Sonnet 87 ("Farewell ....") - William Shakespeare

Sonnet 87 
"Farewell. Thou art too dear for my possessing ..."

- William Shakespeare -

Head, Heart - by Lydia Davis

Head, Heart *

Heart weeps.
Head tries to help Heart.
Head tries to tell Heart how it is, again.

You will lose the ones you love. They will all go. But even the
Earth will go, someday.

Heart feels better, then.
But the words of Head do not remain long in the ears of Heart.
Heart is so new to this.
I want them back, says Heart.
Head is all Heart has.
Help, Head. Help Heart.

- Lydia Davis, 2007

______________________________________

* Source-  Maira Kalman: "My Favorite Things"

 

When We Two Parted - by Lord Byron

 When We Two Parted
by
George Gordon, Lord Byron 
 //// ~~~~~ ////

WILD GEESE - by Mary Oliver

 WILD GEESE 

- by Mary Oliver -

    You do not have to be good.
    You do not have to walk on your knees
    For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
    You only have to let the soft animal of your body
    love what it loves.
    Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
    Meanwhile the world goes on.
    Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
    are moving across the landscapes,
    over the prairies and the deep trees,
    the mountains and the rivers.
    Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
    are heading home again.
    Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
    the world offers itself to your imagination,
    calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
    over and over announcing your place
    in the family of things.

September - by Rudyard Kipling

September

by

Rudyard Kipling

/////// ~~~~ \\\\\\\

At dawn there was a murmur in the trees,
A ripple on the tank, and in the air
Presage of coming coolness -- everywhere
A voice of prophecy upon the breeze.
Up leapt the Sun and smote the dust to gold,
And strove to parch anew the heedless land,
All impotently, as a King grown old
Wars for the Empire crumbling 'neath his hand.
One after one the lotos-petals fell,
Beneath the onslaught of the rebel year,
In mutiny against a furious sky;
And far-off Winter whispered: -- "It is well!
"Hot Summer dies. Behold your help is near,
"For when men's need is sorest, then come I."

Those lines ... do lie - by William Shakespeare

Those lines ... do lie [Sonnet 115] by William Shakespeare ===== ~~~~ ===== Those lines that I before have writ do lie, Even those that said I could not love you dearer: Yet then my judgment knew no reason why My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings, Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents, Divert strong minds to the course of altering things; Alas! why, fearing of Time's tyranny, Might I not then say, 'Now I love you best,' When I was certain o'er incertainty, Crowning the present, doubting of the rest? Love is a babe, then might I not say so, To give full growth to that which still doth grow?

The Jumblies - by Edward Lear

The Jumblies

- by -

Edward Lear

    

Freedom - by Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

Freedom
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
///===///

Of old sat Freedom on the heights,
The thunders breaking at her feet:
Above her shook the starry lights:
She heard the torrents meet.

There in her place she did rejoice,
Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind,
But fragments of her mighty voice
Came rolling on the wind.

Then stept she down thro' town and field
To mingle with the human race,
And part by part to men reveal'd
The fullness of her face -

Grave mother of majestic works,
From her isle-alter gazing down,
Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks,
And, King-like, wears the crown:

Her open eyes desire the truth.
The wisdom of a thousand years
Is in them. May perpetual youth
Keep dry their light from tears;

That her fair form may stand and shine
Make bright our days and light our dreams,
Turning to scorn with lips divine
The falsehood of extremes!

Bird on the Wire - by Leonard Cohen

 

 Bird On The Wire

by Leonard Cohen

// === // === //
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you. 

The Oak - by Alfred Lord Tennyson

(click image to enlarge)

 The Oak
by 

Alfred Lord Tennyson
== // ==
Live thy Life,
Young and old,
Like yon oak,
Bright in spring,
Living gold;

Summer-rich
Then; and then
Autumn-changed
Soberer-hued
Gold again.

All his leaves
Fall'n at length,
Look, he stands,
Trunk and bough
Naked strength.   

 

" Le pont Mirabeau " - Guillaume Apollinaire

Le pont Mirabeau

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)

 ===== 

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

Et nos amours

Faut-il qu’il m’en souvienne

La joie venait toujours après la peine

Vienne la nuit sonne l’heure

Les jours s’en vont je demeure

(Cliquez l'image pour agrandir)

Let Love Go, If Go She Will - by Robert Louis Stevenson

Let Love Go, If Go She Will
---------------------------
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Let love go, if go she will.
Seek not, O fool, her wanton flight to stay.
Of all she gives and takes away
The best remains behind her still.

The best remains behind; in vain
Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain,
If yet she leave behind
The constant mind
To meet all fortunes nobly, to endure
All things with a good heart, and still be pure,
Still to be foremost in the foremost cause,
And still be worthy of the love that was.
Love coming is omnipotent indeed,
But not Love going. Let her go. The seed
Springs in the favouring Summer air, and grows,
And waxes strong; and when the Summer goes,
Remains, a perfect tree.

Joy she may give and take again,
Joy she may take and leave us pain.
O Love, and what care we?
For one thing thou hast given, O Love, one thing
Is ours that nothing can remove;
And as the King discrowned is still a King.

L'Amour et la Folie - Jean de La Fontaine

L'Amour et la Folie
Poème de Jean de La Fontaine
~~~~~~~~~ //// ~~~~~~~~~

Tout est mystère dans l'Amour,
Ses flèches, son Carquois, son Flambeau, son Enfance.
Ce n'est pas l'ouvrage d'un jour
Que d'épuiser cette Science.
Je ne prétends donc point tout expliquer ici.
Mon but est seulement de dire, à ma manière,
Comment l'Aveugle que voici
(C'est un Dieu), comment, dis-je, il perdit la lumière ;
Quelle suite eut ce mal, qui peut-être est un bien ;
J'en fais juge un Amant, et ne décide rien.
La Folie et l'Amour jouaient un jour ensemble.
Celuici n'était pas encor privé des yeux.
Une dispute vint : l'Amour veut qu'on assemble
Là-dessus le Conseil des Dieux.
L'autre n'eut pas la patience ;
Elle lui donne un coup si furieux,
Qu'il en perd la clarté des Cieux.
Vénus en demande vengeance.
Femme et mère, il suffit pour juger de ses cris :
Les Dieux en furent étourdis,
Et Jupiter, et Némésis,
Et les Juges d'Enfer, enfin toute la bande.
Elle représenta l'énormité du cas.
Son fils, sans un bâton, ne pouvait faire un pas :
Nulle peine n'était pour ce crime assez grande.
Le dommage devait être aussi réparé.
Quand on eut bien considéré
L'intérêt du Public, celui de la Partie,
Le résultat enfin de la suprême Cour
Fut de condamner la Folie
A servir de guide à l'Amour.

When You Are Old - by W. B. Yeats

When You are Old
~~~~ /// ~~~~
by W. B. Yeats  


  

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Tësh-lok-lâki-wotch [The Slitherers!] - by Dr. Fikré Tolossa

(click on image to enlarge)
 
[The Slitherers!]

 

Tësh-lok-lâki-wotch 
by Dr. Fikré Tolossa *

=== ~~ === ~~ ===

Engulfed by Terror's raging flames,
As we slither  and glibly side-wind,
No blaze or flicker ever touches us.
We pay no mind to revolution's lightening,
While senseless chaos scatters
And displaces the innocent
We continue to slumber in our own silence.
We are camped inside the flames,
And we know how to feint, how to deceive
Until the burning blaze is cooled.
And when the soot breaks down
And the sound and the fury subside;
When the sky and the air are clear and safe,
We raise our heads and announce our presence:
"Here we are! We're tested. We are ready to serve!"
And all the while we care not a whit
whether we are summoned or not.

The fools, and the guileless
They've fallen by the wayside
Or else have gone to nothingness
Or ended up in exile
Or slaughtered under Terror's rule.
The few survivors still clamor: "Conscience, oh Conscience!"
They beg and cry out: "Justice! Truth! Liberty!"
Yet they loath power, they find it too dirty,
They'd rather watch from the sidelines.
But we're smart and quick on our feet
And we climb and take hold of the reins
Paying lip service to absence of chains.

Lying in wait for our victims
We're scheming and plotting
The best ways to stir up the naif
Dooming them to death or misery.
No sympathy or conscience have we
As we step heavily o'er the blood-stained ground.
We monitor society's vital signs,
We take its temperature, its pulse.
We herd and prod the fools to the fire,
We use them as torches
To illumine our paths and freshen our lives.

The guileless are our shield.
And sitting astride our horse of power,
We ride fast as the wind.
The virtuous and the truthful are trampled as dust.

We usurp the voice of the masses
When it damn well suits us;
But we know when to shout out in our own
And when to come out of our caves.

We will prattle till our neck veins stick out
We'll talk non-stop till our mouths are frothy.
Talk and talk is all we do all day
And we only know how to naysay!

Woe to the whistle-blowers
Woe to honest public servants
Should they attempt to uncover us
Should we be bravely denounced.
We've got the temperament, skill, and speed
To deal with these finger-pointers.
They won't know what hit them.

We have ... special ... merchandising talents
We know how to mine public outrage
How to exploit the masses' sentiments.
It is our occupation ... squelching the weak
But we take smart care with the strong.

While havoc-n-melee rules mankind,
We make sure to stay spared.
But even more, we stay focused
Whoever or whatever is in power.
We will more than survive
We'll prosper and flourish.

The heroic farmer will slave and toil at his farm
But at harvest time ... will he then profit?
Nay, not he. It is we who prosper
Without fear, without batting an eye.

All comforts of life are given to us
The world is indeed at our feet!
No place here for the virtuous,
For he who burns for "truth, justice, and liberty!"

_____________________________________

* Free verse translation by  Hénock Gugsa

Afterword by HG - 
The above poem by Dr. Tolossa is obviously of great significance and meaning to the people of Ethiopia ... especially those who directly suffered fifteen plus years of misery under Mengistu and his minions. What struck me keenly was the intensity of the cynicism, the irony, and the sociopathic glee of the ruling class. Yes, they were there even under communism, and they are still around us even here in the land of the free! 

It is a bitter and dismally universal reality:   
Negativity and selfishness are the bane of humanity!

Thank you, Dr. Tolossa, for forever opening our eyes and showing us some of humanity's unpleasant natures. Through your poem, you've given voice and immortality to our tragedy. And, in my opinion, you have done it as effectively as the old masters, Orwell and Solzhenitsyn.

The Mask Of Evil - by Bertolt Brecht

The Mask Of Evil
by
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
----- /// -----

On my wall hangs a Japanese carving,
The mask of an evil demon, decorated with gold lacquer.
Sympathetically I observe
The swollen veins of the forehead, indicating
What a strain it is to be evil.