late Autumn:
the last few leaves
refuse to fall.
Late Autumn [Haiku]
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Category Archives: poem
Wen Fu 12 [文赋十二] “Idiosyncrasy” by Lu Ji [陆机] [w/ Audio]
Thoughts conveyed by way of short verse
May degrade in eccentricity.
With bowed head, lonely and friendless.
Face up, vast sky where all is free.
Like one string stretched to perfect pitch,
But lacking all resonancy.
NOTES: Earlier I posted a translation by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping, entitled A One-String Harp that was contained in The Art of Writing (Boston: Shambhala; p. 15) This, however, is my own translation. The original poem in Simplified Chinese is:
或讬言于短韵，对穷迹而孤兴。
俯寂寞而无友，仰寥廓而莫承。
譬偏弦之独张，含清唱而靡应。
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The Goat [Lyric Poem]
There once was an adolescent goat
Who'd put anything straight down its throat:
It ate twigs and tires and old barbed wire,
And even once a deep fat fryer.
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Stone Monolith [Haiku]
Claustrophobic [Haiku]
carpenter bee
crawls into clock vine bloom;
freefalls into flight.
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Sky Fire [Haiku]
sunset flames,
glowing like hot coals;
cools to darkness.
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Sonnet 53 by William Shakespeare [w/ Audio]
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new.
Speak of the spring and foison of the year:
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessèd shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
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Crown Flower [Haiku]
crown flower buds
begin to split, but only one
takes the first peek.
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Mountain Crumbles [Haiku]
once a mountain,
now just boulders; someday
not a hill will remain.
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“King Trisanku” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]
Viswamitra the Magician,
By his spells and incantations,
Up to Indra's realms elysian
Raised Trisanku, king of nations.
Indra and the gods offended
Hurled him downward, and descending
In the air he hung suspended,
With these equal powers contending.
Thus by aspirations lifted,
By misgivings downward driven,
Human hearts are tossed and drifted
Midway between earth and heaven.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 