STAY, O sweet, and do not rise!
The light that shines comes from thine eyes;
The day breaks not: it is my heart,
Because that you and I must part.
Stay! or else my joys will die
And perish in their infancy.
“Daybreak” by John Donne [w/ Audio]
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Category Archives: Poetry
Family Resemblance [Kyōka]
Chinese temple pond:
dragonhead tortoise sculpture.
live turtles swim
and sun in those waters.
do they see the likeness?
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Long Gone Hong Kong [Free Verse]
In my youth, "Honk Kong"
Came after "Made in __"
As often as did any
Set of letters.
I can't remember the last time
I saw that declaration.
I do hear references to the
Hong Kong Markets opening.
They tore down the
Kowloon Walled City ---
A chock a block, chunky
Architectural cancer growth
Where people lived squeezed
More than a million to the
Square kilometer.
But still there are places where people
Are packed and packed --
While densely stacked --
In high-rise Building-Cities.
(If a City-State is a place in which
City and Nation are identical,
A Building-City is where a
Building contains all the
Functions of a city.)
One could live without leaving
If one didn't love sunshine.
But people do love sunshine.
And mountains and beaches,
Which Hong Kong also --
Against all reason --
Has in abundance.
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“To a Butterfly” by William Wordsworth [w/ Audio]
Stay near me—do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in Thee,
Historian of my Infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring'st, gay Creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My Father's Family!
Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when in our childish plays
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the Butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey:—with leaps and springs
I follow'd on from brake to bush;
But She, God love her! feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.
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Rainy Day Graveyard [Free Verse]
Rainy day
Graveyard:
Green grass
Glistens
Between row on row
Of low gravestones.
Droplets dash
Against the marble
And against
The brass plaques --
Silently.
Though a steady patter
Of drips on leaves
Sings through.
A poncho-clad figure
Walks through the
Sprawling war memorial ---
Alone.
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“Quantum Mutata” by Oscar Wilde [w/ Audio]
There was a time in Europe long ago,
When no man died for freedom anywhere,
But England's lion leaping from its lair
Laid hands on the oppressor! it was so
While England could a great Republic show.
Witness the men of Piedmont, chiefest care
Of Cromwell, when with impotent despair
The Pontiff in his painted portico
Trembled before our stern embassadors.
How comes it then that from such high estate
We have thus fallen, save that Luxury
With barren merchandise piles up the gate
Where nobler thoughts and deeds should enter by:
Else might we still be Milton's heritors.
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Pagoda Pond [Haiku]
Fish Wu Wei [Haiku]
in flowing water,
fish trio effortlessly
remains in place.
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“To the River” by Edgar Allan Poe [w/ Audio]
Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow
Of crystal, wandering water,
Thou art an emblem of the glow
Of beauty—the unhidden heart—
The playful maziness of art
In old Alberto’s daughter;
But when within thy wave she looks—
Which glistens then, and trembles—
Why, then, the prettiest of brooks
Her worshipper resembles;
For in my heart, as in thy stream,
Her image deeply lies—
His heart which trembles at the beam
Of her soul-searching eyes.
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Goblin [Free Verse]
After dark —-
A city park —-
There runs the thing
That comes to life
By night.
Caged in stillness
Through sunlit hours.
Its night persona
Is blurred movement
Seen only from the
Corner of an eye.
It stays near deep shadow,
Beyond the lamp lit arcs.
Where is it?
No one knows,
But if one were to
Check the cathedral
Spire, you’d find
Only an impenetrable
Void…
until sunup.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 