Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca by Jose Marti

Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca
by Jose Marti

I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly
And for the cruel person who tears
out the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose

I aspire to this but sometimes fall short. Wonderful old poem that is still relevant today. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Mart%C3%AD

On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations by Robert Frost

On Looking Up By Chance At The Constellations
by Robert Frost


You'll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.
The sun and moon get crossed, but they never touch,
Nor strike out fire from each other nor crash out loud.
The planets seem to interfere in their curves -
But nothing ever happens, no harm is done.
We may as well go patiently on with our life,
And look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun
For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.
It is true the longest drought will end in rain,
The longest peace in China will end in strife.
Still it wouldn't reward the watcher to stay awake
In hopes of seeing the calm of heaven break
On his particular time and personal sight.
That calm seems certainly safe to last to-night.


A master of imagery, line three is a favorite of mine. A link to read more is here.http://allpoetry.com/Robert_Frost

Immortal Sails by Alfred Noyes

Immortal Sails

BY ALFRED NOYES

Now, in a breath, we’ll burst those gates of gold,   

   And ransack heaven before our moment fails.   

Now, in a breath, before we, too, grow old,

   We’ll mount and sing and spread immortal sails.

It is not time that makes eternity.

   Love and an hour may quite out-span the years,   

And give us more to hear and more to see   

   Than life can wash away with all its tears.

Dear, when we part, at last, that sunset sky

   Shall not be touched with deeper hues than this;   

But we shall ride the lightning ere we die

   And seize our brief infinitude of bliss,

With time to spare for all that heaven can tell,   

While eyes meet eyes, and look their last farewell.

Great poem on the brevity of life. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/alfred-noyes

Prairie Waters by Night by Carl Sandburg

Prairie Waters by Night
by Carl Sandburg




Chatter of birds two by two raises a night song joining a litany of running water—sheer waters
showing the russet of old stones remembering many rains.

And the long willows drowse on the shoulders of the running water, and sleep from much music;
joined songs of day-end, feathery throats and stony waters, in a choir chanting new psalms.

It is too much for the long willows when low laughter of a red moon comes down; and the willows
drowse and sleep on the shoulders of the running water




Reading this I want to lay down and look at the stars. A link to read more is here.http://allpoetry.com/Carl_Sandburg

Evening by H.D.

Evening

BY H. D.

The light passes

from ridge to ridge,

from flower to flower—

the hepaticas, wide-spread

under the light

grow faint—

the petals reach inward,

the blue tips bend

toward the bluer heart

and the flowers are lost.

The cornel-buds are still white,

but shadows dart

from the cornel-roots—

black creeps from root to root,

each leaf

cuts another leaf on the grass,

shadow seeks shadow,

then both leaf

and leaf-shadow are lost.

Descriptive, but, reading the words it seems more. Lovely. A link is here to read more. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/h-d

A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A Psalm of Life

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait.

We never die until we lay down and quit. A link to learn more is here. http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_front.php

Fate by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate

BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON

That you are fair or wise is vain,

Or strong, or rich, or generous;

You must have also the untaught strain

That sheds beauty on the rose.

There is a melody born of melody,

Which melts the world into a sea:

Toil could never compass it;

Art its height could never hit;

It came never out of wit;

But a music music-born

Well may Jove and Juno scorn.

Thy beauty, if it lack the fire

Which drives me mad with sweet desire,

What boots it? what the soldier's mail,

Unless he conquer and prevail?

What all the goods thy pride which lift,

If thou pine for another's gift?

Alas! that one is born in blight,

Victim of perpetual slight:

When thou lookest on his face,

Thy heart saith, "Brother, go thy ways!

None shall ask thee what thou doest,

Or care a rush for what thou knowest,

Or listen when thou repliest,

Or remember where thou liest,

Or how thy supper is sodden;"

And another is born

To make the sun forgotten.

Surely he carries a talisman

Under his tongue;

Broad are his shoulders, and strong;

And his eye is scornful,

Threatening, and young.

I hold it of little matter

Whether your jewel be of pure water,

A rose diamond or a white,

But whether it dazzle me with light.

I care not how you are dressed,

In the coarsest or in the best;

Nor whether your name is base or brave;

Nor for the fashion of your behavior;

But whether you charm me,

Bid my bread feed and my fire warm me,

And dress up Nature in your favor.

One thing is forever good;

That one thing is Success, —

Dear to the Eumenides,

And to all the heavenly brood.

Who bides at home, nor looks abroad,

Carries the eagles, and masters the sword.

Such smart, wise words. A link to learn more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ralph-waldo-emerson

The Gardener 38 by Rabindranath Tagore

The Gardener 38

BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE

My love, once upon a time your poet launched a great epic in his mind.

Alas, I was not careful, and it struck your ringing anklets and came to grief.

It broke up into scraps of songs and lay scattered at your feet.

All my cargo of the stories of old wars was tossed by the laughing waves and soaked in tears and sank.

You must make this loss good to me, my love.

If my claims to immortal fame after death are shattered, make me immortal while I live.

And I will not mourn for my loss nor blame you.

Beautiful writing. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore

The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake

The Clod and the Pebble

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

"Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay

Trodden with the cattle's feet,

But a Pebble of the brook

Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only self to please,

To bind another to its delight,

Joys in another's loss of ease,

And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

This is good, two views of love. Alliteration is great. To read more a link is here. http://www.online-literature.com/blake/

Winter Stars by Sara Teasdale

Winter Stars

BY SARA TEASDALE

I went out at night alone;

 The young blood flowing beyond the sea

Seemed to have drenched my spirit’s wings—

 I bore my sorrow heavily.

But when I lifted up my head

 From shadows shaken on the snow,

I saw Orion in the east

 Burn steadily as long ago.

From windows in my father’s house,

 Dreaming my dreams on winter nights,

I watched Orion as a girl

 Above another city’s lights.

Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,

 The world’s heart breaks beneath its wars,

All things are changed, save in the east

 The faithful beauty of the stars.

Wonderful rhyme. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sara-teasdale

Modern Love XXX by George Meredith

Modern Love XXX

BY GEORGE MEREDITH

What are we first? First, animals; and next   

Intelligences at a leap; on whom   

Pale lies the distant shadow of the tomb,   

And all that draweth on the tomb for text.   

Into which state comes Love, the crowning sun:   

Beneath whose light the shadow loses form.   

We are the lords of life, and life is warm.   

Intelligence and instinct now are one.   

But nature says: "My children most they seem   

When they least know me: therefore I decree   

That they shall suffer." Swift doth young Love flee,   

And we stand wakened, shivering from our dream.   

Then if we study Nature we are wise.   

Thus do the few who live but with the day:   

The scientific animals are they—

Lady, this is my sonnet to your eyes.

I really like this one, great ending. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/george-meredith

The Smile by William Blake

The Smile

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

There is a smile of love,

And there is a smile of deceit,

And there is a smile of smiles

In which these two smiles meet;

And there is a frown of hate,

And there is a frown of disdain,

And there is a frown of frowns

Which you strive to forget in vain,

For it sticks in the heart's deep core,

And it sticks in the deep back bone,

And no smile that ever was smil'd,

But only one smile alone

That betwixt the cradle and grave

It only once smil'd can be,

But when it once is smil'd,

There's an end to all misery.

Smiling is good. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-blake

Star Thought by Frances Shaw

Star Thought
by Frances Shaw

I shall see a star tonight
From a distant mountain height;
From a city you will see
The same star that shines on me.

'Tis not of the firmament
On a solar journey bent;
Fixed it is through time and weather;-
'Tis a thought we hold together.

Who hasn't looked at the sky and thought about this. Image borrowed from The Gaurdian. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/21/6#

Reply to a Magistrate By Wang Wei

Reply to a Magistrate
by Wang Wei


Late in life, I care for ease alone—
to hell with official concerns.

Look! I make no plans for the future
but to go back to my forest home again.

Let pine winds loosen my robes,
mountain moons play my lute.

You want to taste success or failure?
A lone fisherman sings out on the water.


I like these simple poems to think about. A link to read more about this poet is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Wei_(8th_century_poet)

Teachings of Diogenes the cynic

Plato was discoursing on his theory of ideas and, pointing to the cups on the table before him, said while there are many cups in the world, there is only one `idea' of a cup, and this cupness precedes the existence of all particular cups.

"I can see the cup on the table," interupted Diogenes, "but I can't see the `cupness'".

"That's because you have the eyes to see the cup," said Plato, "but", tapping his head with his forefinger, "you don't have the intellect with which to comprehend `cupness'."

Diogenes walked up to the table, examined a cup and, looking inside, asked, "Is it empty?"

Plato nodded.

"Where is the `emptiness' which procedes this empty cup?" asked Diogenes.

Plato allowed himself a few moments to collect his thoughts, but Diogenes reached over and, tapping Plato's head with his finger, said "I think you will find here is the `emptiness'."

I read this and laughed. A link to read more is here. http://members.optushome.com.au/davidquinn000/Diogenes%20Folder/Diogenes.html

Why should I be bitter by Saigyo

Why should I be bitter 
by Saigyo




Why should I be bitter
About someone who was
A complete stranger
Until a certain moment
In a day that has passed.




Simple imagery that holds the mind. A link to read more about this poet is here.http://www.hermitary.com/articles/saigyo.html

Fata Morgana. (Birds of Passage. Flight the Third) By Henry Wadsorth Longfellow

Fata Morgana. (Birds of Passage. Flight the Third)
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


O sweet illusions of song
    That tempt me everywhere,
In the lonely fields, and the throng
    Of the crowded thoroughfare!

I approach and ye vanish away,
    I grasp you, and ye are gone;
But ever by night and by day,
    The melody soundeth on.

As the weary traveller sees
    In desert or prairie vast,
Blue lakes, overhung with trees
    That a pleasant shadow cast;

Fair towns with turrets high,
    And shining roofs of gold,
That vanish as he draws nigh,
    Like mists together rolled —

So I wander and wander along,
    And forever before me gleams
The shining city of song,
    In the beautiful land of dreams.

But when I would enter the gate
    Of that golden atmosphere,
It is gone, and I wonder and wait
    For the vision to reappear.




Illusions we try to keep and some are best let go of. A link to read more is here. https://allpoetry.com/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow

October, 1803 by William Wordsworth

October, 1803
by William Wordsworth

These times strike monied worldlings with dismay:

Even rich men, brave by nature, taint the air

With words of apprehension and despair:

While tens of thousands, thinking on the affray,

Men unto whom sufficient for the day

And minds not stinted or untilled are given,

Sound, healthy, children of the God of heaven,

Are cheerful as the rising sun in May.

What do we gather hence but firmer faith

That every gift of noble origin

Is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath;

That virtue and the faculties within

Are vital,—and that riches are akin

To fear, to change, to cowardice, and death?

Brilliant and timeless. A link to read more is here. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jwordsworth.htm

By Night When Others Soundly Slept by Anne Bradstreet

By Night when Others Soundly Slept

BY ANNE BRADSTREET

1

By night when others soundly slept

And hath at once both ease and Rest,

My waking eyes were open kept

And so to lie I found it best.

2

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,

With tears I sought him earnestly.

He bow’d his ear down from Above.

In vain I did not seek or cry.

3

My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;

He in his Bottle put my tears,

My smarting wounds washt in his blood,

And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.

4

What to my Saviour shall I give

Who freely hath done this for me?

I’ll serve him here whilst I shall live

And Loue him to Eternity.

Great one on faith and believing. A link to learn more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/anne-bradstreet

("Over the green and yellow...") by Rabindranath Tagore

(“Over the green and yellow...”)

BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE

                                    I 

         Over the green and yellow rice fields sweep the shadows of the autumn clouds, followed by the swift-chasing sun.
         The bees forget to sip their honey; drunken with the light they foolishly hum and hover; and the ducks in the sandy riverbank clamour in joy for mere nothing.
         None shall go back home, brothers, this morning, none shall go to work.
         We will take the blue sky by storm and plunder the space as we run.
         Laughters fly floating in the air like foams in the flood.
         Brothers, we shall squander our morning in futile songs. 

This one makes me smile each time I read it. A link to read more is here. http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/history/teachers/rabindranath-tagore/