Showing posts with label Nizar Qabbani. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nizar Qabbani. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Light



 
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”— Edith Wharton

SOURCE


“If each day falls
inside each night,
there exists a well
where clarity is imprisoned.

We need to sit on the rim
of the well of darkness
and fish for fallen light
with patience.”— Pablo Neruda


        Midweek Motif ~ Light

Our words can create both darkness and light. For today stick to Light; whatever Light means to you. A compare and contrast will also do.


Choose any parts of speech you prefer your ‘Light’ to be in: noun, adjective, verb.


As I am writing this I am thinking of Helen Keller who preferred to walk with a friend in the dark than walking alone in light. 



Now, to share a few poems with you:


With The Light Of Eye
by Rabindranath Tagore

With the light of eye I’d seen what the world displayed.
          Today I look within when all light is erased.
Sight can’t arrest you   yet the heart is replete with you,
        Now in your own light I desire to gaze at you.
           In my play-room we had played together.
       In the ravaging storm toys have been shattered.
         Let’s end that mere play and souls’ union be made—
              Lute is broken, my heart string I strum.

     (Translated by Sumana Roy)


Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines
by Dylan Thomas

Light breaks where no sun shines;
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
Push in their tides;
And, broken ghosts with glowworms in their heads,
The things of light
File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones.

A candle in the thighs
Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age;
Where no seed stirs,
The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars,
Bright as a fig;
Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs.

Dawn breaks behind the eyes;
From poles of skull and toe the windy blood
Slides like a sea;
Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky
Spout to the rod
Divining in a smile the oil of tears.

Night in the sockets rounds,
Like some pitch moon, the limit of the globes;
Day lights the bone;
Where no cold is, the skinning gales unpin
The winter's robes;
The film of spring is hanging from the lids.

Light breaks on secret lots,
On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain;
When logics die,
The secret of the soil grows through the eye,
And blood jumps in the sun;
Above the waste allotments the dawn halts. 




Light Is More Important Than The Lantern
by Nizar Quabbani

Light is more important than the lantern,
The poem more important than the notebook,
And the kiss more important than the lips.
My letters to you
Are greater and more important than both of us.
They are the only documents
Where people will discover
Your beauty 
And my madness.



 Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—
              (Next week Susan’s Midweek Motif will be ~ Peace)


Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Love



     
“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved”— George Sand


Le Printemps by Pierre Auguste Cot (1873)

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”— Martin Luther King, Jr.


         Midweek Motif ~ Love 

This week’s motif is Love.

I ask you to honor and celebrate Love in your lines today.

I am sharing some simple, passionate and timeless lines from some of my favorite poets from Persia, Lebanon and Syria:  


Rumi:

The Privileged Lovers

The moon has become a dancer
at this festival of love.
This dance of light,

This sacred blessing,
This divine love,
beckons us
to a world beyond
only lovers can see
with their eyes of fiery passion. 

They are the chosen ones
who have surrendered.
Once they were particles of light
now they are the radiant sun.

They have left behind
the world of deceitful games.
They are the privileged lovers
who create a new world
with their eyes of fiery passion. 

Translated by: Fereydoun Kia 


Khalil Gibran:

Which Is More Important?

One day you will ask me
which is more important?
My life or yours?
I will say mine
and you will walk away
not knowing
that you are my life.


Most Love Is Lost

Between what is said and not meant
   And what is meant and not said
             Most of love is lost.


Nizar Qabbani:

Because My Love For You

Because my love for you
Is higher than words
I have decided to fall silent


In Spite Of The Tribe

she married me , in spite of the tribe
and she traveled with me , in spite of the tribe
and she gave me zaynab and omar , in spite of the tribe

and when I used to ask her _ why ?
she would take me , like a child, against her chest :
and say " because you are my tribe"


My Lover Asks Me

                          My lover asks me:
"What is the difference between me and the sky?"
                       The difference, my love,
                        Is that when you laugh,
                           I forget about the sky.


When I Love

When I love
I feel that I am the king of time
I possess the earth and everything on it
and ride into the sun upon my horse.

When I love
I become liquid light
invisible to the eye
and the poems in my notebooks
become fields of mimosa and poppy.

When I love
the water gushes from my fingers
grass grows on my tongue
when I love
I become time outside all time.

When I love a woman
all the trees
run barefoot toward me...


Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—
                (Next week Susan’s Midweek Motif will be ~ Fun)

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