by Edna Millay The trees along this city street, Save for the traffic and the trains, Would make a sound as thin and sweet As trees in country lanes. And people standing in their shade Out of a shower, undoubtedly Would hear such music as is made Upon a country tree. Oh, little leaves thatContinue reading “City Trees”
Category Archives: poetry
Song of Furies
by Aeschylus Up and lead the dance of Fate! Lift the song that mortals hate! Tell what rights are ours on earth, Over all of human birth. Swift of foot to avenge are we! He whose hands are clean and pure, Naught our wrath to dread hath he; Calm his cloudless days endure. But theContinue reading “Song of Furies”
Love and the Gentle Heart
by Dante Alighieri 1265-1331 Love and the gentle heart are one thing, just as the poet says in his verse, each and the other one as well divorced as reason from the mind’s reasoning. Nature creates love, and then creates love king, and makes the heart a palace where he’ll stay, perhaps a shorter orContinue reading “Love and the Gentle Heart”
Llanbadarn
by Dafydd ap Gwilym translated by Dannie Abse I don’t give a monkey-nut for their prissy talk. Sunday – forgive me Lord – is an amiable time to chase the chaste. After church of course. But no unburdened smile or sweet kiss ever from one starched lady of Llanbadarn And me, so randy, I canContinue reading “Llanbadarn”
I Look Up to the Sky
by Samuel ibn Naghrillah 993-1056 I look up to the sky and the stars, And down to the earth and the things that creep there. And I consider in my heart how their creation Was planned with wisdom in every detail. See the heavens above like a tent, Constructed with loops and with hooks, AndContinue reading “I Look Up to the Sky”
How the Chiefs demanded from Shirwi the Death of Khusrau Parwiz
by Ferdowsi 935 to 1020 From the Shahnameh Shirwi, a timid, inexperienced youth, Found that the throne beneath him was a snare, While readers of mankind saw that ’twas time For men of might, those that had done the ill, And had produced that coil, went from the hall Of audience to the presence ofContinue reading “How the Chiefs demanded from Shirwi the Death of Khusrau Parwiz”
My Heart
by Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm I would split open my heart with a knife, place you within and seal my wound, that you might dwell there and never inhabit another until the resurrection and judgment day — thus you would stay in my heart while I lived, and at my death you too would dieContinue reading “My Heart”
Subtraction Flower
by Lisa Zaran You could die for it- love, Or refuse it altogether and know nothing except the urgency of youth. Men have been solitary for ages carrying the stoniest of hearts in their broad chests while we women begin too early brush the brown leaves from our shoulders, go from bloom to fade asContinue reading “Subtraction Flower”
Babi Yar
by Yevgeny Yevtushenko No monument lies over Babi Yar. A drop sheer as a crude gravestone. I am afraid. Today I am as old in years as all the Jewish people. Now I seem to be a Jew. Here I plod through ancient Egypt. Here I perish crucified, on the cross, and to this dayContinue reading “Babi Yar”
Wars and Rumors of Wars
by Emanuel Xavier “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye not be troubles; all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet ” -Matthew 24:6 1. I escape the horrors of war with a towel and a room Offering myself to Palestinian and Jewish boys asContinue reading “Wars and Rumors of Wars”
Robin's Nest 