Charlotte Mew- On the Road to the Sea

On the Road to the Sea


We passed each other, turned and stopped for half an hour, 
     then went our way, 
I who can make other women smile did not make you-
But no man can move mountains in a day. 
So this hard thing is yet to do. 


But first I want your life: -before I die I want to see
The world that lies behind the strangeness of your eyes,
There is nothing gay or green there for my gathering, it may be,
     yet on brown fields there lies
A haunting purple bloom: is there not something in grey skies
     And in grey sea?
I want what world there is behind your eyes,
I want your life and you will not give it me.


Now, if I look, I see you walking down the years, 
Young, and through August fields - a face, a thought, a 
           swinging dream perched on a stile -;
I would have liked (so vile we are!) to have taught you tears
     But most to have made you smile. 


To-day is not enough or yesterday: God sees it all - 
Your length on sunny lawns, the wakeful rainy nights -; tell
          me -; (how vain to ask), but it is not a question -
          just a call -;
Show me then, only your notched inches climbing up the 
          garden wall,
I like you best when you are small. 


Is this a stupid thing to say
Not having spent with you one day?
No matter; I shall never touch your hair
Or hear the little tick behind your breast,
     Still it is there,
     And as a flying bird
Brushes the branches where it may not rest
     I have brushed your hand and heard
The child in you: I like that best
So small, so dark, so sweet; and were you also then too grave
          and wise?
Always, I think. Then put your far off little hand in mine; - 
          Oh! let it rest;
I will not stare into the early world beyond the opening eyes, 
Or vex or scare what I love best. 
But I want your life before mine bleeds away - 
Here - not in heavenly hereafters - soon - 
I want your smile this very afternoon, 
(The last of all my vices, pleasant people used to say, 
I wanted and I sometimes got - the Moon!)


You know, at dusk, the last bird's cry, 
And round the house the flap of the bat's low flight, 
Trees that go black against the sky
And then - how soon the night!


No shadow of you on any bright road again, 
And the darkening end of this - what voice? whose kiss? As
          if you'd say!
It is not I who have walked with you, it will not be I who take 
          away
Peace, peace, my little handful of the gleaner's grain
From your reaped fields at the shut of day. 


Peace! Would you not rather die
Reeling, - with all the cannons at your ear?
So, at least, would I, 
And I may not be here
To-night, tomorrow morning or next year. 
Still will I let you keep your life a little while, 
See dear?
I have made you smile. 


(1921) 

Wolfmother (lyrics)- Colossal

WOLFMOTHER
COLOSSAL

I saw the colossal landscape
Of which I never was a part
It was the magical day
Of which I'd never seen before


The first time I saw colossal girl
The first time I saw colossal girl


Such glowing mountains before us
Pillars of life all fade away
Of all the things I need to say girl
All of these wods are in my way


The first time I saw colossal girl


Well she's running to the hills again
Can you tell me if she'll ever return
She must be mother nature's child
Cause she's running to the call of the wild
She's talkin' to the trees again
Tellin' me that she's one of them
Lookin' at the bird in the tree
Though she's never gonna notice me


Oh is my love a confession
Will I just put it back today
If I had a love to give you
Would you still throw it away


The first time I saw colossal girl
The first time I saw colossal girl


Well she's running to the hills again
Can you tell me if she'll ever return
She must be mother nature's child
Cause she's runnin' to the call of the wild
She's talkin' to the trees again
Tellin' me that she's one of them
Lookin' at the bird in the tree
Though she's never gonna notice me


Can you remember the first time we met
Living together in colossal times
Some things are given with no reason why
Living together in colossal times


I'm just a gypsy with wondering eyes
I'll tell you secrets that send you to sleep
All I can give you is all of my love
These are the things I can give you to keep

Melody Gardot (lyrics)

Sent to me from one of my very best friends....

MELODY GARDOT

BABY I'M A FOOL

How was I to know that this was always only just a little game to you?
All the time I felt you gave your heart I thought that I would do the same for you,
Tell the truth I think I should have seen it coming from a mile away,
When the words you say are,
“Baby I’m a fool who thinks it’s cool to fall in love”
If I gave a thought to fascination I would know it wasn’t right to care,
Logic doesn’t seem to mind that I am fascinated by the love affair,
Still my heart would benefit from a little tenderness from time to time, but never mind,
Cos Baby I’m a fool who thinks it’s cool to fall in love,
Baby I should hold on just a moment and be sure it’s not for vanity,
Look me in the eye and tell me love is never based upon insanity,
Hear the way my heart is beating every other moments fleeting,
Kiss me now,
Don’t ask me how,
Cos Baby I’m a fool who thinks it’s cool to fall,
Baby I’m a fool who thinks it’s cool to fall,
And I would never tell if you became a fool and fell in Love.

Sandra Maria Esteves

(from Aloud; Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe)


SANDRA MARIA ESTEVES
PUERTO RICAN DISCOVERY #23
PORTRAIT IN RAISING SELF-ESTEEM

Flirtacious dreamers
we judge ourselves all wrong


Backward guilt
feet-first jumpstarts into birth
innocent to realize
rain days can be good
blessings from heaven
disguised


We watch for signs
Survival manna
Slow to discover learning lessons
on an oceanic route
full of rocky struts
fathomless caves
voluptuous hills
sea water from the unexpected


The colors in our eyes are misleading
Trapped in partisan confrontations
about the cost of rice
the oil franchise
a video game rate race
for electronic cheese
Every car and plastic bag, a failure
Signatures we tag around
Cheap ads cheating
our children, ourselves


There are no joysticks to the inner life
despite wrappings easily discarded


We are infants compared to the universe
a wise great-grandmother
who can harvest the starts around the moon


She cannot be bought
No pricetags are attached
The inner life has no boundaries
No jail cells--not a one
No fixed points of reference to confine a soul
No eye-catching boxes
to pollute everyday sidewalks


The names of all things are sacred
like thoughts breathing clean air
More than loving
living means giving
like homegrown food
from the eternal harvest within


But for real.