English Poetry Options

[catch22]

Jump-Rope Rhyme (Tom Hansen)

Tat tvam asi:
thou art that-
that leaf, that tree,
that cow, that cat,
that cloud, that sky,
that moon, that sun,
that you, that I-
for all are one.
So here you are
and there you go
and who you were
you hardly know.

I think this I
is only me:
a drip, a drop,
but not the sea.
Yet when I wake
from all these dreams,
then like the snake,
I'll shed what seems:
this mask, this skin,
this ball and chain.
I will begin
to fall like rain.

Our heart's last home:
the wind-whipped foam,
the sweet, deep sea.
Tat tvam asi.

[shivani]

heard it today in that movie (in your shoes) and loved it..

I carry your heart with me
by e. e. cummings

I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it
anywhere I go you go, my dear;
and whatever is done by only me is your doing,
my darling i fear no fate
for you are my fate, my sweet
i want no world
for beautiful you are my world, my true
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)



In Heaven I Met Karl Marx
By Nicholas Gordon


In Heaven I met Karl Marx.
Lenin was there, too, Stalin,
And Hitler along with Jesus Christ.
There was no Hell.
I asked Karl to explain the justice in this arrangement.
He said there was no way of measuring
The good in a person's life.
He admitted he had been wrong
About history and some other things
And expressed regret about all
Who'd been slaughtered in his name.
Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin did, too,
Along with Jesus Christ,
Who was sad that more than any
Had been broken and burned for him.
All said it was a consequence
Of being so sure they were right.
None of them made excuses.
Ilyich did not blame Josef,
Adolph did not plead madness,
Neither Karl nor Jesus balanced
The bad with the good they had done.
Instead they seemed at peace
Completely with what had been,
In a clarity of repose
Which seemed quite perfect for Heaven.