O soil of Gaza, within your belly lie the souls of our children,
Their flesh you consumed without a conscience,
Their blood runs deep into your hidden streams,
Yet you boast of swallowing their tender bones.
You paved a path for our their deformed limbs,
Without pity, you grant their innocence a bed.
We weep, yet you pretend our tears are sweat,
While you take joy in burying our children.
The bombs they hurl on your blossoms explode,
Cutting lives short, dismissing our children's future.
You turn their gun-shattered bodies into your fertility,
But of what use, when their limbs lie withered?
O soil of Gaza, vomit out the souls of these children,
—
in innocence they entered your gluttonous belly.
Their days are better above you than within you,
So why did you allow your greed to take them away?
You're Playin'
Bad-Meantin'
With Your TOYS
Again, Hon'!??
-Gray Squirrel
09-08-2025
Stay focused Australia..Do not follow extremists.' Hold your nerve.'
And the centre ground.'
T W O T'S IN the media and on the bench.'
Black as sin, are the gowns that are meant
To instill fear.' Well they give me a laugh like
Bad theater actors..They have no heart.' For
The art.' No realization of reality.' Hell must
Be their room of rest.? When they gather do
They swagger.? And compare of whom they have
Robbed the most.' Then there are T W O T''s
In the police force..we find our most unfriendly clots' but they are best described in homogeny ( just label them all as (t w o t s)
O Rhyme! how I express my joy in thee;
but sorrow drains desire, and grace received,
depriving me of your vivacious sea
of gilded imagery. I deceived,
for happiness and cheer leap from my page:
though melancholy, the womb of all odes,
the false bliss which bloomed in the soil of rage,
doomed me, and love, to life's despondent roads.
But I, both human and bard, now declare:
brave words inspired, but deep insight brought pain.
Like diamonds, forged by pressure and fine care,
bright hope reflect'd its glory, then healed my brain.
Hence, my rhymes, sung with new elation's blood,
build heaven on earth where only hell has stood.
O flowers, your soul is so beautiful,
I would like to know you all,
You populate so many vast gardens,
Your silences are filled with treasures,
O flowers, I cannot name all of you,
Neither compare you,
Petunias, Magnolias, orchids,
You undo my chains with a single attraction,
O benevolent angels, you offend no one,
A rose alone in a blue vase
Change the life of a painter, or the fate of the world,
O flowers, how to end my life without loving you?
O flowers, how would my poem end
If you didn’t exist?
Pining for long, O longing heart,
If smacked art thou by a beauty,
If rocked by her assets thou art,
Should any charming face sway thee,
Earn first good deeds her to deserve,
Desires on their own seldom serve.
__________________________
Translation (sestet*) | 24.08.2025 | beauty, heart, women
*Wonder, if it can be called a Sestetto Rima-- iambic meter with a rhyme scheme of ABABCC.
Note: Here is a verse from Bhartrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). This verse is in Vasanta-tilakaa meter. It says: if ye cherish a beauty, she must be deserved first. Here is the transliteration of the verse in Sanskrit:
Tasyaah stanau yadi ghanau jaghanam cha haari,
Vaktram cha chaaru tava chittam kim aakulatvam |
Punyam kurushva yadi teshu tava asti vaañchaa,
Punyaih vinaa na hi bhavanti sam ihita-arthaah || 20 ||
With just one sharp look she dares and defies,
You still call a woman vulnerable,
She casts lethal darts with enticing eyes,
And still…, poets you seem inscrutable,
When conquer can she e’en gods heavenly,
How helpless, wonder I can she e’er be.
_____________________________
Translation (sestet*) | 22.08.2025 | poets, women
*Wonder, if it can be called a Sestetto Rima-- iambic meter with a rhyme scheme of ABABCC.
Note: Here is a verse from Bhartrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). This one is in Vasanta-tilaka meter. Here he questions the wisdom of some great poets who call a woman ablaa, helpless one. She possesses immense power to command over men with the beauty she enjoys. Even gods of heaven are no exception. How can she helpless ever be? Here is the transliteration:
Noonam hi te kavi-varaa vipareeta-bodhaa
Ye nityam aahuh abalaa iti kaamineeh taah |
Yaabhih vilolatara taaraka drshti paataih
Shakra aadaya api vijitaah tu abalaa katham taah ||
Am I on an island launching bottles out to sea
beached at the waterline will someone rescue me
I'm drowning not waving as the boats go by
abandoned at high tide does anyone hear my cry
here am I sad to say writing messages in the sand
marooned a lonely castaway will somebody lend a hand
if I'm on an island will my ship come in
or has it run aground did it go down
with only thoughts of you to keep me alive
when will my ship ever arrive
here on an island sending signals from the shore
stranded high and dry will no one hear my call
found my freedom a big mistake I made
there's not another living soul around
loneliness the price I paid
and my tears are the only sound
if only my time I could rewind
but am I really on a deserted island
or is it only in my mind
"The moon’s crescent is prescient"
sigh I to my love
"presaging this lovely night's evanescence"
"Your eloquence is senescent"
she parodies
O' merciful O merciful full of American turmoil
Swallow me up maybe many and fight against me what kind of child of God am I
A child I am afraid
I will trust in thee alone
O' God I will praise His word and God
I have put my trust in you God I will
Not fear flesh can do unto me so the world may surround me down
I am greater than them together
My God and I shall wait for my soul
But they shall escape by iniquity
Invite anger cast down the people of God
My God shall deliver me you don't anger me
Cast down the world with people O' God
7/30/25
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2025©
I caught me a Dingo
I named that dog Bingo
He was no more than three
He watched o'er my nippers
And fetched me my slippers
What a good dog was he
One day while out walking
I heard people talking
They were talking 'bout we
"Look at you and that dog"
"That cur smells like a hog"
"You should set that mutt free"
"Since you've more than one child"
"And him raised in the wild"
"It's not safe can't you see"
With their hearts full of lead
They then shot Bingo dead
Said "God meant it to be"
"Now you can just shoo"
"Before we shoot you too"
"Hang you high from this tree"
Defiled, I left wriggling
They smiled and left giggling
Guess the joke was on me
So later on that night
I grabbed gas can and light
To set Bingo's soul free
I crept up like a mouse
And I torched their damned house
Then danced 'round it with glee
Through dead flames and flashes
I gathered their ashes
And cast all out to sea
Now I take it with pride
That he sits by God's side
And chases his Frisbee
Sneaking through the graveyard
in the dead of night
to a hidden garden
in full moonlight
you want to be careful better beware
the fiery eyes
of the scarecrow's stare
if the spell is broken
you open Pandora's Box
and it's lights out
for the jack-o-lanterns
they're in for a nasty shock
you have to be careful better beware
the Halloween screams
of your worst nightmare
'cause something's jumping in the pumpkin patch
it's goblins going trick or treat
they're a-getting hungry
for something good to eat
Ever since we called thee as grief O Life,
Heavy hast thou turned, light as leaf O Life.
Not sprightly, but nigh painful do thou feel
As if ye climb up a stiff cliff O Life.
Hence, thought up I have this remedial pill:
To bestow thee boost of life brief O Life.
In this world, unfortunate seems just he
Who vies with thee with needles tiff O Life.
The long and short of life be this, O life,
As is with guest, so with life brief O life.
___________________________
Ghazal | 25.07.2025 | life, brief, grief
Ere I die, such a life give me, O God,
That I get unaware of me, O God,
So that my heart’s pain hover not on tongue,
Lifeless helplessness so heavy, O God,
That, on gulping oceans I go quenchless,
Give me quenchless quench so dreary, O God.
Give me downpours of pain, night of sorrows,
When did I say make me happy, O God?
Unknown to all, known to none, I remain,
Give me such madness so crazy, O God.
They all want to be happy in this world,
Did ye give happiness any, O God?
So, give me what ye give, madness crazy,
Only the mad seems happy be, O God.
__________________________
Ghazal |23.07.2025| prayer, life, irony
Note: Based on an Urdu piece by Harsh Brahmabhatt
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