Culture

  Now does a mischief Winter grip our Isle with hands Which, Midas-like, turn all they touch to silvery ice. Thus does our season prove itself more strong than old, Its touch is an enchantment...

I think we need your help Lord God; Fairly sure we do, Sure as feet upon the sod, Sure as coins be few, We must concede the modern day is dim and dark, unclear, For limits seem so far away, while close...

Can one’s eyes pierce the shroud of time to learn The message of Atlantis drowned in dust? Past Hercules’s Pillars thrived man’s lust For power – now in History’s dark urn, As baneful greed’s...

  Pygmalion at Twilight Like a fiery dawn came we forth unto Our place on pedestals above the dunes Of disappointment – longing dared to paint A fairer portrait, distorted by the wait; A gilded...

By Nostradamus (1503-1566) | Translated by Evan Mantyk   X 76 The great Senate will award the pageant, To one who’s then vanquished, driven out; For adherents, the sound of the...

  Culloden Moor At last they met. No sound. Arrays deployed. It was the perfect day—no haze, no shine. Long minutes lapsed before the bagpipes trilled. By noon it all ran smooth. Forlorn and...

  Persistent Danger Where is this going when state and foe mow down civilians and non-combatants in market stalls? They shock and flame like an erratic clown whose grisly creativity...

  Aleppo By Cid Wa'eeb El Sur We will drain it dry as hay. Peace shall neither night nor day hang upon its pent-house lid; it shall be a place forbid. Weary seven months times nine, shall it...

By Conan Milner | The Epoch Times For centuries, the plays of William Shakespeare have been celebrated for their larger-than-life storytelling and rhythmic language. Now the Bard’s work is being studied...

  Intimations of a Dream When the wind rustles through the open pine, And the leaves murmur and shudder off dew; When the sun, like an undeciphered sign, Through the imperial vault of swimming...

  The Price (a pantoum in iambic pentameter) The sea and sky, once beautiful and clean, They’ve paid the price for man’s hubris and greed. The jungle canopies were brilliant green as nature...

  Paean to “ODE TO JOY”* I heard the “Ode to Joy” today, ten thousand times at least. I could not hold my heart at bay, engorging on a feast of melody, of majesty, of rhythmic...

By Conrad Geller Poets demonstrably know nothing about death since it is, in Hamlet’s phrase, “the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Yet from the Egyptian Book of the Dead...

  There is a tale of seven sisters whose father help up the sky pursued by Orion, carried to the heavens by Zeus. Farming season began when their star cluster appeared high— their position in the...

  Gathering like large and lazy vultures they asked me, on my travels, where I’m from — my origins, religion and my culture the place from which I came, so forth, and on. But how to answer...

Will Power When God asked Solomon one day     What his heart did most desire, The man said if he had his way     Unmatched wisdom he’d acquire. Now some might...

Such Was My Prayer Such was my prayer. And she, so far away, Or so it seemed, looked down at me and smiled; Then to Eternal Light she turned once more. -Paradiso 31.91-93, Dante Such was my prayer – she...

  Ice I open my golden flowing fins,     I dance beneath the ice, I dip and twirl and pose and spin:     Tell me, don’t I look nice? Look at me! a...

Blaschka Glass By Beau Ecs Wilder So beautiful they are, the lovely Blaschka glass displays, exquisite floral blossoms and marine invertibrates; such fragile, magical designs, and educational, as if...

  A Hero These are the weathered shoes worn by the Jew, So cracked from all the miles walked since he fled. These are the slave’s strong legs like trunks that grew And worked so hard until he’s...

  If I were to have been conceived Beneath a greater star, My sorrows would have been reprieved By powers great and far. Were I to have been born as strong As storm and fire and sea, Your royal...

To Beauty (Tribute to Sarah Lane, American Ballet Theater Ballerina) Who see you move across the stage Themselves are moved by easeful gifts That vivify as they assuage The day's reflux. Your grace...

  Against the Light Watermarks are visible when held against light whispering quality, distinction, louder than a shout— are also used in banknotes ensuring they’re alright: some marks are more...

If You're a Beggar, Be a Chooser Too (Villanelle) If you're a beggar, be a chooser too, For less is more and more can be a curse. The world will offer anything to you. You must discern the useful from...

for Claudia Why didn’t Sisyphus simply walk away and climb, unencumbered, up the smooth cleft worn in the undulant hillside, up and over that crest bright purple with wild violets one brilliant...

Javelin Ekphrastic Out of the air and shot from a thrust, Clout of the spear, forethought where it must, Wrought from the ancient and taut and released, Slaughtered and blatant, when caught be the...

Lost The angel’s cry, the devil’s kiss: How did you let it come to this? You claimed the darkness too: How when the world was screaming, You thought you’d best be dreaming; You thought the lies...

  When the wind blows true through the land Rustled leaves hold trees that withstand Tempered gusts with vicious intent. So long lives the day when air’s spent Upon the ridge: that jagged...

Anasazi Mesa castles in the sky Where paintbrush blooms and eagles fly. A people's passage marked in stone; Artifacts of flint and bone. Cliffy cities - vanished host, Sanctum haunt of hawk and...

Related Content 'Trump' Presidential Prophecy Poem by Nostradamus Donald Trump (A Clerihew*) Donald “The Donald” Trump Surprisingly took to the political stump What is, perhaps, not as great a...

Cribbed Agency (After a grating entrée) No matter how I madly strove to make sense of the garlic clove the waitress gave me with my plate, it simply made me more irate. And thus, like a rambunctious...

  Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach Crack of stone for rest and bed, Wrack of storm unpressed I tread, Sun and proud and bright and gold; Dun and shroud of night, I hold.   Fraternal I have some...

So turn whereto it dies, Pulse of a draining sun: The face of daylight’s guise The yield that night has won. See on the far-west front, Goes trotting godly fame: The bull called occident. His white...

2016 Primaries This season, Mr. Trump’s a raging wildfire, a storm ignited by reality TV, fodder for anyone who likes good satire. He’s poised to win as far as I can see. The exit polls are making me...

Gaunt fades the twilight, nearly gone, a weary world wearing thin Since last the unremembered sun smiled upon the land below, And sluggish sinks the eventide, smothering all warmth and light, Until, at...

Post your Tiananmen Square poems in the comments section below.   Tiananmen By James Fenton, Hong Kong, 15 June 1989 Tianamen Is broad and clean And you can’t tell Where the dead have...

To some the world revolves around them, And nothing else can matter. They’ll do anything to reach that end, Including endless idle chatter. They walk around like “Hey look at me.” And are only...

Go Forth, Graduates! To all you graduates, fare well! This world is yours today. Don’t follow the masses who sell Their minds or don cliché For meaning. The sky is crimson But not dark, the...

Chapter I: Arrival in Beijing Inspired by real events   Sing to me, Muse, who flies through Heaven’s realms, Sing of that night when terror swept the land And peaceful practitioners of Falun...

In the Lotus Pose By Uwe Carl Diebes At first, he was uncomfortable in the lotus pose, but as he sat down carefully, his upper spine arose. Though startled where he found himself, he gradu'lly...