Poetry Thread !!

This was something I would always start with when I locked myself away at my altar.

I know you watch over me
Father of all the lands
And all that I will ever be
You are the first and the last
The watcher of all that lives
The guarder of all that dies.
The one eye'd God way up highh
Who rules the thy world and the skyy

Northern winds take my poem up highh
To the halls of glory in the skyy
So that it shall greet me open wiide
When my time has come to diee

Ich weiß, dass du auf mich aufpasst
Vater aller Länder
Und alles was ich jemals sein werde
Du bist der Erste und der Letzte
Der Wächter von allem was lebt
Der Wächter von all dem stirbt.
Der ein Auge würde Gott hoch hinaufführen
Wer regiert deine Welt und de Himmel

Nordwinde bringen mein Gedicht hoch
Zu den Hallen der Herrlichkeit am Himmel
Damit es mich weit offen grüßen soll
Wenn meine Zeit zu sterben gekommen ist

 

Either my translation matrix doesn't work very well, or someone needs to take a course in English

Der Wächter von allem was lebt
Der Wächter von all dem stirbt.

The guardian of everything that lives
The guardian of all dies.

 

don't blame my english.
it still makes sense.

 

belief is a choice

of infinite options

 

Actually a fun thing to do with translates is, start with a simple sentence.

"I am going to see how accurate this is"

Then run that through German, the covert the German to French, then do it again for 10 other languages before converting it back to English and see what you come up with lol.

Its like online Chinese whispers.

 

If I could, I'd take you down deep in a mountainside
And there together, yet alone, the two of us would hide.
I'd give you strength and shelter you -
Be all you'd ever need.
I'd be one of a thousand flowers
And you would be my seed.
I'd teach you daily that rains would come
And not to fear the snow.
I'd point you gently toward the sun
And slowly let you go.

By: pbr

 

Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

-Khalil Gibran

I always kind of wanted to use an excerpt from this poem for my wedding vows someday.

 

The Hymn Of Man (Khalil Gibran)

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

I have cleft the vast spaces of the infinite, and
Taken flight in the world of fantasy, and drawn nigh
To the circle of light on high.
Yet behold me a captive of matter.
I have hearkened to the teachings of Confucius,
And listened to the wisdom of Brahma, and sat
Beside the Buddha beneath the tree of knowledge.
Behold me now contending with ignorance and
Unbelieving.

I was upon Sinai when the Lord showed Himself
To Moses. By the Jordan I beheld the Nazarene's
Miracles. In Medina I heard the words of the
Apostle of Arabia.

Behold me now a prisoner of doubt.
I have seen Babylon's strength and Egypt's glory
And the greatness of Greece. My eyes cease not
Upon the smallness and poverty of their works.
I have sat with the witch of Endor and the priests
Of Assyria and the prophets of Palestine, and I cease
Not to chant the truth.

I have learned the wisdom that descended on
India, and gained mastery over poetry that welled
From the Arabian's heart, and hearkened to the
Music of people from the West.
Yet am I blind and see not; my ears are stopped
And I do not hear.

I have borne the harshness of insatiable
Conquerors, and felt the oppression of tyrants and the
bondage of the powerful.
Yet am I strong to do battle with the days.
All this have I heard and seen, and I am yet a
Child. In truth shall I hear and see the deeds of
Youth, and grow old and attain perfection and
Return to God.

I was,
And I am.
So shall I be to the end of time,
For I am without end.

 

Optimistic Man (Nazım Hikmet)

as a child he never plucked the wings off flies
he didn't tie tin cans to cats' tails
or lock beetles in matchboxes
or stomp anthills
he grew up
and all those things were done to him
I was at his bedside when he died
he said read me a poem
about the sun and the sea
about nuclear reactors and satellites
about the greatness of humanity

 

Farewell (Lorca)

If I die,
leave the balcony open.

The little boy is eating oranges.
(From my balcony I can see him.)

The reaper is harvesting the wheat.
(From my balcony I can hear him.)

If I die,
leave the balcony open!

 

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul to waste
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Oh, right
What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

 

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin'
I was layin' in bed
Wondrin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like
Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bank book wasn't big enough
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the east coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues
Gettin' through
Tangled up in blue
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder
We'll meet again some day
On the avenue
Tangled up in blue
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the axe just fell
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I was looking for to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind
And I just grew
Tangled up in blue
She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, Don't I know your name?
I muttered somethin' under my breath
She studied the lines on my face
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces
Of my shoe
Tangled up in blue
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
I thought you'd never say hello, she said
You look like the silent type
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And everyone of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Tangled up in blue
I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the cafés at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on
Like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue
So now I'm goin' back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters' wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in blue