Category Archives: Literature

“Gitanjali 35” by Rabindranath Tagore [w/ Audio]

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Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
 Where knowledge is free;
 Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
 Where words come out from the depth of truth;
 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
 Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
  Into that heave of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

NOTE: This poem is often entitled “Let My Country Awake,” particularly when it is anthologized independently of the larger Gitanjali poem.

“Seeking a Hermit-Sage in Vain” by Jia Dao [w/ Audio]

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I question a local boy under a pine.
 He says, "Teacher is gathering herbs
          right here on the mountain...
 But who can say where?
 The mountain is thick with clouds."

Four Seasonal Haiku of Sōgi [w/ Audio]

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SPRING

Despite the storm,
 Spring's herald makes it through:
   Scent of plum blossom.

SUMMER

Abundant fireflies
 This year, but this morning 
  None are to be seen.

AUTUMN

Autumn sea:
 A boat moves, leaf-like,
  In the floating world.

WINTER

Winter rains
 Cross the mountains
  On rising clouds.

“Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon [w/ Audio]

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Photo by Ernest Brooks (Imperial War Museum)
I knew a simple soldier boy
 Who grinned at life in empty joy,
 Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,
 And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,
 With crumps and lice and lack of rum,
 He put a bullet through his brain.
 No one spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
 Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
 Sneak home and pray you'll never know
 The hell where youth and laughter go.

“On Laozi” by Bai Juyi [w/ Audio]

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"The ignorant speak, while the wise keep silent."
 I read the words of Laozi.
 But if Laozi knew the Way,
 Why did he write those five thousand characters?

“Conscientious Objector” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]

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I shall die, but
   that is all that I shall do for Death.
 I hear him leading his horse out of the stall;
 I hear the clatter on the barn-floor.
 He is in haste; he has business in Cuba,
   business in the Balkans, many calls to make this morning.
 But I will not hold the bridle
   while he clinches the girth.
 And he may mount by himself:
 I will not give him a leg up.

Though he flick my shoulders with his whip,
   I will not tell him which way the fox ran.
 With his hoof on my breast, I will not tell him where
   the black boy hides in the swamp.
 I shall, die, but that is all that I shall do for Death;
  I am not on his pay-roll.

I will not tell him the whereabout of my friends
   nor of my enemies either.
 Though he promise me much,
   I will not map him the route to any man's door.
 Am I a spy in the land of the living,
   that I should deliver men to Death?
Brother, the password and the plans of our city
  are safe with me; never through me Shall you be overcome.

“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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The tide rises, the tide falls,
 The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
 Along the sea-sands damp and brown
 The traveller hastens toward the town,
          And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
 But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
 The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
 Efface the footprints in the sands,
          And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
 Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
 The day returns, but nevermore
 Returns the traveller to the shore,
          And the tide rises, the tide falls.

“Barter” by Sara Teasdale [w/ Audio]

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Life has loveliness to sell,
     All beautiful and splendid things,
 Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
     Soaring fire that sways and sings,
 And children's faces looking up
 Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,
     Music like a curve of gold,
 Scent of pine trees in the rain,
     Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
 And for your spirit's still delight,
 Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,
     Buy it and never count the cost;
 For one white singing hour of peace
     Count many a year of strife well lost,
 And for a breath of ecstasy
 Give all you have been, or could be.

Four Seasonal Haiku of Masaoka Shiki [w/ Audio]

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SPRING

on wet feet,
 the sparrows hop
  down the hall.

SUMMER

the owl naps,
 and dreams of a
   summer grove.

AUTUMN

sunny autumn day:
 smoke from something burning
  rises skyward.

WINTER

a snowy night;
 the sound of bamboo
  rustling.

“Night Rain” by Bai Juyi [w/ Audio]

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Chirp of an early cricket. Silence.
 The lamp dies then flares up again.
 Night must be raining outside the window:
     plink, plink on the banana leaves.

Translation: Barnstone, Tony and Ping, Chou. 2005. The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary. New York: Anchor Books.