Tag Archives: Audio Recording

“Abstract” [Poetry Style #22] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]

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Lonely and longing to travel;
   All alone and lacking a tribe.
 Like the crane up on the mountain,
   Or the cloud that enshrouds its peak.
 Like the portraits painted by past
   Masters, of souls you couldn't have known.
 Like a leaf drifting on swift winds,
   Bounding through the boundless spaces.
 You'll never be able to hold it,
   But can hear the song it dances to,
 Those who accept this can tune in,
   And the signal will only get stronger.

NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a translation of the twenty-second of the twenty-four poems. This poem has been alternately titled “Abstraction,” “Elegance,” and “Drifting Aloof” by varied translators, but its original title is 飘逸.

“Gitanjali 7” by Rabindranath Tagore [w/ Audio]

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My song has put off her adornments.
 She has no pride of dress and decoration.
 Ornaments would mar our union;
 they would come between thee and me;
 their jingling would drown thy whispers.

My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight.
 O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet.
 Only let me make my life simple and straight,
 like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.

NOTE: This poem is sometimes titled, “My song has put off her adornments,” or – simply – Song VII.

“Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost [w/ Audio]

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I have been one acquainted with the night.
 I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.
 I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
 I have passed by the watchman on his beat
 And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
 When far away an interrupted cry
 Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
 And further still at an unearthly height,
 One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
 I have been one acquainted with the night.

“Ascending Happiness Plateau” by Li Shangyin [w/ Audio]

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At day's end, feeling ill-at-ease,
 Riding a cart to the plateau.
 The setting sun fires glorious skies,
 But a yellow dusk is coming.

“There was an Old Man with a beard” by Edward Lear [w/ Audio]

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There was an Old Man with a beard,
 Who said, "It is just as I feared! --
     Two Owls and a Hen,
     Four Larks and a Wren,
 Have all built their nests in my beard!"

NOTE: This poem no. 1 of Lear’s The Book of Nonsense.

“The Snow Storm” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]

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No hawk hangs over in this air:
 The urgent snow is everywhere.
 The wing adroiter than a sail
 Must lean away from such a gale,
Abandoning its straight intent,
 Or else expose tough ligament
 And tender flesh to what before
 Meant dampened feathers, nothing more.

Forceless upon our backs there fall
 Infrequent flakes hexagonal,
 Devised in many a curious style
 To charm our safety for a while,
   Where close to earth like mice we go
   Under the horizontal snow.

“A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky” by Lewis Carroll [w/ Audio]

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A boat beneath a sunny sky,
 Lingering onward dreamily
  In an evening of July --

Children three that nestle near,
 Eager eye and willing ear,
  Pleased a simple tale to hear --

Long has paled that sunny sky:
 Echoes fade and memories die:
  Autumn frosts have slain July. 

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
 Alice moving under skies
  Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
 Eager eye and willing ear,
  Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
 Dreaming as the days go by,
  Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream --
 Lingering in the golden gleam --
  Life, what is it but a dream?

“Form” [Poetry Style #20] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]

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Quit seeking to firm up the soul;
 Return to the unadorned truth.
   One can seek the shape of water;
   One can write of a pleasant spring.
 Winds shift the shapes of clouds,
 Flowers stand tall, and flowers droop.
   The great waves of a sprawling sea,
   The mountain's craggy ruggedness...
 They all emulate the Great Way.
   Every wonderful thing is dust.
 Find semblance beyond shape or form.
 In this person, the multitudes.

NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a translation of the twentieth of the twenty-four poems. Translated titles vary. This one has been titled “Descriptive” and “Form and Feature” by varied translators.

Sonnet 138 by William Shakespeare [w/ Audio]

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When my love swears that she is made of truth,
 I do believe her, though I know she lies,
 That she might think me some untutored youth,
 Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
 Although she knows my days are past the best,
 Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
 On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
 And wherefore say not I that I am old?
 Oh, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
 And age in love loves not to have years told.
   Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
   And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

“Snow-flakes” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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Out of the bosom of the Air,
   Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
 Over the woodlands brown and bare,
   Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
      Silent, and soft, and slow
      Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
   Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
 Even as the troubled heart doth make
   In the white countenance confession,
      The troubled sky reveals
      The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,
   Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
 This is the secret of despair,
   Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
      Now whispered and revealed
      To wood and field.