tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75497819924531633182024-02-20T16:15:52.067+08:00bhairo in the morningDavid Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.comBlogger550125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-16072039763848360702021-10-18T05:59:00.001+08:002021-10-18T06:03:21.621+08:00La umanità nuova<p>Come the revolution our poems will all conform</p><p>to the deepest ideal within the heart of man</p><p>pure egalitarian esteem will become the norm</p><p>that nurtures each through a long fruitful lifespan</p><p>happenstance will join love's madcap caravan</p><p>time itself assuming a mode gentle & warm</p><p>violence will cease! & to the spiritual plan</p><p>come the revolution our poems will all conform</p><p><br /></p><p>Each event of life will be seen as a petal unfolding</p><p>in the perfect place at the choicest time & we</p><p>will be daily astounded how we're now beholding</p><p>blussful wave on wave in a boisterous sea of glee</p><p>humankind will at last have hit its winning spree!</p><p>like an alchemist whose crucible is a'golding</p><p>every thought being wreathed in gossamer poetry</p><p>each event of life will be seen as a petal unfolding</p><p><br /></p><p>That an age of intuition will emerge</p><p>to replace in time our era of rational thought</p><p>that of such a fresh chapter we're on the verge</p><p>that its rosy fragrance can e'en now be caught</p><p>that this is largesse from God not an ornament bought</p><p>at the TED Talk shop where oftentimes we'll splurge</p><p>is a pearl through hide & seek our souls have sought</p><p>that an age of intuition will emerge</p><p><br /></p><p>Now we find ourselves a'sail on a novel voyage</p><p>over waters dark toward an unknown haven of landing</p><p>like a couple cloistered in their wedding carriage</p><p>like a newborn who must crawl in lieu of standing</p><p>like a slumberous dreamer suddenly at the ending</p><p>of a nightmare like a vessel amid the boyage</p><p>of an unknown port with darkling dusk descending</p><p>now we find ourselves a'sail on a novel voyage</p><p><br /></p><p>We assume the ego's conflicts are required</p><p>to push forward in the narrative of our lives</p><p>& the same expanded keeps society fired</p><p>for the thrust that drives our buzzing social hives</p><p>yet the ones who into Unity's ocean dive</p><p>when they surface bring a vision so inspired</p><p>it retools the route whereby our thoughts arrive</p><p>to assume the ego's conflicts are required</p><p><br /></p><p>Humankind is ready for a complete reboot!</p><p>like a noisy day that's ready for night's hush</p><p>like a wilted flower ready for fine fruit</p><p>like a gambler waiting for his royal flush</p><p>like a Californian in a new Gold Rush</p><p>like a milkmaid hearkening Lord Krishna's flute</p><p>like a field well sown awaiting verdure lush</p><p>humankind is ready for a complete reboot!</p><p><br /></p><p>That the New Humanity can become our reality</p><p>Is a point worth adding to our computations!</p><p>yes we've weathered many a scrape in rough duality</p><p>having scuffled through a myriad reincarnations</p><p>yet of revelations meriting contemplations</p><p>let us use (to quote Cole Porter) our mentality</p><p>& review Meher Baba's bright prognostications</p><p>that the New Humanity can become our reality</p><p><br /></p><p>////////////////////</p><p>This rather ambitious poem contemplates the topic of "the New Humanity" (as described and predicted by Meher Baba in a discourse with that title, first published I believe in the late 1930s).</p>David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-87926595045110293892021-01-05T04:30:00.003+08:002021-01-05T05:00:41.861+08:00"Of gentle maidens" [translated from the Shi Jing]<p><span style="color: #660000; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of gentle maidens she most fair
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">awaits me by the wall's corner
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">she I love but see not there
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">I scratch my head –</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">a forlorner
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Of gentle maidens she most comely
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">brings a red-hued reed to me
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">the red-hued reed indeed is lovely
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">pleasing is the girl's beauty
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">
She yields from the meadow a soft leaflet
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">truly lovely! yea 'tis rare
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">not that thou art comely but
</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">thou art the gift of one most fair</span></span></p><div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span face="-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="font-size: 23px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">I first translated this poem more than 40 years ago. It came to mind today, and I've given it a fresh polish. My prior rendering of verse 1 had been:</span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">Of gentle maidens she most fair</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">awaits me by the wall I know</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">she I love but see not there</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">I scratch my head bewildered so</span></i></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">My new translation of line 2 is more literal, more accurate.</span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">If I recall correctly, Arthur Waley translated line 4 as:</span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">"</span><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">I scratch my head and pace up and down</span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">"</span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">The Shi Jing -- an anthology of ancient folksongs -- is traditionally believed to have been compiled by Confucius. He makes reference to some of the poems in some of his discourses. This courtship poem has always struck me as quite special. And I like how the poet addresses the leaflet-gift (in the 3rd stanza) directly.</span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">What sparked my recollection of this olden poem today? A terse </span><a href="https://twitter.com/pascalepalaces/status/1346168458766131202?s=20" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">tweet</span></a><span style="color: #0c343d;">:</span><br /></span><div><i><span style="color: #660000; font-size: medium;">"what is the theme of this poem" liking boy</span></i></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">Pascale/Palaces @pascalepalaces</span></i></div></div><div><i><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: medium;">10:55 AM · Jan 4, 2021</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div></div>David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-14762668460204214932020-12-31T02:15:00.002+08:002020-12-31T02:23:10.827+08:00ghazal for JANET FINE<font color="#551100">
Too soon for trips! don't leave this festive party<br />the moon's eclipse would grieve this festive party</font><div><font color="#551100"><br /></font></div><div><font color="#551100">we met along a road toward a rare concert<br />the tablas' taps retrieve this festive party<br /><br />you twirled in kathak as a whippersnapper
<br />must Rudra's steps re-weave this festive party?<br /><br />you found a manuscript on pleasing women<br />God's microfische conceived this festive party<br /><br />the dusk of palaces caught your affection<br />you threw Raj Pipla's eve this festive party<br /><br />you sliced my heart critiquing my first movie<br />don't seal your lips! nor leave this festive party<br /><br />I still have tales to tell! who'll understand me?<br />don't doubt my quips believe this festive party<br /><br />I won't be brief! I'll flourish my bandana!<br />I've got tricks up my sleeve this festive party<br /><br />the kiss of death they say is liberating<br />reluctant lips receive this festive party<br /><br />the smile of Tukaram lives in the painting<br />newspaper clips frame <i>Jiv</i> this festive party<br /><br />does Bollywood recall <i>one who first named her?</i><br />the skinnydips are brief this festive party <br /><br />Mumbai Cairo New York pearls for your piercing<br />low-budget trips don't peeve this festive party<br /><br />Ellen sends love from yon out at East Hampton<br />there's contretemps with Steve this festive party<br /><br />too swiftly time's page flits! we were still reading!<br />the boat tips and upheaves this festive party<br /><br />the ghazal's wit wraps love in lamentation<br />a form that fits the sleeve this festive party<br /><br />a million notes the soul jots on its journey<br />we've still chits to retrieve this festive party<br /><br />in Haridwar there's <i>aarti</i> morn & evening<br />trays wave as Shiv bereaves this festive party<br /><br />from Raphael accept gratitude's <i>bandish<br /></i>his note slips through the sieve this festive party
</font></div>David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-68228327896115546302020-12-27T03:24:00.033+08:002020-12-30T19:55:05.619+08:00"What birds express" by Han Shan (寒山)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What birds express my heart just cannot grapple with</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia;">at such times I'll recline in </span><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia;">my thatch hermitage</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">the peach & cherry blossoming scarlet-scarlet</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">the willow & poplar spangling slender foliage</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">the daybreak sun o'er-sailing azurite hills</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">the limpid clouds awash in the kelly ponds</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">who'd guess I pass beyond the dust of worlds</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">in swiftly ascending southerly Han Shan?</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">鳥 語 情 不 堪</span></span></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">其 時 臥 草 庵</span></span></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">櫻 桃 紅 爍 爍</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">楊 柳 正 毿 毿</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">旭 日 銜 青 嶂</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">晴 雲 洗 淥 潭</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">誰 知 出 塵 俗</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;">馭 上 寒 山 南</span></span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><h3><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">________________________</span></b></div></h3></div><p><span style="color: #0c343d;"><b>Some Notes</b><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">I've repeatedly worked at / polished my translation of the above poem (now & then) over the past 40 years or so.</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">This fresh rendering was instigated when I recalled a couple relevant couplets from the Han Shan poem, in the course of dashing out what became an almost-mini-essay (in the form of a twitter thread) late last night. The </span><a href="https://threader.app/conversation/1342717515294789632/3e2ZlKp4yM" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">impromptu Twitter essay</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> grew out of my (initially one-word) response to a one-sentence question posed by a literary acquaintance, Sridala Swami (who lives & writes in Hyderabad, India).</span></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanshan_(poet)" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Han Shan</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> (literally Cold Mountain) was an otherwise anonymous (except for his </span><i style="color: #0c343d;">nom-de-plume</i><span style="color: #0c343d;">) poet of Tang dynasty China, believed to have flourished in the 9th century AD. Evidently he may originally have been some sort of petty official, but apparently grew disgusted with worldly life and (like other seekers influenced by Chan / Zen Buddhism in that era) he precipitously withdrew from society, residing (as his collected poems attest) for at least 30 years as a hermit at the eponymous, remote mountain in Suzhou Province, where he took to meditation with his shadow as his sole companion (though sporadically he may've gone down to chat with another poet-recluse at a small temple below).</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">Gary Snyder </span><a href="https://terebess.hu/zen/chang/hanshan.html#a" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">translated</span></b></a> <b style="color: #0c343d;">line 1</b><span style="color: #0c343d;"> of the above poem as "I can't stand these bird songs"! About 40 years ago, I rendered that line as </span><b style="color: #0c343d;"><i>What birds express my heart cannot endure</i></b><span style="color: #0c343d;">. Till today, I've been satisfied with that version. Why did I alter the phrase? In intervening years, my sensibility has been schooled by exposure to Farsi / Urdu poetics, with those traditions' ubiquitous use of </span><b style="color: #0c343d;">baḥr</b><span style="color: #0c343d;"> [cadence] percolating into my poetry practice, this cadence principle impacting how I write in (or translate into) English in the past couple decades. Today, I felt I needed </span><u style="color: #0c343d;">line 1</u><span style="color: #0c343d;">'s cadence to better approximate </span><u style="color: #0c343d;">line 2</u><span style="color: #0c343d;">'s cadence. (And last night I newly re-settled on "thatch" [rather than "grass" or "rustic" etc.] for </span><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%8D%89" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">the character 草</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> cao.</span><span style="color: #0c343d;">)</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">Re: Snyder's rendering of <u>line 1</u>, there's an idiomatic truth to it (情不堪 qíng bùkān commonly signifies "I can't bear it"), while my old translation ("my heart cannot endure") is arguably more literal. If my latest rendering (w/ "grapple") invokes a new image, </span><i style="color: #0c343d;">c'est la vie</i><span style="color: #0c343d;">. I might add: I owe much to Snyder, whose Han Shan translations (along with </span><a href="https://terebess.hu/zen/chang/ColdMountain.pdf" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Burton Watson's</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> [that's a PDF link] invited me to read this exceptional poet in the original. I remember first stumbling on a small-edition, large-page printing of Snyder's </span><i style="color: #0c343d;">Cold Mountain Poems</i><span style="color: #0c343d;"> at erstwhile Shambhala Bookstore (on Shattuck Ave., Berkeley) in the 1970s. At times, such chance meetings with certain books can have long consequences. I think I only later (albeit not much later) began to appreciate Snyder's own work in its own right (but I digress).</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">In my above rendering of <b>line 4</b>, the poet's typical & beautiful & rigorous parallelism is admittedly partially obscured, for sake of affording a suggestion of the poet's <b><i>rhyming</i></b> (heard in the original); but I'd hasten to point the interested reader to my above-linked "essay" where I offer a more literal (& ergo a more elegantly <b><i>parallelistic</i></b>) translation of the parallelistic couplet (<u>lines 3-4</u>).</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">I might also add a caveat re </span><b style="color: #0c343d;">lines 3 & 4</b><span style="color: #0c343d;">: I'm not 100% sure "willow & poplar" represent (as they seem to) those two trees -- with ditto re: "peach & cherry"; or whether, contrarily, these phrases could've (at Han Shan's time) been, e.g., terms signifying a single (more specific) conifer & a single (more specific) fruit tree, respectively. Regarding such lexical questions, if UC Berkeley's late </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_H._Schafer" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Prof. Edward Schafer</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> were around, hypothetically he could've been pestered to address the issue (as he did many other obscure questions of Tang dynasty language in his writings). I only took one class from Prof. Schafer, and two classes from </span><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/152991097788220541" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Prof. Michel Strickmann</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> -- both of whom are now no more. The loss of olden associates (whether eccentric Sinologists or one's immediate family & friends) is a theme familiar in Han Shan's poetry -- as in life.</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">Re: </span><b style="color: #0c343d;">line 7</b><span style="color: #0c343d;">, the phrase 俗塵 súchén (which I render "the dust of worlds") is from the Buddhist lexicon. </span><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BF%97%E5%A1%B5" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">This Wiktionary note</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> </span><span style="color: #0c343d;">suggests its general meaning or connotation. To delve into this more deeply might require a new mini-essay. But not today.</span></p><p><span style="color: #0c343d;">p.s.: in my "essay" (comprised of tweets) I didn't bother to translate the Bengali utterance <b>Kolkatar Gaan, Kolkatar Pran</b> -- a motto I'd incessantly hear on radio, when living some weeks in Kolkata a dozen years ago. It means: </span><span style="color: #0c343d;">"Calcutta's song(s) / Calcutta's life-breath." </span><span style="color: #0c343d;">(But Sridala prob. didn't need a translation.) For sake of thoroughness, I append this footnote.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 18.72px;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>________________________</b></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br />This is my 1st blog post in abt. 20 months. Glad to be back to Bhairo in the Morning (in the morning). I'll offer hat-tips to Han Shan, Snyder, Watson, Professors Schafer & Strickmann, and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/sridala" target="_blank"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Sridala Swami</b></span></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> -- as well as new Twitter-met acquaintance </span><a href="https://twitter.com/josephlamport" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Joe Lamport</span></b></a><span style="color: #0c343d;"> -- for spurring this prodigal's return.<br /></span></div>David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-87420295886250261702019-04-07T00:26:00.001+08:002019-04-07T00:34:39.471+08:00Logging-Out [ghazal]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Simply to be at ease & not in pain seems such a blessing<br />
Simply to be not wholly down the drain seems such a blessing<br />
<br />
Requisite for accomplishment is nuts & bolts survival?<br />
Logging-out from concerns of loss & gain seems such a blessing<br />
<br />
Multiple worlds the tragicomic soul perforce traverses<br />
Knowing how God exists on every plane seems such a blessing<br />
<br />
From the first dawn far destiny was marked upon my forehead<br />
Feeling at length the marker's darkling stain<br />
seems such a blessing<br />
<br />
Somebody zoomed to storied heights? others fell off the radar?<br />
Walking the hushed prosaic earth again seems such a blessing<br />
<br />
Well you might ask that painter Raphael where did he wander?<br />
Somewhere he's grinding plants for paint: the twain<br />
seem such a blessing<br />
<br />
[April 5, 2019]<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-63155073143632952112017-05-20T23:20:00.002+08:002017-05-20T23:23:31.739+08:00Self-birthday Poem [May 20, 2017]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Today I'm sixty-one</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">the tale's still unfolding</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">the tangle's not yet done</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">does strife mellow when olding?</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">with silence quietly golding</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">life's joke might prove high fun</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">punchline not yet beholding</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">today I'm sixty-one</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">d.i. <span style="font-size: xx-small;"> [in Los Angeles]</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br /></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-79625289650303369592016-06-04T03:30:00.001+08:002016-06-04T15:51:50.737+08:00A Trio of Digital Incantations (impromptu)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><strong></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><strong>1. Copy & paste</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;">Copy & paste with gluten-free paste!<br />Pixilate pixilate! hurry in haste!<br />Answer all questions! if questions are aced<br />Broadcast your victory! Copy & paste!</span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><strong>2. Click here</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;">Click here quickly! thru thick & thin!<br />Love the alacrity! click & win!<br />Whether you're worried or eager or sick<br />Answers are waiting! So click here! Click!</span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><strong>3. Drowsy browsing?</strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;">Drowsy browsing? data arrayed?<br />Pictures fading? wait in the shade!<br />When you're offline & far from a phone<br />Click with your heart! You're never alone!</span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;">d.i.</span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-35039442581378535042015-07-11T01:03:00.000+08:002015-07-11T16:25:05.085+08:00A Studio Production (after Silence Day)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">Is it invariably Central Casting</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">(on this quaint side of the Om Point)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">that trots out its <i>dramatis personae</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">all itching to assume angular places</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">in scenarios cooked up to burst forth</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">centerstage or out yon in left field</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">while Peripheral Casting unfolds space</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">& available light lends a dim metier</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">time ticking morse code? the hourglass</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">has been turned & every scintilla</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">of fine sand fell gravity pulls through</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">could whisper <i>time awaits Everyman</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">and is it then Medial Casting that</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">behind the scenes with its account books</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">flipped open to arcane karmic traceries</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">weighs the possible against its opposite?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">do we scurry just to flesh out a plotline</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">of banality? are miracles permissible?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">off the rails unscripted in grand improv</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Mr. Whim now raises his megaphone</span><br />
<br /></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-82470694581502240652015-01-29T06:44:00.000+08:002015-01-29T23:19:02.231+08:00Confessions of Happiness [quatrain]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.3090915679932px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every day if I should see you becomes a wonderful day
any action that involves you brings a blessing to my heart
your friendship resembles an inexhaustible treasury
whereby day after day tendrils of happiness surround me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.3090915679932px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-37510630855019604932015-01-17T07:45:00.000+08:002015-01-17T23:45:52.069+08:00"God is online & offline" [boomerang poem]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is online & offline</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is beyond lineation</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is without form or sign</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is in all of creation</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is deep-source information</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is top-notch ruby wine</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is the long implication</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">God is online & offline</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-81422884349810274182014-12-30T22:14:00.000+08:002014-12-31T14:14:00.230+08:00Early Winter Shi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="color: #660000;">Rainy dark night but the rain almost done<br />listening to Beethoven having arrived<br />again at the street that I've come to call home<br />still lingering a while with the radio I've<br />along with the brood of companion dropsouls<br />fetched up once more on the penultimate night<br />of a year in a still-youthful century whose<br />real design if half-sensed remains hidden from sight</span></div>
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-67063675194014125792014-12-24T19:00:00.000+08:002014-12-26T00:17:13.301+08:00Ave Maria Sans Photograph<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">Gunot's <i>Ave Maria</i> on the radio</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">Christmas eve again is here</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">Christ Jesus imagined for ages though</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">no photo's available where</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">one might contemplate his visage</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">while pondering his message</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">no one texting from the manger</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">there's no YouTube Magi clip</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">& what's really rather stranger</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">Google Maps touched not the trip</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">there's some post about a star</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 17.5636348724365px;">I can't see it from my car</span></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-25952911356869926272014-12-10T11:46:00.000+08:002014-12-11T04:00:36.354+08:00"The rose without its thorn" [sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">The rose without its thorn is not a rose<br />the heart without its ache is not a heart<br />the stream's no more a stream unless it flows<br />the plum's hardly a plum except it's tart</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">that mirror is a mirror which displays<br />whatever face or form you place before it<br />the mirror of the heart likewise arrays<br />a floral vision when you fetch a floret</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><em><span style="color: #134f5c;">the path of love seemed easy</span></em> quoth Hafez</span><br />
<em><span style="color: #134f5c;">at first until the obstacles kicked in</span></em><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">who hasn't felt the truth in what he says?<br />who doesn't know the tumult of the spin?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">when heart goes reeling in its twirl of trouble<br />the dream of easy love pops like a bubble</span><br />
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-58691956465785537042014-12-10T07:24:00.000+08:002014-12-10T23:32:19.815+08:00"Pomp and Circumstance" [sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Another day appears in which to love you</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">another day emerges from the deep</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">the sky again (that canopy above you)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">is ready when you waken from your sleep</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">the earth beneath is ready for your footfall</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">the atmosphere awaits to your every word</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">the field is ready either for your football</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">or (if you're feathersome) your song O bird!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">O bird! O fish! O deer within the thicket!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O heart within the pulchritude of night!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O theatre! we've arrived & here's the ticket!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">a thousand times we strive to get it right!</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">another day (the curtain's now ascending)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><i>I love you!</i> at another poem's ending</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-70029371578485294632014-12-10T00:12:00.000+08:002014-12-10T23:25:11.009+08:00"Dumb luck" [a sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">If the purpose of my existence is to love you<br />is it dumb luck that you've appeared before my eyes?<br />with rich earth beneath your feet & blue sky above you<br />do you need dramatics of sunset & sunrise?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">there are suns & moons in my heart & many a star<br />there's a universe that I haven't yet quite explored<br />I can wend the roads of the world since I've got a car<br />but what vehicle's apt to plumb the ways of the Lord?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">if the heart is the key for walking the path of truth<br />while yet God's unknown & unknowable! tell me this<br />if one earnestly seeks to quaff the fountain of youth<br />is it nonetheless pathetic to think of your kiss?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">says an ignorant oaf before the gate of the queen<br />"though my head be dappled in dust my heart is serene"</span><br />
<br />
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-11568835389612728552014-12-08T09:50:00.000+08:002014-12-09T02:11:35.115+08:00The Elements of Attar [sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">If I were to write a poem to celebrate<br />what delight befills my heart in your gentle gaze<br />which has thankfully fallen on me in my life late<br />what materials ought I fetch to construct that praise?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">should I travel first to Himalayan heights & pluck<br />rustic blossoms that shine beyond pedestrian sight?<br />should I visit next Bhopal lakes where from soft muck<br />massive lotus-flowers emerge in dawn's gold light?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">if I mix the essence of lotus with scent of blooms<br />from the heights would this suffice? or should I add<br />subtle tinctures gleaned at a thousand Sufi tombs?<br />must I hasten to Mehera's garden at Meherazad</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">for stray petals of roses she nurtured in God's joy?<br />should I mix in the morning-glories I saw as a boy?</span><br />
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-14496491788340204252014-11-09T09:55:00.000+08:002014-11-10T02:00:29.810+08:00"The art of the quip" [boomerang poem]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$4:0">Is the art of the quip now an infobahn talent? I guess</span><br data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$5:0" /><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$6:0">yet its long antecedents trace back to an ancient salon</span><br data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$7:0" /><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$8:0">picture please Oscar Wilde as Twitterer! would he express</span><br data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$9:0" /><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$10:0">those incisive bon-mots & touchés from sundown until dawn?</span><br data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$11:0" /><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$12:0">granting much one espies on the internet merits a yawn</span><br data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$13:0" /><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$14:0">there's a smidgeon inspiring deep thought (not so fleetingly) yes?</span><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$16:0"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$16:0">on the chessboard of fate am I cast as a quip-equipped pawn</span><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$18:0"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".264.1:3:1:$comment10154822358485790_10154822523590790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$18:0">with the art of the quip now an infobahn talent? I guess</span></span></span></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-47752348912084516422014-11-08T00:33:00.000+08:002014-11-09T09:59:45.139+08:00Majnun's November Soliloquy [sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Can I pass a whole week not seeing <i>mashooq</i>?<br />how many days flee without her lilting voice?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O gentle voice yet <i>puissant</i> & determined</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O delicate form yet strong & curvaceous<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">am I a mere cipher in her dreamlife equation?<br />or could I hold for her the <i>frisson</i> of a lover?<br />are my warblings too copious? my hairs too gray?<br />my poetry too ponderous? my heart too fraught?<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">do I spawn too many puzzles all the while destiny<br />lightly laughs in the face of the <i>cliché</i> of human folly?<br />do I set myself up for lugubrious dark footpaths</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">blindsided by absurdity & an unrequited love?<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O does my rhymeless sonnet lack balance & reason? </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">so dazed & senseless in entanglements of <i>ishq</i></span><br />
<br /></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-31383309353946171982014-10-30T02:57:00.000+08:002014-10-30T20:37:17.350+08:00"Learning to love you" [villanelle]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Am I learning to love you day by day my friend?<br />might I cherish you in the stillness of my heart?<br />is our tale of timeless love without an end?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">you discovered me by strange happenstance! we wend<br />an ineffable circuit tracing part by part<br />am I starting to love you day by day my friend?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">though my poems be vague & paltry let me send<br />darkling ringlets of thought till ringing words impart<br />such a tale of timeless love as knows no end</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">didn't Hafez intone the heartbreak of the <i>rend</i>?<br />didn't Rumi each lambent round of longing chart?<br />am I growing to love you day by day my friend?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">when our life meets with signs & portents that portend<br />beauty's arrows let loose like cupid's poison dart<br />is our tale of timeless love without an end?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">in this universe who'll say what's comin' 'round the bend?<br />in this dream who sees what's the horse & where's the cart?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">if I'm learning to love you day by day my friend</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">could our tale of love flow on without an end?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #073763;">[line 10: "<span style="color: #b45f06;">the <i>rend</i></span>" = the lover]</span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-29700999792240414902014-10-01T01:15:00.000+08:002014-10-01T16:15:55.908+08:00clueless in paradise [gatha]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">Being so simple I'm easily astonished</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">being so clueless I'm handily beguiled</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">in my defense (as scriptures have admonished)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">paradise comes when you become a child</span></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-48851645970673352372014-09-26T05:50:00.000+08:002014-09-26T21:16:46.912+08:00Sunrise Ceremony [sonnet]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">What if I should write a quaint poem worthy of you?<br />would the world survive the astonishment of its lines?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">what if each unpredicted phrase shone deep & true</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">would you instantly grasp what heart flirts in its signs?<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">O but what should the poem declare? might it extoll</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">how pure happiness in the curve your smile resides?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">ought the verse proceed to bewail your injured toe?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">might it recollect the gentle wash of Malibu tides?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br />say we dawdle beside a salt wave that astounds us</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">can our words nab the exactitude of its grace?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">when a universe boasting cotton clouds surrounds us</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">& in this world what if I glimpse the ravishing face</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #660000;">of a love whom I can address in inadequate lines?</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">the benighted soul for such perfect poetry pines</span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-49700918946198058402014-09-20T01:52:00.000+08:002014-09-21T13:57:05.854+08:00maloom  [rubai]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">If maybe I am the friend of you </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">I'll maybe descry no end of you</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">if maybe yours be mine own hid heart </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span class="null">how many the ways I'll wend of you!</span></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-67003457839722656692014-08-31T01:08:00.000+08:002014-09-20T16:54:34.410+08:00"The Honeybee's Love"  [rubai]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Since <span style="color: #0c343d;"><i>life in the world</i></span> is a worrisome thing at times<br /><span style="color: #0c343d;"><i>the path to the friend</i></span> has a definite ring at times<br />where <i><span style="color: #0c343d;">the pith of existence</span></i> manifests in duality<br /><span style="color: #0c343d;"><i>the honeybee's love</i></span> has a definite sting at times</span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-37827550652096738552014-08-16T10:38:00.000+08:002014-09-20T16:55:42.758+08:00"Black cat in a coal bin"  [rubai]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;"><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0"><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$2:0">Black cat in a coal bin in a cave at night!</span><br data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$3:0" /><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.0.$end:0:$4:0">Can't say how your eyes gleam with a trace of light!</span></span><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3"><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0"><br data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$1:0" /><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$2:0">Blindness is endemic to the world at large!</span><br data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$3:0" /><span data-reactid=".y0.1:3:1:$comment10154487127455790_10154488513145790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.1:$comment-body.0.3.0.$end:0:$4:0">Maya though systemic is dispelled by sight!</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549781992453163318.post-70465661311220687802014-07-16T14:46:00.000+08:002014-07-17T07:03:11.725+08:00Words Overheard in the Parking Garage from a Passerby's Blaring Walkman <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><strong>"<em>. . . a spiritual guide to mastering<br />the challenges of women. We'll start<br />with a quote. Isaiah says . . .</em>"</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Okay but what did Isaiah say? & what<br />(one wonders) might be "the challenges <br />of women"? challenges to men? (this must<br />be the implication of the opaque phrase)</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">so would Isaiah blithely fall in love<br />with a sweetheart so young in years?<br />Biblical heavyweights of the old race<br />of my forefathers may've adjudicated </span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">every point of the arcane maze of loving<br />& yet the lost quote (one must assume<br />whatever in the world it happened to be)<br />was likely geared toward a different crux</span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #660000;">of ancient challenges on the battlefield<br />of the love-fraught human male heart</span><br />
</div>
David Raphael Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00126018040511456588noreply@blogger.com1