The Poetry Thread

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A thread for posting poems and snippets of poems, either your own (if you dare) or those of other poets, be they well-known or obscure.

Religious poetry (not limited to Christian) is preferred, but poetry about nature, love, life, beauty, feelings, etc. is also fine. What’s not fine is poetry voicing definitive hopelessness or the supposed humdrumness of existence. Please do not post any such existentialist musings here, for this is still a Catholic forum.

Also, please do not post any comments, discussions, or analyses. Just post the poetry, and use the like button if you want to express your appreciation for something.

Please do attribute all poems clearly to the author and, in case the original isn’t in English, the translator, and be careful about posting copyrighted texts. (Don’t go beyond a snippet that can reasonably considered “fair use”.)
 
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The path that is shown to him [a pilgrim]
by Your star
is the path of his own heart,
ever lucid,
which his simple faith
makes eternally shine.
Crooked outside yet it is straight within,
in this is his pride.
Futile he is called by men.
Truth he wins
in his inner heart washed
with his own light.
Nothing can deceive him,
the last reward he carries
to his treasure-house.
He who has easefully borne Your wile,
gets from Your hands,
the unwasting right to peace.

(Snippet from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, as seen in Tagore’s mansion at Jorasanko, Calcutta. Title and translator unknown.)
 
The Home.
I paced alone on the road across the field
while the sunset was hiding its last gold
like a miser.
The daylight sank deeper and deeper
into the darkness,and the widowed land,
whose harvest had been reaped ,lay silent.
Suddenly a boy’s shrill voice rose into the
sky.He traversed the dark unseen,leaving
the track of his song across the hush of the
evening.
His village home lay there at the end of the
waste land,beyond the sugarcane field,hidden
among the shadows of the banana and the slender areca palm,the cocoanut and the dark green jack fruit.
I stopped for a moment in my lonely way under
the starlight,and saw spread before me the darkened earth surrounding with her arms countless homes furnished with cradles and beds ,mother’s hearts and evening lamps ,and
young lives glad with a gladness that knows
nothing of its value for the world.
 
From The Crescent Moon,
also by RabindranathTagore…a book I’ve had for 25 years now 🙂
 
This is mine from my last year in high school…It is not religious; but it does express feelings.
A bee is coming near,
I wonder if I should fear?
Too late – I feel a tear,
O do I need a beer.
 
Let this our last tryst
Carry me into the infinite night
Beyond all earthly limit;
Let it make me one
With the not known.

(Last six lines of “Last Tryst”, by Rabindranath Tagore, as translated by William Radice)
 
Free Verse…
A robin sings. — A crack of thunder shakes the coming night and still the song of a little bird carries on amidst a storm. The robin sings, even though it is a solo, in the darkest night. 1997. D3
 
The Dog Sees the Child. ( by D3 1997 )

Basketball thumps against the cement. Children play in the city streets. They do not know that a war is going on. The odour of blood is in the air. Cars pass by quickly without seeing the child. The government grants sanctions to destroy the child.
At least the dog wags his tail as the children play. The dog sees the child. Poor women fear the child in their womb, soon to become a tomb. Poor women, some not poor, but live in fear of their child.
In this rich country they have no room in the inn and Herod seeks to kill – in fear of this child.
There is an echo of stillness, of silence through the city streets as the cars speed quickly by.
 
Some short poems by Mirza Ghalib:
(Each numbered verse is an independent poem.)

X.

My life in Desolation lies,
Curse me not with Indifference, I pray,
If there is naught to give — and no other Gift,
Grant me this: Hatred do not take away!

XIV.

Ah! now I seek that sweet Seclusion,
Where Solitude reigns Supreme!
No friend, No love, No Sad Delusion,
Just wilderness — to Live and Dream!

XVI.

Rectitude and Caution?
Ah, how they stifle all Emotion!
I crave for Mad Abandonment,
In Limitless Proportion!

(from Selected Verses of Mirza Ghalib, edited and translated by Sufia Sadullah)
 
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Some more Mirza Ghalib:
(As before, each numbered verse is an independent poem.)

LVII.

Forever would I seek Content —
If Life with Bitterness wasn’t Replete!
Ah Fate, have Mercy to Relent;
In After-Life, Once, let us Meet!

LVIII.

My senses are maddened with Love’s Ecstasy,
Upon my ravings, oh God!
Put Thou, Thy Seal of Secrecy
That none may know — or comprehend.

LIX.

The Flame of Love cannot be Lit,
Nor can it ever Die!
Like Havoc wrought by Forest Fire,
It Blazes always High!

XIX.

Come hither! Gentle, Fleeting Feet
— Not in response to My Prayer
But thro’ the promptings of your own dear Heart
Riven — with Infinite Desire.

(from Selected Verses of Mirza Ghalib, edited and translated by Sufia Sadullah)
 
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