Three matchsticks

Image : Web

Three matchsticks lit one by one in the night

The first to see the whole of your face

The second to see your eyes

The third to see your mouth

And complete darkness to remember this all

With you locked in my arms—

Jacques Prévert, “Paris at Night”  

The time will come

But when will it come . . .. . . . . .

Image: Forgiven

The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was yourself.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

—Derek Walcott

Sea Calm

Solitude

Photo: Ben Locke

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today,
It is not good
For water
To be so still that way. 

Langston Hughes

Shiver Me timbers

For Roland

I'm leavin' my fam'ly and leavin' my friends
My body's at home and my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky
My tears are salt water and the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden⁽²⁾ is gonna be proud of me
And many before me who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest and singin' my say
And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away

The fog's liftin' and the sand's shiftin' and I'm driftin' on out
And Ol' Captain Ahab⁽³⁾ he ain't got nothin' on me
So come on and swallow me, don't follow me I travel alone
Blue water's⁽⁴⁾ my daughter and I'm skipping like a stone

So please call my missus, tell her not to cry
My goodbye is written by the moon in the sky
Hey, and nobody knows me I can't fathom my stayin'
And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin' and the sand's shiftin' and I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab he ain't got nothin' on me
So come on and swallow me, don't follow me I travel alone
Blue water's my daughter and I'm skipping like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family leavin' my friends
My body's at home but my heart's in the wind
where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away

Written by: Tom Waits

- from The Gardener, 1913

I am restless. I am athirst for far-away things. 

My soul goes out in a longing to touch the skirt of the dim distance.

O Great Beyond, O the keen call of thy flute!

I forget, I ever forget, that I have no wings to fly, that I am bound in this spot evermore.

I am eager and wakeful, I am a stranger in a strange land.

Thy breath comes to me whispering an impossible hope.

Thy tongue is known to my heart as its very own.

O Far-to-seek, O the keen call of thy flute!

I forget, I ever forget, that I know not the way, that I have not the winged horse.

I am listless, I am a wanderer in my heart.

In the sunny haze of the languid hours, what vast vision of thine takes shape in the blue of the sky!

O Farthest end, O the keen call of thy flute!

I forget, I ever forget, that the gates are shut everywhere in the house where I dwell alone!

— from The Gardener, 1913

Rabindranath Tagore (May 7, 1861 - 1941) 

The Long Way Home

Well I stumbled in the darkness

I'm lost and alone

Though I said I'd go before us

And show the way back home

There a light up ahead

I can't hold onto her arm

Forgive me pretty baby but I always take the long way home

Money's just something you throw

Off the back of a train

Got a head full of lightning

A hat full of rain

And I know that I said

I'd never do it again

And I love you pretty baby but I always take the long way home

I put food on the table

And roof overhead

But I'd trade it all tomorrow

For the highway instead

Watch your back if I should tell you

Love's the only thing I've ever known

One thing for sure pretty baby I always take the long way home

You know I love you baby

More than the whole wide world

You are my woman

I know you are my pearl

Let's go out past the party lights

Where we can finally be alone

Come with me and we can take the long way home

Come with me, together we can take the long way home

Come with me, together we can take the long way home

Haiku my heart: Stop Bus no 6

Stop all the thinking! she cries

Why? he replies

You can't hear your heart . . .

Riette

Haiku my Heart: Separation

Image : http://fistikyesili.com

This then, is where we separate

you, heart,

and I . . . .

Riette  13 March 2011

recuerda mi corazon

Haiku my heart: Simplicity

Come, we're going home.

Where's home?

For me, home is . . . .wherever you are

Riette 04 March 2011

"recuerda mi corazon" 

A poem based on "Lightness of being."

Painting: Vilhelm Hammersshoi

A lover weighing his words

Every one

of those smiling atoms

that are you,

I love.

All those cuddly molecules

that clamber over each other

and puppy-growl comically

at each other,

I admire.

Those cascades

that shimmer through

your nerves

to produce your

hidden smile,

I dote on.

What you are

I cannot weigh,

I have no way

to grasp you fully.

Where you are is light

in which I track myself,

bouncing softly off

the bubbles

of your thoughts.

De Waal Venter

South-African poet

Swan Heart

All those beautiful people
I want to have them
I want to have them all
All those porcelain models
If only I could make them fall

Be my heart a well of love
Flowing free so far above

A wintry eve
Once upon a tale
An Ugly Duckling
Lost in a verse
Of a sparrows carol
Dreaming the stars

Be my heart a well of love
Flowing free so far above

In my world
Love is for poets
Never the famous balcony scene
Just a dying faith
On the heaven's gate

Crystal pond awaits the lorn
Tonight another morn for the lonely one is born

Lyrics of the beautiful song "Swanheart" by Nightwish

Dante's Prayer

On the eve of Valentine's Day  . . . .. 

14 February 2011

When the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone

I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and the fire

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me

Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars

Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares

Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me... 

Sailing

Dedicated to Roland

"I can close my eyes and picture myself on the deck of a sailboat, with no noise except that of the wind on the sails, the splash of the waves and the smell of the sea air. That is almost Heaven for me."

Roland Pozo

It's not far down to paradise
At least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find tranquility
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me

It's not far to never never land
No reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy
Of innocence again
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me


Sailing
Takes me away
To where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free


Fantasy
It gets the best of me
When I'm sailing
All caught up in the reverie
Every word is a symphony
Won't you believe me


It's not far back to sanity
At least it's not for me
And when the wind is right you can sail away
And find serenity
The canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
Believe me

Christopher Cross

Haiku my heart: Deseo Intenso

 this vague desire

 this wistful nostalgia

 to gently, silently touch my dreams

Riette 

3 February 2011

"The Measure of a Great Man is the Distance Between Himself and Others." Eli Segal

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