Poem

Li Bo

Short Coverage
Li Bo/ Li Po/ Li Bai strolling.
[Source – Wikipedia]

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“Drinking Alone under the Moon,” by Li Bo

                       Translation by Paul Rouzer  

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Among the flowers, a single jug of wine;

I drink alone. No one close to me.

I raise my cup, invite the bright moon;

facing my shadow, together we make three.

The moon doesn’t know how to drink;

and my shadow can only follow my body.

But for a time I make moon and shadow my companions;

taking one’s pleasure must last until spring.

I sing — the moon wavers back and forth.

I dance — my shadow flickers and scatters.

When I’m sober we take pleasure together.

When I’m drunk, we each go our own ways.

I make an oath to journey forever free of feelings,

making an appointment with them to meet in the Milky Way afar.


Li Bo overwhelms one with the powerful yet simple use of imagery in this particular poem. You’ll see him walking alone, with a pot of wine, the moon shining above and his shadow dancing along. Loneliness is what drives him, hope is what is hidden. Maybe he laments for the dead past or he cries to see the uncertain future, but he is definitely, truly in the present. The moon, his shadow, his two close friends, vouch for it.


Read more about the poem and the translator’s take on it here. For the poem’s literal translation, click here.

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Moon, Moon, Moon, Moonlight

Cheers, dear moon!”
[Source – Pixabay]

In the search of a moon Haiku poem, I found how beautifully a 21st century poet addressed to his favourite classic poet –

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… lifting my cup, 

I asked the moon

to drink with me …

Li Po

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And if Li Po had

got the moon in his mitts

what would he have done with it?

Cid Corman

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Today, I decided, I will stay with these words and leave rest of the search for tomorrow.

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Moon was its usual self,

I was the one, lost and fuzzy,

Moonlight still showed the way.

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A Dream of Twin Rainbows

Poem
One, two… lucky you!
[Image by Jagriti Rumi]

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My imagination is strong and hence I can see

The waterfalls, mesmerizing clouds and the ever working bees;

I am very much alive with a working clock

Hanging on the earthen, painted, plastic wall saying ‘tick-tock-tick-tock’;

My ears don’t bleed anymore and though my eyes are shy to blink,

I have learned to bar the command and hide behind a paused wink.

Master shouts and thunderbolts hit the wall,

Faking to cry and tremble, I try to make the cage fall.

Yes! I live in a cage! But I have a dream, a dream of twin rainbows.

I will one day fly towards it, crossing the ocean of dead vows,

There I will soulfully sing and freely dance and just be me…

My imagination is strong and hence I can see.

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Etching It

Poem
Landscape under Trees, etching by Paula Modersohn-Becker, c. 1902
Faded and alive
 
Like an honest illusion
Memories carrying weight
Equal to a feather’s
Delight. Happiness aloud
Heard in the background
Match the dreams
Flying hard, a scheme
Or a plan
To reach the end
Drifting and walking
Singing, not just talking

 

Open your eyes

 

See, smile and rise.

 

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It Came Quietly To Me

Poem

Mountains… grand and free. [Image by Jagriti Rumi]

Cry at times and don’t hold it back,
Take a pause and then look back,
You’ll find a way,
You’ll see the light,
With a calm mind and free eyes
You’ll connect with your soul and realise
That you were, you are and you will
Always be free.

 

I am happy I am free.

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Sitting Calmly, Eyes Closed

In meditation, in love!
[Source – Pixabay]

The image that once rose

The lotus, the dandelion, the rose

Feels it very clearly

Like the wind brushing past dearly

An aura shook the land

With the touch of a hand

It was the enlightened one, Buddha

Seeing right through the Mandala

The universe looked just like a sphere

A sphere just like the world

A world just like the mind

A mind just like the soul

A soul just like the One

Slowly and at once he won

Changing into a lotus there

The Buddha permeated the air.


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Subtracted World

Non nobis solum – not for thyself alone.
[Source – Pixabay]

I am the King and the Queen,

Of my subtracted world,

From my bedroom to where my smartphone takes me,

It’s shinning and laughing with glee.

Walking on the road, I hit a plastic bottle

‘High Score!’ cried my smartphone, when a little

Skinny girl pulled my sweater

Dirty hands open up… there was a letter

Crumpled, old and torn…ah, useless

I thought, but still checked it, to find two words

Remember Addition?


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A Painting That Sways

Paint and sway.
Image by Pixabay.

Delicately touched

Touched only to sway

Swayed with love

And loved just to say

To say it loud enough

Enough of the artificial blue light

Pure blue light of the sky and the moon

The sky and the moon that play a harmony together

Together they sing to me

Me, who breathes quite often,

Often they sing and I dance

Dance like I am a cloud close to them

A cloud close to them that is me

Me, who dreams to be free,

Free like the painting of a moonlit night

And a moonlit night will always say

‘Hey, paint well and remember to sway.’


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The Keyhole Trend

Poem

An amazing keyhole.
[Source – Pixabay]

If you peep through the keyhole

The small world you see

Might look real and free

The sky, the bird, the tree

The building, the street and me

All with the round edge and incomplete

Half of the shine and half of the night

Half of the smile and half of the ride

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When the journey ends, it ends

Though the keyholes are in trend

Laughing loudly at yourself you’ll see

One can open the door without any fee.


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Likewise!

The path I took…
[Image by Gudrun Becker from Pixabay]

When I said, “I don’t know”

They said, “Hah, but we know.”

They don’t know me at all,

Standing up on the wall,

They look down at me and shout,

“You are dying silly, lookout.”

I tremble as the screams hit me,

Drab and numb, says my graphic tee…

I tumbled, tripped and hurt my toe,

But I stood up and decided to go.

I smiled and said, “I know now.”

They said to me, “But how?”


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