Beauty

. Tamara to Emily for Emily Dickinson We viewed the lighted houses well below, whose roads ran serpentine through mounding snow, zoomed in on walls that formed each hollowed room, then juxtaposed the gaiety...

. There Was a Free Nation That Swallowed a Lie sung to the tune of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" . https://youtu.be/luLcKkCHWFo There was a free nation that swallowed a lie. I don’t know why...

. Advent Twist "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple . . . But who may abide the day of his coming? and who...

. Sibylline Sonnets for Advent The sibyls were ecstatic prophetesses active from about 600 B.C. in the Greek coastlands of Asia Minor, and in Greek colonies on the west coast of Italy. A few apparent...

. Samode Palace Hotel An erstwhile palace, and all wished to claim a former sultan's, not a servants', room. So we drew keys, for all had paid the same and won two turrets and a vast bedroom. But, best,...

. Turn, Turn, Turn I, whose heart is closed and locked, Who turned away when your Son knocked And who, through sin, did turn my soul Into a twisted lump of coal Turn now, Holy Mary, to you. Least worthy, no...

. Daphne and Apollo “O foolish Cupid,” fair Apollo mocked. “To think that you, a wanton boy, should dare To think yourself the equal to a man Of arms, or even to a god like me, In putting arrows full...

. Failure to Strive Do, or do not.  There is no try. —Master Yoda We’ve traveled far, or so it seems to those Of us who shy from setting distant goals Requiring passage through unending rows Of thornhedge...

. Elemental, My Dear Slight air and purging fire, the first my thought, the other my desire. ---Shakespeare, "Sonnet 45" I am of air and fire wrought, though I am drawn to water like a dowsing rod. Carousing...

. Passer Mortuus Est, from Carmen 3 by Catullus (84-54 B.C.)| Translated from Latin by R.W. Rhodes My baby's favored fledgling dropped and died,and caused us both to weep; and when we cried,each Venus and...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCmLSOndstY . CREDITSPoetry: Robert FrostAudio/Visual Work: Society of Classical PoetsVoice-Over: S.A. ToddPhoto: "Yellow Forest" by Eflon (used under creative Commons...

. The Biden Oil Refrain As President, on his first day, He closed old Keystone down, Then shut off Arctic drilling, Forty-thousand jobs left town. He cancelled key oil leases, Barred new highly needed...

. The Gusting Winds The gusting winds, they blow, it seems, more bleakly this December; They bite my cheeks and chill my bones and freeze my aging flesh. As I ascend this windblown hill at sunset, I...

. Listening to Bach While the World Falls Apart for Adrianna, Paul, and Beth I Sight isn’t needed---the continuous cracking of all The pillars supporting civilization, is audible. Thunderous crumbling of...

. Where Is God? Along life’s way Problems arise. Some seen before--- Some do surprise. “Why Lord, to me Comes now this pain? Let this cup pass--- Be gone life’s rain!” “What purpose true These...

. Ruby’s House to the memory of Ruby Elaine Seal Rizley (1896-1978) You knew it when you woke up in the morning and you heard The sound of pigeons cooing just outside the windowpane, And opening your eyes,...

. Allentown Nights Sometimes the nights were full of evil there. Relentless searchers drove the block most nights, While novices in bushes would prepare As Lady Scarface told them of their rights— Just how...

. Four Thousand Four Hundred  Miles The shiny willows waved in yellow bloom Inland beyond the spit of dirty sand Where you and I stood, wishing we could zoom Due east and pace that other treasured land Across...

. Many years ago I gave a talk at a scholarly conference at Queens College, C.U.N.Y. My section of the conference was dedicated to contemporary translation, and the bulk of the papers presented were deadly...

. Guilty Thoughts I Through idle thoughts alone if no-one knows, We cannot hurt someone who never will Find out. No victim: none could ever spill The beans. Can we do any harm to those Among our foes we...

. A Song of Thanksgiving The pilgrims long ago faced strong __Attacks on their beliefs, And found a land they could command __Where faith would find relief. They journeyed long but still faced...

. Honest to God a rondeau I do not know why Sarah died; I only know her parents cried Such tears as only parents shed When infant children die in bed— A grief they did not try to hide. At birth a tumor deep...

. First and Foremost We’re human first and foremost: kith and kin. So never judge on looks and looks alone. We’re made of more than just our shade of skin. We’re flesh and blood. We’re brothers to the...

. Three Perspectives from Samos Poet’s note:  The Greek island of Samos, in the region of Ionia, was the reputed birthplace of the goddess Hera, and the scene of her marriage to Zeus.  It was also the...

. A Knot of Ought Nots A bright blue canoe atop of Mount Crumble, canoes can be tippy; down it might tumble —ought not to be there! The cat in galoshes and plaid underwear eating fish tacos in Dad’s...

. Circles It seems to me that living comes in circles, That nothing, even this, is ever new, That all that we create is a stale rhyme, A now that cannot cover marks of then. It seems to me that every extant...

. Who’s the Villain Now? My poems drip with vitriol and gall,Each stanza driving home a heartfelt curse—A side-effect of drinking alcohol Incessantly.  I lack the wherewithalTo temper my intemperate...

. The sunlight is raising A glow from the east For dawn-dappled grazing By somnolent beasts; The flight of a parrot To glistening seeds; And down from her garret, With predatory needs, Arrives a brown...

. On the Question of Enes Kanter How do heroes take a stand above the skyline? How face off sharp machinery that spades the earth, Converting humans into demons by the roots— Machines that grind distinctive...

. I. The Blacksmith God Forges Scenes on Achilles’ Shield after Homer’s Iliad Book 18 The hammer strikes! And glowing sparks fly out As Earth takes shape and then the flowing seas, The sun, the moon, the...

. One Miracle After Another A misty morning greeted by the sun Whose dappled rays arouse the drowsing Earth; The grandeur in the web a spider’s spun; A mother’s tearful joy for a safe birth; The giddy...

. Nature's War From far beneath the frozen soil the iris pushes high,Extending wide it reaches up to touch the sun and sky. Yet in the greening of the grass, the snows of winter stayas northern winds descend...

. . The Hireling Shepherd painting by William Holman Hunt This comely wench was Emma Watkins, she Who sat for Hunt in eighteen fifty-two. Too unaffected she, she never knew What lay beyond the brink, beyond...

. Today I feel the stirrings of the Dead In crimson-littered fields where poppies blow. I hear embittered groans and gasps of dread From churning earth neath crosses row on row. Today our freedoms fade along...

. From a Classified Location in England Dear Jim---my son---I write from far away. From England, Spring of 1944. June first! That means you’re six years old today! So happy birthday, son! And many...

. Colours of War What colour was the war to end all wars?We’ve watched as men, in grainy black and white,go o’er the top to face the chomping jawsof curtain fire and shrapnel’s iron bite.And when the...

. The Soldier Keeps the Wolf at Bay The soldier keeps the wolf at bay So we may never see it. That is why the young today Simply don’t believe it. You say “We see no wolf out there? So why should we...

. Imperial Invitation Fair neighbor, come, pass through entrancing gates I made to veil surprises and seclude My masterpiece of panoramic zest, Where autumns yet unreddened bear my mark. The servants disappear...

. Robert Jack Eardley was, for many years, Chief Psychiatrist for the U.S. Justice Department. In 2000, he organised a family gathering of thousands with our surname, in the small English town where the name...

. Bywords Language rang and wedged within our mind. Centuries of words were drawn like swords. A surfeit, rhymes, soliloquies entwined, As singers fingered perfectly rung chords. Linguals clang, the cymbals...