Upon Westminster Bridge

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802

Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth 

(1770-1850 / Cumberland / England)

Bach at dawn on a Sunday morning

 

 

Bach through an open
  dawn window —
the birds are silent


Jack Kerouac, Book of Haikus

Mystifying

Image: Orlando Oct 2010 full moon taken by Roland Pozo

“For the sake of a single poem, 
you must see many cities, 
many people and things, 
you must understand animals, 
must feel how birds fly, 
and know the gesture which small flowers 
make when they open in the morning.”

—	Rainer Maria Rilke,

Haiku my heart: A Cripple Fantasy

Painting by Jim Mc Dermott

As if from nowhere - silently

you came - and you stood by me

a cripple fantasy

Riette

Recuerda mi corazon

Cuerpo de mujer, blancas colinas ... Pablo Neruda

Cuerpo de mujer, blancas colinas, muslos blancos,

te pareces al mundo en tu actitud de entrega.

Mi cuerpo de labriego salvaje te socava

y hace saltar al hijo del fondo de la tierra.

Fui sólo como un túnel. De mí huían los pájaros,

y en mí la noche entraba en su invasión poderosa.

Para sobrevivirme te forjé como un arma,

como una flecha en mi arco, como una piedra en mi honda.

Pero cae la hora de la venganza, y te amo.

Cuerpo de piel, de musgo, de leche ávida y firme.

¡Ah los vasos del pecho! ¡Ah los ojos de ausencia!

¡Ah las rosas del pubis! ¡ Ah tu voz lenta y triste!

Cuerpo de mujer mía, persistiré en tu gracia.

Mi sed, mi ansia sin límite, mi camino indeciso!

Oscuros cauces donde la sed eterna sigue,

y la fatiga sigue y el dolor infinito

Pablo Neruda

Grazella Dorcas

Image: National Geographic

Grazella Dorcas

Verzauberte: wie kann der Einklang zweier
erwählter Worte je den Reim erreichen,
der in dir kommt und geht, wie auf ein Zeichen.
Aus deiner Stirne steigen Laub und Leier,

und alles Deine geht schon im Vergleich
durch Liebeslieder, deren Worte, weich
wie Rosenblätter, dem, der nicht mehr liest,
sich auf die Augen legen, die er schließt:

um dich zu sehen: hingetragen, als
wäre mit Sprüngen jeder Lauf geladen
und schösse nur nicht ab, solang der Hals

das Haupt im Horchen hält: wie wenn beim Baden
im Wald die Badende sich unterbricht:
den Waldsee im gewendeten Gesicht.

Rainer Maria Rilke

 

 

Gazella Dorcas

By Rainer Maria Rilke

Enchanted thing: how can two chosen words
ever attain the harmony of pure rhyme
that pulses through you as your body stirs?
Out of your forehead branch and lyre climb

and all your features pass in simile through
the songs of love whose words as light as rose-
petals rest on the face of someone who
has put his book away and shut his eyes:

to see you: tensed as if each leg were a gun
loaded with leaps but not fired while your neck
holds your head still listening: as when

while swimming in some isolated place
a girl hears leaves rustle and turns to look:
the forest pool reflected in her face.

Translation: Stephen Mitchell
 

 

Dos Dias

The Flamengo

mirar a la gente 

Bajar el sol,

besar la luna 

tener tu amor, 

vivir la vida 

con ilusion.

gozar y disfrutar 

hay con pasion.

tocar la guitarra 

con el calor,

segir cantando 

esta cancion. 

y entre la flores mas bonitas,

tu eres la rosa que no marchita

que alegra mi casa y mi jardin.

eres la fuerza pa vivir 

hay flores rojas y amarillas,

escucha chiquilla no toy mintiendo 

que la vida son 2 dias,

y que uno ta lloviendo.

(Poet still unknown) 

With great gratitude to the Afrikaans poet, De Waal Venter, who does an excellent job translating Spanish poems into Afrikaans. I've posted the Afrikaans translation on my Afrikaans blog. 

A Flower for the night

Image by Justin Haaheim

Where I lived for a childhood

the night grass was as magical as the moon;

coolly white and soft, like new snow beautiful,

and deeply piled by the monsoons.

There was a flower (I never learnt its name)

that bloomed one night a year,

following, with its delicate bluish face,

the arc that the full moon steered.

There was a garden of small temples,

a shrine to the wind and other deities,

where tea was served to guests in porcelain shells

carried over bridges of red-painted filigree.

On the low, carved tables scattered about

black pots stood etched with cloud-shaped trees;

each pot held a bud, each had its silent knot

from the waiting throng of, mostly, Chinese.

And then the moon rose fat-faced and yellow.

The few lanterns appeared to fade in the silver air.

In minutes, as in a spell, all the buds opened.

There were so many quiet people there.

Douglas Livingstone

Six Ribbons

If I were a minstrel I’d sing you six love songs,
To tell the whole world of the love that we share,
If I were a merchant I’d bring you six diamonds,
With six blood red roses for my love to wear,

But I am a simple man, a poor common farmer,
So take my six ribbons to tie back your hair,
Yellow and brown, blue as the sky,
Red as my blood, green as your eyes,

If I were a nobleman I’d bring you six carriages,
With six snow white horses to take you anywhere,
If I were the emperor I’d build you six palaces,
With six hundred servants for comforting fare,

But I am a simple man, a poor common farmer,
So take my six ribbons to tie back your hair,

If I were a minstrel I’d sing you six love songs,
To tell the whole world of the love that we share,
So be not afraid my love, you’re never alone love,
While you wear my ribbons tying back your hair,

Once I was a simple man, a poor common farmer,
I gave you six ribbons to tie back your hair,
Too-ra-lee, too-ra-lie, all I can share,
Is only six ribbons to tie back your hair,
Too-ra-lee, too-ra-lie, all I can share,
I gave you six ribbons to tie back your hair.