The storm of the years
has whitened your head,
dear bright-eyed mother
who lives and breathes for me.
Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Monday, 29 April 2019
Being a Sri Lankan - Saduni Wanniarachchi
Mothers’ hips are eroded
And her clavicles stick out.
She has had too many children
But she is still pregnant.
Her lungs are punctured
And Shred into pieces
Of ripe cloudless flesh
Only to be hidden beneath
Layers of charred rubber.
And her clavicles stick out.
She has had too many children
But she is still pregnant.
Her lungs are punctured
And Shred into pieces
Of ripe cloudless flesh
Only to be hidden beneath
Layers of charred rubber.
Sunday, 28 April 2019
Only a bird - Śrî Ānanda Āchārya
I am not God nor His messenger—
I am only a singing bird.
I am only a singing bird.
Saturday, 27 April 2019
Black Children - Rex Ingamells
Where now uninterrupted sun
Is shrivelling the sheaves,
Is shrivelling the sheaves,
Friday, 26 April 2019
I am - Grigore Vieru
I am the apple tree that rises
With shiny fruit toward the stars,
While down below a leper scratches
Against its trunk his ugly scars.
With shiny fruit toward the stars,
While down below a leper scratches
Against its trunk his ugly scars.
Thursday, 25 April 2019
Word Nine - Abay Kunanbayev
When dying,
I will not lament:
I will not lament:
Wednesday, 24 April 2019
Invocation - Mirjam Tuominen
Beyond the seven mountains
the seven valleys
the seven rapid torrents
the seventy-seven nights
the seventy-seven days
the seven hundred-and-seventy-seven days-and-nights
the seven thousand and seventy-seven paradise years
inferno years purgatory years
shut up in the mountain
beyond the valleys
beyond the rapids
beyond the nights the days
the days-and-nights
the paradise years
inferno years purgatory years
inside shut in
outside shut out
I cry: ‘Awake!
the seven valleys
the seven rapid torrents
the seventy-seven nights
the seventy-seven days
the seven hundred-and-seventy-seven days-and-nights
the seven thousand and seventy-seven paradise years
inferno years purgatory years
shut up in the mountain
beyond the valleys
beyond the rapids
beyond the nights the days
the days-and-nights
the paradise years
inferno years purgatory years
inside shut in
outside shut out
I cry: ‘Awake!
Tuesday, 23 April 2019
St. George And The Dragon - Anonymous
Of Hector's deeds did Homer fing,
And of the sack of ftately Troy,
What griefs fair Helena did bring,
Which was fir Paris' only joy:
And by my pen I will recite
St. George's deeds, and Englifh knight.
And of the sack of ftately Troy,
What griefs fair Helena did bring,
Which was fir Paris' only joy:
And by my pen I will recite
St. George's deeds, and Englifh knight.
Monday, 22 April 2019
The beasts are very wise - Rudyard Kipling
The beasts are very wise,
Their mouths are clean of lies;
Their mouths are clean of lies;
Sunday, 21 April 2019
Done is a Battle - William Dunbar
Done is a battle on the dragon black,
Our champion Christ confoundit has his force;
The yetis of hell are broken with a crack,
The sign triumphal raisit is of the cross,
The devillis trymmillis with hiddous voce,
The saulis are borrowit and to the bliss can go,
Christ with his bloud our ransonis dois indoce:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
Our champion Christ confoundit has his force;
The yetis of hell are broken with a crack,
The sign triumphal raisit is of the cross,
The devillis trymmillis with hiddous voce,
The saulis are borrowit and to the bliss can go,
Christ with his bloud our ransonis dois indoce:
Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro.
Saturday, 20 April 2019
O gladsome light - Hieromartyr Athenogenes
O gladsome light, O grace
Of God the Father's face,
The eternal splendour wearing;
Celestial, holy, blest,
Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
Joyful in thine appearing.
Of God the Father's face,
The eternal splendour wearing;
Celestial, holy, blest,
Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
Joyful in thine appearing.
Friday, 19 April 2019
Bitter was the night - Sydney Carter
Bitter was the night,
thought the cock would crow forever
Bitter was the night before the break of day.
thought the cock would crow forever
Bitter was the night before the break of day.
Thursday, 18 April 2019
Melancholy - Poornima Laxmeshwar
From my window
I see the orange circle
Escape in a blue quilt
Quietly without leaving any traces of its existence
I see the orange circle
Escape in a blue quilt
Quietly without leaving any traces of its existence
Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Come Away, My Love - Joseph Kariuki
Come away, my love, from streets
Where mankind eyes divide,
And show windows reflect our difference.
In the shelter of my faithful room rest.
Where mankind eyes divide,
And show windows reflect our difference.
In the shelter of my faithful room rest.
Tuesday, 16 April 2019
The midnight mouse - Christian Morgenstern
When it's midnight and neither moon
Nor stars do light the sky,
Then twelve times across the heavens
The midnight mouse doth fly.
Nor stars do light the sky,
Then twelve times across the heavens
The midnight mouse doth fly.
Monday, 15 April 2019
Talvez - Régis Bonvicino
Might be a bird passing over
might be a moment of silence
might be the sun in hiding
might be winter hasn't
passed
might be a moment of silence
might be the sun in hiding
might be winter hasn't
passed
Sunday, 14 April 2019
I Walk in Danger All the Way - Hans Adolf Brorson
I walk in danger all the way.
The thought shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey,
Is plotting to deceive me.
This foe with hidden snares
May seize me unawares
If e'er I fail to watch and pray.
I walk in danger all the way.
The thought shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey,
Is plotting to deceive me.
This foe with hidden snares
May seize me unawares
If e'er I fail to watch and pray.
I walk in danger all the way.
Saturday, 13 April 2019
To my beloved: With my soul in my lips - Medardo Ángel Silva
When you imagine our impassioned love’s flame
inside your chest to be extinguished,
the day you’re without me, my life will be torn from me
only because of you is my life beloved.
inside your chest to be extinguished,
the day you’re without me, my life will be torn from me
only because of you is my life beloved.
Friday, 12 April 2019
Remembrance - Mario Battistella
Every week feels so long
when you are not close to me!
I don’t know what superhuman powers
give my life meaning, so far from you.
when you are not close to me!
I don’t know what superhuman powers
give my life meaning, so far from you.
Thursday, 11 April 2019
Poems: V - Publius Annius Florus
When my young pear-trees I planted, when I planted apple-trees,
On the bark the name I gravéd of the sweetheart who is mine.
On the bark the name I gravéd of the sweetheart who is mine.
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
My native Pines - Joseph Howe
My native Pines—my native Pines,
I love beneath your boughs to stray,
While morning’s sun upon you shines
With bright, and warm, and fervid ray;
For oh! ’twas thus in childhood’s hours,
I rov’d beneath them wild and free,
And gathered May’s unsullied flowers,
That sprung around each forest tree.
I love beneath your boughs to stray,
While morning’s sun upon you shines
With bright, and warm, and fervid ray;
For oh! ’twas thus in childhood’s hours,
I rov’d beneath them wild and free,
And gathered May’s unsullied flowers,
That sprung around each forest tree.
Monday, 8 April 2019
Moonlight Sleeps Within your Heart - Jean Lahor
Moonlight sleeps Within your heart,
A gentle light of summer moon
And I 'shall set the cares of life apart
When, in your brightness,' shall I swoon.
A gentle light of summer moon
And I 'shall set the cares of life apart
When, in your brightness,' shall I swoon.
Sunday, 7 April 2019
Morning Hymn - Gregory the Great
Lo, fainter now He spread the shades of night,
And upward spread the trembling gleams of morn;
Suppliant we bend before the Lord of Light,
And pray at early dawn,
And upward spread the trembling gleams of morn;
Suppliant we bend before the Lord of Light,
And pray at early dawn,
Saturday, 6 April 2019
Radio Poem - Bertold Brecht
You little box, held to me escaping
So that your valves should not break
So that your valves should not break
Friday, 5 April 2019
64 - Bruce Levitan
So, when the alarm bell rang, insistently calling to me
I awoke to the bright morning sunlight piercing the curtain:
X-rays of the pattern picked out so that I could see
The individual flowers and birds illuminated - like a fountain
Yin-yang, the bright reverse of what they really are meant to be.
I awoke to the bright morning sunlight piercing the curtain:
X-rays of the pattern picked out so that I could see
The individual flowers and birds illuminated - like a fountain
Yin-yang, the bright reverse of what they really are meant to be.
Thursday, 4 April 2019
It is not necessary - Chu Hsi
It is not necessary to go out of one's way to get rid of the natural mind;
it needs only that the spiritual mind shall rule.
it needs only that the spiritual mind shall rule.
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
Sigh no more, ladies - William Shakespeare
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
I Wonder - Elfrida De Renne Barrow
My heart is a small room,
And life is the light of day
That peeps in through the window
Joyous and gay.
And life is the light of day
That peeps in through the window
Joyous and gay.
Monday, 1 April 2019
This Day Our Daily Dog - Giselle Caputo
It’s as if the plastic bags
had become the sofa’s latest outfit
because why remember the dead
and gather dust in the house
had become the sofa’s latest outfit
because why remember the dead
and gather dust in the house
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