blow the dust
from my heart
Author: zdunno03
The Old Clocks by Rolf Jacobsen
The old clocks often have encouraging faces.
They are like those farmers in the big woods or in the mountains
Whose whole being contains some calm acceptance
As if they belonged to some other race than ours.
A race that has fought its way through its time down here
And has seen its unhappiness shrink back like grass
During that earlier period when the Earth was earth.
They are guests with us this time and they nod in tune to our distress
Next to our bed with their mild wisdom: it’s OK,
oh yes, oh yes, it’s OK, it’s OK.
translated by Robert Bly
The Fifteenth Night of the Twelve Month by Yuan Mei
another translation from the Chinese by Mary Tang on her blog Life is But This
Sssh by Rolf Jacobsen
Sssh the sea says
Sssh the small waves at the shore say, sssh
Not so violent, not
So haughty, not
So remarkable,
Sssh
Say the tips of the waves
Crowding around the headland’s
Surf. Sssh
They say to people
This is our earth
Our eternity.
translated by Robert Bly
Guardian Angel by Rolf Jacobsen
I am the bird that flutters against your window in the morning,
and your closest friend, whom you can never know,
blossoms that light up for the blind.
I am the glacier shining over the woods, so pale,
and heavy voices from the cathedral tower.
The thought that suddenly hits you in the middle of the day
and makes you feel so fantastically happy.
I am the one you have loved for many years.
I walk beside you all day and look intently at you
and put my mouth against your heart
though you’re not aware of it.
I am your third arm, and your second
shadow, the white one,
whom you cannot accept,
and who can never forget you.
translated by Robert Bly
the distance between
here
my hand
there
your heart
the distance between
the hard part
Happy Together by Li Yu (translation)
another poem translated from the Chinese by Mary Tang on her blog Life is But This
Marco Polo’s lesson: from lines by Victor Rodriguez Nunez
to see something
of the world
is to understand
the way
of the world
that nothing
lasts forever
but each moment
is there
to rub one’s face
in the beauty
of the world
and leave the sadness
behind
Marco Polo’s Dilemma: for Margaret Randall by Victor Rodriguez Nunez
I’ve seen something of the world
Managua dust storms
bare snow
covering the pines along the road to Smolyan
and the flags arguing atop a tower
of the University of Puerto Rico
I’ve seen something of the world
Palenque’s bewitched stones
the bay of honey
forgotten by summer at Ponta Delgada
and the Red Square
painted by Kandinsky
I’ve seen something of the world
and it only deepens my sorrow
Nothing belongs to me
translated by Katherine M. Hedeen
Spring Night by Wang An Shi (translation)
another lovely poem translated from the Chinese by Mary Tang on her blog Life is But This
Leonard Durso 