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--To C. M.


Fountains that frisk and sprinkle
The moss they overspill;
Pools that the breezes crinkle;
The wheel beside the mill,
With its wet, weedy frill;
Wind-shadows in the wheat;
A water-cart in the street;
The fringe of foam that girds
An islet's ferneries;
A green sky's minor thirds--
To live, I think of these!

Of ice and glass the ******,
Pellucid, silver-shrill;
Peaches without a wrinkle;
Cherries and snow at will,
From china bowls that fill
The senses with a sweet
Incuriousness of heat;
A melon's dripping sherds;
Cream-clotted strawberries;
Dusk dairies set with curds--
To live, I think of these!

Vale-lily and periwinkle;
Wet stone-crop on the sill;
The look of leaves a-twinkle
With windlets clear and still;
The feel of a forest rill
That wimples fresh and fleet
About one's naked feet;
The muzzles of drinking herds;
Lush flags and bulrushes;
The chirp of rain-bound birds--
To live, I think of these!

Envoy

Dark aisles, new packs of cards,
Mermaidens' tails, cool swards,
Dawn dews and starlit seas,
White marbles, whiter words--
To live, I think of these!
Kees van Citters Apr 2010
Billie Holiday and Arti Shaw
performed together
for 2 years touring in a RR
both their record companies
couldn't get their act right
now only two tracks are known

Charles Bukowski
had a kitchen piled up with
Dairies and notebooks
but was kicked out of his appartment
again

Rembrandt van Rhijn
made a large scale piece
On the first meeting of the Batavians
16th Century City Hall Amsterdam didn't want it
Only a 1,5meter piece remains of it
in Stockholm

Sure, they were ******
so were we
But at least they tried
Copyright: Kees van Citters
Richard Riddle Nov 2015
I should, by all practical matters, quit looking through old photos of when my life was much "simpler." Childhood photos, to be exact. They serve only as a reminder of how old I am, and how much older I soon will be. (Yea, I know, ending a sentence with a prepostion is against  the rules of proper penning.)

Looking at these pics, I catch myself playing the game of "whatever became of who?" Those other kids on that cul-de-sac in Corpus Christi, Texas, "waaay, waaay" back in the mid to late forties. One, in particular, comes to mind.

His name was "Duke" Jones. Perhaps, the most popular "kid" on the block.He was our next-door neighbor. An excellent "fielder" when we played baseball, heck of a fast runner, not much of a hitter. But, he was a lot more than that. For, you see, Duke, was a dog. A Doberman Pinscher, a former guarddog at military installations during the war, and rehabilitated before re-entering civilian life. And, he loved children.

Duke knew everyone on the block, knew the postman, the milk deliveryman (yes,there was a time when dairies had milk delivered to your home, but that can be another story), knew which house we lived at, the vehicles our parents drove, he was our protector. If a stranger, such as a door to door salesman, entered his territory, he froze, staring, watching, positioning himself between us and the stranger. If that stranger stepped on to the walk leading to a front door, Duke would start moving, stealthily, instincts, training, taking control. If a strange vehicle entered,  he took notice, watched, intently. My mother and father often said, "We have the safest block in the city."
Our family had moved to another city in 1951, when we got a letter from Duke's "parents", telling us that Duke had passed away at age 16. Looking at that photo in my hand, Duke hasn't gone anywhere.

copyright: richard riddle: 11/02/15
Sunny Snow Nov 2013
Keep your ears open
Cause you never know
What you could hear...

Keep your eyes clear
Cause you never know
What you could see...

Keep you mind free
Cause you never know
Who you could be.

Life is wide open
With endless possibilities.

Cuz life is always relivent
Everything is there
You just gotta chose
To feel it.

Like Vampire Dairies
You can chose to shut out the world
Igore your humanity
Or you can feel every emotion Just like me

I am who I am
Cuz of what I see
What I hear
Who I chose to be

I dont pass up a chance
To give a second glance
Learn something
I rejected before

Cuz you never know
Who will open the door
To god knows where

Take you some where
You never been before
Because life
Is one big chance to live it up
JP Jul 2016
walking inside a building
found a mirror
looking almost 90..
went further
a room full of old girlfriends
looking old and sick on bed
old memories hanging as portraits on the wall
a waste room…. full of childhood toys
a wardrobe …… full of lovers gift and letters
a book shelf…... full of unexecuted vengeance
a locker has few dairies of my unfulfilled wishes
so much pain and frustration
came out of the building
turned and saw
the name………
………….. Museum
Ryan O'Leary Jun 2022
A Perfect Symbiosis


I remember as a wee lad

going out to the front gate

to fetch our delivered milk.


Bottles those days. Their tops

of gold tinfoil had protruding

Braille writing; the date perhaps.


‘Pasteurised’ was embellished

on the glass over Springmount

Dairies, a local bottling company.


It was pints back then and

under the lid for about two

Inches was a layer of the

richest, purest, Irish cream.


One needed to be up before

the hens or risk your bottles

being breached.


Crows beaks were of identical

length to the depth of the cream.


It surely was, a perfect symbiosis.


                   (˚<
Zoe Sep 2019
So tell me where should I go?

To the left?

Becoz there is nothing right

Or to the right?

Becoz there is nothing left

In the crowd of the city

The Sun will set soon..

I am Waiting for my sunset

So I can have my moon..


Everybody ask if I am ready,

How to say I am little unsteady 

Time is running ,rushing like sea

I know he has made one for me


Soul mate,stars, 

moon and fairies 

All is a dream,

To be in dairies 

Dont want to wake up and stop the dream

This is all I have ..please let me dream
Raj Jun 2020
Facebook and watsapp,
Modern dairies..
Pages and status
Mode of sharing and adjust.
Pen and paper are not new...
Relying on them are very few...

Modern writers without pen and book,
Shares and expression before morning stoop.

Mind guess .... Heart fears...
Writers writing dash... Dash... Dash.

Lovers loving letters,....
Haters hating post....
New writers dear....
Experienced writers share...

..........Thank you........ ...
Vindex Jul 2020
Some people think I like to eat tomatoes
They say I like all the fruits--that there is true
But to those red shiny fruits--I will always give "no's"

Just a few decades ago, it seemed odd
Everyone stuck with their meats, dairies, and wheats
But the times have changed, enemies abroad, everyone eating the food of their god

I would like to make it clear right now
I love those who eat these with their peas
I have dreamed of the round, vibrant skin--giving out a wow

I would never want to offend
Only to give my love to thereof
And I will promise to always give them a lend, to be their friend

To all those people like me
Who won't eat any veggie
Thank those today with a word of okay so their lives aren't so heavy
Discussions and recitations of my poems are on my YouTube channel Vindex's Vids

— The End —