Welcome to Gaia! ::

I went to the woods because I
Wanted to live deliberately -
I wanted to live deep and suck
Out all the marrow of life!
To put to rest all that was not life...
And not, when I came to die, discover
That I had not lived...

I see a sweetness in her smile.
Bright light shines from her eyes.
But life is complete, contentment is mine,
Just knowing that...she's alive.

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.

Remember, remember the 5th of November
The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason why this gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

I closed my eyes
And this image floats beside me
A sweaty toothed madman
With a stare that pounds my brain
His hands reach out and choke me
And all the time he's mumbling
Mumbling truth
Truth like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold
You push it, stretch it
It'll never be enough
You kick at it, beat it
It'll never cover any of us
From the moment we enter crying
To the moment we leave dying
It'll just cover your face
As you wail and cry
And scream

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

Okay these are my favorites.....(from online)

Hello by: Allen Jesson

Hello my wonderful father,

these words are just for you,

because I'm proud of who you are

and I'm very proud of what you do.



I also know that you're proud of me,

even more so since I've learned to write,

it was quite difficult scribbling in there,

I wish someone could have turned on the light.



But seriously, I did just want to say "Hello",

it feels good to have finally landed on planet Earth,

and I already know just how lucky I am,

and what a father's love is really worth.



Mom also loves you very much,

I can feel her love for you deep inside,

and I couldn't have picked finer parents,

I couldn't - even if I'd tried.



She knows that you'll be a wonderful father,

because you're already a wonderful husband and friend,

and Mom's excited to be sharing this journey with you

and parenthood is a journey with simply no end.



We both know you're so hard working,

and you'll do everything to make sure we're cared for,

we know you're concerned about being a good father,

don't worry, that's something that'll be with you for evermore!



I know you were anxiously awaiting my arrival,

and you just couldn't wait for the time to come,

so, congratulations, you're now officially a father

(and thanks for holding the hand of my mom).



I'm sorry that I made mom a "liar",

it's just a silly little game that I used to play,

I start moving and then stopped when you felt,

please forgive me, I didn't have much to do all day!



And thankfully, I was not just a bad case of wind,

I will bring you more joy than any summer breeze,

and I think it runs in the family,

because we both like a little tease.



And you did very well in the birthing classes,

actually, you did us both proud,

and you didn't forget to tell mom to breathe properly

but at times, you did have to shout rather loud.



You and Mom are so very happy,

and everything you touch seems to turn to gold,

you don't take things for granted,

so there'll be many more golden stories to be told.



Because together we will share our futures,

and together, we will be one small happy family,

just know that I love my parents very much,

and you both mean the very world to me.



It's so nice to see your proud, smiling faces,

and I'm sorry Dad for making you wait,

just know that I'm proud of you both,

oh yes, there's one other thing I'd like to state.



No baby has ever felt this much love,

and if they have, they were very loved indeed,

and I know I couldn't have nicer parents,

so now, please don't forget my two a.m. feed!



God Was Your Closest Friend by:Randall Beers (http://100-poems.com/poems/best/0820003.htm)

I knew you were hurting although you wouldn�t cry,
And could see you were suffering, see the pain in your eye
I wanted to comfort you, to hold you, be with you that day,
You looked so helpless and frail while in bed you did lay.

I watched as you shivered from a new pain,
And wondered how I might have handled the same.
I wanted to scream, to shout, and to yell,
You said you were fine although your skin was so pale.

I knew in my heart your time was near end,
And wished I could take you, your body to mend.
I knew that soon God would be your closest friend,
You told me many times that�s how it would end.

I stood there watching as each breath came slow,
And fought to find courage, my emotions were low.
I promised you when the time came that I�d not cry,
You never saw my eyes wet, always they were dry.

I held your hand as I silently said goodbye,
And knew in my heart that soon you would die.
I stroked your forehead and said how I loved you,
You nodded and smiled and I knew that you knew.

I no longer care, my tears I can�t hide,
And as I stood there waiting for death by your side.
I knew then that God was your closest friend,
You had told me many times that�s how it would end.

Also I love anything Edgar Allan Poe....

Just remember about 3 lines.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye can
for the same roses that today are smiling,
tomorrow will be a dying.

The Raven
Edgar Allen Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow will he leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Fire and Ice: Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Darkness: George Byron
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, 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 chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:
And they did live by watchfires - 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 volcanos, and their mountain-torch:
A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;
Forest were set on fire but hour by hour
They fell and faded and the crackling trunks
Extinguish'd 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 gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd,
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremolous; and vipers crawl'd
And twined themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless, 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 tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devoured,
Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corpse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famish'd 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 famish'd 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 heap'd 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
Wich was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and
Each other's aspects. saw, and shriek'd, 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,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, 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 sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropp'd
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 perish'd; Darkness had no need
Of aid from them. She was the universe.

The Raven: Edgar Allen Poe
see above