Beauty

. Farinelli A thousand thanks, Martini, for your visit. Bologna is a town of balladeers. You’ll love it! Now I wonder, how long is it Since we both quit Madrid? Ah! Twenty years Since I last sang before the King of Spain! And forty since vast crowds hailed me on...

. Lean on Him after Ecclesiasties We labor long beneath the sun. Forgotten soon by everyone. We come from dust and end the same, Depart this life just like we came. It’s all just chasing wind because Whatever is already was, And what will be has been before, There’s nothing...

. Evolution I can’t run fast or jump high anymore. Mistakes I make I never made before. Some maladies and aches don’t have a cure, Alertness and reflexes are less sure. My memory is challenged on most days, It’s easier to get stuck in old ways. But some emotions long...

. Before Going to Sleep as a Boy I saw Him when I closed my eyes, Gazing down sidelong, seeing all, Serenely, stoically wise. I knew that judgement was to fall But found His habit was to look Past me—a boy’s vain hope, as He Was of his conjuring? I...

. Ruben “We have words that speak of the ongoing presence of such privations: orphan, widow, widower. And perhaps the fact that we have no word for the parent who has lost a child is itself a testimony to the unspeakable abiding horror and pain of such a circumstance.” ---Carl...

. Of When I Lived in Prague--- I wander through a maze of gold and stone, Mosaic pavement watched by gilded faces; Bridges, towers etched with cryptic traces Of bygone kings that haunt a bygone throne. I wandered through that city all alone, Aimless through its trove of secret places,...

. Peach Blossom Dreaming Peach blossoms furnish inwrought dreaming room Intangible to fingertips corrupt; __Substantially beyond each tapered petal’s plume Flow fragrances to subtly interrupt The wintry retrospectives of my gloom. On water shields and Long Jing tea we supped, But now beneath peach buds you prate of wine __Poured...

. Spring Shower How beautiful the rain– The cool and cleansing rain! I watch as tiny rivulets Run down my window pane And countless glad and golden drops Renew the earth again. How tender is the rain! With what maternal grace It nourishes the passive earth And wipes its soiled...

. The Piano Student Glissandos flow like rivers from the keys, One by one, you slide with practiced skill And let us hear some hidden melodies, Delighting in these notes that lift and thrill. When you play Bach or other masterpieces, Interpreting in ways that give a new Shape to...

. Delmon’s Progeny Delmon, also known as Dilmun, is a Semitic culture connected to Mesopotamia that flourished in the 2nd millennium B.C.  Beneath the torrid coastal sun tenacious men these waters rode. They ferry pearls from port to port; each City sings its special ode. Some sing of spice, some sing...

. Winter Hyphenation Knit cap above, two squinting eyes below Face frozen fresh-fall snowfall, white as snow. Constricted pupils dim the sight and fight Against the blinding sunrise-lumined light. An ice-chill world where exhaled, hot breath steams And wreathes a winter wonderland of dreams Where muffled footfalls squeaky-clean impress Compressive tracks...

. Moon Garden Party It’s small and all reserved For plants that love full sun, Edges distinct though curved Refine how moments run Through dainty daisy days Succeeded when they’re done By crazed azaleas’ blaze. The details glow at closer range: Kaleidoscopic shape, spread, height Delight the guests whose interchange...

. Aristotle Abridged* And so we ponder virtue and vice. __We seek the mean, not the extreme. Perplexed, I ask for wise advice: __Why does not vice ever suffice? Excess—restraint—both have a price. __So hard to find the Good between. Quench the fire—thaw out the ice. __How shall I choose?...

. The Emerald Queen A Legend from the Future . Part I. Have you heard the old tale of the Emerald Queen? ‘Twas a long time ago when folks would demean Us humans as animals—nothing else more!— Evolved from bacteria found on the floor. They forgot the Creator had made...

. Through the Eyes of Angels Look down upon the Earth as angels might! See seas as insignificant as ponds, Each desert a mere sandbox. From this height Vast forests are a park, the sun a bronze And distant torch! The mountains are like toys Built up from pebbles, rocky...

. Officium Defunctorum Spiritus meus attenuabitur, dies mei breviabuntur, et solum mihi superest sepulcrum. —Job 17:1 There is no need for first or final vow; Our cities all are monasteries now, And every squalid garret is a cell Where oblates reach for heaven out of hell. There is no light,...

. La Sirena At some point they ceased to be beautiful. Even their voices. Bare breasts, bare arms, screams Savage as acid swamped the scholar-priest His reasoned teaching fading from his lips. Bare breasts, bare arms, black stripes across their eyes. The cover granted to anonymous hate. That doesn’t make...

. So Much Depends upon a Dog So much depends upon a dog The earth revolves around the sun. Each day revolves around our jog— unclip your harness, watch you run, and sniff where other dogs have wet. So much depends upon a dog. Across the sky, the tempests jet...

. Snowflakes Now soft and white the snowflake clusters fall. The wind picks up and blusters. Millions drift Like powdered sugar shaken by a baker’s sift, All the same to the naked eye. A fractal, However, proves that’s not the case. Each flake Was once a microscopic hexagon Of radial...

. Poetic Influence true stories I His baby girl with Mom at home, The work bus carted him away. His mother emailed him a poem (Which he would read on break that day) About another doting dad, Who saw his baby daughter’s ear Of seashell shape and knew God had...

. Odysseus Begs? He’s leaning on a Pluto niche machine: an ATM, balanced on his good leg— a fresh appearance in an ancient scene— a bandaged hand gropes slowly out to beg. Was he Odysseus, sail raised to breeze, carving current never plied before? Herodotus, or old Diogenes? Or mad...

. "Instructions Set in Bone" by Peter Lillios was first published by the Society of Classical Poets here. Now songwriter Joseph DeNatale has created a version with adapted lyrics below. . . Instructions Set in Bone (Music Lyrics) With my own knife, by my own hand, I carve these words...

. Extinction Event The sky burned black the day the giants died. A flaming mountain pierced the turquoise bay. When doomsday comes, the clever know to hide. The thunder woke a mammal safe inside the burrow where our pink-skinned forebears lay. The sky burned black the day the giants died....

. Pastoral Calls—Part 1 of 3 . Best Friends Three boys; best friends at school; now men with wives. Between them, seven children called them “Dad.” They drank, they drove too fast and lost their lives. “They were such good boys, too,” folks said. “How sad.” A hunting trip each...

. Morning Glory The morning mist at last has dissipated. The noonday sun is climbing to its height In cloudless skies of blue, where larks, elated, Fly round the day’s bright beaming crown of light. All earthbound creatures bow beneath the rays The sovereign sun on one and all bestows,...

. Sonnet to a Miracle upon reading the recent news story here.  They’ve named her Miracle, that new born child found in the earthquake’s rubble, still attached to she who gave her life though hers was snatched. A neighbour cut the cord and Fortune smiled upon this dusty innocent whose...

. Double Ballade of a Crusader by Conon de Béthune (c.1155–1219) translated by Margaret Coats It would be well to fight this zeal For making songs and penning poetry, Since I should conquer faults I feel, Leave her, best mistress of all gallantry (Through whom I ought to rectify my...

. A Wild Horse Legacy: The Saga Begins is a 14-chapter narrative poem written by Michael Pietrack. In this excerpt, the young and fearful protagonist Abelbee receives guidance from his father, Baldwinbee.  “Imagine both a man and wild horse, a clash of strategy and will and force. The animal refuses...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDSWs61Ye0E . Sonnet XVIII of the Sacred Rhymes by Lope de Vega (1562-1635) translated by Martin Rizley What have I, that you’d seek me as a friend? What interest draws you, Jesus, to my door, All drenched with dew, as you have come before, In winter’s dark, the long...

. Trust My life unfolds as time goes by. Some days I laugh. Some nights I cry. I yearn for peace, as all folks do. When stress prevails, my doubts accrue. Grim darkness lures my peace and hope. From deep inside, I strain to cope. Life’s peaks are tall, its...

. The City, 1852 by Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (1817-1888) translated by Dusty Grein Past the gray beach, beside the gray sea, lies a wondrous gray city of old. Heavy fog blankets the roofs all around and in silence, the sea roars quite bold. No rustling of trees in the...

. The Shadow of My Sorrow As soon as day has dawned and night is done, The shadow of my sorrow follows me, Outgrows the shape by which it came to be, Consuming it when night is new begun; And being my likeness, how can I outrun My other self,...

. Time Travel I chance upon a sylvan glade, an Orphic place: moon threads, a lace of nightkin shadows. A trill of breeze awakes the guardian trees, live oaks in gowns of moss, tall runes of pine. I hear the soft slow sound of fairy rings, up from the inner...

. Castile by Miguel de Unamuno (Spain, 1864-1936)translated by Cheryl A. Corey O Castile! You raise me up in the rugged palm of your hand;To the sky that burns, that cools, that holds you under its command. A mother of hearts and arms for a land that’s sinewy, lean, and clear;Who...

. The Snuff Box from a true story told in My Mother by Fr. Bernard Vaughan (1847-1922) When I was just a little boy, My mother served us shepherd’s pie. We thirteen children sniffed with joy, With statue faces, on the sly. But quenching hunger was my goal, So while...

. So Close By At one point I was told that I Was purposely created by Some perfect being in the sky Who watches as I live and die. If that was true, I wondered why When perched atop His throne up high He’d let creation go awry; I asked...

. Comfort I gaze upon the endless sea against high cliffs, on golden sand— her everlasting majesty. Through ages rolling wild and grand, oblivious to time and space, against high cliffs, on golden sand. Her every mood my cares erase— there’s healing in each surge and flow, oblivious to time...

. Practical Philosophy The mind is meant to lead the body, And not the other way around. Permit no workmanship that’s shoddy, And build foundations plumb and sound. The godless, too, exalt their gods, Though often in the guise of science. Like little peas in brittle pods, Their order suffers...

. Life on the Farm Daddy’s gone. Is he sleeping? For only the shell remains. I hear the cries of cicadas. I listen to their pain. Momma, why are you weeping? Did Daddy push you away? Her tears rob the cicadas, And we live in silence today. Pain is the...

. The Land of Dreams written on the eve of India's Republic Day of India which is celebrated on Jan. 26 every year Some distance far away, the drumbeats sound __And echo victories now past; __Where clouds of slavery had cast Their shadows; every place a battle ground, And every...