Birdsong

Here you can share your favorite or your own poems..





A Continual Autumn, by Jalal Al-din Muhammad Rumi

Inside each of us there’s
a continual autumn.
Our leaves fall and are
blown out over the water,
a crow sits in the blackened limbs and
talks about what’s gone.
There’s a necessary dying, and
then we are reborn breathing again.
Very little grows on jagged rock.
Be ground.
Be crumbled
so wildflowers will come up where you are.

 

My favorite poem.

Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
Chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
And end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
And fall in.

I should be suspicious
Of what I want.

 

Here is one of my favourite song by H.W.Longfellow. I especially like the last para. Sometimes we find our life empty or the deeds we done worthless or feel that we wasted our life. We feel as if we have been a fool and blind. But suddenly something happens that bring back to our heart and mind, the good things or times that we have forgotten. We realise that in our misery we have forgotten that we lead a happy life inspite of odds and we should continue to do so. And there is nothing wrong with us at all and we have not wasted our life ! Ah ! Then we become wise and happy once more !

The Arrow And The Song (1845)

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

 

What a lovely idea, Peony - thanks for starting this thread.

I'd like to share the lyrics to a song by Bill Withers. (I omitted repetitive phrases)
The song is also one of the soundtrack for the film, Lean on Me, staring Morgan Freeman.

Sometimes in our lives, We all have pain, We all have sorrow.
But if we are wise, We know that there's always tomorrow.

Lean on me, When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on...
For it won't be long, Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

Please swallow your pride, If I have things you need to borrow.
For no one can fill, Those of your needs that you won't let show.

You just call on me brother/sister when you need a hand;
We all need somebody to lean on.
I just might have a problem that you'll understand;
We all need somebody to lean on.

Lean on me, When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on...
For it won't be long, Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

You just call on me brother/sister, When you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on, I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on.

If there is a load you have to bear, That you can't carry
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load - If you just call me.

 

Those are very good lines. I found out that asking help of others when you can't do it alone gives you great strength to face life odds and makes you more strong.

 

look at love
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love
look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life
why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend
why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how the unknown merges into the known
why think seperately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last
look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs
look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once
the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together
look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox

Rumi

 

And a youth said, 'Speak to us of Friendship.'

Your friend is your needs answered.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the 'nay' in your own mind, nor do you withhold the 'ay.'

And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;

For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.

For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Kahlil Gibran

 

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

Waters, Gilmour