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HOUSE OF CONTRADICTION
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
Within this page lies poems that were not written by me. I have stumbled across them from various sources.
These are some of the poems that I find interesting.
The name of the author or poet of the poem is written next to the poem. However, I do not know the name of the author or poet of some of the poems. As such, any who might know their names can inform me so that I may give tribute by placing their names by their poems.
I
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean ,
The winds of Heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion ,
Nothing in the world is single ,
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle
Why not I with thine?
II
See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another ;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother ;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea ;
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Her perfume mixes with my plum
blossoms,
We pledge ourselves,
A caress like two or three stalks of
Yao grass,
She makes love like a graceful river
nymph,
This feeling night after night,
The sapphire sea, the azure sky.
-
Jonquil
How
long ago I may not know ;
But
just when at that swallow’s soar,
Your
neck turned so,
Some
veil did fall- - I knew it all of yore.
-Dante Gabriel Rosetti
I wish I were close
to you as the wet skirt of
a salt girl to her body.
I think of you always.
-
Yamabe No Akihito
A thousand strands
of glistening deep black hair
in tangles, tangles
all intertwined,
Like my dreams of you.
-
Yosano Akiko
In this house on a hill without walls,
The four winds touch our faces,
If they blow open your robe of gauze,
I’ll try to hide my smile.
My black hair tangled
As my own tangled thoughts,
I lie here alone,
Dreaming of one who has gone,
Who stroke my hair till it shone.
When I think of you,
Fireflies in the marsh rise,
Like the soul’s jewels,
Lost to eternal longing,
Abandoning my body.
-
Ono No Komachi/Izumi Shikibu
In the Autumn mountains
The coloured leaves are falling
If I could hold them back
I could still see her.
-
Kakinomoto No Hittomaro
The
human heart alone can tell:
Two
minds with but a single thought;
Two
hearts that beat as one.
And
whence comes Love? Like morning bright
Love
comes without thy call.
And
how dies Love? A spirit bright,
Love
never dies at all.
-
Maria Lovell (1803 –
77)
Bathes
her white feet in the flowing water
The
white moon, in the midst of the clouds,
Is
far away, beyond the reach of man.
- Hsieh Ling Yuen
translated by Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani
Amidst the
flowers a jug of wine,
I pour alone lacking companionship.
So raising the cup I invite the Moon,
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.
Because the Moon does not know how to drink,
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body.
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while,
The practice of mirth should keep pace with spring.
I start a song and the moon begins to reel,
I rise and dance and the shadow moves grotesquely.
While I'm still conscious let's rejoice with one another,
After I'm drunk let each one go his way.
Let us bind ourselves for ever for passionless journeyings.
Let us swear to meet again far in the Milky Way.
Chinese love poem by Li Bai
TANABATA : known as the festival of Lovers or Star Festival, is based on an old romantic Chinese legend. It celebrates the story of two lovers, Shokujo and Kenju. Shokujo was a princess who was asked by her father to weave a wonderful cloth. Instead of completing her task, she fell in love with a shepherd named Kenju. When the King discovered that the cloth was not woven and that his daughter had fallen in love with a commoner, he became angry and he banished his daughter and her lover to the sky. He said that they could only meet once a year on Tanabata. When the two star-crossed lovers tried to meet however, they could not cross the sky. The lovebirds took pity on them and spread their wings between the two stars to make the Milky Way. That is why once a year Shokujo and Kenju are able to meet again. The two stars associated with this celebration are Altair and Vega, on opposite sides of the Milky Way.
This legend was brought to Japan and combined with the legend of Princess Oto-Tanabata, who offered her woven products to a god. Thus, the star festival was born out of these two ancient legends and named Tanabata(which means loom or weaver) and on July 7, the Japanese decorate a bamboo tree with strips of colorful papers on which they write their wishes. If the sky is clear, and beautiful stars shine through, then the two star-crossed lovers can meet and that their wishes will be granted.
--rosemary
My
black hair tangled
As my own tangled thoughts,
I lie here alone,
Dreaming of one who has gone,
Who stroked my hair till it shone.
When I think of
you,
Fireflies in the marsh rise
Like the soul's jewels,
Lost to eternal longing,
Abandoning my body.
A lovely book of Shikibu's poetry...
The
Ink Dark Moon : Love Poems by
Ono No Komachi and Izumi Shikibu
(663-86 C)
In the classical age much of
the verse was occasional poetry, and poetic exchanges were a necessary part of
courtship.
Gentle foothills,
and in the dew drops of the mountains,
soaked, I waited for you--
grew wet from standing there
in
the dew drops of the mountains.
her response :
Waiting for me,
you grew wet there
in gentle foothills,
in the dew drops of the mountains--
I wish I'd been such drops of dew.
What
do I say,
when my mouth knows no words.
when my heart is full of emotions
and my head is in a whirl?
Can my heart speak true?
Can my lips say the words?
Will my hands stop shaking?
Will my voice be heard?
From an Ancient Egyptian love lyric
(c. 570 - c. 1085bc)
I.
Is
there anything sweeter than this hour?
for I am with you, and you lift up my heart --
for is there not embracing and fondling when you visit me
and we give ourselves up to delights?
If you wish to caress my thigh,
then I will offer you my breast also -- it won't thrust you away!
Would you leave because you are hungry?
- are you such a man of your belly?
Would you leave because you need something to wear?
- I have a chestful of fine linen!
Would you leave because you wish something to drink?
Here, take my breasts! They are full to overflowing, and all for you!
Glorious is the day of our embracings;
I treasure it a hundred thousand millions!
II.
Your
love has gone all through my body
like honey in water,
as a drug is mixed into spices,
as water is mingled with wine.
Oh that you would speed to see your sister
like a charger on the battlefield, like a bull to his pasture!
For the heavens are sending us love like a flame spreading through straw
and desire like the swoop of the falcon!
You and I
My hand is lonely
for your clasping, dear;
My ear is tired waiting for your call.
I want your strength to help, your laugh to cheer;
Heart, soul and senses need you, one and all.
I droop without your full, frank sympathy;
We ought to be together - you and I;
We want each other so, to comprehend
The dream, the hope, things planned, or seen, or wrought.
Companion, comforter and guide and friend,
As much as love asks love, does thought ask thought.
Life is so short, so fast the lone hours fly,
We ought to be together, you and I.
Jun
Zi Xie Lao
How
rich and splendid
Is her pleasant-figured robe!
Her black hair in masses like clouds,
No false locks does she descend to--
There are her ear-plugs of jade,
Her comb-pin of ivory
And her high forehead, so white,
She appears like a visitant from heaven!
She appears like a goddess!
Clear are her eyes; fine is her forehead!
Full are her temples.
Ah! Such a woman as this!
The beauty of the country!
"Book of Songs" (about 800 B.C.)
Longing
Come to me in my
dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou
cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!
Or, as thou never
cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my
dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
To
One Unnamed By Li Shangyin
Time
was long before I met her
but is longer since we parted,
And the east wind has arisen
and a hundred flowers are gone.
And the silk-worms of spring
will weave until they die
And every night the candles
will weep their wicks away.
Mornings in her mirror
she sees her hair-cloud changing.
Yet she dares the chill of moonlight
with her evening song.
It is not so very far
to her Enchanted Mountain
O blue-birds, be listening!
Bring me what she says!
--Tang
Dynasty (about 700 A.D.)
In
Summer By Meng Haoran
The
mountain light suddenly fails in the west,
In the east from the lake the slow moon rises.
I loosen my hair to enjoy the evening coolness
And open my window and lie down in peace.
The wind brings me odors of lotuses,
And bamboo-leaves drip with a music of dew --
I would take up my lute and I would play,
But alas, who here would understand?
And so I think of you, old friend,
Oh troubler of my midnight dreams.
-- Tang Dynasty (about 700 A.D.)
By
T'ing Yang Waterfall
A strange, beautiful girl
Bathes her white feet in the flowing water.
The white moon, in the midst of the clouds,
Is far away, beyond the reach of man.
-- Hsieh Ling Yuen
Since
You Left --
Since you left, my lover,
I can't take care of myself.
I do nothing but think of you.
I fade like the waning moon.
--Ch'ang Ch'u Ling