed
to fulfill his inclinations!
for though he's once again subdued
there's no repairing my reputation.
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precious waste of time precious waste of time,
darling you are mine.
you share my cup of coffee,
you share my glass of wine.
precious waste of time,
until we meet again
i'll work for you in sunshine,
i'll work for you in rain.
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pebble just as a pebble
that sinks in a pond,
i leave a few ripples
and then i am gone.
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intentions we are no less than our passions,
no less than our desires,
till the machinations of our intentions
leave but the wax that has
dripped from our fires.
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on the edge of sleep …that wee, neglected moment
when thoughts go standing still
then tumble into darkness
and with them take the will.
that wee, neglected moment
which wake and sleep both fill…
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me i am neither this nor that
but only just as much as me
and if you wish me more or less
disappointed you must be
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you are wind you are wind
i am water,
water in a stagnant pool.
i wait alone in tepid stillness
till your breath excites a move.
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plight i am Cain i am Abel,
the good and yet the prodigal son.
i will live and die forever
i will end when just begun.
i am sanity draped in madness
i am darkness sprung from light.
i am love and hate together
this is my/your/our plight.
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the heart a strange and mysterious cup it is
from which pours envies, murders and strife;
while also and always mixed in its depths
swirl love and hope and life.
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sweet indifference sweet indifference, bouncing back
from where you have been hiding,
filling up my laughing cup
and ending all my crying.
sweet indifference, welcome back,
i'm oh so tired of trying.
i've had my fill of caring for
a world that loves its dying.
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judgement and who am i
to cast a stone?
let one without sin
cast the first.
better to offer
a hand to a friend
than, by judging,
intensify hurt.
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coaxing beauty as Adam was placed in Eden
to cultivate and keep,
though the garden now, to us,
lies out of bounds,
it remains our task to coax
from twisted thistles and deadly thorns
any beauty that within them
can be found.
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the father of all such as handle the harp and
organ
Jubal, son of Lamech, son of Cain:
the first of all to fashion note to chord.
and music since has flowed from age to age
as bearer both of love and of the sword.
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strangers chance meeting on a narrow path,
lonely strangers in a lonely wood.
each eyeing the other with suspicion,
each fearing both evil and good.
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rhetoric words words words,
rain from swollen cloudy tongues,
cascade in torrential downpours,
swamp the arid ground.
words words words,
strain reservoirs till they burst,
form undrinkable fetid oceans,
lack the deeds to slake our thirst.
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a clashing of cymbals musically speaking, we are far apart.
you require consistent harmony,
while i, with jarring notes to start,
find rhythm in cacophony.
conversely, i can soothe my soul
while basking in your melody,
but distress is all you ever feel
as i conduct my discordant symphony.
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sorrow’s tears when sorrow’s tears in rivers flow,
think not to restrain them.
but let them to the ocean go
where wind and sky reclaim them.
and when your heart is parched and sore,
thirsting for contentment,
those tears, since held in Heaven’s store,
will rain for your refreshment.
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razor cut deprecatory statements
whispered to the mirror;
razor sharp & double edged
to cut from ear to ear.
and though all but forgotten
by the time sunset is near,
each and every morning
the truth is hard to hear.
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rain if some drops were filled with pleasure
and some drops were filled with pain,
oh! what a hit and miss game it would be
simply dashing through light summer rain.
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game of life the wise player plans his moves ahead
but knows there is a limit.
for to plan too far is no plan at all
and has no wisdom in it.
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sailing when i was a sailing man i would skim
across the sea, cast my eye at stars above
and dream a dream of those i loved,
so very far away.
but that was many years ago.
now i tread upon the land,
friends and family close at hand.
and when stars shine in heaven above
i dream a dream of seas i loved,
so very far away.
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communication communication is great treasure;
phrases are gold spun fine.
words spent in vain endeavor
are pearls cast before swine.
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may they now may they now rest in peace,
those who sought peace in life,
perhaps grazing it with a fingertip
propelling it just out of reach.
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actions the fact of the matter
[as a matter of fact]
whether you choose
to act or not act,
if today it's your
actions that matter,
tomorrow
it may be your lack.
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humility don’t think yourself higher than you are,
or even as high as you might be.
if you think of yourself at all,
better to do so with humility.
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into uncharted seas as uncharted seas confront us,
let us not drift apart,
but tether our lifeboats together
and together find land or be lost.
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if i could do it all again if i could do it all again
having learned from my mistakes,
i’d change my world around, and yet,
if i could do it all again
knowing naught but what i know,
what new mistakes would i regret?
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natural love can't blame the viper for her venom.
can't blame the shark for his teeth.
when push comes to shove,
in life as well as love,
we do what we do naturally.
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reality don’t tell me what has been,
nor even what will be.
we are here. we are now.
this is our reality.
if you feel the need
to tell me anything at all,
tell me why i feel so sad
when i hear the rock dove call.
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the great equalizer city sidewalk
sudden cloudburst
pedestrians caught unaware
equality reigns
as fashion drips
from sodden clothes and hair
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cliffs the tip of my tongue;
the edge of my mind;
that is where you dwelt.
would that i could
return to those cliffs
on the day before you fell.
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Hydra we are what we are:
a warring race.
as soon as one ends
two more take its place.
no Hercules strong enough,
this Hydra, to master.
our mouths shout for peace
while our hands wreak disaster.
not a king nor a country,
not a people nor a man
can honestly say they,
true peace, understand.
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the economics of spring spring fields thirst for rain
and look to highest heaven,
where traveling clouds
seek deserving meadows on
which to bestow their burdens.
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clay in this clay
i spend my hours;
today for me,
tomorrow for flowers.
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foundation dig a hole.
dig it deep;
as deeply as you can.
every day a shovel full,
until you understand:
no matter how deep your foundation,
this world is but shifting sand.
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value birch bark rings, not diamond;
wood row boats, not yachts;
the value of an object
is a product of your thoughts.
if i think my old pocket knife’s
worth a mint, who’s to say it’s not.
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shining then hair will fall, teeth will rot,
eyes and ears will dim.
the who you are will then be not,
at least not on the skin.
the time is now to cultivate
the traits not clearly seen.
that when the cover tatters,
they’ll shine forth from within.
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dove just when i thought my time over
and nothing left worth my love,
a messenger floated from heaven
whispering gifts from above.
in a twinkling my heart was unfettered.
in that moment i finally knew,
the difference between life and living
is not what you have, but what you do.
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balance balance is precarious
business. it is why we
swing our arms to walk.
if only our tongues
had such counterweights
to steady them when we talk.
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freedom freedom is found in
the girl next door and the boy
who lives down the lane,
who march away from laughter
and dances, to where freedom
is yet to be gained.
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evolution here and there
small revelations
push and prod our elevation
to peaks where, with a glance behind,
we see the solution for our minds
was never one of revolution,
but slow and steady evolution.
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jest-iculation the wise will say a jest is just
a play on words, but the jester knows
where wisdom lies and where it goes.
and after all, men being dust,
i'd sooner a jester than a wise man trust.
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gibberish some aspire ‘gainst mighty peaks.
some o’er tumultuous waves set sail.
some thru jungles dark and deep
flush out and over beasts prevail.
not i! my cap i’ve set not so!
i, to scratch the adventurous itch,
seek not tropics, sea, nor snow,
but plow the fields of gibberish.
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