Pablo Neruda: Sonnet

Sonnet XVII: Love

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

-- Pablo Neruda

National Poetry Month Shout-out: Emily Dickinson

Here is another shout-out to my favorite poet Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
by Emily Dickinson
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And Mourners to and fro Kept treading – treading – till it seemed That Sense was breaking through –  And when they all were seated, A Service, like a Drum –  Kept beating – beating – till I thought My Mind was going numb –  And then I heard them lift a Box And creak across my Soul With those same Boots of Lead, again, Then Space – began to toll, As all the Heavens were a Bell, And Being, but an Ear, And I, and Silence, some strange Race Wrecked, solitary, here –  And then a Plank in Reason, broke, And I dropped down, and down –  And hit a World, at every plunge, And Finished knowing – then –

Success is counted sweetest Success is counted sweetest By those who ne'er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need.Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to-day Can tell the definition, So clear, of victory! As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Burst agonized and clear!

Emily Dickinson- Crumbling is not an instant's act

My favorite poet Crumbling is not an instant's Act
997 Crumbling is not an instant's Act A fundamental pause Dilapidation's processes Are organized Decays. 'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul A Cuticle of Dust A Borer in the Axis An Elemental Rust— Ruin is formal—Devil's work Consecutive and slow— Fail in an instant, no man did Slipping—is Crash's law. Emily Dickinson

National Poetry Month: Emily Dickinson

VOLUME II : I. LIFE

I. I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there 's a pair of us -- don't tell! They 'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog!

Clenched Soul

Pablo Neruda (my favorite poet)

Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.

I have seen from my window
the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin in my hand.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are far away?

The book fell that always closed at twilight
and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

Always, always you recede through the evenings
toward the twilight erasing statues.

In the mood for Haiku

Why are you laughing?
This little game called life is
Deadly serious. 
by Andrew N. 17th of May, 2006 

• the xylophone tone
• of water trickling through rock
• crescendos at dusk

castaways recede

 decrepit unshackled broad

 leaf vanishes, nude

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

My soul

My soul is an empty carousel at sunset-Pablo Neruda

Te deshoje, como una rosa

Te dehojé, como una rosa,
para verte tu alma,
y no la vi.

Mas todo en torno
-horizontes de tierras y de mares-,
todo, hasta el infinito,
se colmó de una esencia
inmensa y viva.


I took off petal after petal

I took off petal after petal, as if you were a rose,
in order to see your soul,
and I didn't see it.

However, everything around
-horizons of fields and oceans-
everything, even what was infinite,
was filled with a perfume,
immense and living.

Translated by Robert Bly

Poetry I stumbled across today

Through starry tapestries we flee
      sleeping fitfully
  chasing photons, we dream
      while Earth dies.

-- Jeffrey D. Romano



I do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms,
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.
Thanks to your love a certain fragrance,
risen darkly from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride,
so I love you because I know no other way than this:
where "I" does not exist, nor "you,"
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
So close that your eyes close and I fall asleep.

-Pablo Neruda

Ono no Komachi's Poetry

On such a night as this
 When no moon lights your way to me, I wake, my passion blazing, My breast a fire raging, exploding flame While within me my heart chars. (Tr. Earl Miner)


The flowers withered 
             Their color faded away
 While meaninglessly I spent my days in the world
 And the long rains were falling. (Tr. Donald Keene)

Japanese Death Poetry

Haiku Death Poetry
Section 1 of 2

link to website

Arimaru
Running shallow                                 Kawa no se ni
with a year's end sound:                      shiwasu no oto no
river rapids.                                        nagarekeri
Asei
Flowers of the grass:                           Nora ni saku
scarcely shown, and withered               na wa kore made zo
name and all.                                       kusa no hana
Atsujin
Earth and metal...                                Tsuchi kane ya
although my breathing ceases               iki wa taete mo
time and tide go on.                             tsukihi ari
Baiko
Plum petals falling                               Chiru ume ni
I look up...the sky,                              miaguru sora no
a clear crisp moon.                              tsuki kiyoshi
Baisei
Island of Eternity:                                Horai ya
a turtle dries its shell out                       kame mo ko hosu
in the rays of a new sun.                      hatsu-hinata
Banzan
Farewell...                                           Mame de iyo
I pass as all things do                          mi wa narawashi no
dew on the grass.                                kusa no tsuyu
Basho
On a journey, ill:                                 Tabi ni yande
my dream goes wandering                   yume wa kareno o
over withered fields.                           kakemeguru
Bokusui
A parting word?                                 Jisei nado
The melting snow                               zansetsu ni ka mo
is odorless.                                        nakarikeri
Chiboku
The running stream                            Yuku mizu to
is cool...the pebbles                           tomo ni suzushiku
underfoot.                                         ishi kawa ya
Chikuro
Butterflies in flight:                             Cho tobu ya
the journey's end...                             miateshi tabi wa
Suma Akashi                                     Suma Akashi
Chirin
In earth and sky                                  Ametsuchi ni
no grain of dust...                               chiri naki yuki no
snow on the foothills.                         fumoto kana
Chogo
I long for people...                              Hito koishi
then again I loathe them:                      hito mutsukashishi
end of autumn.                                   aki no kure
Choko
This final scene I'll not see                  Sue ikki
to the end...my dream                         mi hatenu yume no
is fraying.                                           hotsure kana
Dohaku
Cargoless,                                          Tsumimono ya
bound heavenward,                             nakute jodo e
ship of the moon                                 tsuki no fune
Enryo
Autumn waters                                    Yoizame no
of this world wake me                          kore ya konoyo no
from my drunkenness.                         aki no mizu
Fufu
My companion in the skies                  Tsure mo ari
of death,                                             imawa no sora no
a cuckoo.                                           hototogisu
Fukyu
A bright and pleasant                          Kokochiyoshi
autumn day to make                           aki no hiyori o
death's journey.                                  shide no tabi
Fuso
Upon the lotus flower                         Asatsuyu no
morning dew is                                   usura kiekeri
thinning out.                                       hasu no hana
Gansan
Blow if you will,                                 Fukaba fuke
fall wind...the flowers                          hana wa sunda zo
have all faded.                                    aki no kaze

we wear the mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
-Paul Laurence Dunbar