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I've always liked Robert Service, he has quite a few Alaska-themed poems. This one here is an inspirational one:

oooh nice

Battles Lost


Upon the field o death you march,
first feeling fear as orders barked
With sword in hand, and stalwart heart
The battle... is the dying art.

"Let loose the dogs of war!" The cry
the want to go; to run, to hide
and never face the beast inside....
The hoard, the foe; the oncoming tide.

Then adrenalin pushing fear aside,
The anger, despair of those who've died
Fill you with rage, hate; homicide
All for a kingdoms petty pride?

The clash of sword, and shattered shield
and cries of warriors who could not yield
Deafens the ear across the field;
So sickening.... The enemy's blood is spilled.

The battle rages' forever on...
Til someone yells "The day is won"
Hate once again replaced by fear....
for the loss of those you held so dear.

At last, the homeward march begun,
behind.... the dead, the setting sun....
into the night, sad song is sung
Of battles lost, and victories won.

J.D. Storrington

Thel's Motto

"Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl? "

-William Blake(from the book of Thel)

One of my favourites by him

Mir ist bewusst was Freiheit bedeutet
Folge dem Wege geradeaus,
meide die Tiefen des Meeres,
doch hab ich solch Wort hinter mir gelassen.
Der Mond scheinet auf jedem Wege,
wie die in der Dunkelheit wie Diamanten schwimmenden Fische;
heiß wie durch Zufall Mensch - und hier bin ich.
Was hatte ich zu befürchten,
mit was zu kämpfen,
bald ist es Zeit die Lasten zu legen.
Erteile mir noch mehr Kraft,
Kraft zur Liebe.
Mir ist bewusst was Freiheit bedeutet,
mir ist bewusst was Freiheit bedeutet.

I know what Freedom is.
Follow the path straight ahead.
Keep out of the ocean deeps
I have left such words behind me
The Moon shines upon all paths
like Fish who swim like Diamonds in the Dark
Called a human being by chance – so here I am
What did I have to fear?
Against what was I struggling?
It’s time for me to lay down my heavy load.
Give me even more strength,
Strength to love.
I know what Freedom is.
I know what Freedom is.

a reply to: Rikku

Very nice choice.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Too many to pick a favorite, but thought I'd add a prime choice. Thanks for the great thread!


You Who Never Arrived - Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke


You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don't even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of
the next moment. All the immense
images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt
landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and
unsuspected turns in the path,
and those powerful lands that were once
pulsing with the life of the gods--
all rise within me to mean
you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
in a country house-- , and you almost
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,--
you had just walked down them and vanished.
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
were still dizzy with your presence and,
startled, gave back my too-sudden image.
Who knows? Perhaps the same
bird echoed through both of us
yesterday, separate, in the evening...
Rainer Maria Rilke

Goddess of the Earth
a beauty like no other-
Her wings are hidden
- Woman

By: Red Lion

Orange eye in the trees
suddenly they spot movement-
without noise, talons strike
- Owl

By: Red Lion

Charles Bukowski
Bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the ****s and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

If— Related Poem Content Details
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!

a reply to: IAMTAT

Here is a poem I wrote a few years ago and posted it here...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

One of my fav poem from my favorite author Robert Frost:

I SLUMBERED with your poems on my breast
Spread open as I dropped them half-read through
Like dove wings on a figure on a tomb
To see, if in a dream they brought of you,

I might not have the chance I missed in life 5
Through some delay, and call you to your face
First soldier, and then poet, and then both,
Who died a soldier-poet of your race.

I meant, you meant, that nothing should remain
Unsaid between us, brother, and this remained— 10
And one thing more that was not then to say:
The Victory for what it lost and gained.

You went to meet the shell’s embrace of fire
On Vimy Ridge; and when you fell that day
The war seemed over more for you than me, 15
But now for me than you—the other way.

How over, though, for even me who knew
The foe thrust back unsafe beyond the Rhine,
If I was not to speak of it to you
And see you please once more with words of mine? 20

"I hate and love.
Perhaps you ask
How this can be?

I know not, but
I feel it and
It tortures me."

I was rather proud of that one, as my own schoolboy translation of the Latin of Catullus;
"Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior".

Check out this prose excerpt of mine. It's about the art of disguise with the use of sunglasses. [url=http:// pulse-poems.blogspot.com.ng...]http://pulse-poems.blogspot.com.ng/2017/09/today-i-need-my-shades.html?m=1[ /url] I will really love your comments and critique. Thanks