Let the beauty we love become the good we do. — Rumi
There’s hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less.
May the spirit of Ramadan stay in our heart and illuminate our soul from within.
Poetry
The Waking
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
― Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems
“If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.
So like children, we begin again…
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
(Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God)
Song of the Flower
I am a kind word uttered and repeated
By the voice of Nature;
I am a star fallen from the
Blue tent upon the green carpet.
I am the daughter of the elements
With whom Winter conceived;
To whom Spring gave birth; I was
Reared in the lap of Summer and I
Slept in the bed of Autumn.
At dawn I unite with the breeze
To announce the coming of light;
At eventide I join the birds
In bidding the light farewell.
The plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air
Is scented with my fragrance.
As I embrace Slumber the eyes of
Night watch over me, and as I
Awaken I stare at the sun, which is
The only eye of the day.
I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.
I am the lover’s gift; I am the wedding wreath;
I am the memory of a moment of happiness;
I am the last gift of the living to the dead;
I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.
But I look up high to see only the light,
And never look down to see my shadow.
This is wisdom which man must learn.
Labor as a Tulip
Karen Volkman
Labor as a tulip
arrays its flame, nu
form, as the bulb-star,
interred, divines its ore
surging the gulf
rooting it into
appalled memento
pulsing will.
Leaf-blades score the heap.
Other wounds—penetralia—
other worlds, cries, far.
Filaments, simples
emblazoning the rei,
rebus of grief.
Unslumbering terra
premising her kill.
Child of War
Photograph by Eugene Richards
Beirut, Lebanon (1982)
Children of War
By William Sutherland
The Children of War are like little flowers trampled,
Young and innocent, fragile and helpless,
Surrounded by violence and rampant destruction-
Their faces are filled with doubts and fear.
The Children of War, so precious and dear,
Stripped of their childhood years, their youth stolen away
Are little Saints for human failing through no fault of their own.
The Children of War, their lives lost and scarred,
Are the world’s hopes and future wasted;
They are the cures never found, inventions never made,
Dreams unfulfilled, thoughts and ideas forever gone —
An irrational tragedy, no justification to be found.
Large Reclining Nude
Oil on canvas (1943)
When I See You
Pablo Picasso
I have always walked forth, not wanting anything more than what I had already had. I did not need anything at all. I had scoffed at everyone when they said that my life was incomplete
That was till I had met you. You were the only one who had ever raised the feeling of loneliness in me. You were the only one who ever made me realize that my life was always incomplete; and had always been.
My heart had been always fluttering at the very sight of you. You had given me desires for the tastes that I had never known existed. My entire being had surrendered to you and your wishes the very first time we had met. My heart would skip beats when ever your proximity was precarious.
I would have gone to the ends of the world if it meant that I could have you here in my arms, in my heart till the entire eternity crumbled.
I wish you were here dear for I yearn for you. I would have left the very joys behind if it meant I could have you here, talking to me. Your breath is what interests me more than the very words.
Who are people in this equation? I see no one else save you, me and the endless love ahead. The air blows through my empty hands, and they ache with the soreness of the wind. My legs know no pain, My hands know no ache for they always wait for you, and you alone…
Good Weather
Güzel Havalar
by Orhan Veli Kanık
Translated by Fatih Akgül
This good weather ruined me,
Beni bu güzel havalar mahvetti,
I resigned in such a weather
Böyle havada istifa ettim
From my government job.
Evkaftaki memuriyetimden.
I got used to tobacco in such a weather,
Tütüne böyle havada alıştım,
I fell in love in such a weather;
Böyle havada aşık oldum;
I forgot to take home bread and salt
Eve ekmekle tuz götürmeyi
In such a weather;
Böyle havalarda unuttum;
My disease of writing poems
Şiir yazma hastalığım
Recurred in such a weather;
Hep böyle havalarda nüksetti;
This good weather ruined me.
Beni bu güzel havalar mahvetti.
Maverick Mist 