I've finished life's chores assigned to me,
So put me on a boat headed out to sea.
Please send along my fishing pole
For I've been invited to the fishin' hole.
Where every day is a day to fish,
To fill your heart with every wish.
Don't worry, or feel sad for me,
I'm fishin' with the Master of the sea.
......
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
......
When I am dying, let me know
That I loved the blowing snow
Although it stung like whips;
That I loved all lovely things
And I tried to take their stings
With gay unembittered lips;
That I loved with all my strength,
To my soul's full depth and length,
Careless if my heart must break,
That I sang as children sing
......
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
......
Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.
......
Today we place you to final rest
know that with your presence we've been blessed.
six feet down in your grave
we shed a tear, goodbye we wave.
the time has come to let you go
the sound rings out of the graveyard crow.
the clouds may part, the sun may shine
the priest speaks out, its now the time.
family cuddle and hug as we walk away
i'll never forget such a painful day.
......
Today we place you to final rest
know that with your presence we've been blessed.
six feet down in your grave
we shed a tear, goodbye we wave.
the time has come to let you go
the sound rings out of the graveyard crow.
the clouds may part, the sun may shine
the priest speaks out, its now the time.
family cuddle and hug as we walk away
i'll never forget such a painful day.
......
do you believe in fate, like things are ment to be
think about the question, then tell me that your free.
do you believe in fate, like things are ment to be
spend a second in your past, and tell me what you see.
If you see a life of struggles, suffering and pain
a life of wasted time and love, then I dont need you to explain.
It would not take me long, just a second to find your reasons
running from your past so long, you've struggled to lose your demons.
do you believe in fate, like things are ment to be
you'll never be truely happy, until you open your eyes and see.
......
I had a dream, that you had died
I woke with a scream, i cried and cried.
my heart beats heavy, eyes sore and red
as i lay there sobbing, on my bed.
I've had this curse, since you passed away
the same painful dream, night and day.
I sit and wonder, whats left for me
a life of pain thats all i see.
a lonely life of feeling blue
i now realise what i have to do.
......
"AFTER CUMMINGS" POEMS
These are poems that I have written "after" e. e. cummings. Many of these poem were written during my early "Cummings Period," which started around age 14-15 when I discovered his poems in an English textbook. I have a cummings-ish type of poem that I call a "ur" poem. I will explain that modus operandi when we get to the first "ur" poem.
In these poems things that seem impossibly large are capitalized, like the Sun and Time. The big Thoughts are capitalized but the mind that holds them without being able to control them, isn't. Pronouns become diminutives: I=i, You=u, We=wee, etc.
Smoke
by michael r. burch, age 14
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