Brother I’ve Seen Some

by Kabir (1440-1518) Brother, I’ve seen some Astonishing sights: A lion keeping watch Over pasturing cows; A mother delivered After her son was; A guru prostrated Before his disciple; Fish spawning On tree-tops; A cat carrying away A dog; A gunny-sack Driving a bullock-cart; A buffalo going out to graze, Sitting on a horse; AContinue reading “Brother I’ve Seen Some”

Sonnet To Liberty

by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Not that I love thy children, whose dull eyes See nothing save their own unlovely woe, Whose minds know nothing, nothing care to know, — But that the roar of thy Democracies, Thy reigns of Terror, thy great Anarchies, Mirror my wildest passions like the sea, — And give my rageContinue reading “Sonnet To Liberty”

On Liberty and Slavery

by George Moses Horton (1797-1884/Northampton, North Carolina) Alas! and am I born for this, To wear this slavish chain? Deprived of all created bliss, Through hardship, toil and pain! How long in bondage have I lain, And languished to be free! Alas! and must I still complain – Deprived of liberty. Oh, Heaven! and isContinue reading “On Liberty and Slavery”

Accurs’d be he that first invented war

Christopher Marlowe (1564‐1593) Accurs’d be he that first invented war! They knew not, ah, they knew not, simple men, How those were hit by pelting cannonshot Stand staggering like a quivering aspen-leaf Fearing the force of Boreas’s boisterous blasts! In what a lamentable case where I, If nature had not given me wisdom’s lore! ForContinue reading “Accurs’d be he that first invented war”