Category Archives: Poetry
Blake, the much despised
Casey at the Bat Ernest Lawrence Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. A straggling few …
18th Century Hippy
Too lazy Ryōkan Taigu from The Zen Poems of Ryokan, translation ©2014 Too lazy to be ambitious, I let the world take care of itself. Ten days’ worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs by the fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment? Listening to the night rain on my roof, I …
And now, for something completely different…
I’m re-reading I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman. It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West. The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful. These two little …
I Hear It
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some …
Paths
Many paths lead from The foot of the mountain, But at the peak We all gaze at the Single bright moon. ~Ikkyū (1394-1481)
Conscience and Remorse
Conscience and Remorse by Paul Laurence Dunbar “Good-bye,” I said to my conscience– “Good-bye for aye and aye,” And I put her hands off harshly, And turned my face away; And conscience smitten sorely Returned not from that day. But a time came when my spirit Grew weary of its pace; And I cried: “Come …
‘Neath the old apple tree
The Old Apple Tree by Paul Laurence Dunbar There’s a memory keeps a-runnin’ Through my weary head to-night, An’ I see a picture dancin’ In the fire-flames’ ruddy light; ‘Tis the picture of an orchard Wrapped in autumn’s purple haze, With the tender light about it That I loved in other days. An’ a-standin’ in …
A Retired Statistician
Apple Thieves by Beverley Bie Brahic In his dishevelled garden my neighbor Has fourteen varieties of apples, Fourteen trees his wife put in as seedlings Because, being sick, she wanted something Different to do (different from being sick). In winter she ordered catalogues, pored Over subtleties of mouthfeel and touch: Tart and sweet and crisp; …
Time
“A mistake constantly made by those who should know better is to judge people of the past by our standards rather than their own. The only way men and women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time.” ~from Education of a Wandering Man: A Memoir by Louis L’Amour ©1989 Paul Laurence …
Sorrow
Draw & Wings is on the web HERE.
It is not he or she or them or it that you belong to…
It really reads better as a poem than as a song. Full lyrics HERE.
Listen:
“But listen to me. For one moment quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.” ~Rumi
