National Poetry Month

I've decided I am going to celebrate monthly thing.
Last month was Dental Hygiene Month.
This month is National Poetry Month.



reason: hopefully I'll learn some things that will possible benefit me in the future.
to readers: idc if you think this is a stupid thread, GTFO please.

Title: Alone
Writer: Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

Title: I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Writer: Emily Dickinson

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you -- Nobody -- Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise -- you know!

How dreary -- to be -- Somebody!
How public -- like a Frog --
To tell one's name -- the livelong June --
To an admiring Bog!

Title: I enjoy large bottoms
Writer: Sir Mix-A-Lot of Seattle

I like big butts and I can not lie...
You other brothers can't deny?
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face

You get sprung....

Wanna pull up tough
Cuz you notice that butt was stuffed


Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your picture

am i a happy fly if i live or if i die

Title: Perplexing Pathways
Writer: Myself

I dragged her remains from the trunk of my car,
Deep into the forest, under the night stars.
Her soft flesh had become lifeless and taut,
And so I buried her body, deep in my thoughts:

She could've been saved, she didn't have to die.
But no one cared about me, no one even tried.
I sat there and wept, reflecting on my life;
How they took away my children, they took away my wife.

Equality these days is a laughable notion,
Society is driven upon counterfeit emotion.
So I'll continue to kill, to live and get by,
Until they bring change, until they comply.

favorite robert frost poem:

title: fire and ice
writer: Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Title: My Condolences
Writer: Myself

My condolences Mam, for the death of your husband.
He was a true hero;
He fought for his country bravely.

My condolences Mam,
To your daughter and son,
Who will be raised without a father.

I've uttered these words far too much.

Why?

Title: Roses and Rue
Writer: Oscar Wilde

'You have only wasted your life.'
(Ah, that was the knife!)
When I rushed through the garden gate
It was all too late.

Could we live it over again,
Were it worth the pain,
Could the passionate past that is fled
Call back its dead!

Well, if my heart must break,
Dear love, for your sake,
It will break in music, I know,
Poets' hearts break so.

But strange that I was not told
That the brain can hold
In a tiny ivory cell
God's heaven and hell.

Long yearning,
To be in Chang'an.
The grasshoppers weave their autumn song by the golden railing of the well;
Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing its colour with cold.
My lonely lamp is not bright, I’d like to end these thoughts;
I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, and long sigh in vain.
The beautiful person's like a flower beyond the edge of the clouds.
Above is the black night of heaven's height;
Below is the green water billowing on.
The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my spirit;
The spirit I dream can't get through, the mountain pass is hard.
Long yearning,
Breaks my heart.

Title: If you forget me
Writer: Pablo Neruda

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine

Titles: I am not yours
Writer: Sara Teasdale

I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.

Matt Kho,
Where'd ya go?

Matthew Kho,
Where ever you go, you will remain my bro

Matthew Kho,

Your mother is a hoe.

Matthew Kho,

Come back to us we love u fo sho

Matthew Kho,

My load I will blow.

花間一壺酒。 A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;
獨酌無相親。 I drink alone, for no friend is near.
舉杯邀明月。 Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
對影成三人。 For her, with my shadow, will make three people.
月既不解飲。 The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
影徒隨我身。 Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
暫伴月將影。 Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
行樂須及春。 I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
我歌月徘徊。 To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
我舞影零亂。 In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
醒時同交歡。 While we were sober, three shared the fun;
醉後各分散。 Now we are drunk, each goes their way.
永結無情遊。 May we long share our eternal friendship,
相期邈雲漢。 And meet at last on the paradise.

yesterday i loved
today i suffer
tomorrow i die
yet fain would i think
today and tomorrow
of yesterday

- lessing

had you forethought you could reason
saw your road and where it led
and early wise and brave in season
put the pistol to your head

the flowery branch of the wild cherry
how swiftly if flies back!
it is not that I do not love you;
but your house is far away.

I got ice in my veins
blood in my eyes
hate in my heart
love in my mind
I seen nights full of pain
days are the same
You keep the sunshine
save me the rain
I search but never find
Hurt but never cry
I work and forever try
but I'm cursed so never mind
And its worse but better times
seem further and beyond
The top gets higher
The more that I climb
This spot gets smaller
and I get bigger.
Trying get me where I fit in
No room for a nigga.
But soon for a nigga it be on mothafucka
'Cause all this bullshit made me strong mothafucka

-lil wayne

Yesterday, the evening wind, whose breath caresses,
We brought the smell of flowers that open later;
Night was falling, the bird was asleep in the deep shade.
The fragrant spring, unless your youth;
The stars shone, unless your eyes.
I spoke softly. It is the solemn hour
Where the soul loves to sing the anthem sweeter.
Seeing the night so pure, so beautiful and seeing you,
I told the golden stars: Pour it on the sky
And I said to you: Put love on us.

here's an example of how the beauty of the chinese language is lost in translation. this isn't my translation and I haven't decided if I'll do my own yet.

look at how many words were necessary to translate such short lines. in chinese, few words can carry a lot of meaning, and inconsequential grammatical filler can be left out while actually creating poetic flow, not like in english where clarity and readability will be lost

additionally, in chinese, compound words can have one of the words dropped. an analogy in english might be 'wherefore'
'wherefore' in older english (though it's still used and completely valid) is now usually rendered 'for which (reason)' in chinese, we could drop the "fore" and just say where.

I've made a more literal translation: http://songswithwords.blogspot.com/2012/07/faye-wong-wish-people-for-long-time.html

The author, Su Shi, lived 1037-1011.
Compare Li Bai, 701-762

anyway for you english noobs might as well do an english lesson too
where in older fancier english = which
there = that
here = this

wherefore = for which (reason)
wherewith = with which
therefore, we still use a lot = for that
hereto = to this
thereby = by that
whereby = by which

etc., there are a lot more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shui_diao_ge_tou

丙辰2中秋3，
歡飲達旦，
大醉，
作此篇，
兼懷子由4。

Mid-autumn of the Bing Chen year
Having been drinking happily over night
I'm drunk
So I write this poem
Remembering my brother, Zi You

明月幾時有？
把酒問青天。
不知天上宮闕5，
今夕是何年？

When will the moon be clear and bright?
With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky.
In the heavens on this night,
I wonder what season it would be?

我欲乘風歸去，
唯恐瓊樓玉宇6，
高處不勝寒。
起舞弄清影7，
何似在人間8！

I'd like to ride the wind to fly home.
Yet I fear the crystal and jade mansions
are much too high and cold for me.
Dancing with my moonlit shadow,
It does not seem like the human world.

轉朱閣9，
低綺戶10，
照無眠11。
不應有恨，
何事長向別時圓？

The moon rounds the red mansion,
Stoops to silk-pad doors,
Shines upon the sleepless,
Bearing no grudge,
Why does the moon tend to be full when people are apart?

人有悲歡離合，
月有陰晴圓缺，
此事古難全。
但願人長久，
千里共嬋娟12。

People may have sorrow or joy, be near or far apart,
The moon may be dim or bright, wax or wane,
This imperfection has been going on since the beginning of time.
May we all be blessed with longevity,
Though thousand miles apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.