The Flute - Naim Frashëri

Listen to the flute a-speaking,
Tell the tale of wretched exile,
Weeping for this world of sorrow
Using words of truth to spin it.

Which is which? - Val Sengebau

Who am I?
Where am I?
I can't seem to find the answers.
I don't know where I belong.
I don't know where to go.

The Bird and the Storm-Cloud - Pamelia Sarah Yule

Little bird, is that thy sphere,
Yonder threat'ning cloud so near?
Sunbeams blaze along its brow,
Yet what darkness reigns below!

Climbing Long-View Mountain’s Highest Peak - Meng Hao-jan

Rivers and mountains beyond the form seen:
Hsiang-yang’s beauty brings them in reach,

The white lilies - Luis de Góngora y Argote

The white lilies, children of the Sun,
That Spring grants us from age to age,

Your Song Resounded - Clemens Brentano

Your song resounded. I heard it
Drawn to the moon through roses:

Raga Asa - Baba Sheikh Farid

True lovers are those
who love with all their hearts.
Those who think of another,
speak of another
are called false lovers.

Quotes - Brigitte Fuchs

All rivers flow to the sea the sea
never fills up. Also the woman. And the
sun. Racing back to the place out of
breath. Attempting anew to be woman

That Is Autumn - Theodor Storm

That is autumn; leaves are flying
Through branches naked to the wild;
The ship is rocking, sails are swelling-
Farewell you charming shipborn child.

Kudu - Gaarriye

My father told me this story
when I was a child. We sat
in the shade of a tree and he began:

Kill Me, My Faithful Friends - Mansur Al-Hallaj

Kill me, my faithful friends,
For in my being killed is my life.

More Than Myself - Anne Sexton

Not that it was beautiful,
but that, in the end, there was
a certain sense of order there;

When It Falls - Michael Theophilus Dom

Like a rock
Made of rain

The Glorious New Creation - Isaiah

For I am about to create new heavens
   and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
   or come to mind.

Repulsive being - Juan Rodolfo Wilcock

Repulsive being, you merit
Your verbal acquaintance with grief
Unlike the ants, unlike the porcupine.

Lisis - Dina Bellrham

i’d like you to feel
the pain of the branches,
the hunger of the train as it passes,
the cry of the girl
when the dolls are raped

Love for animals - Tom Mukasa

We give them names,
especially those we tame,

Hawk - Kamau Brathwaite

these children mek dis pack with you

At the river crossing - Jim Pascual Agustin

Rocks and boulders
smoothed to roundness by the relentless
rushing of cold mountain waters,
please keep my daughters’
little feet on your firm backs.

New days are like the changing of water - Nene Giorgadze

New days are like the changing of water.
It’s evening and from far away you see
people’s withering ikebana flowers

Credo - Romain Rolland and Edmond Bordeaux Szekely

We believe that our most precious possession is Life.
We believe we shall mobilize all the forces of Life against the forces of death.

The Missing Language - Zafer Şenocak

the cold days are counted up
the snow has stopped
and turned
into snow made of paper

Poem of things and other things - Oumar Farouk Sesay

A littered mind
A disused thought
A muffled song
A caged bird

Elephant - Anonymous

Elephant who brings death. Elephant, a spirit in the bush.
With his single hand he can pull two palm trees to the ground.

Mis-using - Mtendere Alice Kishindo

Set myself on fire
Let the synthetic melt
The acrylic burn
And all this fat sizzle

I know I can - Esther Mbale

Growing up,
I accepted what society gave me
I accepted that women should lean on men
It was normal seeing a man beat his wife

Dâri - Oumougna de Dantchandou

I dreamed last night
That Dâri de Tchiga was advising me

The Very Self of the Self - Aïda Touré

Peel the golden layer off of you,
lo! Another one appears,
you are made of bouncy
luxurious particles
that ever reach for love,

Bamako! - António Agostinho Neto

Bamako
               Where the truth dropping on the leaf’s sheen
                  unites with the freshness of men
                     like strong roots under the warm surface of the soil
                        and where grow love and future
                           fertilised in the generosity of the Niger
                              shaded by the immensity of the Congo
                                 to the shim of the African breeze of hearts