The great work - Nizami Ganjavi

A hundred arms were weak one block to move 
Of thousands, molded by the hand of Love 
Into fantastic shapes and forms of grace.
Which crowd each nook of that majestic place.

South Sudanese Girl - Jackline Ateng

She is tall.
Tall and slender.
Slender and dark.
Dark and beautiful.
She is comely and graceful.
Like a giraffe gracing the glades of Mara.

Lekha Dodi - Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz

Chorus:
Come, my friend, to meet the bride; 
let us welcome the Sabbath.

“Ob​serve” and “Rememb​er,” in a single command, 
the One God announced​ to us. 
The Lord is One, and his name is One, 
for fame,​ for glory and for praise.

With the Wind - Konstantin Balmont

My soul is borne out on the wind.
Through the opaqueness of her earthly case she glitters like a sword.
She is free; she rides her body as the whirlwind the storm.

Farruca - Severo Sarduy

WITHIN A WHITE CUBE	the body is a volume
SUPERIMPOSED EDGES
THE BODY	Opaque dimensions

I Greet You - Jan Greshoff

I greet you, neighbor, comrade,
I greet you, hurdy-gurdy man, soldier,
Deliverer, farmer and beggar!
I greet you, blind fiddler!

Sevenfold (A Lamentation) - Ber Kotlerman

Tear your eyes away from the grey news stream
Sit on the floor and weep, and moan, and keen
At the sheer horror, obscene.

Occupation 1943 - Saadi Youssef

We boys, the neighborhood’s barefoot
We boys, the neighborhood’s naked
We boys of stomachs bloated from eating mud
We boys of teeth porous from eating dates and pumpkin rind

I Explain a Few Things - Pablo Neruda

Traitorous
generals:
look at my dead house
look at shattered Spain

Passiondale - Rob Esdaile

The ancient emblems of Christ’s death
have become now strangely shrunk.
The forest whence the cross was hewn is no more:
a treeless, birdless, muddy waste stands in its place;

Air Raid - Chinua Achebe

It comes so quickly
the bird of death
from evil forests of Soviet technology

The wrong rain - Jennifer Vishagan

I feel a longing, to feel 
the hug-worthy summer again.
Sleeping under a blanket of smoky fog 
that vows to weigh worse
as the winter sways in slow and ruthless.

On Being Asked to Write a Poem Against the War in Vietnam - Hayden Carruth

Well I have and in fact
more than one and I'll
tell you this too

To war mongers everywhere - Susan Nalugwa Kiguli

Tell us
Did you start a war
So our women
Could be sold to public shame?

The Hangman - Maurice Ogden

Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame on the courthouse square.

Vavau and Haapai - Falepapalangi

My longing is told to the wind;
Is it a thing in which one may joy,
That in this land we abide?
Fair beckons the strand of Keitahi,¹
And the wave-beat of Tausisivatvaki¹—
Who is there content to stay here?

They Don’t Care About Us - Christopher Kudyahakudadirwe

They talk about us
On political podia
As if they care about us

Resistance - Joel Linares Moreno

The olive speaks in the middle of the camp
opens its charred entrails to the universe

Great God of heaven and earth - Moïse-Oriand Nkoghe-Mvé

Great God of heaven and earth,
Pour out upon us grace and mercy;
You created us in Your perfect image.
Protect us, then, from death and suffering.

Last night - Adams Sinarinzi

Last night
Under a half moon
Two lovers kissed

The Whiteman - Yassine Ouhmoudn

Gone is the world of We—
I is all you ever hear.
Here, the superego lost to the id,
Me, myself, and I—
And let others die.

Slavery - Malik Kundrah

The most denigrating slavery is that of being a slave to oneself.
No one is as much a slave as someone who believes he is free without being so.

Puerto Rican Obituary - Pedro Pietri

they worked
they were always on time
they were never late

Mixed Bag of Tropical Sweets Sitting Outside the Hotel R & R - Audrey Brown-Pereira

n is a g of the c
walking peeping like his prother kaukan
whose lost in islands of imagined para-dices
panting, pounding, desperately waiting
hiding in the nut-less tree

Dear Matafele Peinam - Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner

dear matafele peinam
you are a seven month old sunrise of gummy smiles
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha
your thighs that are thunder and shrieks that are lightning
so excited for bananas, hugs and
our morning walks past the lagoon

God's Book of Nature - Valdimar Briem

This wondrous world, my God, a book I deem,
Wherein the Author's heavenly glories shine:
The petals of the wayside flowers meseem
Its pages, pencilled o'er by hand divine.

I am a child who loves peace - Sawsan Alshamiri

I am a child who loves peace
I have always believed in peace
Until I saw something on TV,
something not expected at all,

Twilight - Rafael Estrada

Under the manycoloured showcase of the sky
it passes in its slow flight,
a heron, more tranquil than the evenmg.

Wings over Europe - Maria Olimpia de Obaldia

America, give heed:
this is no flight of herons nor of angels…
Those are wings which cover the broad skyline,
piercing the clouds,
challenging the winds:

Soung - Cyndi Celeste

Write me like I soung 

En’less
Continuin’
Like uh dreem –

Sonnet for the Moon - Lynn Sweeting

i feel like i have lived a thousand years,
i said to moon when she was fat and full,
when she grew dark i knelt and bled my tears
from wounds called eyes into a silver bowl.

Oh that I might capture the essence - Hwang Jini

Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night

Love song - Bion of Phlossa

The Musses know no fear of the cruel Love; 
rather do their hearts befriend him greatly 
and their footsteps follow him close. 

At the edge of a pond - Māra Zālīte

I let the fish spawn in me
And the seaweed heal me.
I let the wind inhale me
while weevils destroy a flower.

Čelesta - Antanas Škėma

Tan tin tin tan — the celesta hammers away. Here I turn off the light, and darkness drinks me in. I lie like one immured but still permitted to breathe. I lie like one to be crucified whom nobody will nail to the cross. I lie and wait.

Oh Heather, Oh Blossom! - Juhan Liiv

Oh heather, oh blossom,
such a bleak, bleak autumn.

To María - Pastora Alomía de Guerrero

Are you leaving for the countryside, my dear friend!
What gift can I offer you upon your departure…?
Only a sad and tender farewell
Is all my love can give you, sweet María!

How much Does A Sunset Cost? - Jeremy Tiboth

Slowly, you were becoming indistinguishable from it all.
it only took a glimpse for it to paralyse you
i would have guessed you froze time again
if it weren’t for the golden dust particles dancing
in the sweet summer silence

Evening Song - Elisaveta Bagyrana

Тhe rosary of my human days
         Is coming unstrung, has come unstrung.
       Slipping unstoppable
     Through my weary fingers,
        Are its black and white beads.

Dawn of Darkness - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

I know, I know,
It threatens the common gestures of human bonding
The handshake,
The hug

Singularity - Tibor Babiczky

When you step forth as
yourself, in full armour,
with each step making
the caverns of the subconscious
collapse, and all wisdom shrinks back.

Resignation (Story 1) - Saadi Shirazi

Our happiness is given by God alone,
And by strong arms and fingers is not won; 
When heaven refuses thee fair fortune’s smile 
Thy bravest efforts cannot her beguile;

Love - Regina Ullmann

You can see! Then mind that your eyes see nothing like what was once seen!

A Question of Life - Daniel Flores y Ascencio

Death
ambushes at every corner
and at times
brute sentiment
and rage 
distend my heart 
like a stretch sock. 

Bags - Blerina Rogova Gaxha

and just like that
it was time to pack up and leave
to roll up my life
move it from the small apartment
into a larger one

Blazing sun - Batool Abu Akleen

I’m burning my fingers
they’re melting one after the other
slowly, as war passes slowly:

Seasons - Nametso Dorothy Phonchi

Sunshine, sunset
Coffees and milk shakes
Sneezing, weeping,
Candy flaws and sweet bananas,

Dawn in the Valley - Fily Dabo Sissoko

In the sun’s path
three tongues of fire
stripe the azure sky.

A Found Poem - Seamus Heaney

Like everybody else, I bowed my head
during the consecration of the bread and wine,
lifted my eyes to the raised host and raised chalice,
believed (whatever it means) that a change occurred.

Tell me - Véronique Tadjo

Tell me
The word of the Griot
Who sings Africa
From times immemorial

Cataclysm and Songs - Conceição Lima

Happy what's left of me after I'm gone
If only one of the songs sung
Lives beyond the person singing in me now.
Yet I would not save from the slaughter
A single one of the songs I sang and sing.

Wild Dogs Under My Skirt - Tusiata Avia

I want to tattoo my legs.
Not blue or green
but black.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed - Cecile Marie Martine

Tomorrow is not guaranteed...
Life is too precious
for throwing stones,
misunderstanding,
confusion,
misinterpretation
are human errors.

Goodbye Guinea, goodbye! - Raquel Ilombé

I went singing solo
a song of love and forgetfulness,
the footsteps
I left in the sand,
that the waves gradually erased.

The silent witness - Iosephus del Ton

The swift wings of centuries but brush against my sides:
Whole kingdoms lie ruined before me.

My Sanctuary - Mary Jae Stowers

Four frozen walls
Stood mighty still
Gazing upon me,

The Culture that Lies - Gabriel Ndende

#Say no to Tribalism

we see bombs now those bombs break our homes now we are homeless hoping to find homes in heaven

Lake Engolasters - Sícoris

Still and icy water...
The lake is beautiful and lovely,
a mountain placidity,

Heartbreak - Josep M. Llompart

As if they suddenly abolished
the summer fennel, the corner
that waves
so wildly covet;

Conscience and War - Antigua Sister

He didn’t go to war
He didn’t think he had any enemies
He felt he had brothers in far-off places
that he’d love to get to meet some day.

The Mother's Song - Jean M. Auel

Out of the darkness, the chaos of time,
the whirlwind gave birth to the Mother sublime.
She woke to Herself knowing life had great worth,
the dark empty void grieved the Great Mother Earth.

Summer Memory - Marie Under

The door ajar, I stood at point of day,
Tiptoe for you and with awakened eyes.
The sun's gold slipper trod the gravelled way,

The Will - Saghir Ouled Ahmed

1
I was almost certain.
but now I’m of a cast-iron certainty that I’m going to die
a death of strange account
in the summer
or in the third half of August
to be precise

Temporarily Free - Rodney Roskruge

Thomas Sankara died for ideas
which still live on
today, tomorrow
red carpets for red berets
which can not stand upright
weighed down by tender bellies
made from Egypt, France and others

Micra - Mirza Rahchan Kayil

When you lie with me and love me,
You give me a second life of young gold;

Burn - Inger-Mari Aikio

in the morning I'm horny
but there are guests on the way

Africans - João Melo

Our paths are as old
as the ones worn by mankind.
We carved paths since the beginning, since we departed
our forests of origin and crossed the still-fertile Sahara,

Thee, O Christ, the Father’s splendor - Rabanus Maurus

Thee, O Christ, the Father’s splendor,
Life and virtue of the heart,
In the presence of the angels
Sing we now with tuneful art,
Meetly in alternate chorus,
Bearing our responsive part.

Who will listen to me - Toyo Mori

"Mama. where are you?
Papa. are you around?"
 

They are mine.
But am I theirs?
I'm confused.
 

When I cried. I cried alone,
No father listening to my pain,
No mother wiping my tears.
No brother's hand comforting me.

Lot's wife - Iryna Tsilyk

“There’s nothing in this country,” Lot’s wife says
impetuously and with disdain. “But it’s true. What can you get here?”
The soup’s boiling, someone else’s child is sleeping (for twenty zloty an hour),
while Lot drives back cars from Holland to sell.

Words of Woe - Poltu

I found you a word in my dictionary:
Enchanting, like you, a dancing fairy
You found me another in your book of words:
Revolting, 'cause I’m strictly for the birds

Roots and Rain - Haya Alhajri

The walls once echoed with our names,
A choir of love, of laughs, of games.
Now silence sleeps in every room,
Where memories bloom through quiet gloom.

A phone-call - Rafiq O’zturk

My poor dad
would love to be proud of me.
He is glad
if he finds something
that was lost long ago.

Q’esintuu - Odi Gonzales

no longer rooted in me no longer
is the roaring force
of a horn blower

O Holy Spirit, blessed Comforter - César Malan

O Holy Spirit, blessed Comforter, 
Who hast revealed the Saviour to my heart, 
Lead me again to him whom I adore, 
And the assurance of his love impart. 

Dusk - Yefon Isabelle

I am different, I told him.
But dear, he said
There isn't nothing special about being different
The world will only jeer at your ache.

Silence - René Maran

My relatives are dead. As for my friends,
My childhood friends, where are they?
Life has scattered them;
Scattered them like seeds blown by the wind.

Eggs - Tomás Iriarte

Beyond the sunny Philippines
An island lies, whose name I do not know;
But that’s of little consequence, if so
You understand that there they had no hens,

To my book - António Corrêa

Go, son, you're old enough,
you're emancipated;
you need to travel the world,
learn a bit about everything.

Question and answer - Björnstjerne Björnson

The Child 
Father! Within the forest's bound 
No bird I found, 
No sound of song the woods around. 

Canto Nine - Tonino Guerra

It must have been raining a hundred days,
       and the water that saturated
the roots of all the plants
Reached the library and soaked all the holy words
which were closed up in the convent.

All growth of the forest - Spervogel

All growth of the forest,
The deep-hidden gold,
All secret abysses,
Thine eye doth behold;

Family Portraits - Anna Maria Lenngren

Upon an old estate, her father's heritage, 
A shrivelled countess dowager 
Had vegetated half an age; 

Refreshment - Mary Electa Adams

Hast thou had hours when life seemed empty all,
And waste the garden thou wert set to till,
Like tide-swept sands that only white and still
Unanswering lay beneath the heaven's gray pall?

Path to the Huacas - Nora Alarcón

Route of the potato
life created
in the land of the morochucos
an offering to Apu Pariahunca
before the harvesting of the native potatoes

While unperishing love melted my bones - Manikkavacakar

While unperishing love melted my bones,
     I cried
I shouted again and again,

Blonde - Andrés Bello

Do you know, blonde, what favor I request
When I cover the altars with offerings?
Not rich furnishings, not superb lands,
Neither a table that flatters the appetite.

Assimilation - Eeva-Liisa Manner

I will show you a way
that I have travelled.

On the Incarnation - Gregory of Nazianzus

Foolish who worships not th’ eternal Word 
as equal to the high Father in heaven. 
Foolish who worships not th’ incarnate Word, 
as equal to the heavenly Word on High, 
but cuts from Father’s might His Word, or else 
severs the Word from human shape, our breadth. 

blue bridge - Viktor Krivulin

where gloomed as lilac
an upturned bowbend
blue bridge shadow—

Capriccio - Uroš Zupan

Form is what remains;
the glimmer of divine shapes,
light, colors, odors and tastes,
dreams after Coleridge's pipe –

Lament V - Jan Kochanowski

Just as a little olive offshoot grows
Beneath its orchard elders’ shady rows,
No budding leaf as yet, no branching limb,
Only a rod uprising, virgin-slim —

In Harmony with the World - Bodufenvalugey Seedi

One is never expected
In a sailboat to fly
As the wind carries it,
You simply lie.

Another year for Jesus - Francis Ridley Havergal

Another year for Jesus!
How can I wish for you
A greater joy or blessing,
O fellow-worker true?

Sweet kisses (Senryu) - Mario Odekerken

Sweet kisses linger,
laughter slips between soft breaths,
love steals the last word.

Quietly my wife - Toivo Lyy

Quietly my wife
breaths beside me,