What creature is this that cometh near
His luggage filled to the brim with fear
Crushing our lives, crushing our beliefs
O whence for me shall bring only griefs
What of the men whom now weep?
What of the woman buried alive in their sleep?
What of the children who once stood brave?
Their minds controlled their souls enslaved
The baneful trumpets sound one by one
Can you hear them or are you numb?
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Come undone?
Or shall you overcome?
Overcome, overcome
Filled to the gunwale are the guns
The creature of the swamp now runs
He runs all things and everyone
The children now walk the plank
All hope sank, hopes sank
The baneful trumpets sound one by one
Can you hear them or are you numb?
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Come undone?
Shall you overcome?
Overcome, overcome
Will you fear the creature of doom?
Will you come undone?
Shall you overcome?
Overcome, shall overcome
Divine Comedy written by the famous, Dante Alighieri
A writer, a poet, and a philosopher with his own theory
Still hard to understand after 700 years
Listening to it in Italian brings tears to your eyes, that’s clear.
It took thirteen long years to complete
As you read about his first love, Beatrice Portinari, so sweet
Went to her grave with his love unrequited
He understood the love he held for her, which ignited
A poem, a line, he saw a lake under his feet
Midway upon the journey of our life is where he started his poem, so rife
They say the first three lines of this work are so well known
That even many who have never read it can recite them - it has been shown.
Temporal Dilettante Journalist
David J Walker
no-thing need not name the nameless
breaks the morning in disguise
shakes the shame and wakes the shameless
quench tormented turbid eyes
the bootless errand realized
who shakes the hand but shuns the banquet
a polymath of nullity
a picnic spread on follies blanket
the argot of a fervent plea
omnifarious frivolity
dante sings symphonic anthems
measured meters latin chants
pardons plied to paphian sanctions
the queen retorts in satin rants
a paupers portion the monarch grants
bemoans the message minimalized
High upon the fridge was he.
A handsome ebony cat hides secretly.
He awaits the perfect prey.
Dante lays with one eye open all day.
His dark fur hiding him in the shadows atop the fridge ,no one dare see!
Swoosh opens the front door and in comes a fly.
He awakens spotting the intruder with his one open eye.
A sudden flip sends him out through the air.
His shiny dark coat on radar for a chair.
So funny to watch him land on the fly.
I laughed so hard until I just cried!
She was, existed, amongst other women, for love’s sake
When my eye caught her sight, my spirits left
This corpse of mine: soul theft
My remains, were shaking, trembling: earthquake
My soul looked down upon my flesh quite rotten
My hand begged for support from a wall
Beatrice the loveliest of all
Somewhat cruel. She laughed, at my meat forgotten
Then life within that floating soul
Found its way back into me, a man
I was awake, not dead, and whole
Many tears I had to weep, when towards home I ran
At my desk, me being apparently a fool
I wrote a sonnet, of consolation, its feeble tool
One dark and stormy night, when half my life lay behind me ?I wandered from the straight and narrow path too far.
And took my heart for a ship’s compass
All through the darkness, I followed no course, no path but my own. ?
With only unlimited darkness before me
Above that darkness, there was no guiding star. ?
That had once guided kings and shepherd alike. ?
When you are born blind only the darkness can see your way.
While death’s cold hands pluck at one's terrors and fears.?
Gladly the dreads I felt are too dire to retell,
The hopeless, pathless, lightless times forgotten,
I turn my tale to that which next befell,
When the true dawn opened
and the dark night was no longer my guide.
Paraphrased from the opening to Dante's Inferno.
What do they want to know
About me?
I'm fun loving, charismatic
A strong Leader
Who's Diplomatic
Never ask for much
I handle mines
By any "means"
I Can read between the lines
I'm the one people Love
I'm the flower that rose "above"
Concrete
I mastered streets
I made it out
without A chance of defeat
You may trap my body
But never my soul
Longs the world know who I became
I accomplished my goal
My name is Dante Reed Jr.
I'm From Baltimore
Born and Raised
A child of four siblings
Who made it through tough days
I am 24
But to you that's just a number
To me this an age of success
That may keep the people wondering
Longs i have the help of my creator
Who never sleep or slumber
I can truly say i made it
And my age is just A number
I'm so thankful and bless
To be here
I'm the Man who stands firm
And my GOD Is who I fear
Dante Reed Jr.
Rossetti, master painter - poet.
His works inspired by the Bible
and classic literature.
Oils of jewel tones
suffuse his canvas.
Italian name.
London born.
Artist.
Skilled.
Dante Rossetti (born May 12, 1828, London, England—died April 9, 1882, Birchington-on-Sea, Kent), English painter and poet who helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of painters treating religious, moral, and medieval subjects in a nonacademic manner. Dante Gabriel was the most celebrated member of the Rossetti family.
November 23, 2015
Favorite Poet Contest
Sponsor: Nayda
Deep the Divine Comedy here,
Adjust your gaze and find the way;
Note footsteps fine that seek paths clear,
Trials in a maze through night and day,
Echo lost souls in wayward chimes.
Attend to signs in fiery space;
Look to unfold means in vague rhymes,
Indulge in kind passage and grace;
Glimpses of hope where faith knows best,
Hell fire enroute purgatory;
Induce the scope where love works quest,
Enter the road now heavenly;
Rise to the way straight and narrow,
Intuit fine stray: Eden's meadow.
Leon Enriquez
04 May 2015
Singapore
TO DANTE ALIGHIERI
As a student I found passion
Not in jocks, which was the fashion—
but in Dante and his time
his haunting tale in perfect rhyme
what a mind--- what a brain
modern guys just complain
Dante my first major crush
You set the bar to make me trust
That truth and beauty do exist
Bequeathed my heart's poor pen persist
Betrothed as a child Florentian's law
You loved a woman that you saw
By chance in public on the street
You were lightning on your feet
Wonder of a man you were--
All your life with thoughts of her
mad love for Bea-- romance afar
This love bizarre survived a war
Your published work sings just of her
Your wedded life seems like a blur--
Maintained your children's adoration
through long years of separation
Oh, most daunting was your child
Adoring you through days most wild
And when you lost your wealth and fame
She took nun vow's and donned Bea's name
And through amazing life and verse
You’ve taught me nothing can be worse
Than losing dignity and heart---
All valiant souls survive fresh starts.
He felt his heart awaken
When he saw Beatrice
Coming towards him
One verse was pursuing another verse-
One bliss was pursuing another bliss,
Mysterious like a moon kiss
The sky above Florence was so bright
While his star was dancing every night
Life is a divine commedy
Rarely is it Paradise
Sometimes it can seem like Purgatory
But mostly it appears to be an Inferno.
I am not yet halfway along my life's path
But I have already abandoned all hope.
Assailed by wild beasts
I wonder......
Will I ever be recognised
As a great man?
Like 'The Supreme Poet'
Shining like a bright star.