Twelve Years – Paul Celan

The line
that remained, that
became true: . . . your
house in Paris — become
the alterpiece of your hands.

Breathed through thrice,
shone through thrice.
……………….

It’s turning dumb, turning deaf
behind our eyes.
I see the poison flower
in all manner of words and shapes.

Go. Come.
Love blots out its name: to
you it ascribes itself.

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With The Voice – Paul Celan

With the voice of the Field-mouse
You squeak up,

a sharp
Clamp,
you bite through my Shirt into the Skin,

a Cloth,
you slither over my Mouth,
in the midst of my,
to you, Shadow, burdensome,
Speech.

The Poles – Paul Celan

The Poles
are within us,
insurmountable
while Awake,
we sleep across, to the Gate
of Mercy,

I lose you to you, that
is my Snow-Comfort,

say, that Jerusalem is,

say, as if I were this
your Whiteness,
as if you were
mine,

as if without us we could be we,

I open your leaves, forever,

you bless, you bed
us free.

Landscape – Paul Celan

tall poplars — human beings of this earth!
black pounds of happiness — you mirror them to death!

I saw you, sister, stand in that effulgence.

Suicide – Jennifer Rondeau

Suicide is my thought of dying,
Crawling out of hole I made,
Suicide is my only way out of my pain I feel,
Explain why I can’t kill or hurt myself,
This is priceless for every suicidal thoughts,
The thoughts that runs through my head,
The things you have said,
The way you racquet me,
The way you make fun of me,
This is why I want to die,
Suicide is my only way out,
The way out of the pain you have caused me see.

Suicide – Tiara Neal

Yesterday I tried to commit suicide..
The good news is..I didnt succeed..
You dont know how much I tried..
And cut just to watch my arm bleed..

That night I really wanted to die..
I even went looking for pills..
As much as I tried I just couldnt cry..
Just something I couldnt feel..

Its never as hard as it looks..
You have to trust and believe me..
Cutting can get you hooked..
And left with the feeling of uncertainty..

Or at least thats what happens to me..
I try so hard to die and dont succeed..

Suicide – Kathryn Miller

I contemplate this thought,
A thought of giving up,
A thought of suicide,

I take a knife,
And plunge it deep,
And feel of suicide,

I swallow the pills,
And got to sleep,
And dream of suicide,

I take a gun,
And pull the trigger,
And commit suicide.

The Ocean – Aly Churchill

Hearing the sound of the ocean roar
The sun shinning on the sea shimmering
Watching the segul’s soar
And the sand glimmering

Seeing the crabs scurrying across the sand
Watching the dolphins jump through waves
Holding sea shells in your hands,
And watching the sun set at the end of day.

Everthing is lite up by the moon light
Which makes the ocean beautiful
Gazing into the starry night
And seeing the moon so full

Now the sea creatures are at rest
The ocean is one of natures best!

Water Lily – Rainer Maria Rilke

My whole life is mine, but whoever says so
will deprive me, for it is infinite.
The ripple of water, the shade of the sky
are mine; it is still the same, my life.

No desire opens me: I am full,
I never close myself with refusal-
in the rythm of my daily soul
I do not desire-I am moved;

by being moved I exert my empire,
making the dreams of night real:
into my body at the bottom of the water
I attract the beyonds of mirrors…

Water – Adelaide Rhead

Water still, water deep, how many secrets do you keep?
We look upon your surface calm, and feel the peace that is a balm.
Now the gentle stream runs faster, racing swiftly swiftly —
Over boundless cataracts. Water — share your energy with me.
As a big wide river flowing slowly to the sea,
It fills me with its strength. Love and peace now cover me.
Sunshine on the water fills everything with gold.
And silver from the moonbeams. Feel the joy you now behold.
Water in its many forms soothes the jangled nerves,
Isn’t this a pleasure that everyone deserves?

Summer – James Grengs

oh, summer, your love
endured for a while.
it was in the spring,
i was in the winter,
missing love,
missing life,
missing hope.
then you were there,
holding me,
reassuring me,
telling me
you cared.
where did you go?
i hoped you were real,
not the dream you seemed
to be. i was wrong.
i touched you, and like a mist,
you were gone. summer, how many nights
have i longed for your forbidden embrace.
but you were gone, and have stayed
gone.
come back, summer. your golden hair,
stirred in the breeze;
your laugh,
the sound of birds in flight;
your joy,
dead and cold, now.
summer, your life is gone.
return to me, summer, my love,
lest i too perish
in cold.

The Elephant – Gautam Buddha

Silently shall I endure abuse as the elephant in battle endures
the arrow sent from the bow: for the world is ill-natured.
They lead a tamed elephant to battle, the king mounts a tamed
elephant; the tamed is the best among men, he who silently endures abuse.

Mules are good, if tamed, and noble Sindhu horses, and elephants
with large tusks; but he who tames himself is better still.

For with these animals does no man reach the untrodden country
(Nirvana), where a tamed man goes on a tamed animal, viz. on his own well-tamed self.

The elephant called Dhanapalaka, his temples running with sap,
and difficult to hold, does not eat a morsel when bound; the elephant
longs for the elephant grove.

If a man becomes fat and a great eater, if he is sleepy and rolls
himself about, that fool, like a hog fed on wash, is born again and again.

This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as
it listed, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as
the rider who holds the hook holds in the furious elephant.

Be not thoughtless, watch your thoughts! Draw yourself out of
the evil way, like an elephant sunk in mud.

If a man find a prudent companion who walks with him, is wise,
and lives soberly, he may walk with him, overcoming all dangers,
happy, but considerate.

If a man find no prudent companion who walks with him, is wise,
and lives soberly, let him walk alone, like a king who has left his
conquered country behind,-like an elephant in the forest.

It is better to live alone, there is no companionship with a
fool; let a man walk alone, let him commit no sin, with few wishes,
like an elephant in the forest.

If an occasion arises, friends are pleasant; enjoyment is
pleasant, whatever be the cause; a good work is pleasant in the hour
of death; the giving up of all grief is pleasant.

Pleasant in the world is the state of a mother, pleasant the
state of a father, pleasant the state of a Samana, pleasant the state of a Brahmana.

Pleasant is virtue lasting to old age, pleasant is a faith firmly
rooted; pleasant is attainment of intelligence, pleasant is avoiding of sins

The Saint – Gautam Buddha

There is no suffering for the one
who has completed the journey,
who is freed from sorrow,
who has freed oneself on all sides,
who has thrown off all chains.

The thoughtful exert themselves;
they do not delight in a home;
like swans who have left their lake,
they leave their house and home.

Those who have no accumulations, who eat properly,
who have perceived release and unconditioned freedom,
their path is difficult to understand,
like that of birds in the sky.

Those whose passions are stilled,
who are indifferent to pleasure,
who have perceived release and unconditioned freedom,
their path is difficult to understand,
like that of birds in the sky.

Even the gods admire one whose senses are controlled,
like horses well tamed by the driver,
who is free from pride and free from appetites.
Such a dutiful one who is tolerant like the earth,
who is firm like a pillar,
who is like a lake without mud:
no new births are in store for this one.

One’s thought is calm;
calm is one’s word and one’s action
when one has obtained freedom by true knowledge
and become peaceful.
The one who is free from gullibility,
who knows the uncreated, who has severed all ties,
removed all temptations, renounced all desires,
is the greatest of people.

In a village or in a forest, in a valley or on the hills,
wherever saints live, that is a place of joy.
Forests are delightful; where others find no joy,
there the desireless will find joy,
for they do not seek the pleasures of the senses.

The Awakened – Gautam Buddha

The one whose conquest cannot be conquered again,
into whose conquest no one in this world enters,
by what track can you lead that one,
the awakened, the omniscient, the trackless?

The one whom no desire
with its snares and poisons can lead astray,
by what track can you lead that one,
the awakened, the omniscient, the trackless?

Even the gods emulate those who are awakened and aware,
who are given to meditation, who are wise,
and who find joy in the peace of renunciation.

It is difficult to be born as a human being;
difficult is the life of mortals;
difficult is the hearing of the true path;
difficult is the awakening of enlightenment.

Not to do wrong, to do good, and to purify one’s mind,
that is the teaching of the awakened ones.
The awakened call patience the highest sacrifice;
the awakened declare nirvana the highest good.

The one who strikes others is not a hermit;
one is not an ascetic who insults others.
Not to blame, not to strike,
to live restrained under the law,
to be moderate in eating, to live alone,
and to practice the highest consciousness–
this is the teaching of the awakened ones.

There is no satisfying lusts,
even by a shower of gold pieces.
Whoever knows that lusts have a short taste
and cause pain is wise.
Even in heavenly pleasures one finds no satisfaction;
the disciple who is fully awakened
finds joy only in the destruction of all desires.

People driven by fear go for refuge
to mountains and forests, to sacred groves and shrines.
That is not a safe refuge; that is not the best refuge.
After having got to that refuge,
a person is not delivered from all pains.

Whoever takes refuge with the awakened one,
the truth, and the community,
who with clear understanding perceives the four noble truths:
namely suffering, the origin of suffering,
the cessation of suffering, and the eightfold holy way
that leads to the cessation of suffering,
that is the safe refuge; that is the best refuge;
having gone to that refuge,
a person is delivered from all pains.

A person of true vision is not easy to find;
they are not born everywhere.
Wherever such a sage is born, the people there prosper.
Blessed is the arising of the awakened;
blessed is the teaching of the truth;
blessed is the harmony of the community;
blessed is the devotion of those who live in peace.

Whoever gives reverence to those worthy of reverence,
whether the awakened or their disciples,
those who have overcome the army
and crossed the river of sorrow,
whoever gives reverence to such as have found deliverance
and are free of fear,
their merit cannot be measured by anyone.

The World – Gautam Buddha

Do not follow a bad law.
Do not live in thoughtlessness.
Do not follow wrong ideas.
Do not be attached to the world.

Arise; do not be thoughtless.
Follow the path of virtue.
The virtuous rest in bliss in this world and in the next.
Follow the path of virtue; do not follow the wrong path.
The virtuous rest in bliss in this world and in the next.

Look upon the world as a bubble;
look on it as a mirage.
Whoever looks thus upon the world
is not seen by the sovereign of death.
Come, look at this world resembling a painted royal chariot.
The foolish are immersed in it,
but the wise are not attached to it.

The one who formerly was thoughtless
and afterwards became conscientious
lights up this world like the moon when freed from a cloud.
The one whose wrong actions are eradicated by good conduct
lights up this world like the moon when freed from a cloud.

This world is blinded; only a few can see here.
Like birds escaped from the net, a few go to heaven.
The swans go on the path of the sun;
miraculously they fly through the sky.
The wise are led out of this world,
when they have conquered Mara and the tempter’s armies.

Whoever violates the one law, who speaks lies,
and scoffs at another world,
there is no wrong that one will not do.

Misers do not go to the world of the gods;
only fools do not praise liberality;
the wise find joy in generosity,
and because of it become blessed in the other world.

Better than sovereignty over the earth,
better than going to heaven,
better than dominion over all the worlds
is the reward of reaching the stream.

Autumn Love – Li Ching Chao

Search. Search. Seek. Seek.
Cold. Cold. Clear. Clear.
Sorrow. Sorrow. Pain. Pain.
Hot flashes. Sudden chills.
Stabbing pains. Slow agonies.
I can find no peace.
I drink two cups, then three bowls,
Of clear wine until I can’t
Stand up against a gust of wind.
Wild geese fly over head.
They wrench my heart.
They were our friends in the old days.
Gold chrysanthemums litter
The ground, pile up, faded, dead.
This season I could not bear
To pick them. All alone,
Motionless at my window,
I watch the gathering shadows.
Fine rain sifts through the wu-t’ung trees,
And drips, drop by drop, through the dusk.
What can I ever do now?
How can I drive off this word —
Hopelessness?

Funny Bone – Simon Gowen

I need to ask a question
While I’m sitting here alone
Why on earth did someone name
The elbow, Funny Bone?

Ev’ry time I bang it
The last thing on my mind
Is laughing out in ecstasy,
And shouting something kind

Instead I want to lash out
And jump and scream and curse
The pain runs through my body
Only toothache could be worse.

So if you are a specialist
Please do your best to serve
A clumsy man who’s sat in pain
I’ve banged my Ulnar nerve.

Funny Features – David Darbyshire

Barking dogs not a bone,
whining cats lots of rats.
Chirping birds comes a cyclone,
buzzing bee’s honey please.

This is our nature at it’s best,
do you realize that we are blessed?
Without these little creatures, and their funny features,
how would we learn? , who would be the teachers?

Funny Feet – Connie Webb

I used to complain
About my big funny looking feet
And a friend said,
“Hey they were made that way,
Because when you are sad
And hanging your head low
They give you something
To smile at.”

Mirror – Victor Osorio

Would you trade places?
To live my life
To be me
To feel my pain
Would you ignore a friend?
Move on in life
Pretend not to know
Would you not enjoy music?
Knowing that you love it
But, not wanting to listen
Would you talk to me?
Knowing that I’m a loser
Knowing that I’m ugly
Knowing that I’m a nice guy
Would you take your own life?
Would you finally do it?
Would you start over?
Not knowing how
Stop staring at me
I’ll go away from the mirror now.

Fatakka Thakaaidine Raataima Timile – Rakesh Karki

सधैँ सधैँ भुलाउने बातैमा तिमीले
जानी जानी छोइदिने हातैमा तिमीले

सँगै सँगै हिँडदा पानी परे सिमसिम
नजिक नजिक टसाउने छातैमा तिमीले

कहिले माया पिएर कहिले पिलाएर
डुबाउने त्यो हेराइको मातैमा तिमीले

घरी घरी आवेगमा माया बटुलेर
लुकाउने अँगालोको तातैमा तिमीले

घुमाउने ल रमाउने हँसाउने दिनैमा
फतक्क थकाइदिने रातैमा तिमीले

Samjhana Dar Lagyo – Acharya Prabha

सम्झन डर लाग्यो
बिर्सन कर लाग्यो

तिम्रा नाटक हेरी
केनै पो भर लाग्यो?

यत्ती ढाँट्यौ मलाई
झनै अभर लाग्यो ।

जाली,झेली देख्दा त
अझ पो पर लाग्यो ।

बिस्वाश यत्ति थियो
शंखा नै तर लाग्यो ।

Nabhana Ghaat Ka Kura – Prabha Acharya

नभन घातका कुरा
नगर जातका कुरा ।

कहिल्यै नपरोस् सुन्न
बैगुनी हातका कुरा।

जीवन बितेछ त्यसै
भनन रातका कुरा।

हरियो बन्नेछु सधैं
बुझन पातका कुरा ।

बोतल रित्याइ भन्छु
सुनन मातका कुरा ।

पीडामा डुबेकी छु म
नभन आहतका कुरा ।

मनमा बस्नेछौ तिमी
गरन राहतका कुरा ।

 

Jiundo Yo Lash Lai – Bajra Kumar Rai

जिउँदो यो लाशलाई ढलाई देऊ बरु,
चिन्तामाभन्दा चितामा जलाई देऊ बरु

न मरीहाल्न सकें न त बाँचेको नै छु,
आउ यो भौतिक शरीर बलाई देऊ बरु

वर्तमानमा बाटो छैन न भविष्य राम्रो,
पलपलको यो लाचारीबाट छलाई देऊ बरु

सधैं आँशु पिएर बाँच्नु व्यर्थ हुँदोरहेछ,
आउ आँशुमै बिष छरेर चलाई देऊ बरु

मेरो सम्पुर्णता तिमी कोसँग मागुँ ममता,
भैगो त्यो बहुरुपी माया नलाई देऊ बरु

Depression – Claire Page

Depression depression,
Gets to us all,
We don’t know why?
But it’s always there,
At some point in our lives,
All we want is for our depression to go away,
The types we have are all different,
But we all wish that the depression would fly away just like angels would!

Depression – Amy Louise Kerswell

Oh horid ways of emotions.
All actions tryed are of no use.
All actions acted are usless.
No matter the action its all in vain.

I cant go anywhere
Running is usless and of no point.
I cant go no where.
Even if the option were open.

Oh depression horrible depression
Hold me back ever more
Pin me down with the force of your grace.
Depression my one true friend.

A sad dark and lonely place.
Sit upon the walls.
Its so sad and vacant.
Vacant like my happy days.

Depression takes me
More and more each day.
Feeding on my sadness.

This is an everelasting scar
A scar not to heal
A scar not to mend.
It will bring me to my end

Food – Jing Han

Food, food I love you so,
People say go on a diet, but what do they know.
Food, food you make me grow,
You are the one on that makes me glow.

Burgers and fries,
They are the one that stifles my hunger cries.
Popcorn chicken and buffalo wings,
Whenever I see you, with joy my heart sings.

Smoothies and milkshake,
They all go great with a nice chocolate cake.
Ice cream and whip cream,
Why couldn’t I get you out of my dream?

Food, food I love you so.
I will always love you wherever I go.
Food, food you may not know,
But in my life, you play the leading role.

Food In Travel – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

IF to her eyes’ bright lustre I were blind,
No longer would they serve my life to gild.
The will of destiny must be fulfilid,–
This knowing, I withdrew with sadden’d mind.
No further happiness I now could find:
The former longings of my heart were still’d;
I sought her looks alone, whereon to build
My joy in life,–all else was left behind.
Wine’s genial glow, the festal banquet gay,
Ease, sleep, and friends, all wonted pleasures glad
I spurn’d, till little there remain’d to prove.
Now calmly through the world I wend my way:
That which I crave may everywhere be had,
With me I bring the one thing needful–love.

The Food Of Love – Ernestine Northover

What would you like for supper,
Some steak, with chips and peas,
Maybe, a nice brewed cuppa,
Or me, with lips that please.

You could have something spicy,
Like a curry or sweet and sour,
But these can be a bit spicy
And not good, at this late hour.

Perhaps a glass of beer, or shandy,
Or a brandy to fill the gap,
But, of course, that might make you randy,
Hey! Have that as your nightcap!

There’s me, I’m sweet and slender,
And tender like the steak,
And if you put me in a blender,
A fantastic meal, I’d make.

There’s food enough for your pleasure,
So don’t say you aren’t well fed,
When you start to realise I’m a treasure,
You could have ‘hot crumpet’ in your bed!

Anger And Patience – Patti Masterman

I am bottled anger.
Violence burns within me;
A potent drug, rage.
With it, I could topple
The mountain’s height:
How much more could I destroy you,
Pitiful worm.
I am danger incarnate:
Death personified.
Be thankful I am sane,
And controlled;
-Bottled anger-
If I were not,
You would cease to be.

Anger – Mamta Agarwal

Your anger
Bursts like a thunderstorm,
And torrential rain,
And flashes like lightening.

And when its spent
And an uncanny calm descends.
I feel like an uprooted tree.

Sharp words
Can hurt,
Deeper than a wound
By a sword.

It takes time
Before a scab forms,
And you move on.

Days – Karle Wilson Baker

Some days my thoughts are just cocoons- all cold, and dull and blind,
They hang from dripping branches in the grey woods of my mind;

And other days they drift and shine – such free and flying things!
I find the gold-dust in my hair, left by their brushing wings.

Blue Smoke – Karle Wilson Baker

The flame of my life burns low
Under the cluttered days,
Like a fire of leaves.
But always a little blue, sweet-smelling smoke
Goes up to God.

Death, Always cruel – Dante Alighieri

Death, always cruel, Pity’s foe in chief,
Mother who brought forth grief,
Merciless judgment and without appeal!
Since thou alone hast made my heart to feel
This sadness and unweal,
My tongue upbraideth thee without relief.

And now (for I must rid thy name of ruth)
Behoves me speak the truth
Touching thy cruelty and wickedness:
Not that they be not known; but ne’ertheless
I would give hate more stress
With them that feed on love in very sooth.

Out of this world thou hast driven courtesy,
And virtue, dearly prized in womanhood;
And out of youth’s gay mood
The lovely lightness is quite gone through thee.

Whom now I mourn, no man shall learn from me
Save by the measure of these praises given.
Whoso deserves not Heaven
May never hope to have her company.

Love And The Gentle Heart – Dante Alighieri

Love and the gentle heart are one thing,
just as the poet says in his verse,
each from the other one as well divorced
as reason from the mind’s reasoning.

Nature craves love, and then creates love king,
and makes the heart a palace where he’ll stay,
perhaps a shorter or a longer day,
breathing quietly, gently slumbering.

Then beauty in a virtuous woman’s face
makes the eyes yearn, and strikes the heart,
so that the eyes’ desire’s reborn again,
and often, rooting there with longing, stays,

Till love, at last, out of its dreaming starts.
Woman’s moved likewise by a virtuous man.

Red, Red Wine – Scarlett Treat

Remembering, I ponder my wine glass,
Envisioning blazing night embers,
Shadows dancing in my dreams,
And I consider……Love.

I am indecisive,
My memories are desolate,
And I question your love
Because you called Collect!

I wonder where your soul is
As these restless night shadows burn,
While memory’s red, red colors bleed
Like a clock’s relentless flight.

Red Dust – Philip Levine

This harpie with dry red curls
talked openly of her husband,
his impotence, his death, the death
of her lover, the birth and death
of her own beauty. She stared
into the mirror next to
our table littered with the wreck
of her appetite and groaned:
Look what you’ve done to me!
as though only that moment
she’d discovered her own face.
Look, and she shoved the burden
of her ruin on the waiter.

I do not believe in sorrow;
it is not American.
At 8,000 feet the towns
of this blond valley smoke
like the thin pipes of the Chinese,
and I go higher where the air
is clean, thin, and the underside
of light is clearer than the light.
Above the tree line the pines
crowd below like moments of the past
and on above the snow line
the cold underside of my arm,
the half in shadow, sweats with fear
as though it lay along the edge
of revelation.

And so my mind closes around
a square oil can crushed on the road
one morning, startled it was not
the usual cat. If a crow
had come out of the air to choose
its entrails could I have laughed?
If eagles formed now in the
shocked vegetation of my sight
would they be friendly? I can hear
their wings lifting them down, the feathers
tipped with red dust, that dust which
even here I taste, having eaten it
all these years.

The Red Rose – Alison Cassidy

You offer me a red rose
The little prince loved her

I hold her carefully
Because of the thorns

I breathe your rose
And am transported

The Rain And The Wind – William Ernest Henley

The rain and the wind, the wind and the rain —
They are with us like a disease:
They worry the heart, they work the brain,
As they shoulder and clutch at the shrieking pane,
And savage the helpless trees.

What does it profit a man to know
These tattered and tumbling skies
A million stately stars will show,
And the ruining grace of the after-glow
And the rush of the wild sunrise?

Ever the rain — the rain and the wind!
Come, hunch with me over the fire,
Dream of the dreams that leered and grinned,
Ere the blood of the Year got chilled and thinned,
And the death came on desire!

April Rain – Mathilde Blind

The April rain, the April rain,
Comes slanting down in fitful showers,
Then from the furrow shoots the grain,
And banks are fledged with nestling flowers;
And in grey shaw and woodland bowers
The cuckoo through the April rain
Calls once again.

The April sun, the April sun,
Glints through the rain in fitful splendour,
And in grey shaw and woodland dun
The little leaves spring forth and tender
Their infant hands, yet weak and slender,
For warmth towards the April sun,
One after one.

And between shower and shine hath birth
The rainbow’s evanescent glory;
Heaven’s light that breaks on mists of earth!
Frail symbol of our human story,
It flowers through showers where, looming hoary,
The rain-clouds flash with April mirth,
Like Life on earth.

Rain – Jack Gilbert

Suddenly this defeat.
This rain.
The blues gone gray
And the browns gone gray
And yellow
A terrible amber.
In the cold streets
Your warm body.
In whatever room
Your warm body.
Among all the people
Your absence
The people who are always
Not you.

I have been easy with trees
Too long.
Too familiar with mountains.
Joy has been a habit.

Now
Suddenly
This rain.

Spring – Ernst Toller

In spring I go to war
To sing or to die.
What do I care for my own troubles?
Today I shatter them, laughing in pieces.

Oh, Brothers, know that young spring came
In a whirlwind.
Quickly throw off tired grief
And follow her in a host.

I have never felt so strongly
How much I love you, Oh, Germany,
As the magic of spring surrounds you
Amidst the bustle of war.

To A Star – Percy Bysshe Shelley

Sweet star, which gleaming o’er the darksome scene
Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest,
Spanglet of light on evening’s shadowy veil,
Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake,
Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet
Than the expiring morn-star’s paly fires:–
Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep,
And all is hushed,–all, save the voice of Love,
Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast
Of soft Favonius, which at intervals
Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but
Lulling the slaves of interest to repose
With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look
In thy dear beam till every bond of sense
Became enamoured–

To The Mind Of Man – Percy Bysshe Shelley

Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues
Clothest this naked world; and over Sea
And Earth and air, and all the shapes that be
In peopled darkness of this wondrous world
The Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse
… truth … thou Vital Flame
Mysterious thought that in this mortal frame
Of things, with unextinguished lustre burnest
Now pale and faint now high to Heaven upcurled
That eer as thou dost languish still returnest
And ever
Before the … before the Pyramids

So soon as from the Earth formless and rude
One living step had chased drear Solitude
Thou wert, Thought; thy brightness charmed the lids
Of the vast snake Eternity, who kept
The tree of good and evil.–

Lines – Percy Bysshe Shelley

WHEN the lamp is shatter’d,
The light in the dust lies dead;
When the cloud is scatter’d,
The rainbow’s glory is shed;
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remember’d not
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.

As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart’s echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute–
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruin’d cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman’s knell.

When hearts have once mingled,
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possest.
O Love, who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high:
Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.

A Bridal Song – Percy Bysshe Shelley

I.
The golden gates of Sleep unbar
Where Strength and Beauty, met together,
Kindle their image like a star
In a sea of glassy weather!
Night, with all thy stars look down,–
Darkness, weep thy holiest dew,–
Never smiled the inconstant moon
On a pair so true.
Let eyes not see their own delight;–
Haste, swift Hour, and thy flight
Oft renew.

II.
Fairies, sprites, and angels, keep her!
Holy stars, permit no wrong!
And return to wake the sleeper,
Dawn,—ere it be long!
O joy! O fear! what will be done
In the absence of the sun!
Come along!

Night – Percy Bysshe Shelley

SWIFTLY walk o’er the western wave,
Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,–
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear
Which make thee terrible and dear,–
Swift be thy flight!

Wrap thy form in a mantle grey,
Star-inwrought!
Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day;
Kiss her until she be wearied out.
Then wander o’er city and sea and land,
Touching all with thine opiate wand–
Come, long-sought!

When I arose and saw the dawn,
I sigh’d for thee;
When light rode high, and the dew was gone,
And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,
And the weary Day turn’d to his rest,
Lingering like an unloved guest,
I sigh’d for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,
‘Wouldst thou me?’
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmur’d like a noontide bee,
‘Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me?’–And I replied,
‘No, not thee!’

Death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soon–
Sleep will come when thou art fled.
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night–
Swift be thine approaching flight,
Come soon, soon!

Mighty Eagle – Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mighty eagle! thou that soarest
O’er the misty mountain forest,
And amid the light of morning
Like a cloud of glory hiest,
And when night descends defiest
The embattled tempests’ warning!

The Drowned Lover – Percy Bysshe Shelley

I.
Ah! faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary,
Yet far must the desolate wanderer roam;
Though the tempest is stern, and the mountain is dreary,
She must quit at deep midnight her pitiless home.
I see her swift foot dash the dew from the whortle,
As she rapidly hastes to the green grove of myrtle;
And I hear, as she wraps round her figure the kirtle,
‘Stay thy boat on the lake,–dearest Henry, I come.’

II.
High swelled in her bosom the throb of affection,
As lightly her form bounded over the lea,
And arose in her mind every dear recollection;
‘I come, dearest Henry, and wait but for thee.’
How sad, when dear hope every sorrow is soothing,
When sympathy’s swell the soft bosom is moving,
And the mind the mild joys of affection is proving,
Is the stern voice of fate that bids happiness flee!

III.
Oh! dark lowered the clouds on that horrible eve,
And the moon dimly gleamed through the tempested air;
Oh! how could fond visions such softness deceive?
Oh! how could false hope rend, a bosom so fair?
Thy love’s pallid corse the wild surges are laving,
O’er his form the fierce swell of the tempest is raving;
But, fear not, parting spirit; thy goodness is saving,
In eternity’s bowers, a seat for thee there.

Love’s Philosophy – Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another’s being mingle-
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea; –
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

The Trial – Nizar Qabbani

The East receives my songs, some praise, some curse 
To each of them my gratitude I bear 
For I’ve avenged the blood of each slain woman 
and haven offered her who is in fear. 

Woman’s rebellious heart I have supported 
ready to pay the prize – content to die 
if love should slay me, for I am love’s champion 
and if I ceased, then I would not be I. 

Language – Nizar Qabbani

When a man is in love
how can he use old words?
Should a woman
desiring her lover
lie down with
grammarians and linguists?

I said nothing
to the woman I loved
but gathered
love’s adjectives into a suitcase
and fled from all languages.

Words – Nizar Qabbani

He lets me listen, when he moves me,
Words are not like other words
He takes me, from under my arms
He plants me, in a distant cloud
And the black rain in my eyes
Falls in torrents, torrents
He carries me with him, he carries me
To an evening of perfumed balconies

And I am like a child in his hands
Like a feather carried by the wind
He carries for me seven moons in his hands
and a bundle of songs
He gives me sun, he gives me summer
and flocks of swallows
He tells me that I am his treasure
And that I am equal to thousands of stars
And that I am treasure, and that I am
more beautiful than he has seen of paintings
He tells me things that make me dizzy
that make me forget the dance and the steps

Words…which overturn my history
which make me a woman…in seconds
He builds castles of fantasies
which I live in…for seconds…
And I return…I return to my table
Nothing with me…
Nothing with me…except words

I Have No Power – Nizar Qabbani

‘I have no power to change you
or explain your ways
Never believe a man can change a woman
Those men are pretenders
who think
that they created woman
from one of their ribs
Woman does not emerge from a man’s rib’s, not ever,
it’s he who emerges from her womb
like a fish rising from depths of water
and like streams that branch away from a river
It’s he who circles the sun of her eyes
and imagines he is fixed in place

I have no power to tame you
or domesticate you
or mitigate your first instincts
This task is impossible
I’ve tested my intelligence on you
also my dumbness
Nothing worked with you, neither guidance
nor temptation
Stay primitive as you are

I have no power to break your habits
for thirty years you have been like this
for three hundred years
a storm trapping in a bottle
a body by nature sensing the scent of a man
assaults it by nature
triumphs over it by nature

Never believe what a man says about himself
that he is the one who makes the poems
and makes the children
It is the woman who writes the poems
and the man who signs his name to them
It is the woman who bears the children
and the man who signs at the maternity hospital
that he is the father

I have no power to change your nature
my books are of no use to you
and my convictions do not convince you
nor does my fatherly council do you any good
you are the queen of anarchy, of madness, of belonging
to no one
Stay that way
You are the tree of femininity that grows in the dark
needs no sun or water
you the sea princess who has loved all men
and loved no one
slept with all men… and slept with no one
you are the Bedouin woman who went with all the tribes
and returned a virgin
Stay that way.’

Together – Allyson Gordon

We will hold hands together
Laugh and smile together
Share our secrets together
And help each other together

We will confess our fears together
Wipe each other’s tears together
Confort each other together
And confide in each other together

We will talk about the darkness together
Write depressing poems together
Slit our wrists together
Scream in pain together

We will embrace sorrow together
Feel each other’s pain together
Plan our deaths together
And endure our suicides together

We May Live Together – Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

The Sky – Jennifer Rondeau

I look at the sky,
To daydream about us,
Your eyes looking at me from above,
The stars are bright like a light,
Your eyes are holding up the sky,
At night I think of you,
Sometimes I wonder where I want to go in life,
But I know that you love me,
I thought that I would be broken hearted forever,
But I know that you are the one that makes me smile,
As I glare and stare into the sky I wonder what are you thinking,
Sometimes I wonder how the sky is pretty and blue,
At night I make a wish,
Just one wish to be with you,
The sky might fall,
But I hope you are there to hold me,
When I fall I hope you’ll be there to catch me,
The sky is pretty when its at night when you just stare and hope to get a kiss under the stars.