A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?


By Edgar Allan Poe

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


By Robert Frost

Do Not Weep

Do not weep, do not weep for me,
Loved women, should I die;
For yourselves alone should you weep!
Poor are ye all, and to be pitied:
Ye women, ye are to be pitied!

I seek, I seek our fallen relations;
I go to revenge, revenge the slain,
Our relations fallen and slain,
And our foes, our foes shall lie
Like them, like them shall they lie;
I go to lay them low, to lay them low!


~ A Chippewa war-party addressing the women
on leaving the village, ca. 1838.

Poetry From Inside

The Cell

I'm a prison cell, 6x9, born in hell. My nickname: the can, slammer, the big-house.

I'm the place many fear because, for some, there's no way out. I'll take away your son and replace him with misery, instead. When you're with me, most folks consider you dead.

I've seen too many convicts fall apart. They cry to the guard at night to let them out when it's dark.

Convicts think that they are all alone, but, if you listen closely, you can hear my groan. All the pictures that you put on your wall; they are stuck to my skin.

I hear your prayers at night even when you are whispering.

I make it hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. Your pain is always my pleasure.

When the Board paroles you, then, in comes yet another con; no remorse for your tears. I see them too often.

When you cry, I make you feel like you live inside a coffin. I watch when you're eating. I play with your mind while you sleep. I'll make you dream that you're free, but you always wake up to me; face to face with a cage.

No matter your age, I can shatter your hopes. I can turn you into a savage rage.

I can change your life, but that's only if you're not doing life. It's sickening to think about bed linens becoming your woman. It's at that very moment when you realize just how much you're suffering.

I'm the one holding all the cards when you're caught up in an uprising.

Maybe one day, I'll open my gates to set you free, but you'll always be my property, for I've left a lifelong scar on your soul.

You may leave me one day, but you will always remember me; the Cell.



Restless

I close my eyes only to find visions of her echoed in my mind. Remembering all the moments we shared, wishing I could reach out and hold her tight as day turns into night.

The comfort of knowing that she cares helps ease my time of despair. She was always there to hold me close. That girl, she keeps it real, but she didn't know how I feel ... I'm crazy about that girl!

Now, as I restlessly open my eyes, I see you. You are the girl who keeps my heart true. From now on, when I close my eyes, visions of you will make me smile.

So, maybe now I will be able to rest ... for a while.



Just A Dream

As I slept, the night was perfectly still. Snow flakes brushed and swirled against my window like dancing maidens, shy and white. They swarmed in sodium-vapor lights as they fell, covering the earth like cotton, absorbing all sound.

Bare trees were black against white; the moon, an indistinct face behind a fog. Illuminated trees filling windows and fires lit. I was dreaming of a white Christmas.

When I woke up and looked out my window, I didn't see these things of beauty. Instead, I saw brick buildings surrounded by high fences topped with razor wire.

It was at that moment when I realized that it was just a dream.



No More Pain

A grown man sits in his cell and cries, yet no one seems to care why. Convicted of a crime he's sentenced to death.

With every new sunrise, he wonders if today will be the day that they come and end his pain.

As the day grows nearer, society prepares a feast while he peaks to a priest.

The time has come. It's the top of the hour and silence runs throughout the prison. The lights, they flicker and everyone starts to pray. You're not alone, brother, we all feel your pain.

Now that the deed is done, society lets out a sigh of relief, but the pain, it doesn't end, there. His family has to grieve for their loss.

Now that the crying's has stopped and the tears are drained, maybe now, there can be no more pain.



Beginning and End

In the beginning, when we first met, we were just kids. We didn't know much about life. We had no worries.

Now, as time passed, we became close. We can talk about anything. You became the only one who was true to me. We shared each other's joy. We shared each other's pain. We never had to worry about tomorrow, life was just a game.

Today, life's not the same. The game has ended. Although we are still really close, we are so far apart. Sitting here in my cell, when I think about you, my heart begins to ache.

I only have one regret, that I was so afraid to tell you that my love for you has grown to be more than just friends. Now that you know how much I love you, we must live on and see how our story will end.


By Edward Moody

Three Poems By Melvin Speight

Queries

What is good without bad
rich without poor
What is hate without love
and things we adore
What is life without death
and dreams without consciousness
What is time without spending
beginnings without endings
What are eyes without sight
sun without shine
What are thoughts
without thinking
that just sit idle
in the mind?

The Carry Over

My thoughts lie
beyond my presence
but are not fixated
on heaven or hell
nor stay stuffed
in a cell
I like to look
within a book
and instantly travel
despite the gavel
that ended my movements
here without stimuli
some men lose it
while others
find it amusing
and although sadness never stops short
keep in mind
wrongs never get righted
without our support.

Replenish

If I could see
the wind
to befriend
its breeze
dive falling forever
into the sea
or lay on golden brown leafs
at ease
counting every cloud
in the sky
I see
I think that birth
a whole new me.


By: Melvin Speight, CC 6923
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370

SOLDIER BURIED ON THE BATTLEFIELD

And when the wind in the tree-tops roared,

The soldier asked from the deep dark grave:

"Did the banner flutter then?"

"Not so, my hero," the wind replied.

"The fight is done, but the banner won,

Thy comrades of old have borne it hence,

Have borne it in triumph hence."

Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:

"I am content"

Then he heareth the lovers laughing pass,

and the soldier asks once more:

"Are these not the voices of them that love,

That love--and remember me?"

"Not so, my hero," the lovers say,

"We are those that remember not;

For the spring has come and the earth has smiled,

And the dead must be forgot."

Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:

"I am content."


A poem quoted by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in a Memorial Day speech at Harvard in 1895 entitled "The Soldier's Faith". (Theodore Roosevelt admired that 1895 speech so much that as President he nominated Holmes for the US Supreme Court.) Holmes in the 1895 speech spoke of "part of the soldier's faith: Having known great things, to be content with silence." He cited this poem as "a little song sung by a warlike people on the Danube, which seemed to me fit for a soldier's last word...a song of the sword in its scabbard, a song of oblivion and peace. A Soldier has been buried on the battlefield." (A portion of this poem was recited in the 1950 Hollywood movie about Holmes, "The Magnificent Yankee.")

The Climb

I can feel the sun upon my back

My heart pounding from my exertions

Yet I climb on

_____________________

Further up the mountain I go

The pack of memories carried with me

Until I stop

_____________________

Gazing back from my vantage point

I have an eagle's eye view

Of paths taken

_____________________

The path there I would have chosen

But left to chase another dream

Meant to be

_____________________

I see that trail was a dead end

Thankfully I veered off track after all

To solid ground

_____________________

A path I took in confusion

That led to unparalleled knowledge

And newfound wisdom

_____________________

From here the paths are easily seen

Winding and meeting to form the crossed

Paths of my life

_____________________

Had I not taken that certain road there

I never would have come to that point just there

The road taken

_____________________

The trail of tears where in fear I fell

On the rocks of heartache and desperation

Led to a clearing

_____________________

The way is marked where I started again

A new path to follow that twisted and turned

Leading me on

_____________________

Were the paths my choosing or did they find me

All the intersections fate or of my own doing

To guide me home

_____________________

Each life trail mysteriously combined

Show a path well worn but crystal clear

From here

_____________________

Plainly I see now the paths I needed to take

Finding along each one that one thing

Part of the whole

_____________________

Looking back one last time at the winding trail

My life paths morph solid as pavement

Cause and effect

_____________________

Single stones make up a path short or long

Each step along the path leads to something

No map ever provided

_____________________

Strung all together the trail becomes clear

Each choice or turn leading to others further along

To form the route

_____________________

Adjusting the pack, now much lighter

Glancing up, several paths beckon

To climb higher

_____________________

No matter which one I select going on

I will break through clouds and be able to see

How far I've come


By akirchner