Poem Archives | Page 4 of 6

A Reason, A Season, or A Lifetime

May 4, 2021 In Poem 2 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,

To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

This person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

One Thousand Marble.

April 27, 2021 In Poem 4 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the backyard patio with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up to listen to a Saturday morning talk show I heard an older sounding gentleman, with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles”.

Have You Earned Your Tomorrow? by Edgar Guest

April 20, 2021 In Poem 2 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?
Does anyone remember that you spoke to him today?
This day is almost over, and its toiling time is through;
Is there anyone to utter now a kindly word of you?

Did you give a cheerful greeting to the friend who came along?
Or a churlish sort of “Howdy” and then vanish in the throng?
Were you selfish pure and simple as you rushed along the way,
Or is someone mighty grateful for a deed you did today?

Opportunity by John James Ingalls.

March 30, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Master of human destinies am I;
Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait.
Cities and fields I walk. I penetrate
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by

The Dreamer by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

March 23, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Temples he built and palaces of air,
And, with the artist’s parent-pride aglow,
His fancy saw his vague ideals grow
Into creations marvellously fair;

He set his foot upon Fame’s nether stair.
But ah, his dream,—it had entranced him so
He could not move. He could no farther go;
But paused in joy that he was even there!

Doors of Daring by Henry Van Dyke.

March 16, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

The mountains that enfold the vale
With walls of granite, steep and high,
Invite the fearless foot to scale
Their stairway toward the sky.

The restless, deep, dividing sea
That flows and foams from shore to shore,
Calls to its sunburned chivalry,
“Push out, set sail, explore!”

Can’t by Edgar A. Guest.

March 9, 2021 In Poem 2 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

Can’t is the worst word that’s written or spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with it many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
And robs us of courage we need through the day:
It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.

Find A Way by John Godfrey Saxe.

March 2, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

It was a noble Roman,
In Rome’s imperial day,
Who heard a coward croaker,
Before the castle say,
“They’re safe in such a fortress;
There is no way to shake it!”
“On! On!” exclaimed the hero,
“I’ll find a way, or make it!”

For Grief by John O’Donohue.

February 23, 2021 In Poem 2 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

When you lose someone you love,

Your life becomes strange,

The ground beneath you gets fragile,

Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;

And some dead echo drags your voice down

Where words have no confidence.

A Thousand to One by Berton Braley.

February 16, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

There’s a thousand “Can’t-be-done-ers”
For the one who says “It can!”
But the whole amount of deeds that count
Is done by the latter clan.
For the “Can’t-be-done-ers” grumble,
And hamper, oppose and doubt,
While the daring man who says “It can!”
Proceeds to work it out.

When You Know a Fellow by Edgar A Guest

February 9, 2021 In Poem 2 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

When you get to know a fellow, know his joys and know his cares,

When you’ve come to understand him and the burdens that he bears,

When you’ve learned the fight he’s making and the troubles in his way,

Then you find that he is different than you thought him yesterday.

You find his faults are trivial and there’s not so much to blame

In the brother that you jeered at when you only knew his name.

You are quick to see the blemish in the distant neighbor’s style,

You can point to all his errors and may sneer at him the while,

And your prejudices fatten and your hates more violent grow

As you talk about the failures of the man you do not know,

But when drawn a little closer, and your hands and shoulders touch,

You find the traits you hated really don’t amount to much.

The Will To Win by Berton Braley

February 2, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

If you want a thing bad enough
To go out and fight for it,
Work day and night for it,
Give up your time and your peace and
your sleep for it

If only desire of it
Makes you quite mad enough
Never to tire of it,
Makes you hold all other things tawdry
and cheap for it

Keep a Goin by Frank Lebby Stanton.

January 26, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

If you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin’!
If it hails or if it snows,
Keep a-goin’!
‘Taint no use to sit an’ whine
When the fish ain’t on your line;
Bait your hook an’ keep a-tryin’–
Keep a-goin’!

When the weather kills your crop,
Keep a-goin’!
Though ’tis work to reach the top,
Keep a-goin’!

You Are Who You’ve Been Looking For by Adam Roa.

January 19, 2021 In Poem 4 Mins Read By Lanre Dahunsi

As of today, I hope I leave you with a direction correction
away from the flaws you see in our reflection.
They aren’t flaws to me they are simply protection
So start today, take a good long look in the mirror and say
‘I am who I’ve been looking for’

You are who you’ve been looking for.

So stop looking for more unless you are looking in the mirror

because it is about time for you to see clearly that:

You are who you’ve been looking for.

And that empty feeling you got,

that hole in your chest

you only got that feeling because you think you are not blessed

with everything you need.

You see we live in a consumerist society

which means they need you to buy stuff

and the easiest way to sell it is to tell you

How Long Does It Take to Learn?

January 12, 2021 In Poem 1 Min Read By Lanre Dahunsi

How long does it take to learn?
To bait a hook with a wiggly worm,
To make a bed, to wash a plate,
To swim, to dive to figure skate,
To iron a shirt to mend a seam,
To walk with balance on a beam?
How do you think grown-ups know?