two milky way wrappers
how long have they been sitting here?
the paint has worn off the c and the v on this keyboard
wedged between keyboard and monitor is a small roll of toilet paper
I am such a pig
there is the washing machine oxygen powder
I wondered what happened to it
three notebooks and a sketch pad are propped up next to my typing fingers
three pairs of readers lollygag around here
I am such a pig
At first we hid in our human shells,
Frail lanterns flickering in the dark,
A few still slipped through unseen doors,
Wings beating toward a brighter mark.
But soon the skies were sealed with stone,
The stars withdrew their silver keys,
We found ourselves confined to earth,
Like birds in branches without leaves.
Mars once bloomed with rivers clear,
Venus sang in a golden air,
Yet both were broken, hushed by fire,
By hands too old, too proud to care.
So here we dwell on soil and sea,
Prisoners bound by time’s command,
Dreaming of worlds that slipped away,
Ruins buried beneath the sand.
Yet still the blossoms burn with light,
And rain restores the weary ground,
The wind is free though we are not,
It lifts our hearts with airy sound.
For though the stars are far above,
And chains of history bind us fast,
The earth is more than bars and walls—
It offers beauty that can last.
If we must stay, then let us sing,
And love the hour before it dies,
For even prisons hold their grace,
And earth still mirrors paradise.
Well-groomed ye keep thy ample locks curly,
Thy tender big eyes stretch nigh up to ears,
O slender heavenly fairy,
Bright teeth on fair countenance endears,
Thy pearl garland adds to bosom’s beauty,
Everything ‘pon thee untainted appears
To cast upon us vibrations tranquil,
Strange, thou art to men such a passion pill.
_______________________
Translation | 23.08.2025 | beauty, passion, women
Note: Ottava Rima, eight lines in iambic pentameter, rhymed ABABABCC.
Here is a verse from Bhartrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). This one is in Shardul-vikridit meter. The verse says: O thou heavenly beauty, everything about thee is fair and fulsome. Ye cast vibrations that are pure and tranquil. All very well, but still, ye prove to us such a passionate pill. Here is the transliteration of the verse in Sanskrit:
Keshah sanyaminah shruteh api param param gate lochane,
Antar vaktram api svabhava shuchibhih kirnam dvijanam ganaih |
Muktanam satata adhivasa ruchirau vakshoja kumbhavima,
Vittham tanvi vapuh prashantam api te kshobham karoti eva nah || 15 ||
i smile at people all day long
young and old
fat or skinny
abled or disabled
strange looking or plain as can be
it’s all the same
but when it comes to me
too fat too wrinkled too old
i’m full of criticism
and i can hardly bear
to glance into the mirror
if this would be a friend
confiding in me
i would be appalled
i would shake them and
tell them they’re crazy
and to snap out of it
so hear me, you be my witness ~
i’m committing here and now
to wear my grandmother’s ring
(the most beautiful woman in the world)
to remind me beauty is in the heart
we should remember always
that kindness is what’s beautiful
and keep that earwig in our ear
I like you, I like you, I like you alot
Is it just me or is it getting hot?
Red boots, black jeans, black top, cat's meow
Give me that milk and I'll drink it right now
A smile that causes this man's heart to melt
Eyes that are piercing, your gaze can be felt
A trip out to Nashville, one afternoon there
Listening to music, in my mind a pair
Living my dream of enjoying a day
Out with you, how I so wanted to stay
But think and remember I do every night
What a pleasure it was, you were such a delight
It's context, Baby! context,
As each day is made.
What it be, is what you want to see,
What you're wearin', who's a carin',
Sets the tone, the contrast zone, on canvas sown.
By the beholder a wearin' rosy shades,
Making it what you want to feel,
As such, a beautiful day dawns.
The first time you kissed me, it was such a shock,
I literally saw time stop on the old kitchen clock.
But before you accuse me of over-the-top flattery,
let me assure you, it turned out to be just a dead battery.
And once replaced, time started again with the same old tick-tock.
I don't want to live in such a town
(with up so floating many bells down).
where noone's respected,
and anyone's rejected,
and strangers are shunned ~ red, yellow, and brown.
"i know nobody, how about you?”
“omg, yes! ~ i know nobody too!"
and then our worlds became so much better,
because nobody had brought us together,
and who woulda thought that that was something that nobody could do?
I just wanted the world to know that this was not me
And i am not her
It was never me so long as i know her
I am not the one to blame so seen as her vision centers upon me
And only me
So see this vision is not mine but in my stead the prophecy seen by her eyes
So long as the world can see she is not me and i am not her
They may believe she was only here to decieve
They shall believe that i was never to blame
They will see that we are not the same
9//2//25
Imagine a place
Where no discrimination exists
Where there is no topic of color or race
Imagine a place
Devoid of judgment and despair
Devoid of criticisms, differences, and nasty glares
Imagine a place
That doesn’t compare
The way we walk and what we wear
In this place, it does not matter
The texture of smoothness or roughness of hair
In such a place, all would be fare
In knowing that the root is the commonality we share
that will always connect us to the skin we bear
Sue’s nine-year-old husky Blue wanted to drive
she laughed and said “not while I’m alive!”
The next time I saw them, he was in her lap.
Driving her Caddy; she said “I am such a sap!”
Her children have all bested her in many ways too.
A really weak sister is my neighbor Sue.
Where fruits and flower trees they fell,
And safeguard thorny trees so well;
Peacocks, swans and cuckoos are killed,
Crows are offered a safety shield;
Tusks and donkeys as alike scaled,
Camphor equal with cotton held;
Where such a logic holds its clout,
From such a land let me bow out.
_________________________
Translation |18.08.2024| rhyme, people, trees
The Sanskrit verse:
chhedah chandana-choota-champaka vane rakshaa api shaakhotake,
himsaa hamsa-mayoora-kokila kule kaakeshu nitya-aadarah |
maatangena khara-krayah sama-tulaa karpoora-kaarpaasayoh,
eshaa yatra vichaaranaa gunigane deshaaya tasmai namah ||
It's often been conjectured, though I've seen no one prove it.
What do we need, from our lexicon, to remove it?
To disprove it, it would be sufficient - more than ample,
simply to supply a single counterexample.
Now, thank God, we have it, and it's indisputable.
A question who's stupidity is immutable.
So now, friends and colleagues, I offer this suggestion:
let's no longer say, "there's no such thing as a dumb question".
some people type right into the computer
I never thought I would be one of them, but I am
At this second I am sitting my car, writing on a clipboard
As the words appear, I realize how Gemini I am
Words appear in three ways – cursive, print and shorthand
Wait. Four ways, some are abbreviated with periods
If I knew a foreign language, I am sure I would throw that in too
I am such a Gemini!
If this world were not such a sweet lure
Pulling me in like earth’s gravity,
And for long-- many a life’s allure,
To get trapped being man’s destiny,
And this life being a virtual dream
In a world ever so elusive,
If dreams dreamt were not real as we deem,
Who’d even dream in this world to live?
Yet, in this life’s ‘river of return’,
Though dreams dreamt turn to be all so vain,
Man returns-- I know not what to earn--
As if by the very return train.
And God casts His loaded dice again,
Sure, not a single dice falls in vain.
___________________________
Sonnet | 02.03.08, revised July 2024 | life, Maya
Port’s note: That these conflicts and contradictions of world called Maya continue to confuse an average seeker is not in doubt. What is not clear is how he reacts to them. Let the wise say, this world is vain. Vain maybe for man, not for Destiny. The sonnet is set in anapaest meter.
Related Poems