Classic Inspirational Poems
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Confide in a Friend
When you’re tired and
worn at the close of day,
And things just don’t seem to be going your way,
When even your patience has come to an end,
Try taking time out and confide in a friend.
Perhaps she too may have walked the same road,
With a much troubled heart and burdensome load,
To find peace and comfort somewhere near the end,
When she stopped long enough to confide in a friend.
For then are most welcome a few words of cheer,
For someone who willingly lends you an ear,
No troubles exist that time cannot mend,
But to get quick relief, just confide in a friend.
Unknown
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~Did you Ever Love Someone?~
Did you ever love someone and know they didn’t care?
Did you ever look into his eyes and know you’d get nowhere?
Did you ever watch him leave not wanting him to go?
And whisper "God I love him!" but never let him know?
Did you ever cry in misery and think you’d go insane?
There’s nothing in this world that causes so much pain.
So, I say, don’t fall in love, you’ll hurt before it’s through.
You are my friend you, you ought to know, I fell in love with you.
Unknown
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"Don't Quit,"
Author Unknown
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dream girl
i
remember the girl of my dreams
found my soul
and she placed my heart back
in my "missing-heart hole"
and my child like passion and wonder
and pride
returned, and i started to glow
from inside
she's
the girl of my dreams
she's the one that i love
she's the girl of my dreams
angel girl from above
and her
heart's always gentle
and her heart's always pure
and her spirit is strong
and her mind, always sure
and we
fly through the stars
in my dreams
while i sleep
exploring the universe
vast, dark and deep
will
you fly through the stars
with me, dream girl
tonight?
will you rest in my arms
till the morning light,
shines and reminds
through
the sun's golden beams
that love does
conquer all
if we follow our dreams
by L. Dylan Christopher
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Everyone Needs Someone
People need people and friends need friends,
And we all need love for a full life depends
Not on vast riches or great acclaim,
Not on success or on worldly fame,
But just in knowing that someone cares
And holds us close in their thoughts and prayers...
For only the knowledge that we're understood
Makes everyday living feel wonderfully good,
And we rob ourselves of life's greatest need
When we "lock up our hearts" and fail to heed
The outstretching hand reaching to find
A kindred spirit whose heart and mind
Are lonely and longing to somehow share
Our joys and sorrows to make us aware
That life's completeness and richness depends
On the things we share with our loved ones and friends.
By Helen Steiner Rice
Submitted by Fantasy Dreamer
Connecticut, USA
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One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked beach at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that this happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it.
"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."
The LORD replied,
"My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."
Anonymous
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Friendship
Friendship needs no studied phrases,
Polished face, or winning wiles;
Friendship deals no lavish praises,
Friendship dons no surface smiles.
Friendship follows Nature’s diction,
Shuns the blandishments of Art,
Boldly severs truth from fiction,
Speaks the language of the heart.
Friendship favors no condition,
Scorns a narrow-minded creed,
Lovingly fulfills its mission,
Be it word or be it deed.
Friendship cheers the faint and weary,
Makes the timid spirit brave,
Warns the erring, lights the dreary,
Smoothes the passage to the grave.
Friendship--pure, unselfish friendship,
All through life’s allotted span,
Nurtures, strengthens, widens, lengthens,
Man’s relationship with man.
--Unknown
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The Grave
Do not stand at my grave
and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on the snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of birds circling in flight
I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
Author Unknown
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Home
when i hold her in my arms.
i can feel her heart
beating.
the faint sound of a distant drum.
calling me
to a faraway place,
she calls
home.
by
L. Dylan Christopher
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Handwriting on the Wall
A weary mother returned from the store,
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her 8 year old son,
Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.
"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T. J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."
She let out a moan and furrowed her brow,
"Where is your little brother right now?"
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.
She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear--he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.
Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!
She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.
Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall
Author Unknown
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I Believe in You
I want to tell you that I believe in you;
I believe in your mind
and all the dreams, intelligence,
and determination within you.
You can accomplish anything.
You have so much open to you,
so please don't give up on what you want
from life or from yourself.
Please don't put away the dreams inside of you.
You have the power to make them real.
You have the power to make yourself
exactly what you want to be.
Believe in
yourself the way I do,
and nothing will be beyond your reach.
Author Unknown
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If Tomorrow Never Comes
If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep, I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door, I would give you a hug and kiss and call you back for one more.
If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise, I would video tape each action and word, so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew it would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute or two to stop and say "I love you," instead of assuming, you would know I do.
If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day, well I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there's always tomorrow to make up for an oversight, and we always get a second chance to make everything right.
There will always be another day to say our "I love you's", And certainly there's another chance to say our "Anything I can do's?"
But just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get, I'd like to say how much I love you and I hope we never forget, Tomorrow is not promised to
anyone, young or old alike, And today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day, That you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss and you were too busy to
grant someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your loved ones close today, whisper in their ear, Tell them how much you love them and that you'll always hold them dear, Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me," "thank you" or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets about today.
Author Unknown
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Invictus
Out of the night that
covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
for my unconquerable Soul.
In the fell clutch of
Circumstance,
I have not winced, nor cried aloud.
Beneath the bludgeoning of Chance,
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of
Wrath and Tears
Looms but the Horror of the Shade,
And yet the menace of the years
finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
I matters not how
Strait the Gate,
How charged with punishments the Scroll,
I am the Master of my Fate,
I am the Captain of my Soul.
by Wm. Ernest Henley
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Litany Against Fear
I must not fear
Fear is the mind killer
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration
I will face my fear, I will let it pass over me and through me
When it has passed I will turn the inner eye to follow it's path
Where it has gone there will be nothing
Only I will remain!!
Bene Gesserit
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A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself.
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
By Walt Whitman
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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace!
Where there is hatred - let me sow love
Where there is injury - pardon
Where there is doubt - faith
Where there is despair - hope
Where there is darkness - light
Where there is sadness - joy
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled - as to console
To be understood - as to understand
To be loved - as to love
for
It is in giving - that we receive
It is in pardoning - that we are pardoned
It is in dying - that we are born to eternal life.
St. Francis
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A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! -
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our heart, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, -act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Footprints, that, perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
By Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
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a rose
a rose, she is
and one in full bloom
she gives me the stars,
and the sun, and the moon
and her smile is not just a beautiful sight,
though it is,
but its power,
and love,
from below and above
she is daytime and night
she is wrong, she is right
she is peace, she is fight
she is blind, she is sight
and when i am with her,
i'm rock and i'm sand
i am wind
i am fire
i am sea and i'm land
and when we're together,
we are fragile but strong
the wild life whispers
we are dance, we are song
and the birds in the trees, freeze
and detect,
that we're young, and in love
we are reverence, respect
And when we're apart
we are both so alone
and we look to the sky
and the sun cries
by L. Dylan Christopher
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Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose
woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
by Robert Frost
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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long as I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth,
Then took the other as 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 onto 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.
by Robert Frost
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Success
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of
intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation
of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit
better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has
breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
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This Too,
Shall Pass Away
When some great sorrow, like a
mighty river,
Flows through your life with peace-destroying power
And dearest things are swept from sight forever,
Say to your heart each trying hour:
"This, too, shall pass away."
When ceaseless toil has hushed your
song of gladness,
And you have grown almost too tired to pray,
Let this truth banish from your heat its sadness,
And ease the burdens of each day:
"This, too, shall pass away."
When fortune smiles, and, full of
mirth and pleasure,
The days are flitting by without a care,
Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure,
Let these few words their fullest import bear:
"This, too, shall pass away."
When earnest labor brings you fame
and glory,
And all earth's noblest ones upon you smile,
Remember that life's longest, grandest story
Fills but a moment in earth's little while:
"This, too, shall pass away."
By Lanta
Wilson Smith
Found on: Afterhours
Inspirational Stories
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Wind and Window Flower
Lovers, forget your love,
And list to the love of these,
She a window flower,
And he a winter breeze.
When the frosty window veil
Was melted down at noon,
And the caged yellow bird
Hung over her in tune,
He marked her through the pane,
He could not help but mark,
And only passed her by
To come again at dark.
He was a winter wind,
Concerned with ice and snow,
Dead weeds and unmated birds,
And little of love could know.
But he sighed upon the sill,
He gave the sash a shake,
As witness all within
Who lay that night awake.
Perchance he half prevailed
To win her for the flight
From the fire lit looking-glass
And warm stove-window light.
But the flower leaned aside
And thought of naught to say,
And morning found the breeze
A hundred miles away.
by Robert Frost
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From "The Rose"
"When the night has been too lonely,
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
just remember,
in the winter,
far beneath the bitter snow,
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose."
From 'The Rose'
As performed by Bette Midler
Lyrics by Amanda McBroom
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Mother To Son
"Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it.
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor -
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back,
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now -
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin'
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair."
"Mother To Son"
Written by Langston Hughes
Beloved American Poet
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"There's only now...
There's only here...
Give in to love...
Or live in fear...
No other path...
No other way...
No day but today...
No day but today."
Jonathan Larson, 1960-1996
American Playwright, Pulitzer Prize Winner
(From the Broadway musical "Rent")