I am a great fan of Lord Byron’s poetry however I do find that war is a subject that rarely touches me emotionally. I was left feeling vulnerable and scared by the way I had been manipulated by the poet.

When Lord Byron recalls;
“Even dogs assailed their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corpse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famished men at bay”
This is something that really brought the text to life for me, I wept in the thought of this poor animal sitting beside its master guarding his very bones whilst unable to comprehend what has happened.

A brilliant and unique insight into war detailing the physical and mental destruction that comes along with it.

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Ray less, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came, and went and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this desolation; and all hearts
Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watch fires – and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings, the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,
And men were gathered round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other’s face;
Happy were those who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcano’s, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contained;
Forest were set on fire but hour by hour
They fell and faded and the crackling trunks
Extinguished with a crash and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them; some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnashed their teeth and howled: the wild birds shrieked,
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremolos; and vipers crawled
And twined themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but sting less, they were slain for food:
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again; a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought and that was death,
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails men
Died, and their bones were tomb less as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devoured,
Even dogs assailed their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corpse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famished men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead
Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answered not with a caress, he died.
The crowd was famished by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive, And they were enemies;
They met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heaped a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage; they raked up,
And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath

Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and
Each other’s aspects. Saw, and shrieked, and died, beheld
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Season less, herbless, treeless, man less, lifeless,
A lump of death, a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes, and ocean stood still,
And nothing stirred within their silent depths;
Ships sailor less lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropped
They slept on the abyss without a surge
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The moon their mistress had expired before;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perished; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them. She was the universe.

- Lord Byron

You can’t put a value of friendship and what great rewards are brought to you by having someone care. Friendship is a bond in which you give not to receive but because you care.

Be a friend. You don’t need money;
Just a disposition sunny;
Just the wish to help another
Get along some way or other;
Just a kindly hand extended
Out to one who’s un-befriended;
Just the will to give or lend,
This will make you someone’s friend.

Be a friend. You don’t need glory.
Friendship is a simple story.
Pass by trifling errors blindly,
Gaze on honest effort kindly,
Cheer the youth who’s bravely trying,
Pity him who’s sadly sighing;
Just a little labour spend
On the duties of a friend.

Be a friend. The pay is bigger
(Though not written by a figure)
Than is earned by people clever
In what’s merely self-endeavour.
You’ll have friends instead of neighbours
For the profits of your labours;
You’ll be richer in the end
Than a prince, if you’re a friend.

- Edgar A. Guest

It is not so much a biblical teaching for me but a life coaching and inspirational teaching. I do have faith but not in a greater being, only in myself and the greatness all around us.

Although people will perceive this poem to be religious relating this to the author, I do believe this is nothing more than an insight into a great mind and a life lived without fearing consequence.

I know the path; it is straight and narrow.

It is like the edge of a sword.

I rejoice to walk on it,

I weep when I slip.

God’s word is; “He who strives never perishes”.

I have implicit faith in the promise,

Though, therefore, from my weakness I fail a thousand times,

I shall not lose faith.

- Gandhi

This poem makes me want to take more risks and live a little, maybe just because sometimes my life feels like it can’t get any worse.

To laugh, is to risk playing the fool

To weep, is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out to another, is to risk involvement

To expose feelings, is to risk exposing our true selves

To put your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss

To love, is to risk not being loved in return

To live, is to risk dying

To hope, is to risk despair

To try at all, is to risk failure

But risks must be taken,

Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing,

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they simply cannot learn, change, feel, grow, love,live…

Chained by their attitudes they are slaves.

- Anonymous

No matter what you do in your life make it worth living, for a life not worth living is a life wasted.

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it

Life is beauty, admire it

Life is bliss, taste it

Life is a dream, realize it

Life is a challenge, meet it

Life is a duty, complete it

Life is a game, play it

Life is a promise, fulfill it

Life is sorrow, overcome it

Life is a song, sing it

Life is a struggle, accept it

Life is a tragedy, confront it

Life is an adventure, dare it

Life is luck, make it

Life is too precious, do not destroy it

Life is life, fight for it

- Mother Theresa

Whilst reflecting on a book as their life together, the author had been able to take a very objective point of view on how this relationship may appear to the naked eye.

I know someday when I review the life that we two shared,

On every page and in every line I will find your love is there

From chapter one to final page, through sorrows and through laughter,

This thought will echo through our book “They lived happily ever after”.

And when our covers come to have some wrinkles undenied,

Just remember when it comes to books what counts is whats inside

No matter what each chapter holds the struggles and the strife,

We’ll be co-authors as we pen this book we call out life.

- Anonymous

One day if we aren’t careful we will destroy all of the person we really are by faking something as innocent as a smile.

You may think you know me,

But you know nothing of me

Only who I pretend to be,

The real me, sits inside rotting away.

- Anonymous

]]> http://www.myfightwithdepression.com/blog/losing-a-poem-about-loosing-the-person-you-are/feed/ 0 http://www.myfightwithdepression.com/blog/dont-quit-a-poem-about-succeeding/ http://www.myfightwithdepression.com/blog/dont-quit-a-poem-about-succeeding/#comments Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:34:45 +0000 Amanda http://www.myfightwithdepression.com/blog/?p=132 I particularly like this poem because it makes me want to push on when times are getting bad and nothing I seem to do goes right.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.

- Anonymous

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too.

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

- Helen Steiner Rice

To me, you were forever my strength and sorrow,

but I took for granted there would always be tomorrow

Standing in the face of darkness when I walked away,

hoping one day you may forgive me for what I was to say

I love you now, as I loved you then

With every breath I would do it again,

Forget me not for the pain I’ve caused

For each moment lost was forever yours

Looking to the past, remembering the day that was our last,

could my future hold the key to your door “My Destiny”

Or do you hate?

- Anonymous