Some Neruda for you

“We met each other when we were young, before we knew enough about disappointment, and once we did we found we reminded each other of it.”

― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

Image : Michiel Huisman on Pinterest

Here I love you.

In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.

The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.

Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.

The snow unfurls in dancing figures.

A silver gull slips down from the west.

Sometimes a sail. High, high stars.

Oh the black cross of a ship.

Alone.

Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.

Far away the sea sounds and resounds.

This is a port.

Here I love you.

Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.

I love you still among these cold things.

Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vessels

that cross the sea towards no arrival.

I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.

The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.

My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.

I love what I do not have. You are so far.

My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.

But night comes and starts to sing to me.

The moon turns its clockwork dream.

The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.

And as I love you, the pines in the wind

want to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

Pablo Neruda

The Christmas Scale

Cel mai frumos poem de dragoste

For Those Who Greeted Me 

1. You came to me this morning

And you handled me like meat.

You´d have to live alone to know

How good that feels, how sweet.

My mirror twin, my next of kin,

I´d know you in my sleep.

And who but you would take me in

A thousand kisses deep?

2. I loved you when you opened

Like a lily to the heat.

I´m just another snowman

Standing in the rain and sleet,

Who loved you with his frozen love

His second-hand physique -

With all he is, and all he was

A thousand kisses deep.

3. All soaked in sex, and pressed against

The limits of the sea:

I saw there were no oceans left

For scavengers like me.

We made it to the forward deck

I blessed our remnant fleet -

And then consented to be wrecked

A thousand kisses deep.

4. I know you had to lie to me,

I know you had to cheat.

But the Means no longer guarantee

The Virtue in Deceit.

That truth is bent, that beauty spent,

That style is obsolete -

Ever since the Holy Spirit went

A thousand kisses deep.

5. (So what about this Inner Light

That´s boundless and unique?

I´m slouching through another night

A thousand kisses deep.)

6. I´m turning tricks; I´m getting fixed,

I´m back on Boogie Street.

I tried to quit the business -

Hey, I´m lazy and I´m weak.

But sometimes when the night is slow,

The wretched and the meek,

We gather up our hearts and go

A thousand kisses deep.

7. (And fragrant is the thought of you,

The file on you complete -

Except what we forgot to do

A thousand kisses deep.)

8. The ponies run, the girls are young,

The odds are there to beat.

You win a while, and then it´s done -

Your little winning streak.

And summoned now to deal

With your invincible defeat,

You live your life as if it´s real

A thousand kisses deep.

9. (I jammed with Diz and Dante -

I did not have their sweep -

But once or twice, they let me play

A thousand kisses deep.)

10. And I´m still working with the wine,

Still dancing cheek to cheek.

The band is playing "Auld Lang Syne" -

The heart will not retreat.

And maybe I had miles to drive,

And promises to keep -

You ditch it all to stay alive

A thousand kisses deep.

11. And now you are the Angel Death

And now the Paraclete;

And now you are the Savior's Breath

And now the Belsen heap.

No turning from the threat of love,

No transcendental leap -

As witnessed here in time and blood

A thousand kisses deep.

Leonard Cohen

September 21, 1998

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" 

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... 

Crying in the Chapel

You saw me crying in the chapel.
The tears I shed were tears of joy
I know the meaning of contentment
Now I am happy with the Lord

Just a plain and simple chapel
Where humble people go to pray
I pray the Lord that I'll grow stronger
As I live from day to day

I've searched and I've searched
But I couldn't find
No way on earth
To gain peace of mind

Now I'm happy in the chapel
Where people are of one accord
Yes,We gather in the chapel
Just to sing and praise the Lord

Ev'ry sinner looks for something
That will put his heart at ease
There is only one true answer
He must get down on his knees

Meet your neighbor in the chapel
Join with him in tears of joy
You'll know the meaning of contentment
Then you'll be happy with the Lord

You'll search and you'll search
But you'll never find
No way on earth
To gain peace of mind

Take your troubles to the chapel
Get down on your knees and pray
And Your burdens will be lighter
And you'll surely find the way

(words & music by Arthur Glenn)

Ballad on the Streets of Buenos Aires

Painting by RachelArts

Ballad on the Streets of Buenos Aires

And a man waits in the street and meets a woman

precise and beautiful as the clock on the wall of her room

and sad and white as the wall that holds it

And she doesn’t show him her teeth

And she doesn’t show him her belly

but she shows him her time, precise and beautiful

And she lives on the ground floor next to the pipes

and the water that rises begins there in her wall

and he has decided on tenderness

And she knows the reasons for weeping

and she knows the reasons for holding back

and he begins to be like her, like her

And his hair will grow long and soft, like her hair

and the hard words of his language dissolve in her mouth

and his eyes will be filled with tears, like her eyes

And the traffic lights are reflected in her face

and she stands there amid the permitted and the forbidden

and he has decided on tenderness

And they walk in the streets that will soon appear in his dreams

and the rain weeps into them silently, as into a pillow,

and impatient time has made them both into prophets

And he will lose her at the red light

and he will lose her at the green and the yellow

and the light is always there to serve every loss

And he won’t be there when soap and lotion run out

and he won’t be there when the clock is set again

and he won’t be there when her dress unravels to threads in the wind

And she will lock his wild letters away in a quiet drawer

and lie down to sleep beside the water in the wall

and she will know the reasons for weeping and for holding back

and he has decided on tenderness

© Yehuda Amichai (vertaal deur Benjamin & Barbara Harshav)

The Last Leave of Fall

Image by Stephen Craig Rowe

I was there

with the sun upon my face

and the cold winds.

Hugging trees,

rustling brush

as my boots lace laughter

in personal poetry

for those who care and are.

Of a love,

of a feeling,

a knowing and a being

so close and so far away

that my arms cry to touch you

and to be held in clean sheets,

quiet streets and an empty sink.

The last leaf fell

as I drew upon time,

and there

I did not Fall

For you.

For you

are forever.

Stephen Craig Rowe

Images from the darkest night

Images from the darkest night
Fight for mind and soul,
Rattling sticks and beating drums
Screams from masks unfold.
Shadows spin and slide from sight
Wild white eyes stare.Stamping feet beat up the dust
Cries rent the air.
A black crow perches up aboveCruel beak and claws bare,
Where now the promised land my love
Lush fields at heaven's gate.
Morning is an age away
Love, save me from my fate.

Peter Hollard

Yellow Eyes

Closing my eyes . . . .

listening to the music . . .

I can see in my mind the two wolves roaming the wild country . . . . . . . . .

We've roamed the wild country

My beautiful yellow eyes

Side by side we've hunted

Shadows dancing on northern skies

There have been times of plenty

We were content and serene

Peacefully sleeping

Dangers few and far between

We've also known much hunger

Ribs protruding from each side

Mournfully we howled

When our starving cubs had died

And then there was our first winter

Romping through the glistening snow

Tasting each crystal snowflake

Falling gently to and fro

Ah my dear, sweet yellow eyes

I've known no greater love

Without you I am nothing

Our wild souls are one

And now you lay there dying

Steel jaws upon your frame

Life's blood slowly seeping

I whisper your sweet name

Helpless, I watch you struggle

Chest heaving with labored breath

Steel jaws clenching tighter

Winds whisper the song death

The blood has now stopped flowing

I know the time is near

And you will forever leave me

My love, my life, my dear

And now my world is silent

Your struggles now have ceased

I lay my head upon you

And now you are at peace

Perhaps your soul has lifted

To skies where eagles soar,

And there you'll greet your brothers

To run with them forever more

And someday I shall find you

In the heaven's so far above

And when our wild soul's unite

They'll be no greater love

Joan L. Van Vels

The saddest night - Pablo Neruda

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

One safe place

The beautiful song by Marc Cohn

From the movie "Brokeback mountain"

How many roads you’ve traveled
How many dreams you’ve chased
Across sand and sky and gravel
Looking for one safe place


Will you make a smoother landing
When you break your fall from grace
Into the arms of understanding
Looking for one safe place

Oh, life is trial by fire
And love’s the sweetest taste
And I pray it lifts us higher
To one safe place

How many roads we’ve traveled
How many dreams we’ve chased
Across sand and sky and gravel
Looking for one safe place

Your moon fills my sky

Your moon fills my sky.
Pale light filters
A soft wash
Over memories muted colors.
A night jar whispers
Its gentle call to the past
As the silk of your skin
Beneath my fingers
Lights fire.

Peter Hollard

The Jackson Song - Patti Smith

Dedicated to my eldest son who became a Dad yesterday . . . for you, when you were born . . .

Little blue dreamer go to sleep
Let's close our eyes and call the deep
slumbering land that just begins
When day is done and little dreamers spin

First take my hand now let it go
Little blue boy you're on your own
Little blue wings as those feet fly
Little blue shoes that walk across the sky

May your path be your own
But I'm with you
And each day you'll grow
He'll be there too
And someday when you go
We'll follow you
As you go, as you go

Little blue star that offers light
Little blue bird that offers flight
Little blue path where those feet fall
Little blue dreamer won't you dream it all

May your path be your own
But I'm with you
And each day you'll grow
He'll be there too
And someday when you go
We'll follow you
As you go, as you go

And in your travels you will see
Warrior wings remember Daddy
And if a mama bird you see
Folding her wings will you remember me
As you go, as you go
As you go, as you go

The song by Patti Smith

Thanx to a special friend who sent me this song . .. . .

And its time time time that you love . . .

So put a candle in the window and . . . . .

Well the smart moneys on harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And youre east of east saint louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancees in the mirror
And the band is going home, its raining hammers, its raining nails
And its true theres nothing left for him down here

And its time time time, and its time time time
And its time time time that you love
And its time time time

And they all pretend theyre orphans and their memorys like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you cant remember tell the things you cant forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said shed stick around until the bandages came off
But these mamas boys just dont know when to quit
And mathilda asks the sailors are those dreams or are those prayers?
So close your eyes, son, and this wont hurt a bit

Oh its time time time, and its time time time
And its time time time that you love
And its time time time

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when theyre on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off til I come back again

Oh its time time time, and its time time time
And its time time time that you love
And its time time time
And its time time time, and its time time time
And its time time time that you love
And its time time time

The song . . . .sung by Tom Waits


Tom Waits

The violin moon

Upon the violin moonlit night
Gentle chords played stars,

dancing

golden sand swirls entwined
Wave's murmured song's
slightest touch ebb flowed

kissed

Gathered clouds swaying
slow, shadows, glow,
Ocean's love ne'er spent

love

Souls song's eternal sung.

*Angelor

Beautiful violin music

Je hebt me alleen gelaten - You left me alone

je hebt me alleen gelaten
maar ik heb het je allang vergeven

want ik weet dat je nog ergens bent
vannacht nog, toen ik door de stad
dwaalde, zag ik je silhouet in het glas
van een badkamer

en gisteren hoorde ik je in het bos lachen
zie je, ik weet dat je er nog bent

laatst reed je me voorbij met vier
andere mensen in een oude auto
en ofschoon jij de enige was die
niet omkeek, wist ik toch dat jij
de enige was die mij herkende de enige die
zonder mij niet kan leven

en ik heb geglimlacht

ik was zeker dat je me niet verlaten zou
morgen misschien zul je terugkomen
of anders overmorgen of wie weet wel nooit

maar je kunt me niet verlaten


Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950)

The original words of the following Afrikaans song was written by Hans Lodezein . . . . . ..


"Onthou jy nog?"
"Do you still remember?"

The Ship Song

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around

We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything comes tumbling down

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around

Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around