Tag: poetry

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Let Us Be Still

Unsplash, NRKbeta

This poem seems most appropriate on this New Year’s Eve 2016, at least for a friend or two who speak German and perchance for some unknown visitor wer Deutsch spricht. Surprisingly, I could find this poem nowhere online among the many works of Maria Dutli-Rutishauser. So I copied it from an Italian poetry quarterly : Voci Nuove: Quaderni de Poesia Contemporanea, No. 64, April 1967. Why do I have this little book? I have a poem published therein, but in English, not German. Also, vorwärts auf Deutsch! Oh, this poem is most relevant if you happen to be camping.

November
von Maria Dutli-Rutishauser

Lasst uns stille werden
da das Jahr vergeht.
Wir sind wie der Nebel
der im Tale weht.
Flüchtig ist der Tage
kurzer Sonnenschein.
Über eine Weile
wird es Winter sein.
Wie ein Schleier senkt sich
Wehmut auf die Welt.
Lasst uns stille werden –
warm sind Herd und Zelt.

 

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Blog

Wisdom Day 21 May 2016: Listening

Chapter 21 of Proverbs had super high impact for me today. The Message translation and the delivery by Kelly Ryan Dolan really grab me every time. Wow! Lots of wisdom! Check it out. Would love to hear what you think. Here’s one stand-out passage:

Simpletons only learn the hard way,
    but the wise learn by listening. (The Message: Book of Proverbs Chapter 21, Verse 11,)

Listening to what? To wisdom! Not to muckrakers, duh! And there’s no lack of muck being raked this campaign season. It’s hard to avoid. The solution? Try Jocko Podcast and snag some wisdom. It’s free.

If you prefer learning the hard way, though, that works, too. Believe me, the school of hard knocks is a great teacher but not cheap, sort of a life-long student loan:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
(Quatrain LI, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám)

Loans may be paid back. Some foolishness, though, can never be undone. May we each one think, speak, prioritize and execute in humility and wisdom today. Blessings on you, Jocko bros and sis’.

BTW, I just discovered what seems to be an excellent edition of the Rubáiyát on Amazon. Worth checking out even if you already have another version. As to Proverbs, Chapter 21 from The Message is definitely worth a listen at Bible Gateway.

 

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Blog

Eve of Everything

The Eve of Everything Now

On this last day we unfurl wings
of mind, memory, imagination:
eagle-hummingbird-butterfly-bees,
mythical concatenation creatures
of all that soars, darts, flutters,
visits flowers and great heights.

We soar the winds not taken,
transformed forever,
in an instant,
forever changed,
and changing everything,
forever.

Frostian ages hence,
we will know,
though earth forget,
we were the difference.
Going ungentle,
we changed it all.

You and I,
and you and she,
and he and I,
us, more and more of us,
in fractal waves
rising, pulsing, welling up
through space and time.

We were and are
creation’s divine dance
beyond our span of life
until creation is not
and time is not
and forever is not
out there,
but right here,
right now,
forever.

And we were!
She and he,
you and I,
myriad links expanding
in spheres of every light.

And we are,
you and I, present
in the last grain
of the ultimate day,
in the last null span
of the eternal point
between was and will be.

We were
and are!
Every action,
every inaction,
every decision,
every indecision,
changing everything
forever.
Thus we were
and always are
the eve of everything.

© 2015, A. Allen Rowe, Ph.D.

This is v2.0, the 2016 edition, of the original poem and contains numerous changes.
For Steve M, Anton, Brenden, Bart and all those who make a difference. Thank you.

Categories
Blog Poetry

Thalia Zumba Star

La niña sale bailar

I wrote this for my wife Thalia in 2010. Today LA Fitness called her. They will audition her for a position as Zumba instructor at their Las Colinas location. So indeed, ¡”la niña sale bailar”!

La Niña Sale Bailar
© 2010, A. Allen Rowe, para Thalía

Le interesa la clase de danza árabe.
Hay ballet pero sus horarios no se acomodan.
Dice que necesita bajar de peso.
No lo creo.
Su belleza es clásica, no de hoy,
belleza de poder, vitalidad y pasión,
no floja, débil, o corrupta,
belleza de Rubens y no de publicidad.
Pero su mente susurra lo contrario,
para justificarse a si misma
y a los demás.

Este pretexto esconde la verdad.
¿la verdad? . . . su corazón tiene otra razón:
quiere liberar la niña.

De pequeña, su corazón ordenó al cuerpo de bailar.
Como niña, su alma ardía de expresarse
con música, ritmos, y danza,
a festejar nueva vida
explotando de alegría.

Sus circunstancias no lo permitieron,
e hicieron presa su alma.

Pero hoy, felicitaciones, señorita.
La niña sale de su cárcel.
La niña sale bailar.

La niña sale bailar
La niña sale bailar

 

Categories
Poetry

Last demise

Last demise

Some draw up,

Some draw down,

Some draw in,

And some draw out.

Some draw attention,

And some draw flies.

What do you draw

In your last demise?

What do you draw

But the attention

Of flies?

© 2013, A. Allen Rowe