Poem 30 of 30.


Tree House
by Shel Silverstein

A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,
Be sure to wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all-
Let's go live in a tree house.

I'm selling these bracelets for my mission trip to Washington (state)this summer. I'll be working on a Native American reservation. Email me at spoopsandyoyo@gmail.com if you want to buy one. They're $3 each, and really the snazziest bracelets known to fundraising. You can even pick your own colour! Don't miss out ;)

I find this poem to be incredibly funny. I laugh a lot, and immediately think of one of my friends for some reason...even though she'd never...well, yeah.


My Beard
by Shel Silvertein

My beard grows to my toes
I never wears no clothes,
I wraps my hair
Around my bare,
And down the road I goes.

GIVE me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling;
Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;
Give me a field where the unmow’d grass grows;
Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;
Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching content;
Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars;
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk undisturbed!

We all knew this was coming. Or could at least guess this was coming. I love Jason Castro, so very much. This is one of my favorite songs he has done. It's happy and kind of goofy.


If I Were You
by Jason Castro

If I were you
I would fall for me
Keep every promise,
Answer my calls
And I would never let you down
Ohhh

If i were you I would turn that car around
Come speeding back tonight
And I, I would wonder how
I got so lucky that I'm right here with you
If i were you I'd know exactly what to do

I would take you by the hand and i would keep holding tight
If you wanna go to sleep I got a lullaby
I know exactly what to say and i would do what you need
If I were you, I would fall for me
Yeah, I would fall for me

If I were you I would drop out of school
Forget the grades, you'd have it made
You'll see, you belong to me
If I could make you realize that all you want is all I've got
Please stay here and don't ever leave, no

I'm so happy that I'm right here with you
Loving you is really all I've wanted to do

I would take you by the hand and I would keep holding tight
And if you wanna go to sleep I got a lullaby
I know exactly what to say and I would do what you need
If I were you I'd fall

Again and again and know if you have any doubt
And if you ever for a second forget what you've found
I'll show you the world, I'll make you believe
If I were you, I would fall for me
I'd fall hard and fast and I'd never look back if I were you
Just close your eyes and you'll see, yeah

I would take you by the hand and I would keep holding tight
If you wanna go to sleep I got a lullaby
I know exactly what to say and I would do what you need
If I were you, I'd fall again and again
And know if you have any doubt
And if you ever for a second forget what you've found
I'll show you the world, I'll make you believe
If I were you, I would fall for me, for me, for me, yeah

I posted my favorite story poem back in February (My African Child), but have yet to figure out how to put up links to older posts so I'll just post another one. I've always loved Robin Hood stories. I find them to be utterly delightful.


Robin Hood, An Outlaw
By James Henry Leigh Hunt

Robin Hood is an outlaw bold
Under the greenwood tree;
Bird, nor stag, nor morning air
Is more at large than he.

They sent against him twenty men,
Who joined him laughing-eyed;
They sent against him thirty more,
And they remained beside.

All the stoutest of the train,
That grew in Gamelyn wood,
Whether they came with these or not,
Are now with Robin Hood.

And not a soul in Locksley town
Would speak him an ill word;
The friars raged; but no man's tongue,
Nor even feature stirred;

Except among a very few
Who dined in the Abbey halls;
And then with a sigh bold Robin knew
His true friends from his false.

There was Roger the monk, that used to make
All monkery his glee;
And Midge, on whom Robin had never turned
His face but tenderly;

With one or two, they say, besides,
Lord! that in this life's dream
Men should abandon one true thing,
That would abide with them.

We cannot bid our strength remain,
Our cheeks continue round;
We cannot say to an aged back,
Stoop not towards the ground;

We cannot bid our dim eyes see
Things as bright as ever;
Nor tell our friends, though friends from youth,
That they'll forsake us never:

But we can say, I never will,
Friendship, fall off from thee;
And, oh sound truth and old regard,
Nothing shall part us three.

This is one of my "random" poems. I re-found this poem today. It's one of my favorites. Happy Easter!


My Advocate
by Martha Snell Nicholson

I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew
Before the presence of the most high God,
And made a railing accusation there.
He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod,
Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,
But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,
'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'
Shall not Thy sentence be fulfilled?
Is justice dead?
Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.
What other thing can righteous ruler do?"
And thus he did accuse me day and night,
And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand,
Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes. He spoke,
"Each jot and tittle of the law
Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!
But wait -- suppose his guilt were all transferred
To Me, and that I paid his penalty!
Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day
I was made sin for him, and died that he
Might be presented, faultless, at Thy throne!"
And Satan flew away. Full well he knew
That he could not prevail against such love,
For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!

I am getting a little desperate for poems, here, so this poem fitting in the category "love" may be a bit of a stretch. But really, I think that a huge part of love is being able to feel what those around you feel, and to put yourself in their shoes for the sole purpose of knowing more what they need, and what they need from you. I think that once you know how to tap into a someone's personal make up in that way, you have the capability to love and bless them much much more. When it becomes natural for you to laugh when they laugh, and cry when they cry, you know love. I promise to try and find a more blantant love poem before the month is up. I do like this one though :)

Africa's Pain is my Pain
By Ayanle Isak

Africa dear Africa
Your children are lonely and depressed
Africa dear Africa
Your children are at war with each other
Africa dear Africa
Your children are starving
Africa dear Africa
Your essence are is pure but you are suffering
Africa dear Africa
Your pain is my pain
So I sit here crying.

"Paradise"
This is a song. I love the bridge, I think it's a piece of the picture of the diversity of heaven.


Give Me Your Hand
by Enter the Worship Circle

VERSE 1:
Give me your hand and we'll walk, walk down together
Lift up your hands and we'll sing, sing here together

CHORUS:
How good it is to know you God, How lovely is... your Bride
How blessed we are... to have... each other
You hold us all close...by your side

VERSE 2:
Come with me now and we'll dance, dance here together
Lift up your heart and we'll dream, dream here together

BRIDGE:
There's none to poor, too dirty, too broken
Too naked, too stupid, too drunken, to be

Thrown outside His love!

Joy!


From the very first day,
We were there,
Taking it all in-we heard it with our own ears,
Saw it with our own eyes,
Verified it with our hands!
The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes;
We saw it happen!

The infinite life of God Himself took shape before us!

We saw it,
We heard it
And now we're telling it so you can experience it along with us,
This experience of communion with the Father and His son, Jesus Christ.

Our motive for writing is simply this:
We want you to enjoy this, too!
Your joy will double our joy!


~1 John 1:1-4 (the message)

This is one of my random poems.

Let No Charitable Hope
by Elinor Wylie

Now let no charitable hope
Confuse my mind with images
Of eagle and of antelope:
I am by nature none of these.

I was, being human, born alone;
I am, being woman, hard beset;
I live by squeezing from a stone
What little nourishment I get.

In masks outrageous and austere
The years go by in single file;
But none has merited my fear,
And none has quite escaped my smile.

A poem about conservation.


By Fletcher Williams

The darkness of shadow-like wolves
Darting across the night like
Black bullets, and the moon
Shimmering like a sphere of glowing mass.
Let us save lush grass, green as green
Can be, but, best of all,
Imagination flowing with joy, aha,
Images it is composed of, it is this
That is making the earth grow
With flavor and destination.

These words have never meant as much to anyone as they now mean to me, for in the fine print He tells me what's wrong and what's right <3

"Song"

Dust Bowl Dance
by Mumford and Sons


The young man stands on the edge of his porch
The days were short and the father was gone
There was no one in the town and no one in the field
This dusty barren land had given all it could yield

I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen
And I have no idea where else my heart could have been
I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill
And now I am sure my heart can never be still
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse

Seal my heart and brake my pride
I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I've done and do my time

Well you are my accuser, now look in my face
Your opression reeks of your greed and disgrace
So one man has and another has not
How can you love what it is you have got
When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor?
Liars and thieves you know not what is in store

There will come a time I will look in your eye
You will pray to the God that you always denied
The I'll go out back and I'll get my gun
I'll say, "You haven't met me, I am the only son"

Seal my heart and brake my pride
I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I've done and do my time

Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me
I know what I've done, cause I know what I've seen
I went out back and I got my gun
I said, "You haven't met me, I am the only son"

Salvation
Charlie Hall


Salvation, spring up from the ground
Lord, rend the Heavens, and come down
Seek the lost and heal the lame;
Jesus bring glory to your name!
Let all the prodigals run home,
All of creation waits and groans.
Lord, we've heard of your great name;
Father, cause all to shout Your name.

Stir up our hearts, Oh God;
Open our spirits to awe who You are.
Put a cry in us so deep inside
That we cannot find the words we need,
We just weep and cry out to You.

"Hope"

Auf Wiedersehen
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Until we meet again! That is the meaning
Of the familiar words, that men repeat
At parting in the street.
Ah yes, till then! but when death intervening
Rends us asunder, with what ceaseless pain
We wait for the Again!

The friends who leave us do not feel the sorrow
Of parting, as we feel it, who must stay
Lamenting day by day,
And knowing, when we wake upon the morrow,
We shall not find in its accustomed place
The one beloved face.

It were a double grief, if the departed,
Being released from earth, should still retain
A sense of earthly pain;
It were a double grief, if the true-hearted,
Who loved us here, should on the farther shore
Remember us no more.

Believing, in the midst of our afflictions,
That death is a beginning, not an end,
We cry to them, and send
Farewells, that better might be called predictions,
Being fore-shadowings of the future, thrown
Into the vast Unknown.

Faith overleaps the confines of our reason,
And if by faith, as in old times was said,
Women received their dead
Raised up to life, then only for a season
Our partings are, nor shall we wait in vain
Until we meet again!

Hope


An old Welsh hymn.

Fair and comely is my Saviour
Fairest of the fair is He;
King of kings I hail Him gladly
Here and through eternity;
His great beauty Has completely
Won my soul.

See above the clouds and shadows,
See, my soul, the land of light
Where the breeze is ever balmy,
Where the sky is ever bright.
Blessed myriads now enjoy its' perfect peace.

Now at length a mighty rapture
Thrills this troubled heart of mine,
In the prospect of possessing
This inheritance divine;
Ever blessed they that seek this Land of Rest.

Yes, we part, but not for ever-
Joyful hopes our bosoms swell;
They who love the Saviour never
Know a long, a last farewell!
Blissful unions lie beyond this parting veil.

"Joy"


Tears of Joy
anonymous

When I behold Thy peerless face.
Beaming with love, O Lord.
What fear have I of earthly woe
Or of the frown of sorrow?

As the first ray of the dawning sun dispels the dark.
So too, Lord, when Thy blessed light
Bursts forth within the heart.
It scatters all our grief and pain with sweetest balm.

When on Thy love and grace I ponder,
In my heart’s deepest depths.
Tears of joy stream down my cheeks
beyond restraining.

Hail, Gracious Lord! Hail.
Gracious One! I shall proclaim Thy love.
May my life-breath depart from me as
I perform Thy works.

Here's a poem about a journey (not one of the "official" categories), taken from my well worn copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut, and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Throgh shadows to the egde of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then the world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

"Story"

Go Down Death
by James Weldon Johnson

Weep not, weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.
Heart-broken husband--weep no more;
Grief-stricken son--weep no more;
Left-lonesome daughter --weep no more;
She only just gone home.

Day before yesterday morning,
God was looking down from his great, high heaven,
Looking down on all his children,
And his eye fell of Sister Caroline,
Tossing on her bed of pain.
And God's big heart was touched with pity,
With the everlasting pity.

And God sat back on his throne,
And he commanded that tall, bright angel standing at his right hand:
Call me Death!
And that tall, bright angel cried in a voice
That broke like a clap of thunder:
Call Death!--Call Death!
And the echo sounded down the streets of heaven
Till it reached away back to that shadowy place,
Where Death waits with his pale, white horses.

And Death heard the summons,
And he leaped on his fastest horse,
Pale as a sheet in the moonlight.
Up the golden street Death galloped,
And the hooves of his horses struck fire from the gold,
But they didn't make no sound.
Up Death rode to the Great White Throne,
And waited for God's command.

And God said: Go down, Death, go down,
Go down to Savannah, Georgia,
Down in Yamacraw,
And find Sister Caroline.
She's borne the burden and heat of the day,
She's labored long in my vineyard,
And she's tired--
She's weary--
Do down, Death, and bring her to me.

And Death didn't say a word,
But he loosed the reins on his pale, white horse,
And he clamped the spurs to his bloodless sides,
And out and down he rode,
Through heaven's pearly gates,
Past suns and moons and stars;
on Death rode,
Leaving the lightning's flash behind;
Straight down he came.

While we were watching round her bed,
She turned her eyes and looked away,
She saw what we couldn't see;
She saw Old Death.She saw Old Death
Coming like a falling star.
But Death didn't frighten Sister Caroline;
He looked to her like a welcome friend.
And she whispered to us: I'm going home,
And she smiled and closed her eyes.

And Death took her up like a baby,
And she lay in his icy arms,
But she didn't feel no chill.
And death began to ride again--
Up beyond the evening star,
Into the glittering light of glory,
On to the Great White Throne.
And there he laid Sister Caroline
On the loving breast of Jesus.

And Jesus took his own hand and wiped away her tears,
And he smoothed the furrows from her face,
And the angels sang a little song,
And Jesus rocked her in his arms,
And kept a-saying: Take your rest,
Take your rest.

Weep not--weep not,
She is not dead;
She's resting in the bosom of Jesus.

Here's a poem from a song:

Is Love Enough?
By Michael Franti

We want freedom of speech
But we all talkin' at the same time
We say we want peace
But nobody wants to change their own mind

So it goes on and on and on and on and on
For a thousand years
And it goes on and on and on and on and on
What language are your tears?

Everybody wants to live the life of kings and queens
But nobody wants to stay and plow the fields
Everybody wants to tell their neighbours how to live
But nobody wants to listen to how they feel

So it goes on and on and on and on and on
For a thousand years, a thousand years I say
And it goes on and on and on and on and on.

Is love enough?
Is there love enough?
Or can you love some more?
Is your love enough?
Or can you love some more?

"Silly"

The Purist
by Ogden Nash

I give you now Professor Twist,
A conscientious scientist,
Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"
And sent him off to distant jungles.
Camped on a tropic riverside,
One day he missed his loving bride.
She had, the guide informed him later,
Been eaten by an alligator.
Professor Twist could not but smile.
"You mean," he said, "a crocodile."

Peace (my faaaavorite:))

By MaryAnn Miller;

He rules me, leads me, guides me
And walks with me hand in hand
Into repentance and rest, quietness,
And a confidence in his peace.


Here's just a quote about peace that I thought I'd put up also:

In one respect peace is like health, we do not sufficiently know it's value but by its' absence."

-Charles Inglis

"Peace"

When All Is Done
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

When all is done, and my last word is said,
And ye who loved me murmur, "He is dead,"
Let no one weep, for fear that I should know,
And sorrow too that ye should sorrow so.

When all is done and in the oozing clay,
Ye lay this cast-off hull of mine away,
Pray not for me, for, after long despair,
The quiet of the grave will be a prayer.

For I have suffered loss and grievous pain,
The hurts of hatred and the world's disdain,
And wounds so deep that love, well-tried and pure,
Had not the pow'r to ease them or to cure.

When all is done, say not my day is o'er,
And that thro' night I seek a dimmer shore:
Say rather that my morn has just begun,--
I greet the dawn and not a setting sun,
When all is done.

Paradise

Heaven Song
By Phil Wickham


I want to run on greener pastures
I want to dance on higher hills
I want to drink from sweeter waters in the misty morning chill
Now my soul is getting restless for the place where I belong
I can't wait to join the angles, and sing my Heaven song!

"Love"

The Look
By Sara Teasdale

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon's kiss was lost in jest,
Robin's lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.

This is my silly poem. It's from Open Season. That's right, the animated film about woodland animals. What about it?!


There once was an elf,
A magical elf, who lived in a rainbow tree.

He lived upstairs from a flatulent dwarf
Who was constantly having to pee

And then one day he could take no more
So he went and knocked on the rude dwarf's door

And what do you know?
They suddenly both were married!

Nature.

Trees
By Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Faith. Faith. Faith.


After the Storm
by Mumford & Sons

And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up
On my knees and out of luck,
I look up.

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind, and not this heart,
I won't rot.

And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart, dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see what you'll find there
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
But oh no more.
That's why I hold,
That's why I hold with all I have,
That's why I hold.

I will die alone and be left there.
Well I guess I'll just go home,
Oh God knows where.
Because death is just so full, and life so small.
I'm scared of what's behind, and what's before.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart, dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see what you'll find there
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

from the category of "Faith"

from "The Eternal Goodness"
by John Greenleaf Whittier


I bow my forehead to the dust,
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self-distrust,
A prayer without a claim.

I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,
But nothing can be good in Him
Which evil is in me.

The wrong that pains my soul below
I dare not throne above,
I know not of His hate, - I know
His goodness and His love.

I dimly guess from blessings known
Of greater out of sight,
And, with the chastened Psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.

I long for household voices gone.
For vanished smiles I long,
But God hath led my dear ones on,
And He can do no wrong.

I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruised reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.

No offering of my own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.

And so beside the Silent Sea
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

O brothers! if my faith is vain,
If hopes like these betray,
Pray for me that my feet may gain
The sure and safer way.

And Thou, O Lord! by whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee!


Brianna

Apriltry

Brianna and I are starting a 30 day poetry challenge today. It's most exciting. For the next month, we will be posting one poem a day. We have ten "topics" that we will each post one of, and then we'll post five random, perhaps original, poems. Here are the topics in no particular order:

Silly
Paradise
Love
Song
Faith
Nature
Peace
Hope
Tells a story
Joy

Everyone and their mother has been doing some kind of 3o day challenge lately, so we thought we'd invent our own.
I get the honours of posting the first poem of the month! It falls in the "nature" category.

Song to A Tree

Give me the dance of your boughs, O Tree,
Whenever the wild wind blows;
And when the wind is gone, give me
Your beautiful repose.

How easily your greatness swings
To meet the changing hours;
I, too, would mount upon your wings,
And rest upon your powers.

I seek your grace, O mighty Tree,
And shall seek many a day,
Till I more worthily shall be
Your comrade on the way.

By Edwin Markham



What a hippy I must seem...
Brianna will be posting a poem she's discovered tomorrow!