You tell me that silence
is nearer to peace than poems
but if for my gift
I brought you silence
(for I know silence)
you would say
"This is not silence
this is another poem"
and you would hand it back to me.
- Leonard Cohen
~~~
All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -
Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.
- Vikram Seth
~~~
Maybe he believes me, maybe not.
Maybe I can marry him, maybe not.
Maybe the wind on the prairie,
The wind on the sea, maybe,
Somebody, somewhere, maybe can tell.
I will lay my head on his shoulder
And when he asks me I will say yes,
Maybe.
- Carl Sandburg
~~~
Callops, i've always been a frequent visitor to your blog. not sure why. perhaps cos you are so beautiful. perhaps cos we can NEVER have a chemistry between us. perhaps cos you quote things i'd want to be quoted. (for instance you pulled Vikram Seth out of the blue when i thought i introduced him to you :)... perhaps!!
ReplyDeleteall you sleep tonight is a classic. a mind-****. a charisma. en enchantment. a glory. a life. whateva.
here's sth i loved equally well, courtesy Vik. Seth (the one who couldn't control his character:)-
title: THE THEY
They have left me the quiet gift of fearing.
I am consumed by fear, chilling and fearing.
I shiver at night. I cannot sleep. I burn
By night, by day, I tremble. They return.
They bear an abstract laser to destroy
Love-love and Live-live, little girl and boy.
Thus my heart jolts in fear. For they are known
To liquidate the squealers, sparing none.
Needless to say, the death is always looking long.
I weep to think of it; I am not strong.
Who are the They? Why do they act this way?
Some of us know, but no-one dares to say.
-Vikram Seth
p.s- i was distraught at the bomb-blast at RIMS, Imphal today. Give me a stengun and I'll teach these bastards a thing or two... if sth happens to my beloved, i'd put the whole valley on fire.. i swear...
I didn't know that abt RIMS....hey I hope your beloved is ok too. It takes a bomb to finally prise out her existence & location, I see. Tsk tsk the secrets ppl can keep :P
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful poem. You seem to know a lot more lovely poetry than I do btw but then that's to be expected cos you're one yourself.
Oh and I just came across this poem by Ben Okri and thought you'd like it.
ReplyDeleteThey say
Love grows
When the fear of death
Looms.
They say
Courage looms
When the fear
Of never loving again
Disappears
In the smell of the enemy
Who crushes us so much
We can only fight.
Love and courage grow together
When the flesh is rawest
And the spirit charged.
And distorted within the nightmare
We see the possibility
Of a future.
now that's a lovely poem Callops... and how can I be so dumb and rude with my previous comment? (all that science stuff :)
ReplyDeletebelieve me.. a bottle of white rum down, secrets start flying out and you only repent later :)
in this case, thank goodness i didn't post a photo of us :)
somebody would have killed me.
and this Ben Okri stuff is amazing... mind posting me an anthology?
So all that science stuff was just the wine talking? Ouch. Remind me to put down every effusion and opening up of secrets on your part in future to some added element in your bloodstream ;)
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I didn't know either that Okri was a poet. I have a novel of his called The Famished Road which I can't make head or tail of btw and I thought he wrote only prose all along. You can check out http://www.cdra.org.za/creativity/Poems%20from%20An%20African%20Elegy.htm
for further samples of his poetry.