Monday, October 10, 2016

Short ones, but. . .

Must be in a strange mood this morning as I read these short poems and found that they brought a smile, not a laugh, but just a gentle smile. I hope they do the same for you.


Caged Birds

The young finch asked the old one why he wept:
"There's comfort in this cage where we are kept."
"You who were born here may well think that's so
But I knew freedom once, and weep to know."

-- Ignacy Krasicki --
from World Poetry,  trans. Jerszy Peterkiewicz and
Burns Singer




Rival  Beauties

Slanting their parasols against the blaze,
They smiled politely, went their separate ways. . .

-- Rskuten --
from A Chime of Windbells, Harold Stewart, ed.







Hunger for Beauty

Beside the road a pink hibicus flowered,
Which my discriminating horse devoured!

-- Basho --
from A Chime of Windbells, Harold Stewart, ed.




The Master and the Dog

Because of thieves, a dog barked all night through.
The master, sleepless, beat him black and blue.
On the next night the dog slept; and thieves came.
The silent dog was beaten all the same.

-- Ignacy Krasicki --
from World Poetry,  trans. Jerszy Peterkiewicz and
Burns Singer







I hope the above bring a smile this Monday morn.







15 comments:

  1. How odd. I read and become saddened: Poor birds and dog. But still cheer: Hooray for the horse! Yet the sun seems too harsh as it blazes. Yes, for me, not many smiles. Alas!

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    1. R.T.,

      Mine was more of a rueful smile, one in recognition of the little incongruities of life -- not the big ones, but the little ones we (or at least I do) encounter every day.

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    2. Rue is one of the great words in English, so compact and evocative but too rare in speech. Now I can smile

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    3. R.T.,

      Agreed. I seldom if ever use "rue" or any of its derivatives, but it definitely was the right descriptive to convey the sense of my "smile."

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  2. lovely poems and haiku (including the ones on Tim's post...). wasn't rue a plant featured in some of Shakespeare's sonnets? or elsewhere?... more and more, i find my memory emulating Tim's "swiss cheese brain"... it's like i remember things, but they're not the ones i want to remember... sigh, the beauties of aging...

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  3. Hamlet / 4.5
    OPHELIA
    There’s fennel for you, and columbines.—There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me. We may call it “herb of grace” o' Sundays.—Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.—There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. They say he made a good end (sings) For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy—

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    Replies
    1. R.T.,

      I had forgotten that pun.

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    2. tx, Tim, i knew i'd seen that somewhere in shakespeare... typical of me to not get it quite right...

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    3. Mudpuddle, don't be too hard on yourself. Who among us can recall all the quotables from Shakespeare. I bet even he (WS) forget things now and then. Although, even as I write that sentence, I recall from my readings/research that people then must have had phenomenal memories; consider the actors who had very few rehearsals and performed repertoires throughout each season (i.e., King Lear today and tomorrow, A Midsummer Night's Dream on Thursday and Frida, Othello on Saturday, Henry V on Monday and Tuesday, and on and on and on). Modern actors cannot hold a candle to Elizabethan/Jacobean actors. So we must be forgiven if we cannot remember "rue" from mad(?) Ophelia's lips in Hamlet.

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    4. tx, tim. i must remember not to spend so much time on the pity pot... i never could understand how actors remember all those lines; it's just one of those stunning human abilities that leaves one gasping in wonder...

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    5. I was horrible at remembering lines in several dozen plays. Hence, I gravitated to being a designer for a while.

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    6. I would have two problems. One would be memorizing my lines, and the second would be functioning under pressure.

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    7. Fred: me, too... i was actually in a couple of Shakespeare plays when I was in high school, but only because no one else would do it... i was encouraged by my betters to abandon the idea of continuing with that protocareer...

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    8. Perhaps the etymology of the word below will make you feel better about not succeeding in acting (i.e., your lack of success speaks to your sincerity):
      Greek - hypokrites "stage actor; pretender, dissembler"
      Ah, 'tis a word to ponder!

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    9. Nudpuddle,

      Way back when, I got pressured into getting involved in a play put on by two high schools. I was really nervous about it, but I found out that they needed several people to work the spotlights. I volunteered immediately if not before. My one and only encounter with the stage worked out well. However, I made sure that there would not be a second.

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