A jutting rock
splits the river,
diverging streams
never wither,
but speed around --
smoothly flowing,
still gaining speed --
never slowing,
until they reach
the deeps.
The Deeps [Lyric Poem]
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Tag Archives: Lyric
Ignorance is Bliss [Lyric Poem]
A turtle swims to water's edge,
and finds before him a steep bluff.
He makes himself a solemn pledge,
"I'll scale this cliff, however tough!"
Struggling over the toilsome rim,
he sees another wall of stone
stands just ahead - tormenting him.
"Just one more, I'll not piss and moan."
If he could know that it was stairs,
He'd have some turtle curse words to share.
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Passing Buddha [Lyric Poem]
The train is speeding down the line.
Gold Buddha glints in the sunshine.
Jarring is the train whistle’s whine,
we plunge into a dark tunnel.
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Green Hills [Lyric Poem]
So many hills I have seen
That grow so soft and thick and green.
Though jagged rocks sit down below
The grass and shrubs and weeds that grow
Through cracks and gaps, in mud patches --
Sprawling wide from tight-knit batches
That stone cannot constrain or kill.
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Surrender [Lyric Poem]
Let the flood sweep
one away — out
of the shallows,
into the deeps.
Don’t ever cry;
Don’t ever weep;
Just feel the speed
Carry one on.
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The Fray [Lyric Poem]
Rainy December day
blows in - not long to stay.
From season to season,
without any reason,
sometimes we feel the fray.
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Autumn [Lyric Poem]
The chill is here.
The sky never
bluer.
The colors turn,
with leaves ever
fewer.
Until a last
hanger-on yields
to a weak breeze.
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BOOK: “The Wanderer’s Song” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [trans. by John Kent]
The Wanderer’s Song: Essential Poems by Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Pushkin Press Classics
This is a new translation of select poems of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It’s a clever and varied set of poems by one of German literature’s all-time greats, a polymath of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
It can be a challenge for a general poetry reader to relate to this work. Over two hundred years since most of these poems were composed, the collection reflects a worldview quite different from that which one finds today. That said, the translations are readable and pleasant and don’t feel strained or clunky, and the collection has instances of sublimity. Having no background in German Literature, I can’t say how true the translations are to source material, but they stood solidly as poems in their own right. The book does offer a substantial introduction by the translator for individuals who are particularly interested in the German literature, translation decisions, or the life of Goethe.
I would recommend this for poetry readers, even though casual readers may find it a bit archaic. If you like the Romantic poets, and haven’t given Goethe a try, it’s well worth the time investment.
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Different Wavelengths [Lyric Poem]
The parrot stands, as if jilted.
The chipmunk sniffs, as if intrigued.
Parrot behaves ever so stilted.
Chipmunk is just hungry and fatigued.
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“Thou Strainest Through the Mountain Fern” (A Fragment) by William Wordsworth [w/ Audio]
Thou strainest through the mountain fern,
A most exiguously thin
Burn.
For all thy foam, for all thy din,
Thee shall the pallid lake inurn,
With well-a-day for Mr. Swin-
Burne!
Take then this quarto in thy fin
And, O thou stoker huge and stern,
The whole affair, outside and in,
Burn!
But save the true poetic kin,
The works of Mr. Robert Burn'
And William Wordsworth upon Tin-
Tern!
Tiger Riding for Beginners 