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
Throw Yourself Like a Seed
by Miguel de Unamuno
Shake off this sadness, and recover your spirit;
Sluggish you will never see the wheel of fate
That brushes your heel as it turns going by,
The man who wants to live is the man in whom life is abundant.
Now you are only giving food to that final pain
Which is slowly winding you in the nets of death,
But to live is to work, and the only thing which lasts
Is the work; start there, turn to the work.
Throw yourself like seed as you walk, and into your own field,
Don’t turn your face for that would be to turn it to death,
And do not let the past weigh down your motion.
Leave what’s alive in the furrow, what’s dead in yourself,
For life does not move in the same way as a group of clouds;
From your work you will be able one day to gather yourself.
I like this poem on so many levels. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno
Watching the Moon
by Izumi Shikibu
translated by Jane Hirshfield
and Mariko Aratami
Watching the moon
at dawn
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely,
no part left out.
Thoughtful, lovely imagery. I've provided a couple of links to read more.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izumi_Shikibu,http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/omori/court/izumi.html
Fata Morgana. (Birds of Passage. Flight the Third)
