We speak a language called manglish
to us it is normal,
The queen’s grammar is so precise
we’ve made it informal.
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Friday, 29 June 2012
Blind Children - Israel Zangwill
Laughing, the blind boys
Run round their college lawn,
Playing such games of buff
Over its dappled grass.
Run round their college lawn,
Playing such games of buff
Over its dappled grass.
Thursday, 28 June 2012
The Spruce Tree - Heinrich Heine
A single spruce-tree, lonely,
On a northern mountain height,
Sleeps in a white blanket,
Draped in snow and ice.
On a northern mountain height,
Sleeps in a white blanket,
Draped in snow and ice.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Limits - Jorge Luis Borges
Of these streets that deepen the sunset,
There must be one (but which) that I’ve walked
Already one last time, indifferently
And without knowing it, submitting
There must be one (but which) that I’ve walked
Already one last time, indifferently
And without knowing it, submitting
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Casabianca - Felicia Hemans
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.
Monday, 25 June 2012
Mountain Life - Henrik Johan Ibsen
In summer dusk the valley lies
With far-flung shadow veil;
A cloud-sea laps the precipice
Before the evening gale:
The welter of the cloud-waves grey
Cuts off from keenest sight
The glacier, looking out by day
O'er all the district, far away,
And crowned with golden light.
With far-flung shadow veil;
A cloud-sea laps the precipice
Before the evening gale:
The welter of the cloud-waves grey
Cuts off from keenest sight
The glacier, looking out by day
O'er all the district, far away,
And crowned with golden light.
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Baby Girl Found - Francette Cerulli
He found her wrapped in a brown towel
Beside the highway department dumpster.
She was so cold she was blue, so new
her umbilical stump still drooped softly
from her belly like the limp stem
of some fantastic fruit.
Beside the highway department dumpster.
She was so cold she was blue, so new
her umbilical stump still drooped softly
from her belly like the limp stem
of some fantastic fruit.
Friday, 22 June 2012
Fair Summer Droops - Thomas Nashe
Fair summer droops, droop men and beasts therefore,
So fair a summer look for nevermore:
All good things vanish less than in a day,
Peace, plenty, pleasure, suddenly decay.
Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year,
The earth is hell when thou leav'st to appear.
So fair a summer look for nevermore:
All good things vanish less than in a day,
Peace, plenty, pleasure, suddenly decay.
Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year,
The earth is hell when thou leav'st to appear.
Thursday, 21 June 2012
The Bard - Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger
O, GREAT was Denmark’s land in time of old!
Wide to the south her branch of glory spread;
Fierce to the battle rushed her heroes bold,
Eager to join the revels of the dead:
While the fond maiden flew with smiles to fold
Round her returning warrior’s vesture red
Her arm of snow, with nobler passion fired,
When to the breast of love, exhausted, he retired.
Wide to the south her branch of glory spread;
Fierce to the battle rushed her heroes bold,
Eager to join the revels of the dead:
While the fond maiden flew with smiles to fold
Round her returning warrior’s vesture red
Her arm of snow, with nobler passion fired,
When to the breast of love, exhausted, he retired.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Love for love (Jockey Fou and Jenny Fain) - Robert Burns
Ithers seek they ken na what,
Features, carriage, and a’ that;
Gie me love in her I court,
Love to love maks a’ the sport.
Features, carriage, and a’ that;
Gie me love in her I court,
Love to love maks a’ the sport.
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Some Beasts - Pablo Neruda
It was the twilight of the iguana.
Monday, 18 June 2012
Bessie's song to her Doll - Lewis Carroll
Matilda Jane, you never look
At any toy or picture-book.
I show you pretty things in vain—
You must be blind, Matilda Jane!
At any toy or picture-book.
I show you pretty things in vain—
You must be blind, Matilda Jane!
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Redemption - George Herbert
Having been tenant long to a rich lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel the old.
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel the old.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
The call of the Seven Seas - Kendall Banning
I hear the call of the wanderlust,
And God knows why but go I must;
Until my bones are drifting dust
I'll follow the sea-gull's cry.
The bow-watch song to the dog-watch bell,
The kick o' the wheel and the chantey's spell
Get hold of a man in spite o' Hell,
And a better man than I!
And God knows why but go I must;
Until my bones are drifting dust
I'll follow the sea-gull's cry.
The bow-watch song to the dog-watch bell,
The kick o' the wheel and the chantey's spell
Get hold of a man in spite o' Hell,
And a better man than I!
Friday, 15 June 2012
Anonymous - This was our land
The land that the mountain needed in order
To raise in majesty.
To raise in majesty.
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Savitri, or The Sun - Anonymous
1.
Savitri! effulgent, bright!
Who fosters every pious rite,
Savitri! whose ruddy rays
Invite our holy hymns and lays,
With humble hearts we contemplate his rays,
And faintly see our God in his bright face!
Savitri! effulgent, bright!
Who fosters every pious rite,
Savitri! whose ruddy rays
Invite our holy hymns and lays,
With humble hearts we contemplate his rays,
And faintly see our God in his bright face!
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Star Teachers - George William Russell
Even as a bird sprays many-coloured fires,
The plumes of paradise, the dying light
Rays through the fevered air in misty spires
That vanish in the heights.
The plumes of paradise, the dying light
Rays through the fevered air in misty spires
That vanish in the heights.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
OFF 2 Fiji : hot airports - Vinepa Aiono
DEPART
Auckland International Airport
Damn ! its hot!! my salt water skin
eats my eyeliner and rubs my lipstick
in the crowded gate room.
Auckland International Airport
Damn ! its hot!! my salt water skin
eats my eyeliner and rubs my lipstick
in the crowded gate room.
Monday, 11 June 2012
‘When I watch the flight of leaves' - Marina Tsvetaeva
When I watch the flight of leaves,
To the cobblestones at my feet,
To the cobblestones at my feet,
Sunday, 10 June 2012
The Cross - Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Tree which heaven has willed to dower
With that true fruit whence we live,
As that other death did give;
With that true fruit whence we live,
As that other death did give;
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Inscription for the Ceiling of a Bedroom - Dorothy Parker
Daily dawns another day;
I must up, to make my way.
I must up, to make my way.
Friday, 8 June 2012
The Springlet - José Zorilla
Hasting on, the springlet flows,
Licking up its dark brown bed;
More and more its crystal grows
As its course is sped.
Licking up its dark brown bed;
More and more its crystal grows
As its course is sped.
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Moon Song - Mildred Plew Meigs
Zoon, zoon, cuddle and croon–
Over the crinkling sea,
The moon man flings him a silvered net
Fashioned of moonbeams three.
Over the crinkling sea,
The moon man flings him a silvered net
Fashioned of moonbeams three.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
My Native Land - Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj
The fertile virgin-lands between Altai and Khangai
Lands of our eternal destiny where ancestors lie
Land grown mellow under the golden rays of the sun
Land grown eternal under the silver moon.
Lands of our eternal destiny where ancestors lie
Land grown mellow under the golden rays of the sun
Land grown eternal under the silver moon.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Anonymous - O Lord Remember
O Lord,
Remember not only the men and women of good will,
but also those of ill will.
Monday, 4 June 2012
Birches - Robert Frost
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Confession - Frantisek Halas
Touched by all that love is
I draw closer toward you
Saddened by all that love is
I run from you
I draw closer toward you
Saddened by all that love is
I run from you
Saturday, 2 June 2012
The Heart and Service - Sir Thomas Wyatt
The heart and service to you proffer'd
With right good will full honestly,
Refuse it not, since it is offer'd,
But take it to you gentlely.
With right good will full honestly,
Refuse it not, since it is offer'd,
But take it to you gentlely.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Ladies, who of my lord would fain be told - Gaspara Stampa
Ladies, who of my lord would fain be told,
Picture a gentle knight, full sweet to see,
Though young in years, in wisdom passing old,
Model of glory and of valiancy;
Picture a gentle knight, full sweet to see,
Though young in years, in wisdom passing old,
Model of glory and of valiancy;
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