Bonaire National Anthem - Hubert Obdulio Booi

Land of sun and gentle breeze,
Proud fatherland risen from the sea
Humble people, always happy,
Whose spirit is admired by all

A Dark Alley - Zahir al-Ghafri

No one in the dark alley but you 

The mouth’s flower in the dark 

You’re the woman of the last breaths 

And empty archways. 

Female 2000 - Souad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah

Like all the women of the earth
I could have courted the mirror.

Willow Sunday - Anonymous

It’s not me hitting you,
It’s the willow hitting you,

Watching Raindrops - Celestine Kulagoe

On a rainy day when the clouds are thick,
charged with lightning, I love
to sit by the roots of the banyan tree,

Empty Confesions of Time - Nkosilathi Sibanda

Of lived fantasies at dark spots,
to the hard to remember night outs,
coupled with joys and fears.

On a blind girl - Baha al-Din Zuhayr

They called my love a poor blind maid;
I love her more for that, I said;
I love her, for she cannot see 

These grey hairs which disfigure me 

Our Homeland - Michel Lentz

Where the Alzette slowly flows,
The Sauer plays wild pranks,
Where fragrant vineyards amply grow
On the Mosella's banks;
There lies the land for which we would
Dare everything down here,
"Our own, our native land which ranks
Deeply in our hearts."

Scattered or alone - Bruce Levitan

The blue
of a clear sky
is just
I L L U S I O N
Rayleigh scattering

Do not obey - Edouard J. Maunick

When you are ordered
to shoot
at the terrified
horrified crowd.

Raighnbow - Sharah Parks

Biutafel cullers

Alll twingcling in the scki

Here I stand - Simon Ng'uni

A man. Borne riddle in places.
This curvature of space. All that needs to fill,
Only a stroke. Working to undo errant stitches
More than a needle thread. A loom with which to.

That World of Rapture - Kim Su-yeong

Even at the sound of the song
Of the flying creatures that pass over the roof where l live
I try not to be enraptured.

Casino - Rasha Omran

I am “unlucky:” I deal cards, then stare as the others handle them with deft fingers and win

Doubting With Faith - Jordan Legaspi

I cannot tell if God exist
But I believe God does
I cannot say God is this or that
But I feel Gods presence
I cannot prove what I believe
But I cannot disprove God

The witch - Francisco Gorrindo

Drowning this scream
that rises up from my chest
and arrives on my lips full of malice,
I return to your side, with my hands tied,

There was a beauty - Attila József

There was a beauty. There was sweetness.
I contemplated
a delicate rose.
And reality smashed down on me
like a loose boulder.

staircase from which amman is seen burning - Zein Sa’dedin

on the first day of eid, on the steps outside          
the archaeological museum, baba and i watch

The Language - Gerrit Kouwenaar

Birds are owning the language 

I am too man to fly 

I stand on the world like a building 

constructed and thick from earth

A message from a lost soul - Esther Ayak John

Hello! Hello! Are you hearing me?!!!

Peace, A simple term but hard meanings

But some people don't face her dealins

She works in both actions and feelings

While most people try to take her peelings.

Incomplete silence - Lêdo Ivo

What an incomplete silence among so many sounds!
Now, and only now, they are trying to tell us
that they loved and they forgot, and always remained far
from any final truth. Love is an unredeemable
debt contracted in the dark
and only death can free the debtors from default.

Uriah - Theophilus Kwek

There were rumours, even in the camp: how she would call
to passing merchants, bathe on the roof. Sell what was mine,
ours, night upon silken night. Once, pitched near Jerusalem,
I broke ranks in the evening, left my dagger by the door. Found her
painting her lips in the mirror, jewellery strewn across the floor.

The world is an open sea and you’re my anchor - Farhan Ejat

The world is an open sea and you’re my anchor
 

Time of hardship and despair
You’re my savior
 

I don’t like the song of time - L Ölziitögs

I don’t like the song of time.
From the song of time,
I hear my mother’s steps, growing distant.

What is happening beneath the earth - Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo

What is happening beneath the earth
at the remote nadir?

A fleeting moment - James Julius Catalyn

But for a fleeting moment,
I travel back in time
To the days of my youth
And I remember a happening, a tune,
A softly spoken word, a caress;
So real, so very real.

Be our guest - Alykul Osmonov

Our house is waiting for the guest with open doors,
The tastiest dishes for guests – that’s understood.

Chestnuts - Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger

On the smooth, bright path
They lie, scattered and subdued.
Brown, like a soft mouth smiling
Full and round and finely shining,
I hear them like a rippling Etüde.

When vi’lence leads to vi’lence - John Miller Campbell

When vi’lence leads to vi’lence
and pain just births more pain,
when savagery keeps cycling
and hoped for peace seems vain:

Sunset - Amin Kassam

warm scent
lingers

The new world - Sabri Rahmouni

I walk around carrying a knife in my coat
Because this world has become terrible
And on TV they warn us against each other
Now no one is safe

Has love been blood-written - Hadraawi

Has love been blood-written
has marrow yet
been poured for it
a person peeled
the skin from their back or ribs

Pan is the Speaker - Diodorus Zonas

Nereids, Nymphs of the shore, you saw Daphnis yesterday, 

when he washed off the dust that lay like down on his skin; 

Opinions no Pinions - Lâmiî Çelebi

Oh,—show—no vain triumph o’er thy neighbors!
They—may—lay snares for thy shameful fall:

O Love Divine! - Alexander Chavchavadze

O love! O mighty love! your power enslaves and holds the heart in thrall.
Even monarchs bend their knees to you, and on your shrine prostrating fall.

Beauty Will Save the World - Tihomir Jančovski

The day was nothing special, an ordinary rainy day.
I didn’t know that I would be afraid to fall asleep in the evening.
For sometimes, I’m dying at night.
I have died in the dreams of others and in those of my own.
So, it would not be the first time.

Lakansyèl - Émile Roumer

In the darkest of nights,
A rainbow emerges,
Arching across the sky,
A symbol of hope.

Cowichan Bay - Charles Van Gorkom

At Cowichan Bay,
On a hot day,
Thankfully,              
I sit in the shade on an old wharf.

Yola so far - Eduar Ramos

This letter is for you,
grandma Yola.
I love you so much grandmother
and from that day where you took
me to live with you.
I couldn’t live with my step dad Tono.
Because my mom Yolany
went to the United States
so that I and my brothers
Would have a better life.

untitled - Henry Parland

I have drunk mineral water at Kämp
and applied Eau de Cologne at Gamla Passagen
and called
to say I’ll be back at 1:10.

In an Oppressed Country - Gerhard Fritsch

They turn stiff as scarecrows,
angry, bent, in the middle of the field,
if someone drives past along the road.
One of them, the
people in motion.

The Hymn of Glory - Judah He-Hasid

Sweet hymns shall be my chant and woven songs,
For Thou art all for which my spirit longs—
To be within the shadow of Thy hand
And all Thy mystery to understand.

Sisters, you sold your jewellery - Hawa Jibril

Sisters, you sold your jewellery
 

Depriving yourselves,
Enriching the struggle.

Journey's End - Jónas Hallgrímsson

The star of love
over Steeple Rock
is cloaked in clouds of night.
It laughed, once, from heaven
on the lad grieving
deep in the dark valley.

No Life - Aminath Neena

Where there is no respect
for the might
of the pen,
there is no life

Being a Palauan - Hermana Ramarui

Palauan, not a thing,
But a state of being,
Is capability
And is freedom.

The Lake of Van (1) - Raffi

Speak, O lake! why are thy waters silent?
Wilt thou not lament with luckless me?
Move, ye zephyrs, move the rippling wavelets
With this lake my tears shall mingled be.

O My Libya - Laila Neihoum

We’ll go with you wherever you may go.
Our palm trees blossom from your secret springs.
Your face redeems us.

Miracle - Seamus Heaney

Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in —

Hour of sadness - Israel Emiot

Hour of sadness
rain all the time
everything close
and full of goodbyes;

Colour Me Blue - Nicole Grandaho

If melodies be your magic,
conjure a tune to which this heart could leap
maybe then would she dance her pains away.
Cast upon trees soulful lyrics
make them bend with the weight of their essence
maybe then would you write this torment right.

Egg Of Light - Frankétienne

Every day I employ the dialect of mad cyclones.
I speak the lunacy of contrary winds.
Every evening I use the patois of furious rains.
I say the fury of water is spilling over.
Every night I talk the language of hysterical tempests
to the Caribbean islands. I speak the hysteria of the sea in rut.

Offspring of the Distant Word: II - Susy Delgado

In an awakening
everyone
must go away;

Fountain - Astrid Cabral

Fountain:
Somersault of rain
In a mortar of stone.

Kwibuka - Delalorm Sesi Semabia

You were my brother

When the rains fell fast,

Racing down for their share of the scavenge

Which the river had reddened itself with.

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 414-492) - Joost van den Vondel

Belial:

God's Stadtholder doth serve himself with us

On high.

Apollion:

               We fly together from his bow

Like speeding arrows.

After the Flood - Dora Wilcox

Here, in this bend of the creek, in the rushes and long lush grasses,

Wild white violets nestle, and musk in the water- weeds;

Here there is stillness, and shelter — for the wandering wind as it passes

Is caught by the tall green flax, and dies in the raupo and reeds.

Elfarvísur - Einarr Skúlason

Many a man fell from the bloody prow of the sea-steed into the deep; 

abundant nourishment was given to the Glaumr of the troll-woman; 

carrion drifted before the current. 

The Gallery - Elena Alexieva

I am whispering in your ear:

we are passing, thunderously,

through the tunnel where

this girl was...

Talk to me - Fattú Djakité

You're mad at me, I don't even know why

Talk to me so we can make peace

You're mad at me, I don't even know why

Talk to me so we can make peace

 

A Visit to Grass Town - Efua Sutherland

We’ve never seen a caterpillar just like this. 

It seems to have a horn on its hairy head.

Way - Tristan Tzara

What is this road that separates us,

Across which I extend the hand of thought?

Munajat - ‛Arif

O Lord, to thee is never a beginning, neither end; 

Thy mercy's ocean, limitless, doth over all extend. 

Just a moment - Debebe Seifu

Is it in the power of angels

         or mankind

too grant me just a moment

         out of time?

Actions - Divya Rainjana Suraindiran

These socks won’t warm you,

and neither will that sweater;

Your sorrow won’t calm you,

and you won’t feel any better.

In writing - Conceição Evaristo

In writing hunger

With empty-palmed hands

when the hole-stomach

expels famished desires

there is, in this demented movement

the dream-hoping

for any leftovers.

My eyes melt - Louise Vella

My eyes melt

with the incongruence of flowers

stringing in pairs

and threes

washed by the night rain

glad to be singing lofty notes

in cloud-clad skies.

Poets - Antun Branko Šimić

Poets are eternal wonder in the world.

They walk the Earth and their eyes

large and mute grow near the things.

Tuna - Kumalau Tawali

Tuna you are the mirror of the blue

Tuna you are the pain in my veins

Tuna you are lord.

Olive tree - Mersedeh Mehrtash

Ever since I was a baby

Ever since I can remember

My mother always told me

Dear child, God is not for you to see

Ossuary VIII - Dionne Brand

Havana, Yasmine arrived one early evening,

the stem of an orange dress,

a duffle bag, limp, with no possessions

As the Days Pass - Kamini Roy

As the days pass, darkness overwhelms me

I see not the divine light; hear not that oracle

Childhood fancies, dreams I think countless

All those yearn to believe as truth…

Poem to a Poet - Siza Nkosi

I can only bring words to the altar of your soul

Yet sometimes I have no words to offer

But when my pen sinks in the sea of my blank mind

Sounds of your poetry carry me to my highest self

Night Rain on the Hsiao Hsiang River - Lê Thánh Tông

Dripping, dripping in the Hsiang forest

All through the windy night

The rain falls heavy and light,

Return Me To The Fire - Mahadai Das

If I should ever die

Return me to the fire

The radio, with its breath like a trapped bee - Kuek Taitai

We, the red and white oxen, wash our hands,

shaking our heads angrily as we walk.

At dawn we will set fire to all the camps.

Again we hail the opening morn - Synesius

Again we hail the opening morn,

Again breaks forth the day new-born,

Which, rising in victorious might,

Chases away black-wandering night!

Hymn to Boudiaf - Lounès Matoub

For so many years far from your country!

You revolted, you turned against tyranny

We were waiting for the new clearness from you

about what the criminals had devoured

but behind you, death rose up

guided by unforeseeable traitors

Miserable ones, may he remind you of it--  

you are the ones who lit the furnace.

Realities of Island Life - Farah Didi

narrow

wind kissed roads,

unpaved with

coral stones,

must be

swept twice daily,

To Russia (The Overseas Ostrich) - Vladimir Mayakovsky

Here I come,

in feathers of stanzas, meter and rhyme,

an overseas ostrich, in sum,

is what I’m.

Trying, do I, my poor noggin to hide,

to deep under jangling of plumage abide.

There is a cave in man - Eira Stenberg

There is a cave in man,

it is where he comes from.

He does not know that.

Till tomorrow - Pamelia Sarah Yule

Good night! good night! — the golden day

      Has veiled its sunset beam, 

And twilight's star its beauteous ray

      Has mirrored in the stream; — 

Low voices come from vale and height, 

And murmur soft, good night! good night!

Firefly - Miho Nonaka

Something not to be painted, but set

to music, Tanizaki wrote. Dusk,

when their light is the clearest,

My husband and I walk on the grass,

smelling of beer and garlic.

Hymn from the Heavens - Yannai

From Heaven to the Heaven of Heavens;

from the Heaven of Heavens to the Dark Clouds;

from the Dark Clouds to the Abode;

from the Abode to the Dwelling-place;

from the Dwelling-place to the Skies;

from the Skies to the Plains;

from the Plains to the height of the Throne;

and from the height of the Throne to the Chariot --

A Flyer - Norman Erikson Pasaribu

This software will assemble a series of steps that

will guarantee you’ll be happy for the rest of your life.

The wooden Christ - Faustas Kirsa

In his fathers' home, a farmer who's a hundred 

Carves a wooden model Lord that works some wonders.

Dog - Boris Maruna

In the bare mountains between Marbella and Ronda

That pitilessly recall our native Velebit

That could be Velebit

But aren’t Velebit

Just as I could be God

But am not God

In the Ashtray - Vasko Popa

A tiny sun

With yellow tobacco hair

Is burning out in the ashtray

My Song - Almas Ildirim

I am a lover, if my body burns in icy hell,

These fearful mountains cannot stand my inexhaustible mourning

If the angels present paradise to me

I would tell them:

I don't want paradise,

Give me my Caucasus!

If my heart - Eunice Mtavangu

If my heart could grow

You could have seen its seed

Augmenting

Pushing through the light

Ready to produce fruits.

The Greatest Song of All - Spike Milligan

There is a song in man

There is a song in woman

And that is the child’s song.

When I’m gone - Phusathi Liyanaarachchi

Don’t cry me a river,

When I’m gone…

as you

stare at the patterns

that my presence

has left….

A Song of Winter - Alexander Bathgate

Bird on the leafless bough. 

Summer has fled;

Bird on the leafless bough, 

Flowers are dead.

Copenhagen Watchman's Song - Thomas Kingo

Eight o'clock

When darkness blinds the Earth,

And the day declines,

That time then us reminds 

Of death’s dark grave;

Shine on us, Jesus sweet,

At every step To the grave place,

And grant a blissful death.

Shepherdesses' song - Gil Vicente

Turn away your eyes from mine,

O my life and consolation! 

Wherefore fill me with such passion?

Frithiof Saga, Canto VI: Frithiof at Chess - Esaias Tegnér

I.

BJÖRN and FRITHIOF, both contending, 

O'er their splendid board were bending; 

Now on silver squares thick gather, 

Now on gold, the struggling foes: 

Answer to a Reproach for Drunkenness - Caliph Yazid I

Must, then, my failings from the shaft

Of anger ne'er escape ? 

And dost thou storm because I've quaffed

The water of the grape?

Dynamic Love - Evelyn Underhill

Not to me

The Unmoved Mover of philosophy

And absolute still sum of all that is,

The God whom I adore— not this!

To Nelson Mandela - Djibril Zakaria Sall

All is dark around me 

My ideas are gagged 

And the world works backward 

God! I am alone on the balcony of Life 

They say that the night - Zahra el Hasnaui

They say that the night

repossesses

your indigo, violet,

and cobalt tones.

Dedication - Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg

Yes, you know it, dearest soulmate,

Far from you, I have such anguish

Love has made my heart so faint,

Take my thanks.