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

When you come

This is not a sad poem.  Its a poem filled with secrets, mysteries, borrowed love and soft memories of one stolen night  . . . . . “Take one fresh and tender kiss Add one stolen night of bliss One girl, one boy, some grief, some joy Memories are made of this.” Johnny Cash          When you come to me, unbidden, Beckoning me To long-ago rooms, Where memories lie. Offering me, as to a child, an attic, Gatherings of days too few. Baubles of stolen kisses. Trinkets of borrowed loves. Trunks of secret words, I CRY. Maya Angelou

Motherland

Where in the hell can you go far from the things that you know
Far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day?
Take one last look behind, commit this to memory and mind.
Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place.
When you leave keep your heart off your sleeve.

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go.
Don't you go.
Oh, my five & dime queen tell me what have you seen?
The lust and the avarice, the bottomless, cavernous greed, is that what you see?

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go.

It's your happiness I want most of all and for that I'd do anything at all, oh mercy me!
If you want the best of it or the most of all, if there's anything I can do at all.

Now come on shot gun bride what makes me envy your life?
Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free, what's that like to be?

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go.
Don't go.

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. 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps on the back of the win and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and is tune is heard on the distant hillfor the caged bird sings of freedom The free bird thinks of another breeze an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. Maya Angelou

Cheek to cheek

"Heaven, I'm in heaven . . ."

Painting by Maira Wallman

Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek

Heaven, I'm in heaven
And the cares that hung around me through the week
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak
When we're out together dancing (swinging) cheek to cheek

Oh I love to climb a mountain
And reach the highest peak
But it doesn't thrill (boot) me half as much

As dancing cheek to cheek

Oh I love to go out fishing
In a river or a creek
But I don't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek

Now Mamma Dance with me
I want my arm(s) about you
That (Those) charm(s) about you
Will carry me through...

(Right up) To heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing, out together dancing (swinging)
Out together dancing cheek to cheek

The song: Cheek to cheek