you really got a hold on me

i like for you to be still/me gustas cuando callas

i like for you to be still, and you seem far away.

it sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove.

and you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:

let me come be still in your silence.

- pablo neruda

el tango de roxanne

the snowman

the giving tree

Once there was a tree..... and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. And they would play hide-and-go-seek. And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. And the boy loved the tree.......very much. And the tree was happy.

But time went by. And the boy grew older. And the tree was often alone. Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy."

"I am too big to climb and play", said the boy. "I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?" "I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I have no money, I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy." And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away. And the tree was happy.
But the boy stayed away for a long time.. and the tree was sad. And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy and she said, "Come, Boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy." "I am too busy to climb trees," said the boy. "I want a house to keep me warm," he said. "I want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house. Can you give me a house?" "I have no house," said the tree. "The forest is my house, but you may cut off my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy." And the boy cut off her branches and carried them away to build his house. And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time. And when he came back, the tree was so happy she could hardly speak. "Come, Boy," she whispered, "come and play." "I am too old and sad to play," said the boy. "I want a boat that take me far away from here. Can you give me a boat?" "Cut down my trunk and make a boat," said the tree. "Then you can sail away...... and be happy." And so the boy cut down her trunk and made a boat and sailed away. And the tree was happy....

but not really. And after a long time the boy came back again. "I am sorry, Boy," said the tree,

"but I have nothing left to give you----" "My apples are gone." "My teeth are too weak for apples," said the boy. "My branches are gone," said the tree. "You cannot swing on them------" "I am too old to swing on branches," said the boy. "My trunk is gone," said the tree. "You cannot climb--------" "I am too tired to climb," said the boy. "I am sorry," sighed the tree. "I wish that I could give you something------ but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump." "I don't need very much now," said the boy. "just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired." "Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the boy did. And the tree was happy.

- Shel Silverstein

parks (benchers and sitters)

alice in wonderland

"But I don't want to go among mad people," said Alice. "Oh, you can't help that," said the cat. "We're all mad here."

frankenstein

"My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy."

pygmalion

"Would the world ever had been made if it's maker had been afraid of making trouble? Making life means making trouble."

santorini

no need to worry/redcave

you shall above all things be glad and young

you shall above all things be glad and young.

for if you're young, whatever life you wear

it will become you; and if you are glad

whatever's living will yourself become

girlboys may nothing more than boygirls need:

i can entirely her only love

whose any mystery makes every man's

flesh put space on; and his mind take off time

that you should ever think, may god forbid

and (in his mercy) your true lover spare:

for that way knowledge lies, the foetal grave

called progress, and negation's dead undoom.

i'd rather learn from one bird how to sing

than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.

- e.e. cummings

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, 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 kept 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.

- robert frost

ain't no sunshine

may i feel said he

may i feel said he

(i'll squeal said she

just once said he)

it's fun said she

(may i touch said he

how much said she

a lot said he)

why not said she

(let's go said he

not too far said she

what's too far said he

where you are said she)

may i say said he

(which way said she

like this said he

if you kiss said she

may i move said he

is it love said she)

if you're willing said he

(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he

but your wife said she

now said he)

ow said she

(tiptop said he

don't stop said she

oh no said he)

go slow said she

(cccome?said he

ummm said she)

you're divine!said he

(you are Mine said she)

- e. e. cummings

i like you

i like you and i know why.

i like you because you are a good person to like.

i like you because when i tell you something special, you know it's special

and you remember it a long time.

you say, remember when you told me something special

and both of us remember

when i think something is important

you think it's important too

we have good ideas

when i say something funny, you laugh

i think i'm funny and you think i'm funny too

hah-hah!

i like you because you know where i'm ticklish

and you don't tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes

but if you do, then i know where to tickle you too

you know how to be silly

that's why i like you

boy are you ever silly

i never met anybody sillier than me till i met you

i like you because you know when it's time to stop being silly

maybe day after tomorrow

maybe never

too late, it's quarter past silly

sometimes we don't say a word

we snurkle under fences

we spy secret places

if i am a goofus on the roofus hollering my head off

you are one too

if i pretend i am drowning, you pretend you are saving me

if i am getting ready to pop a paper bag,

then you are getting ready to jump

HOORAY

that's because you really like me

you really like me, don't you

and i really like you back

and you like me back and i like you back

and that's the way we keep on going every day

if you go away, then i go away too

or if i stay home, you send me a postcard

you don't just say well see you around sometimes, bye

i like you a lot because of that

if i go away, i send you a postcard too

and i like you because if we go away together

and if we are in grand central station

and if i get lost

then you are the one that is yelling for me

and i like you because when i am feeling sad

you don't always cheer me up right away

sometimes it is better to be sad

you can't stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute

you want to think about things

it takes time

i like you because if i am mad at you

then you are mad at me too

it's awful when the other person isn't

they are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose

i like you because if i think i am going to throw-up

then you are really sorry

you don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that

you say, maybe it was something you ate

you say, the same things happened to me one time

and the same thing did

if you find four-leaf clovers, you give me one

if i find four, i give you two

if we only find three, we keep on looking

sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don't

if i break my arm, and if you break your arm too

then it's fun to have a broken arm

i tell you about mine, you tell me about yours

we are both sorry

we write our names and draw pictures

we show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too

i like you because i don't know why but

everything that happens is nicer with you

i can't remember when i didn't like you

it must have been lonesome then

i like you because because because

i forget why i like you but i do

so many reasons

on the 4th of july, i like you because it's the 4th of july

on the 5th of july, i like you too

if you and i had some drums and some horns and some horses

if we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines

we could be a HOLIDAY

we could be a CELEBRATION

we could be a WHOLE PARADE

see what i mean?

even if it was 999th of july

even if it was august

even if it was way down at the bottom of november

even if it was no place particular in january

i would go on choosing you

and you would go on choosing me

over and over again

that's how it would happen every time

i don't know why

i guess i don't know why i really like you

why do i like you

i guess i just like you

i guess i just like you because i like you

- i like you by sandol stoddard

one's-self i sing

one's-self i sing - a simple, separate person;

yet utter the word democratic, the word en-masse.

of physiology from top to toe i sing;

not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse - i say the form complete is worthier far;

the female equally with the male i sing.

of life immense in passion, pulse, and power,

cheerful - for freest action form'd, under the laws divine,

the modern man i sing.

- leaves of grass by walt whitman

if you forget me/si tú me olvidas

i want you to know

one thing.

you know how this is:

if i look

at the crystal moon, at the red branch

of the slow autumn at my window,

if i touch

near the fire

the impalpable ash

or the wrinkled body of the log,

everything carries me to you,

as if everything that exists,

aromas, light, metals,

were little boats that sail

toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

well, now,

if little by little you stop loving me

i shall stop loving you little by little.

if suddenly

you forget me

do not look for me,

for i shall already have forgotten you.

if you think it long and mad,

and wind of banners

that passes through my life,

and you decide

to leave me at the shore

of the heart where i have roots,

remember

that on that day,

at that hour,

i shall lift my arms

and my roots will set off

to seek another land.

but

if each day,

each hour

you feel that you are destined for me

with implacable sweetness,

if each day a flower

climbs up to your lips to seek me,

ah my love, ah my own,

in me all that fire is repeated,

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,

my love feeds on your love, beloved,

and as long as you live it will be in your arms

without leaving mine.

- pablo neruda

ghost woman blues

ghost woman blues by george carter

this god damn house by the low anthem

to the ghosts who write history books by the low anthem

politics

how can i, that girl standing there,

my attention fix

on roman or on russian

or on spanish politics?

yet here's a travelled man that knows

what he talked about,

and there's a politician

that has read and thought,

and maybe what they say is true

of war and war's alarms,

but o that i were young again

and held her in my arms!

- william butler yeats