End of a Year - Julian Symons

And in this year now

Remember all the harm.

The watcher on the hill

Weeps the heroic end

And under look of eyes

Or the bold clasp of hands

The lovers know their wrong.

Ring Of Peace - Paul Éluard

I have passed the doors of coldness

The doors of my bitterness

To come and kiss your lips

I.R.ME (I Represent Me) - Ben Caesar

verse.1

its a complicated/

subject that i touch/

sensitive/

like injured love/

Melody - Wazani Adamu Ijarafu

There is a melody

In the song of a mad man who lost his lover

To the romance of broken bottles

Liber VIII.LXXI (To Postumianus) - Marcus Valerius Martialis

Four pounds of silver plate in winter's season 

you sent me, Postumianus, ten years ago. 

While I hoped for a greater weight 

for gifts should stand fixed or grow 

there arrived two pounds more or less. 

Together and yet apart - Ketty Dan-Napwatt and Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen

Together and yet apart

Separated by a need greater than ourselves

Until the dawn when the roosters crow, together we shall be

Nativity - John Donne

Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb,

Now leaves His well-beloved imprisonment.

Christmas - Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff

The market and streets stand still and ghostly,

Each house in all the silence glows,

Along the lanes my thoughts come with me,

As the festive spirit ever grows.

The Tay Moses - Kathleen Jamie

What can I fashion for you

but a woven creel of river-

rashes, a golden

oriole’s nest my gift

wrought from the Firth –

A Night-mooring at Wuchang - Lu Lun

Far off in the clouds stand the walls of Hanyang,

Another day's journey for my lone sail...

The Tercets - Llywarch Hen

Set is the snare, the ash clusters glow, 

Ducks plash in the pools; breakers whiten below; 

More strong than a hundred is the heart's hidden woe. 

Advent Antiphons - Sister M. Charlita

From Mary's sweet silence,

Come, Word mutely spoken!

Hail! - Catherine Pozzi

Ardent love, if I were to die

Without having known where I possessed you,

In which sun was your abode,

In which past your time, in which hour

I have loved you!

Night - Vicente Huidobro

You hear the night glide across the snow

The song fell down from the trees

The Earth Turned to Bring Us Closer - Eugenio Montejo

The earth turned to bring us closer,

it spun on itself and within us,

Crossing Reality - Floarea Ţuţuianu

It’s Monday,

and from the kiosk on the corner

a croissant and a new poet under my arm

I start my Dublinesque odyssey

This Poem - Homero Pumarol

Every now and then I read this poem again.

I like it: it’s short and easy to forget.

Crazy Day - Gustav Krklec

Rooster this morning said to me:

Dear friend, good evening!

Love Has Seven Names - Hadewijch

Love has seven names.

Do you know what they are?

Rope, Light, Fire, Coal

make up its domain.

I could’t want another life - Tao Yuanming

I could’t want another life. This is my

true calling, working fields and mulberries

Islands - Guy Tirolien

This is the low house

in which my race has grown.

Twisting and lifting, the road

takes off beyond.

Offspring of the Distant Word: I - Susy Delgado

In an awakening

it glued itself

to my tongue

On the departure of his daughters - Muhammad al Fagīr

Umm Madās, the heifer of Kalaka,

her mother’s house is a gathering place for guests, never deserted.

St. Olaf’s Fountain - Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen

Like a ball of blood-red fire

Sinks the sun o’er forests sleeping,

Wondrously in splendor steeping

Glaciers far with cloud-capt spire.

Alyosha Karamazov - Gunnar Björling

The kiss of Christ is set above the world. And you realise:

a little something - Renata Frolova

Lost in now, lost in work 

struggling through piles of paperwork,

I am growing old faster than dreams are forgotten.

The Pine Trees on the Sea-rock - Arvid Mörne

The pine trees on the sea-rock are my lyres,

And the storm is playing on them.

Skerry and islet boom. Lost fishing boats

Steer by the pine trees and head for home.

Leaving Atocha Station - Johannes Beilharz

On a spark I am situating myself 

there, in that busy, old-fashioned 

painted iron and glass structure 

in approximately 1975.

Metamorphosis - Luis G. Urbina

It was an imprisoned kiss in love

with a hand of snow that had

the appearance of a listless iris

and the heartbeat of a bird in agony.

Ilka Blade o’ Grass Keps its ain Drap o’ Dew - James Ballantine

Confide ye aye in Providence, for Providence is kind,

And hear ye a’ life’s changes wi’ a calm and tranquil mind.

Tho’ press’d and hemm’d on every side, hae fath an ye’ll win through,

For ilka blade o’ grass keps its ain drap o’ dew.

When I hunger to praise Thee - Abraham ibn Ezra

When I hunger to praise Thee, I’m sated;

When to worship I thirst, I am drunk.

Almost without Noticing - Eira Stenberg

Almost without noticing,

without thinking, it seems,

you've arrived where you see far.

trees and the silence around us - Japhia Beckford

Trees are big

Trees are small

But no country has them all

I Hear Your Voice - Francisco García Jiménez

Afraid of dying,

longing to be alive—

dreams or reality?

Post Scriptum - Toeti Heraty

I want to write

an erotic poem

in which raw words, unadorned,

become beautiful

The Om - Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming

My Tanty used to sing/pray

evening ragas to the Earth Goddess

morning oblations to the Sun God

Saguia - Zahra el Hasnaui

They say

the night takes possession

of your indigo,

violet and cobalt hues.

That, in your lap,

all the kisses of salt

dry up.

Halley's Comet - Jaroslav Seifert

I saw nothing at that moment,

             nothing but strangers' backs,

heads under their hats craning.

The street was crowded.

Do not boast of your speed - Hwang Jini

Do not boast of your speed,

O blue-green stream running by the hills:

Once you have reached the wide ocean,

You can return no more.

Whoever wants me to love him - Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska

Whoever wants me to love him must never look gloomy, understand,

and he must be able to lift me up high in the palm of his hand.

A bird clock - Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir

i walk slower

today

than yesterday

The Language Issue - Núala Ní Dhomhnaill

I place my hope on the water

in this little boat

My divine Lysis - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

My divine Lysis:

do forgive my daring,

if so I address you,

unworthy though I am to be known as yours.

I'm Calling You - Ahmed Kaabour

I'm calling you¹

I shake your hands

I kiss the ground beneath your feet²

And say, "I will redeem you"³

India 1 - Juri Andruchowytsch

India begins with dreams about setting out

on an eastbound journey. These dreams have plots, they are

like a film through which one wanders like a gallant hero.

Rain and the Robin - Duncan Campbell Scott

A robin in the morning,

In the morning early,

Sang a song of warning,

"There'll be rain, there'll be rain."

Exodus - Marina Boroditskaya

So I was wondering how they crossed that seabed

When the whole watery firmament was combed, wave to floor

And the squelch, squelch, squelch, and the walls on either side

Going up and up like a great aquatic corridor

Aséna - Tahir Hamut Izgil

A piece of my flesh

torn away.

A piece of my bone

broken off.

A piece of my soul

remade.

A piece of my thought

set free.

I long to hold some lady - Leonard Cohen

I long to hold some lady

For my love is far away,

And will not come tomorrow

And was not here today.

The strain upraise of joy and praise - Notker Balbulus

The strain upraise of joy and praise, 

Alleluia. 

To the glory of their King 

Shall the ransom'd people sing 

Alleluia. 

In their own language - Ken Arkind

the butterfly farts

the fart changes the butterfly's flight pattern

the cat on the window sill sees the butterfly

the cat jumps at the butterfly

the cat misses the butterfly

the cat falls in the fountain

I Scarce Believed - Marjory Nicholls

I wondered once, when life, so it did seem,

Was holding to me hands where gifts were laid,

Laughing Blue - Adil Latefi

Maybe these words make no sense

Maybe they mean everything

Your voice - Stevan Tontic

Always after three, the most seven days

Your voice for a minute

On Belgrade’s nightly telephone.

Total - Enes Halilović

The wall.

The wall unbuilt.

The wall built.

The wall added.

The wall ruined.

a chair - Reinaldo Perez Só

this is a chair

just a chair

For a Time of Pestilence - Ephrem the Syrian

The Church is desolate and sits mournfully

For no one enters or departs; 

Thy decree hath destroyed them! 

And the priests groan in the holy place, 

With loud sighs for their companions 

Who have departed from them for ever! 

A Few Things Worth Considering - Kunle Okesipe

The number of its fragments when a life is broken,

The partition of heart for the system file of wishes,

The decor of the recycle bin for the remains of dreams,

easter sunday, travesties - José F. A. Oliver

[april four-liner]

in the hermitage jacket chocolate

from the Cross drips marzipan

& snowblend.

Outside the window

The ferryman - Emile Verhaeren

The ferryman, a green reed 'twixt his teeth,

With hand on oar, against the current strong

Had rowed and rowed so long.

Break and Bricks - Huguette Bertrand

Take all the walls down

and let dreams come out

from darkness

letting them expand

in the wilderness

of all memories

behind closed doors

The Modest Little Wish - Carl Spitteler

In the days when I was little

   had they asked me what I wanted,

What I'd wish for first if wishes

   ever could be really granted,

We Have Everything We Need - Selina Nwulu

We have each become a small world,

spinning from one collision to another.

We scrub cities off our skins

and watch its roads leave tracks in the bath.

Christ The Word! - Bishop Nektarios of Aegina

Christ The Word! Thine Incarnation

Links my nature to Thine own;

By Thy sore Humiliation,

I am lifted to Thy throne;

By Thy suffering Thou hast fired me

With a zeal to sacrifice,

And to noble life inspired me,—

Hence my grateful songs arise.

Ghost - Reza Shirmarz

I don’t like the words

“good bye”

between your lips.

How silent are you? - Tabitha M'bawa

You come to take parents and relatives

Leaving the children

Crying

In endless sorrow.

Fitzy and the Revolution - Ishion Hutchinson

The rumour broke first in Duckensfield.

Fitzy dropped the shutters of his rum shop.

By time it got to Dalvey there were three suicides.

The mechanic in Cheswick heard and gave his woman

a fine trashing; but, to her credit, she nearly scratched his heart

out his chest during the howl and leather smithing.

My World - Anonymous

Say goodbye to our courtyard.

Tomorrow we’re setting out on the road,

leaving our little courtyard to be demolished.

Only the dog walkers will survive - Oral Arukenova

zhanna’s gonna crash

kurban’s gonna snap

anel’s got a bruise

that fits right under her mask

The Fish Market in Athens - Ivan Theofilov

In the cheerful narrow backstreets

with shops of advertisingly confessive mood

along the motley swarming crowds

where oriental customs reign,

here they are – a commercial cathedral

Sonnet X - Carlo Maggi

Soul, by thy deep demerit sore distressed, 

Dear to thy Lord — ah! why by woe subdued? 

He asks thy love: — but thou wouldst love exclude 

For love must fail, if hope forsake the breast! 

Datur Hora Quieti - Sir Walter Scott

The sun upon the lake is low,

The wild birds hush their song,

The hills have evening’s deepest glow,

Yet Leonard tarries long.

To Italy - Luigi Alamanni

Thanks be to God, my feet are now addressed,

Proud Italy, at least to visit thee,

After six weary years, since destiny

Forbids me in thy dear-loved lap to rest.

Letter to my Unborn Child - Batsirai E. Chigama

Child

When I get the courage

When I am ready and brave

To bring you in a world

With too many clenched fists

Too many open palms

Too many potholes

And Z.E.S.Aless nights

Too many frolicking leaders

I want to make sure

You are strong and ready

The Sea has its Transformations ... Make Way - Qassim Haddad

Whoever saw a sea so narrow

narrow narrow

like the pupil of an eye

I mean - who

I have seen

and it's narrowing still

hardly space enough for the sputter of a strange gull

small fish can find no space in which to make a turn

Good Sense - Xasan Sheekh Muumin

The ostrich places

Her young in the open

Where the hawk kills

But the small bird marries

And beds her young

In a nest that's safe

Sunset - Amin Kassam

warm scent

lingers

to mark his passage

through

leaves and flowers

Shaken but not shattered - Sirbestian Nzula

The devil is a liar

He will attack your soul

Your soul will be on fire

Let Christ take control

Now Do not Tell Me of Men! - Müesser Yeniay

My soul hurts so much that

I awaken the stones under the earth

 

Juan Sánchez Peláez - Vicente Gerbasi

The eyes of the owl 

closed on the plain 

of death 

Poison - Kinga Fabó

I don’t know what it is but very ill-

intended. Surely a woman must belong to it.

And something like a laughter.

To the Lost - Dvora Amir

They came at the close of autumn, Moslem refugees from Bosnia

given shelter in this country, in the house next door, by a Yugoslav woman in Baka.

A Zipper - Nikolina Andova Šopova

Like when you are zipping

a broken zipper

You slide it, and it persistently opens

Autumn Afternoon - Željana Vukanac

The light of the last sun

elongates the faces of labour in the tin wheels

King of the hosts - Pope Urban VIII

King of the hosts of heavenly birth, 

Thou Son, Redeemer of the earth, 

And Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, 

Bring to our souls thy solace sweet. 

Who Deserves Respect? - Jean-Baptiste Nau

He whose hands are ever engaged,

And who seeks what's true and right,

Who lives from his own work's wage,

Not from other people's plight.

Laughing Drums - David Amadu

History’s white hand wrote my country’s course

In a language that will come back and hunt her

In the twenty first century;

World Peace - Xanana Gusmão

Violence, death

Blood and tears

Dances of Yesterday - Antoine Abel

I still hear the staccatos

The extension of the sounds of the drums

The drums from the old days

My son - Matthew Fakaia

 you my son

        you whiteman now

bring me no more ia

        no more here

Total independence (National Anthem) - Alda Neves da Graça do Espírito Santo

Total independence,

Glorious song of the people,

Total independence,

Sacred hymn of combat.

Deus ex Machina - José Mármol

Throw the dice, Lord, your turn has come and it is winter. The trident is cornered, the mountains covered with a skin of ash.

Must Never Be In Vain - Dillon Ollivierre

When your voice 

And your choice 

Is being undermined 

By men with no spine 

Then you know, it’s time to rise up

No longer can you be laid back, no longer can you simply look on

The sacrifices our ancestors made 

The blood, the sweat and tears 

Must never be in vain

Rain - Makerita Va’ai

Rain, symbolic of a loss

of friend or foe

an ally or enemy

Where did you come from - Ana Istarú

Where did you come from,
sleeping man.
What cloud dropped you,
what caravel.

Oh My Beloved Land - Telstar Jimmy

Beyond the wide horizon

Lies my home, my country

Of precious rainforests and peaceful woods;

Of portrait landscapes and productive gardens,

Oh My Beloved Land.

The sky - Filippo Ye

The sky offers hospitality to the clouds.

It is there where thunderstorms

and rainbows come.

It’s Not Love - Ryna.S.

If you love someone because he/ she is gorgeous…

that’s not love...

It’s Infatuation.

Moroni my princess - Soeuf Elbadawi

Moroni, my princess

with poor feet,

catches a cold and gets drunk on

bad weather days

General! - Dadolin Murak

General!

We didn’t know

The dark affair of 30 September 1965

When you came

We were indoctrinated by your false history:

Cutting genitals

Slashing with razors, gouging out eyes

Joined the communist cavorting at Lubang Buaya9

Dawn of my manhood - Ueantabo Fakaofo

The years of Childhood have ended, 

The constellation Rimwimata’¹ is up in the skies 

Twinkling on the whole island at rest 

Laying in bed tossing and wakeful I waited for dawn 

Untitled - Manal Al-Adawi

We must wake up,

We must burn hatred and turn the page,

Let us hold our hands together and walk towards the awakening.

News Of My Mother - Jean Baptiste Tati-Loutard

I am now very high upon the tree of the seasons;

Far below I see the firm earth of the past.

Pre-Naivasha Days - Emmanuel Monychol

We used to fight flies and heat
In the bullet ridden grass thatched huts,
We lived in the hope of milk and honey.

A Woman - Yeng Chheangly

I saw her 

In a dirty face,

She carried,

Many bricks on her shoulder,

Sonnet XXXIV: Recognition of the world's vanity - Francisco de Aldana

At last, at last, with so much time spent dying,

and with so many turns of life and fate,

so many times to every folly flying

with hopes to grasp it all, always too late,

Jakïp dreams about Manas - Anonymous

"Until Manas reaches the age of twelve,

Until he grows into manhood,

Achieves the stature of a brave man,

And takes a spear in his hand

Inspired - Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout

Ancestors,

sing it to the priests

in the open yard

The Vision - Armando Rojas Guardia

Unobstructed, the building

suspends itself in the still

timid light of dawn.

I, environment - Djeri Wapondi

I, environment I moan, I agonize

By compassion, the ozone layer reddens, roars and shatters.

To save me and to save you,

listen and write down this ordinance and recommendation

for such evil is its remedy and action.

Being a Palauan - Hermana Ramarui

Palauan, not a thing,

But a state of being,

Ode (from Job) - Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov

O man! whose weakness dares rebel 
Against the Almighty's strength, draw nigh 
And listen, for my tongue shall tell 
His message from the clouded sky. 
Midst rain, and storm, and hail, he spoke,
Around the piercing thunder broke; 
At his proud word the clouds disperse, 
And thus he shakes the universe:

 

The Blues - Léon Damas

Give back my black dolls

that they can dispel

the image of wan whores

selling love and promenading

on the boulevard of my ennui

Jobs - Mubarak Ouassat

The platanus tree

That grows suddenly in the middle of the room

Bend on me

Like a beloved

I will care for it in my turn

Because I was once

A gardener...

I remember now my past because astonishment

Grows in front of my patient eyes

Because tonight's mysteries lock my eyelids

Thamyris to her Roses - Götz

'Twas the promise of my lover 

Ere you blossomed to appear. 

Grounded - Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

Anchor yourself outside her room. A jaki
to sleep on, a cooler for drinks. Hands flexed
and prepared to ground her in this life.

A Leader’s Vision - Fawziya al Maskiry

From under the shade of a tree
He said we can learn
Old and young
Our Country’s future is his concern.

Freedom has Hands - Oktay Rifat

Proudly they were running, our horses
Toward the calm sea

Wake, wake, I pray thee, shrill-toned lyre - Synesius

Wake, wake, I pray thee, shrill-toned lyre!
No more to fan the Teïan fire,
No more the Lesbian strain to raise,
Wake, wake to hymn of nobler praise!

The Bird of Hope - Luis Enrique Belmonte

They marked the door with knife stabs,
belched out our names,
      spit on the mailboxes,
threw sulfur in the garden.

Agar - Liyou Libsekal

I remember a yellow scarf fashioned every which way and beautiful bones that peaked at the cheeks.
Mounted proud “young mother” in  eyes mourning a daughter left behind

Laconic - Sohini Basak

Not everyone will respond to whistling; take the collared dove
I tried to talk to this morning while checking if my socks
were still wet on the clothesline. I said hello to which
the dove paid no notice, her speckled plumes shining

It's beautiful when - Dan Sociu

How sad and beautiful man is when he’s wrong
about the world (and maybe he’ll never
know), like the cat driven mad
by the shining of a knife on the wall.

Day - Olga Khvostova

Why do you, arriving at the sea, sit by the river
of time, washing your feet in it, crushing your brains,
turning your hooked nose up to the sky?

Mountains/3 - José Manuel Arango

1
With a glass in my hand, looking at the mountains,
I caress the back of my dog.

I lift my hands, and with my heart - Anonymous

I lift my hands, and with my heart,
My prayer ascends to Thee;
In mercy take a sinner’s part,
Lord, send Thy help to me.

The Korathy's Lullaby - T. Ramakrishna

Stay, darling, stay—'tis only for an hour,
And you will be the fairest of the fair.
Your lotus eyes can soothe the savage beast,
Your lips are like the newly blossomed rose,
Your teeth—they shine like pearls; but what are they
Before the beauties of my handiwork?

From the Forest - Avrom Sutzkever

Of grass and flowers, the substance dissolves
Into drops of dew.
And he who wants can see
The subtle play
Of black and fire, silver and blue.

The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God - J. Milton Hayes

There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,
There’s a little marble cross below the town;
There’s a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.

Genesis Book III - Cædmon

The day departed,
hasting over the dwellings of earth.
And after the gleaming light the Lord, our maker,
thrust on the first of evenings.

Fogland - Ingeborg Bachmann

In winter my lover thrives
among the forest creatures.
The laughing fox knows I must return
before morning.
How the clouds tremble! And a layer
of broken ice falls on me
from the snow craters.

Returning to the Fields - Tao Yuanming

When I was young, I was out of tune with the herd:
My only love was for the hills and mountains.
Unwitting I fell into the Web of the World’s dust
And was not free until my thirtieth year.

Thoughts are apples - Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Thoughts are apples on the tree,

Happy Solitude—Unhappy Men - Madame Guyon

My heart is easy, and my burden light;
I smile, though sad, when thou art in my sight:

Mango Trees - Christian Benitez

Sunset mangoes
hang perpetually, the naked
boughs arching
like a mother’s hand.

The bus song - Ziad Rahbani

By the roar of the bus we travelled
from the village of Himlaya to the village of Tannurin
and I remembered you, Alia
and remembered your eyes
and God forgive you, Alia
what beautiful eyes you have.

A Banquet Song - Alcæus of Mytilene

The rain of Zeus descends, and from high heaven
          A storm is driven:

A True Story of Daily Life - Hans Manz

My next-door neighbour,

a Chinese guy from Hong Kong,

sweeps, whenever he reaches for his broom,

A Parrot in a Cage (Pinjarako Suga) - Lekhnath Paudyal

A pitiful, twice-born* child called parrot,
I have been trapped in a cage,
Even in my dreams, Lord Shiva,
I find not a grain of peace or rest.

Out In A Downpour - Mirabai

Out in a downpour
in a sopping wet
skirt.

The Way of the Cross - Hallgrim Petursson

The pathway of Thy Passion
To follow I desire;

Inaugurating The Garden - Forugh Farrokhzad

The crow that soared
above our heads and plunged
into a vagrant cloud’s restless thoughts,
its voice a short spear travelling horizon’s length,
will carry the news of us to town.

Mother's Touch - Mariska Taylor-Darko

In the village compound
which was cleanly swept and tidy
a compound not easily accessible by road
a group of old women sat huddled together.
Sticks and pipes jutted out of their mouths
which occasionally moved in unison.
A sigh here and a look to the sky up here.
Some sat with their chins in their palms
a look of sadness about them
They spoke.

Flower snake - So Chong-Ju

A back road pungent with musk and mint.
So beautiful, that snake. . .
What huge griefs brought you to birth?
Such a repulsive body!

Light - Rutger Kopland

This evening I would like to say a few things
while actually there are no things to express them

A City with the Charm A Thousand Beloved - Bouchra Yassine

I am from there
Where quince blossom and chaos presides
Lasting peace ...

Come back home, Africa! - Awadifo Olga Kili

Come back home, Africa!
Mayibuye, grandma Africa!
Oh my Africa,I cherish the golden old days
Gifted with rays of glory and beauty of traditions
While decked with bronze, gold and ivory.

What vessel is that passing - Thomas Kingo

What vessel is that passing
Across the boundless deep,
On which the billows massing
In foaming fury sweep?
She seems in sore distress
As though she soon would founder
Upon the shoals around her
And sink without redress.

Once again - Velemir Khlebnikov

Once again, once again,
I am a star for
you.

Waiting - Necip Fazıl Kısakürek

The sick cannot not wait for morning
The grave cannot wait for the dead
The devil cannot wait for sin
Like I can wait for you.

A wall and a classroom of black students - Adeniran Joseph

to this end heaven comes for us
with open arms and a principle of
parables. nothing eats your bones so hard
than a stranger reading
meaning to your name. we are end of things here.

Teardrop - Samwiri Kisa Mukuru

                                 ●
                                 ●
                                 ●
                                 I
                               feel
                              like a
                            teardrop

I would enfold your death and mine - Pedro Requena Legarreta

I would enfold your death and mine, as close
As our two lives have been together bound;

Because I was brought low - Anonymous

I
Because I was brought low,
And sin had triumphed quite,
Thou God, all good, didst bow,
And seek me in the night.

Mother Sango - Otieno Amisi

To thee I come,
Mother Sango
Numbed

When Rain Speaks of War - Virgil Suarez

it sounds like the hiss of a viper,
green-brown in underbrush
by the lichen-riddled rocks,

Not all sweet nightingales - Luis de Góngora y Argote

They are not all sweet nightingales
That fill with songs the flowery vales;
But they are little silver bells,
Touched by the winds in the smiling dells;
Magic bells of gold in the grove,
Forming a chorus for her I love.

Belovèd - Francisca Stoecklin

Let yourself again and again
Be embraced by my words.
Let them lie around you
Like the coat
That you drape about me

Thou and I - Raffi

Would I were the lake, so blue and calm,
And thou, fair maiden, with reluctant pride,
Wouldst see thy picture, delicate and faint,
Thy sacred image, in my depths abide.

I Wish You Well - Juan Andrés Bruno

The rooster crowed the wake-up call,
a distant dog barked in response
and as the arrabal began to stir
to greet the new day,
far off, a car went on its way…
And like a sentinel’s end-of-watch signal,
the flickering light of a streetlamp
winked out, like a lamentation.

Undismayed by any fortune - Ambrosius Stub

Undismayed by any fortune
Life may have in store for me,
This, whatever be my portion,
I will always try to be.
If I but in grace abide,
Undismayed whate’er betide.

End and Repeat - Alexandru Vakulovski

the road stretches ahead
like a piece of paper
burnt at one end

me and my old woman - Neerav Patel

1.
Since fifty-sixty years, they shout and screech
But there is no stuff in their work
It’s hardly five years and lo they come
Asking for more votes!

Hopeless (Gypsy Song) - Elena Văcărescu

Into the mist I gazed, and fear came on me.
Then said the mist: “I weep for the lost sun.”

We sat beneath our tent;
Then he that hath no hope drew near us there,
And sat him down by us.

The Whale - Anonymous

i.
Now I wish to wordfully reveal a song
about a certain kind of fish,
yet with the craft of verse,
through the heart’s thoughts
and concerning the great whale.

Laughing Mary - John O'Brien

With cheeks that paled the rosy morn
    She bounded o’er the heather,
And romped with us among the corn
    When we were kids together.

What I Should Like to Do - Cecco Angolieri

If I were fire, I’d burn the world away;
    If I were wind, I’d turn my storms thereon;
    If I were water, I’d soon let it drown;

The Hearing Ear - Gerhard Tersteegen

O Holy and mighty and marvellous Word
That speakest ever to me;
As of old in the silence of Eden heard
In the shade of the sacred Tree—

Women Improve With the Years - Celeste Augé

I am worn out with diets—
those rain-worn, concrete goddesses
among the skinny streets.

This cardboard prison - Jeannie Leane

This cardboard prison they call an archive
is cold, airless and silent as death.

I've Lost You - Hussein Al-Jassmi

I've lost you my dearest
I lost the love and the beauty
Who do I have in this world like you if the absence continues
You've left and who remains with me to feel my laugh and my crying
And even the wounds in your absence invade me
Who do I have in this world like you if the absence continues

Love and Lapo - Guido Cavalcanti

If you, my Dante (this I pray
  You much), see Love with Lapo near,
  Take heed, and then if Love you hear

Virgil - Giosuè Carducci

As when above parched fields the compassionate
Moon suspended, floods the summer dew with light,
Murmurs the flowing stream, the ripples scintillate,
Reflecting as they run the radiance white.

The Joys of Heaven - Thomas à Kempis

What gladsome voices rise
Through the country of the skies,
Where the Christ, with joyful face,
Smiles with Mary full of grace.

A Silly Poem - Spike Milligan

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,

Refugees - Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me

Munich, Winter 1973 (for Y.S.) - James Baldwin

In a strange house,
a strange bed
in a strange town,
a very strange me
is waiting for you.

In Search of Five Weapons - Ajt-Man

Who hasn’t been tormented by dreams?
Listen, Steppe, listen, Woods.
I’ve lost my whip made of the skin
of a camel’s neck.

Adorable Things - Sei Shōnagon

The face of a child drawn on a melon.

A baby of two or so is crawling, rapidly along the ground. With his sharp eyes he catches sight of a tiny object and, picking it up with his pretty little fingers, takes it to show to a grown-up person.

I Want No Weeping at My Grave - Stanisław Wyspiański

1st
I want no weeping at my grave,
except my wife’s lamenting brief;
I need no tears of yours and save,
oh save yourselves the bogus grief.

To Live in the Borderlands - Gloria Anzaldúa

To live in the borderlands means you
are neither hispana india negra espanola
ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed
caught in the crossfire between camps
while carrying all five races on your back
not knowing which side to turn to, run from;

Reflections on Death and Life..! - Norddine Zouitni

Death is
a cosmic joke
and deserves
a cosmic giggle…

Plain Song - Pietro Aretino

I am a glutton for the thing called love,
A bigger glutton than the ones who sit
All day at table, as the full hours flit,
And hold they’re happier than the gods above.

A Sea Spell - Orla Fay

On the journey to the coast we cut through
the hillsides, tunnels locked us in darkness
while the crescent of the bay grew and grew
as the train escaped its urban harness.

Spread, o spread, thou mighty word - J. F. Bahnmaier

Spread, o spread, thou mighty word.
Spread the kingdom of the Lord;
Wheresoe'er His breath h.as given
Life to beings meant for heaven.

Sibyls - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Sibyls inside adamantine caves,
Totally loveless and blind.

My Heart's Song - Aleksis Kivi

Absalon, my son, that I could have died for you, my son.
Life holds no pleasure, let me descent to hell, weeping

Tenancingo Shawl - Juan José Acevedo Vázquez

Take a shawl, good lady,
tie the fringes neat.
or, if you prefer it,
take a shawl complete.

Postcards from God 1 - Imtiaz Dharker

Yes, I do feel like a visitor,
a tourist in this world
that I once made.

Consolation: Roses - Gennady Aygi

in your presence even the toes
are as if they remembered!

Trinity Sunday - Malcolm Guite

In the Beginning, not in time or space,
But in the quick before both space and time,

If it Wasn't for the Footprints - Zelda Quakawoot

If it wasn't for the footprints
we wouldn't know about 'before'
Australia's history we have today
would not make sense anymore.

Heartfelt - Annette Freün von Droste-Hülshoff

All that I say, and every word,
and every press of my hands,

View from Afar - Shakila Azizzada

I’m left again with no one standing behind me,
ground pulled from under my feet.
Even the sun’s shoulders are beyond my reach.

Song of a Dweller in a High-Rise Block - Gülten Akın

They piled the houses high,
in front long balconies.
Far below was water
far below were trees

On Climbing Mount Song Near the Southern Capital - Xuanzang

A lonely peak
Tapers its way
To a summit
Cut off in the clouds
Thousands of feet above

Island on the earth - Sara de Ibáñez

In the north the cold and its broken jasmine.
In the east a nightingale full of thorns.
In the south the rose in its airy mines,
and in the west a road deep in thought.

Of Flash Mobs and a Foreshadowing - L.M. Kazmierczak

Originally 120 men
Put together the first singing stint.
No divisions among them,
Singing out to their hearts' content.

From The Top Of The Stairs - Zbigniew Herbert

Of course
those who are standing at the top of the stairs
know
they know everything

You frogs! - Sakutarō Hagiwara

Inside the tangle of blue pampas grass and reeds
frogs seem to be bulging out whitely.

Round the Clock - Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

pool used to be free at chong fan’s:
we knocked back tequila shots in personalised mugs
slow-cooked soup too, then sweet, creamy coffee
from sulawesi, the longhouse ceiling in teak

Her Story - Andrei Voznesensky

I started up the engine and I lingered.
Where should I go? The night was fine, I figured.
The bonnet trembled like a nervous hound.
I shivered. Night lit up the houses around.
The Balzac age, I felt its burning pain,
Chilled to the bone, I couldn't hold my own.
The age of balsam wine mixed with champagne!..

Sleep blues - Rethabile Masilo

Sleep blues
As I was sitting here
the roof fell in, a cat
jumped out of me

The Arabian Desert's dust - Imam Ahmad Raza

The Arabian Desert's dust radiates more than the dawn light;
The Arabian lamp's smoke shines more than the Moon at night.

From Baltic Meditations - Mariya Avvakumova

Minuscule bouquets in minuscule earthenware vases –
they tell you so much about the Latvian soul.

The Weaver's Song - Carmen Sylva

Fly, shuttle, fly,
At the war my boy must die,
My daughter's betrayed and cast aside,
My wife is gone, of shame she died,
Fly, shuttle, fly.

Without love Joy's royal palms lament - Lope Félix de Vega Carpio

Without love Joy's royal palms lament
too well, and cast away their branches to the sea;
without love Daphne mourns her lonely tree
of laurel without fruit: and, over discontent,

The Barrier - Claude McKay

I must not gaze at them although
Your eyes are dawning day;
I must not watch you as you go
Your sun-illumined way;

Black Rhythms of Peru - Nicomedes Santa Cruz

Rhythms of slavery
Against bitterness and sorrows.
Keeping time to the beat of the chains
– Black rhythms of Peru.

To recover - Francisco Luis Bernárdez

If to recover what was recovered
I had to first lose what was lost,
If to obtain the obtainable
I had to bear what was borne,

Ascension - Adam of St. Victor

Satan and the realms infernal
Having spoiled, to joys supernal
Christ returneth back once more:
As His upward way He wendeth,
As before, when He descendeth,
Angels set them to adore.

I'm Not Saying Anything Against Alexander - Bertold Brecht

Timur, I hear, took the trouble to conquer the earth.
I don't understand him.
With a bit of hard liquor you can forget the earth.

How I hold myself together — after the blaring onslaughts from loudspeakers - Ayokunle Samuel Betiku

Lately, I have learnt to write as I sense.
It is one thing to dissect the body, but it’s a more difficult
thing to dissect the heart.

Blue Illusion - Arquímedes Arci

Haughty and conceited, like a pagan goddess
you passed by me, showing your spite,
and since that day I know that I have lost
the ineffable glory of a dream of love.

That Same Night - Elone N. Ainebyoona

That same night,
He picked me along the way.
He charmed me with his bundles.
He assured me of pleasure each day.
He took me around his castles.
He asked me to stay.

Judgement - Timwa Lipenga

She stood before them
And was judged:

A laboratory - Viktar Licvinau

In a small lab
resembling a box
the planets, meteorites,
sun and stars,
nitrogen and cosmic ice
revolve in their orbits.

How Virtue Drives Out Vice - Francis of Assisi

Where there is charity and wisdom
     there is neither fear nor ignorance.

Rainbow at Night - Antonio Machado

   The train moves through the Guadarrama
one night on the way to Madrid.
The moon and the fog create
high up a rainbow.

Poems: I - Publius Annius Florus

I've no mind to be a Caesar,
Strolling round among the Britons,

Voices in The Wilderness - Duma Ndloru

If you listen to the wind
you will hear voices in the wilderness
sounds of hunters going after the hunted
music of afrika’s creation
melodies and rhythms
whispering in the wilderness;

Things That Arouse a Fond Memory of the Past - Sei Shōnagon

Dried hollyhock. To find a piece of deep violet or grape-coloured material that has been pressed between the pages of a notebook.

with traveling umbrella-hats - Kobayashi Issa

with traveling umbrella-hats

Funere mersit acerbo - Giosuè Carducci

O thou who on yon flowery hill art lying,
And by thy side our father too is sleeping,
Dost thou not hear, through the tall grasses sighing
Upon thy grave, a little voice of weeping?

Hail Him the King of glory - Henry de Fluiter

Tell it to every kindred and nation,
Tell it far and near;
Earth’s darkest night will fade with the dawning,
Jesus will soon appear.

Texaco Oil Storage Tanks - Roger Robinson

You silver gods, with viscous black innards,
skin of iron plates and bones of steel rivets,

Silence - Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg

When in heaven, bolts are ready
And the lightning clouds are gathered,
Walkers then are striding quickly
And to nests the birds are flying,
Comes the silence.

Gravity Suspended - Ayn Frances dela Cruz

gravity suspended.
fowls dreaming of air.

The Broken Wing - Liam Ó Comain

A racing pigeon of distance ability,
His colour known as grizzle, that is
White feathers spotted with other spots
Of colour. A likeable and interesting bird
And when he was less than a year old I
Sent him for a training flight
In preparation for racing.

Dawn of Darkness - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

I know, I know,
It threatens the common gestures of human bonding
The handshake,
The hug
The shoulders we give each other to cry on

Betrothed. A lithograph to Kuutti Lavonen - Mathura

Cold stone flowers in her hair

eyes closed she listens

Thou art of all created things - Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Thou art the essence of all created things,
O Lord, the essence and the cause.
The source and centre of all bliss;
What are those veils of woven light
Where sun and moon and stars unite.

Escape from - Jovica Ivanovski

Escape from yourself, that’s what poetry is.
In the meantime you search for yourself –
that’s poetry, too.

Grammar, Music, Rhetoric - Lucilius

Pluto turns away the dead rhetorician Marcus, saying,
"Let the dog Cerberus suffice us here;

There is Some Hour - Marina Tsvetaeva

There is some hour – like a cast off load –
When our proud had been fully tamed.
The learning hour – on each life-long  road –
Is predestined and great.

Hair Comfort - Antun Gustav Matoš

I watched you last night. In a dream. Sad. Dead.
In a fatal hall, in idyll of flowers,
On a high stand, in agony of candles,
Ready to give you my life as an offer.

Gwalchmai's delight - Gwalchmai ap Meilyr

Swift rising dawn of joyful gliding June,
Melodious song of birds, calm, lustrous noon!
A gold-torqued Chief am I that know not fear,
A fierce, host-facing lion, rout in my rear!
At night I guard with bound-protecting sword
The babbling flow of Dygen Freiddin's ford.

The Stranger - Aleksandr Blok

In the evenings, above the restaurants,
The air is hot and thick and wild,
And with drunken cries
A putrid springtime spirit rules.

Dawn - Moses ibn Ezra

I rose at dawn to praise Thy name,
My sins o’erwhelmed my soul with shame,
But comfort after penance came,
For all my hopes are set in Thee.

Paradise. Storefront. Monte Street - Reina María Rodríguez

The ventilator
blades are tired       of lifting dust over
      these lifeless objects
objects in disuse.exhaling.restlessness.

O caterpillar, daughter of the butterfly - Svetlana Ivanova

O caterpillar, daughter of the butterfly
You too one day will soar past tower and roof,

For He was Scotch and So was She - Jean Blewett

They were a couple well-content
With what they earned and what they spent,
Cared not a whit for style's decree,
For he was Scotch, and so was she.

Can I dream? - Ali Znaidi

Can a veiled woman sit next to a woman in a miniskirt?
Can they sit harmoniously beside each other telling tales?
Can they tell each other stories? Can they converse
without fearing that understanding between them fails?

The rape of Helen (Lines 1-40) - Colluthus

Ye Nymphs of Troy, children of the river Xanthus,¹
who oft-times leave on your father’s sands
the snoods that bind your tresses and the sacred toys of your hands,
and array you for the dance on Ida,²

The Verses that Saved Sakya from Sickness: A Prayer for Pacifying the Fear of Disease - Thangtong Gyalpo

May all the diseases that disturb the minds of sentient beings,
And which result from karma and temporary conditions,
Such as the harms of spirits, illness, and the elements,
Never occur throughout the realms of this world.

The Vision: (Katia: Easter Sunday, 1916) - Katharine Tynan

She had a vision in the dark
Ere the first lark from nest took flight;
She saw her own son from fierce strife
Win to new Life and new Delight.

if you let me go with you - Olvido García Valdés

if you let me go with you into the night,
in the dark hour of the metro, before
dawn, if I could take in,

Do we place you in a tomb? - Andrew King

Do we place you in a tomb, Loving One?
Do we wrap God’s saving love in funeral spices?
Having seen justice pierced, truth undone,
corruption’s blade red-edged by power’s devices

I Go Find Sleep - Héctor Hernández Montecinos

Chile is the name of my father
Think of him
what do you see?

Golden volumes - Heinrich Rantzau

Golden volumes! richest treasures!
Objects of delicious pleasures!

Project Report - Christian Morgenstern

To get this research undertook
I bought a needle and the BOOK,

Sonnet IX - Carlo Maggi

Ah  Holy Lord, will e'er that daybreak shine,
Which of thy grace shall quite my soul assure?
These fearful doubtings which I yet endure
Toward my best Father, — tempt me to repine.

Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker

Paper that lets the light
shine through, this
is what could alter things.
Paper thinned by age or touching,

Those Who I Love - Chung Ho-seung

I do not love those who do not have their shades.
I do not love those who do not love their shades.

Guinea Woman - Lorna Goodison

Great grandmother
was a guinea woman
wide eyes turning
the corners of her face
could see behind her
her cheeks dusted with
a fine rash of jet-bead wars
that itched when the rain set up.

Song of noble grief - Migjeni

Oh, noble grief of the suffering soul
That bursts out in the free verses...
Did you hope the world to console
And prettify life's reverses?

The Electric Tram To Kew - Lesbia Harford

Through the swift night
I go to my love.

After a long hard decade, Miranda asks for a poem about feijoas - Emma Neale

Small hard green breasts budding on a young tree
that doesn’t want them, can’t think how to dance
if it has to put up with these;

Aures Ad Nostras Deitatis Preces - Anon

God, of thy pity, unto us thy children
Bend down thine ear in thine own lovingkindness,
And all thy people's prayers and vows ascending
Hear, we beseech thee.

Ghazel - Nesimi

Yea, every dulcet speech o’ thine is e’en a pearl of lustrous ray;
Both sun and moon are moths that round thy Face’s taper flit and play.

Evening - Jeppe Aakjær

        Still, my heart, now sets the sun,
While the moor is resting,
        Herds now homeward are begun,
And the stork is nesting.
        Still, my heart, now sets the sun.

My Life - Masaoka Shiki

how much longer
is my life?
a brief night...

Woman - Kazi Nazrul Islam

I sing the song
of equality;
In my view gender difference
is essentially a triviality.
Everything that is great in the world,
all the works, beneficial and good,
half must be credited to woman,
and to man half only we should.

Autumn Evening - Viggo Stuckenberg

A tower stands by the edge of a wood, an old weathered tower with moss and creepers growing across the peepholes, with green moss in the cracks and corners, and withered woodbine hanging like stiff, dry hair down over the red stone. High up on the east side is the only window in the crumbling walls.

Would I were free as are my dreams - August von Platen-Hallermünde

Would I were free as are my dreams,
  Sequestered from the garish crowd
To glide by banks of quiet streams
  Cooled by the shadow-drifting cloud!

Golden light, serene and bright - N. F. S. Grundtvig

Golden light, serene and bright,
The sky is now adorning;
As sleeping child in mother's arm,
My God has shielded me from harm;
I thank him for the morning.

Saving A Train - William Topaz McGonagall

'Twas in the year of 1869, and on the 19th of November,
Which the people in Southern Germany will long remember,
The great rain-storm which for twenty hours did pour down,
That the rivers were overflowed and petty streams all around.

I am the City's Child - Anton Wildgans

I am the City's child. The others frown
and poke their nose at children from the town:
they say we have no home where we belong.
It's true, no forest whispered in our prattle
and all we heard was flagstones rattle -
and yet, beloved city, you're my song.

On Justice and Governing (III) - Saadi Shirazi

There lived a king, I’ve heard, for justice famed,
Who wore a dress of coarse material framed;
“Illustrious king! this robe (a courtier said)
Doth not beseem thee, wear a rich brocade”;

Angst - Emil Aarestrup

Hold tighter round me
With your round arms;
Hold on, while your heart
Still has blood and warmth.

The Sleep-walker - Maurice Rollinat

With his hat on his head and his cane in his hand,
A black morning-coat hugging his stiff bony frame,
He strode this way and that on the edge of the roof
Like an automaton, superhumanly spry.

In Silence - Kamini Roy

Like a fortress sadness filled
Not even washed away by the tireless flow of tear drops
How much pain resides in the dense hard snow
That can never be melted by tears

The Life to come - Rāmprasād Sen

Think awhile, Brothers, of what will be after death.
This is the question that all debate

Father’s Dark Ship (after Hesiod) - Kris Hemensley

Dear brother
                    I can’t sing you a song
about the ways of the world just now

Vanity - Daniel Naborowski

The world adheres to vanity,
And craves all earthly property.

Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge - Yunus Emre

Knowledge should mean a full grasp of knowledge
Knowledge means to know yourself, heart and soul.
If you have failed to understand yourself,
Then all of your reading has missed its call.

Colour - John Blight

What need to paint a world for this keen man?
Who, blind now, knows its oceans in such words
As “sounding,” “leagues and leagues” and "seagulls”;

Beowulf (lines 1-52) - Anonymous

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 35-76) - Joost van den Vondel

Belzebub:

O! Stadtholder of God's superior Powers,
Alas! we hear too well, amid the praise
Of choristers, a discord that makes sad
The feast eterne. The charge of Gabriel
Is clear. It needs no tongue of Cherubim
To unfold its sense. Nor was there need to send
Apollion below, a nearer view
To gain of Adam's realm beneath the moon.

The Abode of Peace - Arif Khudairi

At dawn
walking alone
in the street
as Bandar
Seri Begawan
was asleep

The vineyard - Dritëro Agolli

The rows of crates are lined up in the vineyard,
Crates where raki and exquisite wines lie sleeping,

Today I became a man - James Julius Catalyn

Today I became a man.
I experienced the realisation
Of a setting
Of mind, body and soul.

Second raid on the Turkmān Hazāras - Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur

They saw the blackness of the foe;
Stood idle-handed and amazed
I arriving, went swift that way,
Pressed on with shout, "Move on! move on!"
I wanted to hurry my men on,
To make them stand up to the foe.

Norwegian love song - Peter Andreas Heiberg

The bright red sun in ocean slept;
Beneath a pine-tree Gunild wept,
And ey'd the hills with silver crown'd,
And listen'd to each little sound
That stirr'd on high.

Infancy - Jens Baggesen

The»e was a time, and I recal it well,
When my whole frame was but an ell in height;
Oh! when I think of that, my warm tears swell,
And therefore in the memory I delight.

Show me the way - Nnorom Azuonye

Dazed and lost in the maze of a frightening life
I grope in its dark paths like a blind man thrown
into a crowded marketplace of searing strife
ablaze with discordant voices of sorrowing men.

Bearslayer: Canto I - The Revelation of Bearslayer (Scene 1) - Andrejs Pumpurs

Scene 1: The Council of the Baltic gods

The gods gather
In azure vaults of heaven soaring bright,
In lofty castles filled with endless joy,
The God of Thunder, Perkons, dwells in light,
And pleasure knows whose sweetness cannot cloy.

Black of my eye - Abay Kunanbayev

Black of my eye
Frame of my mind
Drink never dry
Love of my Life

Love - Sir Walter Scott

And said I that my limbs were old,
And said I that my blood was cold,
And that my kindly fire was fled,
And my poor withered heart was dead,
  And that I might not sing of love?—

Helsinki, 1940 - Anselm Hollo

exploding, shattering, burning

big lights in the sky

Spring Outlook - Du Fu

Nations are smashed,
mountains and rivers remain.

The Mirror - Floarea Ţuţuianu

This mirror no longer recognizes me
it laughs a laugh that’s not mine

The royal banner floats on high - Venantius Fortunatus

Vexilla Regis Produent

The royal banner floats on high,
The Cross is gleaming in the sky,
The Word, by whom all flesh was made,
Himself made flesh is there displayed.

To Him - Gómez de Avellaneda

No bonds withhold,—for all that held are broken;
So heaven ordained,—and blessèd be its name
The bitter chalice I have drained in token,
And now is peace with nothing more to claim.

Song of the Fire - Elena Văcărescu

I consumed the deep, green forest,
      With all its songs;
And now the songs of the forest,
      All sing aloud in me.

The Earth - Kadyr Myrza Ali

Now I’ve found my yurt a place on the globe,
the earth’s ordeals are likewise mine.

Stone - Amjad Nasser

I say to this stone: I am you.

My Testament - Juliusz Słowacki

I lived with you, I grieved, and many a tear I shed.
In truth, I never did a noble soul defy.
Now it is time for me to go and join the dead.
Seems like it’s joy I leave on earth – so sad am I.

The Rise of the Zebra - Tomaž Šalamun

The rise of the zebra hurts the zebra.
As if she would breathe fire.
If  we put natural gold and the black blue into
the loaf of  bread it bursts.

The Light of Your Way - Symeon the New Theologian

Holy are you, O Lord, holy, blessed and One.
Holy are you, and generous

for you have flooded my heart
     with the light of your way,

The Shining Hours (IV) - Emile Verhaeren

The sky has unfolded into night,
and the moon seems to watch
over the sleeping silence.

I Am Going to Sleep - Alfonsina Storni

Teeth of flowers, hairnet of dew,
Hands of herbs, you, perfect wet nurse,
Prepare the earthly sheets for me
And the down quilt of weeded moss.

A sincere man am I - José Martí

A sincere man am I
Born where the palm trees grow,
And I long before I die
My soul’s verses to bestow.

Sonnet XXV - George Santayana

As in the midst of battle there is room
For thoughts of love, and in foul sin for mirth;

14 • metaphor - Chen Yuhong

you try to piece together
a thousand machine-cut, polished
pieces of moon

Mathematical Plane - Enes Halilović

From that side there is Nothing.
It intrigued me, Nothing pursued me,
that’s why I jumped over the Wall.

Mirror, My Mirror - Obed R. Souza

Mirror, my mirror!
My self- made image God!
It is you I adore!

Ecbátana - Sophus Niels Christen Claussen

I remember that spring, when my heart in its time
conceived the dream and searched for a rhyme,
whose glory should sink, I know not from where,
as when the sun set in Ecbátana.

Summer - Abay Kunanbayev

When summer in the mountains gains its peak,
When gaily blooming flowers begin to fade,
When nomads from the sunshine refuge seek
Beside a rapid river, in a glade,
Then in the grassy meadows here and there
The salutatory neighing can be heard
Of varicouloured stallion and mare.

Pitchblende - Robert Schindel

And while the outside world rattles
with endless rubble, juddering until,
slamming doors and knocking chandeliers,
it crumples into the core of trembling heart,

Infacto - Mtendere Alice Kishindo

Things that make me, others see
The things that don’t, embody me
In flimsy moments I lose my god
In righteous times he finds me
In constant prostration I lie
As age leers at me
Two, three more years
Come and get me before I die

Abyss of silence - William Khalipwina Mpina

As the voiceless voice breaks the quietness
In my silent heart in the abyss of stillness
Likewise the October heat rupturing
The whirlwind in the corridors rolling

Colloque Sentimentale - Paul Verlaine

In the old park, frozen and bare,
Two forms but now have wandered there.

Consecrated - St Catherine of Sienna

All has been consecrated.
The creatures in the forest know this,

The House Beautiful - Robert Louis Stevenson

A naked house, a naked moor,
A shivering pool before the door,
A garden bare of flowers and fruit,
And poplars at the garden foot;
Such is the place that I live in,
Bleak without and bare within.

Feminine Arithmetic - Charles Graham Halpine

LAURA
ON me he shall ne’er put a ring,
  So, mamma, ’t is vain to take trouble—
For I was but eighteen in spring,
  While his age exactly is double.

Concerning the Degrees in the Ken of Unity - Sheykhi

Come, heart, if thou the loftiest aim desire,
Know, soul, if thou the Utmost Goal enquire,
That Ken of Unity the loftiest is,
The utmost limit of all saintship this.

Confidence - Max Nordau

Said the State to the prelate your pay we will withhold.
Smiled the priest in reply, I scorn your pow’er and gold,

when lights go out - Mongane Wally Serote

(for some who are in south african jails)

1
it is with the shadows of night
when the sun comes and goes
the moon comes and goes
that we ask, in weary voices, which fall into the depth of the gulf:
how does it feel to be you
watching and waiting
to feel the heavy weight of every minute come followed by another
and nothing
even everything written in blood
says nothing about how we could wake up tomorrow and build a day

Living Space - Imtiaz Dharker

There are just not enough
straight lines. That
is the problem.

And after death the judgement - Rāmprasād Sen

O my Mind, what charge shall I bring against thee?
Thou knowest how to say śa and ba¹,
but knowest not the names of Durgā and of Śiva.
Jilipīs, khājās, luchīs, mandās, sarbhājās²
all these hast thou eaten.

I am Different - Michele 'Mickey' Hetherington

Nothing fits me, and it’s not about my clothes.
Nothing fits me, and no one even knows.

Yellow Sorry - Yuka Tsukagoshi

Blight blight borderline
I've been given a yellow apology.

To Leuconoe - Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim

Pluck the roses while they bloom,
Autumn is not spring!
Snatch each hour as it flies,
Time is on the wing!

Popularity - Sung Yü

The eagle is king of the birds; among fishes
Leviathan holds the first place.

20 - Cees Nooteboom

Of all rhythms he found day and night
the most beautiful. One, two, and thank God
no three. That only came later, when
everything was over, a dark number

Dayspring of eternity - Christian Knorr von Rosenroth

Dayspring of eternity,
Light of Light, from God proceeding,
On this morn we turn to Thee,
For Thy radiant brightness pleading.
Let Thy beams dispel with might
Sin's dark night.

Shadows, Nothing More - José María Contursi

I want to slowly open my veins,
to shed every drop of my blood at your feet…
so I can prove to you
that I could not love you more
and then…so I can die.

Letter to Time - Claribel Alegría

Dear Sir:
I am writing this letter on my birthday.
I received your present. I don’t like it.

Vincent and the Orient - Lorna Goodison

The blackbird in the bougainvillea bush
brushes against the powder blue sky.
The carnelian froth of the flowering tree,
and the way that this picture
framed itself inside my window,

Discovery - Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Green-muscled ocean
Idol of many arms like an octopus

Basic Overhaul - Nijole Miliauskaite

in a frenzy I turn the whole house upside down
from basement to attic, amazing myself, I can't stop wondering
what imp has possessed me, it's really
so ludicrous

We Are Never Too Old for Loving - Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkovitz

We are never too old for loving.
Happy is he, who does not deny it
And strides through fate as if it were nothing,
For, by love, will he always be guided.

Letter on Torment - ‎Rastko Nemanjić

I blended into witless mob
and levelled with them,
being destitute of good deeds
and rich in desire,

The springtime of our lives is brief - Petar II Petrović-Njegoš

The springtime of our lives is brief,
A scorching summer follows behind,
A turbulent autumn and a freezing winter;

Bird Shadow - Tanaka Ikuko

Winter morning a little bird on the road
Perhaps shot
through the hole by its eye
Turning it over, I touch yellow breast down

21 - Dejido Bejide

It was formless, weightless, and faceless
Like a vile scene that plagues the head of an infant,

Incursion of the Crimean Tartars - Anonymous

Not a mighty cloud has covered the sky,
Nor mighty thunders have thundered:
Whither travels the dog, Crimea's tsar? —
To the mighty tsarate of Muscovy.

Discussion of Venus - Robert Schindel

Summery calm the ocean in the creek
I am nothing, but underclouds
Are swallowing the evening star. The morning
Light derails in the eyelash wreaths
Of so many dream digesters
Friends around me

Verses addressed to a kindred tribe - Alfadhel ibn Alabas

Why thus to passion give the rein?
Why seek your kindred tribe to wrong?
Why strive to drag to light again
The fatal feud entomb 'd so long?

O Christ, protect me! - Aonghus of the Divinity

O Christ, protect me!
How can I know your power?
Your peace I need now
Branch of fairest flower!

Like An Angel - Ehsan Sehgal

You are like an angel;
You have lovely heart, decent thoughts

Ghazal - Hasan Sijzi of Dehli

The universe has no one to be one with;
Out of hundreds of watchers,
not one can see.

Wildflowers and Hothouse-plants - Henrik Johan Ibsen

"Good Heavens, man, what a freak of taste!
What blindness to form and feature!
The girl's no beauty, and might be placed
As a hoydenish kind of creature."

It's about time - Bruce Levitan

So we enter a new decade
but what does it mean:
January 1st 2020?