YHS Writing Club Forum Favorite Poem or Song anyone?

I was just thinking that this could me a nice place to maybe post a few of your favorite poems or songs, short stories, whatever. Anything that inspires you, or has inspired you to write, made you the person you are today, that sort of thing.

One of my all time favorite song lyric would have to be Youth by Dead Can Dance my favorite band:

All calculations set to one side;
The inevitable Descent from Heaven,
A visitation of memories and a seance of rhythms
Invades my house, my head,
And the world to mind.

A horse leaps forward on suburban turf,
Past planted fields and streches of woods
Misty with carbonic plague.
A wretched theatrical woman, somewhere in the world,
Sighs after an improbable indulgence.
Desperadoes lie dreaming of storm, and of wounds and debauch.
Along small streams the little children sit,
Stifling their curses.

Let us turn once more to our studies,
To the noise of insatiable movement
That forms and ferments in the masses.

And one of my favorite poems that I have ever read is called The Cold Within by James Patrick Kinney:

Six humans trapped by happenstance
In dark and bitter cold
Each possessed a stick of wood--
Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs,
But the first one held hers back,
For, of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next one looked cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And could not bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of wealth he had in store,
And keeping all that he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For he saw in his stick of wood
A chance to spite the white.

And the last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain,
Giving just to those who gave
Was how he played the game,

Their sticks held tight in death's stilled hands
Was proof enough of sin;
They did not die from cold without--
They died from cold within.

Well lets see when it comes to motivation i think "I am"  By godsmack has helped motivate most of the stuff i'm writing now( lots of fight scenes for my stories)

"I AM" by Godsmack

I am your spoken truth, I am the lies in you. I'm gonna make you shine, in everything you do. I am your lighted way, and I'm your darkest day. I'm here to help you see: you can rely on me. Just consider me your friend, I am until the end. Can I guarantee you life? I don't think I can. This isn't the life for me, this isn't the way I want to be. And let me tell you, death will come when I'm good and ready. I am your peace of mind, confusing all your time. I'm running through your veins, I am your pain. I thought by now you'd know, I'll never let you go. It's time you recognize: I am the devil's eyes Just consider me your friend, I am until the end. Can I guarantee you life? I don't think I can This isn't the life for me, this isn't the way I want to be. And let me tell you, death will come when I'm good and ready. Death will come when I’m good and god damn ready! Take me by my hand and let me show you what I am. I’m taking control again. Now I know I can, take you back to where it all began. ‘Cause I am!

My favourite poem is way too long to paste here - it's Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien, written for CS Lewis, who thought myths were lies and therefore useless. It really exemplifies my love of "fantasy" and "fiction," and the absurdity of being too factual.

This song I only discovered a few months ago, but its helped me be at peace with my wandering, winding path.

Ripple (The Grateful Dead, 1971, American Beauty)

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
and my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
would you hear my voice come through the music,
would you hold it near as it were your own?

It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
perhaps they're better left unsung.
I don't know, don't really care,
let there be songs to fill the air.

Ripple in still water,
when there is no pebble tossed
nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand. If your cup be empty,
if your cup is full may it be again.
Let it be known there is a fountain
that was not made by the hands of men.

There is a road, no simple highway,
between the dawn and the dark of night.
And if you go no one may follow,
that path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water,
when there is no pebble tossed
nor wind to blow

You who choose to lead must follow,
but if you fall you fall alone.
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home.

ok...this is gonna sound really weird but i was actually inspired by the Jabberwocky poem.  in fifth grade, i was kinda obsessed w/ it...

other than that.  Poe.  Poe is freakin amazing.  His stuff inspired me to do poetry and short stories instead of only novels.

Alone
by Edgar Allan Poe

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
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

I love Jabberwocky, too! It pains my soul that a lot of people I know haven't heard it, for the uninitiated:

Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll (the dude who wrote Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass)

T'was brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
  The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
  Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
  And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
  The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
  And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
  The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
  He went galumphing back.

"And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
  Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
  He chortled in his joy.

T'was brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe.

Oh goodness, Erin Sky, did you have to post that poem of Jabberwocky? We had to see that song for All State last year and it's still giving me nightmares. x.x But it was a nice song - just really high notes.

---

Ay, iyaiyai,
Ay, iyaiyai,
A-a-a iyaiyai
Where's my samurai?

Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the sky
Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the sky

Where's my samurai?
Where's my samurai?

I've been searching for a man
All across Japan
Just to find, to find my samurai
Someone who is strong
But still a little shy
Yes I need, I need my samurai

Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the sky
Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the sky

Where's my samurai?
Where's my samurai?

I've been searching in the woods
And high upon the hills
Just to find, to find my samurai
Someone who won't regret
To keep me in his net
Yes I need, I need my samurai

Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the sky
Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue, make the colours in the

 

---

 

Dance Dance Revoltuion song = <3