Far off Constellations
David J Walker
It’s not me
It’s the judgment
I never see
But can still hear
The chitter chatters
Of muffled voices
That scatters into
A bust of Swahili
Or Farsi
Or Gaelic
for all that matters
I can clearly hear it in my head
Those words
That might have been said
Might have lied
Might have died in cooler
Midnight air
Never to be mentioned or
remembered again
It’s not me
It’s the bubbles with
Those words I see
And can read
in a race
Floating off into
Outer space
On a collision course with
Far off constellations
My goldfish Finster Darcy
Speaks English but not Farsi
He has an education
And moral reputation
He does kung-fu better than you
He's such an inspiration.
WAKING
I woke from a dream
to a clear mellow voice floating
through the valley like the sacred
oscillation of a singing prayer bowl,
the reverberating ring of its braided
harmonics as sharp as the blue of a
January sky and round as the full moon
reveling in the presence of sunlight
at night – an irresistible voice, guiding
the listener through snowfall and fog
toward a luminous glow in a mysterious
clearing on a forested hill, where the
song is in Farsi and the woman who sings
wears a caftan of crimson surrounding her
voice in a bright red caress, her head
slightly lifted, the fire of her faith but a
small endless flame, the soft light so
perfect that the only recourse for the
reticent soul is to break down and cry, to
kneel down and pray, and be visited by
Allah in this wonderful way, in this
wonderful place, at this
wonderful time!
Emanuel Carter
Brother Iran
by Michael R. Burch
Brother Iran, I feel your pain.
I feel it as when the Turk fled Spain.
As the Jew fled, too, that constricting span,
I feel your pain, Brother Iran.
Brother Iran, I know you are noble!
I too fear Hiroshima and Chernobyl.
But though my heart shudders, I have a plan,
and I know you are noble, Brother Iran.
Brother Iran, I salute your Poets!
your Mathematicians!, all your great Wits!
O, come join the earth’s great Caravan.
We’ll include your Poets, Brother Iran.
Brother Iran, I love your Verse!
Come take my hand now, let’s rehearse
the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
For I love your Verse, Brother Iran.
Bother Iran, civilization’s Flower!
How high flew your towers in man’s early hours!
Let us build them yet higher, for that’s my plan,
civilization’s first flower, Brother Iran.
Published by MahMag (translated into Farsi by Mahnaz Badihian), Other Voices International, Thanal Online (India), Deviant Art, Portal Vapasin (Farsi)
Negligent
Wake that beauty, she who stole my sense and sleep,
Put that deer herself in nets she's wrought so deep;
If my sleeping luck were not unkind like her,
Would I do so much her laxing ways to alter.
Could it be her loveliness will take a loss,
If like nightingales her flowerbed I cross?
No, narcisus, you may go mad with distress,
You would never match her languid eyes, confess.
Rare fortune, if it happens to embrace her rare charm,
To, perchance, sweeten my days of disappointment in her arm!
What's the harm in Nature's vast and lovely sweep,
If I also toward her charming meadows creep?
If in this gamble, I'm not allowed my whole being to bet,
Win or lose, rotten the deal, cast is the die, and fixed the set!
Abul Qasem Ghazanfar
Translated from the original Farsi
by the author.
Wild fighting
and thousands made homeless
or
killed
As the song goes "When will they ever learn?"
I have only been to Israel
Never one of the Arabic or Farsi
speaking nations
Let peace be all the people's wish
in that troubled region
As a poet I suppose I
have little influence there
But to use a Tolkienesque phrase
I - and all of you writers out there in the darkness
Are troubling the counsels of the "wise and the great"
Avanti si dice che e' cosi' bella
Farsi capire, altre espresioni temporali
Si gli alberi cha parlano
Mi dicono del suo dolore
UN' ombra si insinua che
Detiene ancora I cercano
Luce e cume si trova vita ci parla ancora una volta
La foglie fanno apparire La
Immagini della sua faccia
A tease me con la sua brazza de odio
Tale è la media ma bella donna
Tutti messo mai le politiche guarda questo vedi. Verso e Jack
Ghetto secondo me un campione come punteruoli stick nulla nel ghetto Bella meglio credo da truci gangster prevalere In sobborghi americani
MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR
TO ALL MY FELLOW POETS
ALL OVER THE WORLD!!
FARSI - Christmas-e-shoma Mobarak Bashad
FRENCH - Joyeux Noel
GREEK - Kala Christouyenna
GERMAN - Froehliche Weihnachten
ITALIAN - Buone Feste Natalizie
LATIN - Natale hilare et Annum Faustumi
NAVAJO - Merry Keshmish
BRAZILIAN - Boas Festes e Feliz Ano Novo
SPANISH - Feliz Navidad
URDU - Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
HINDI - Shub Naya Baras
AND
HAPPY HANUKKAH
HAPPY KWANZA
I want to say thank you
In some of the languages of the world
To all the soup members
For you have helped my heart to twirl
You've add bits of humor, rhythm, and definitely some rhyme
From writings on many topics when you have the time
Thank you (English)
Muchas gracias (Spanish)
Danke schoon (German) Suppose to have two dots on top of the schoon but I don't
know how to do that
Merci beaucoup (French)
Arigato gozaimasu (Japanese)
Grazie (Italian)
Topadh leibh (Scottish Gaelic)
Toda raba (Hebrew)
Mamnoon (Farsi (Persian))
Spasibo (Russian)
Liels paldies (Latvian)
Efharisto poli (Greek)
Toa chie or Xie Xie (Chinese)
Shukran gazilan (Arabic)
Obrigado (Portugese)
Mahalo nui loa (Hawaiian)
In a round about way this came from the internet. If any are wrong correct me . If
you can add some put it in the comments box. Everything we learn helps us to
grow.
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.