Poems and Prose

Favourite Poets and Poems

Nine Favourite Poets and Poems

Language can struggle to communicate the Inexpressible. Perhaps it is only through beautiful and illuminating poetry that language reaches its zenith. In that respect, a profound poem brings us all closer to the Truth of things than any other form of language. A sublime poem ‘speaks’ to us of the realm that is beyond the words and beyond the constructed. I believe we cannot live meaningful lives without poetry. …

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“Je Suis Charlie” – and the terrorist too!

Those who hold up the sign “Je Suis Charlie”

need to read  the  poem

“Call Me by My True Names.”

I recall in the late 1970s reading the Poem Call Me by My True Names by the beloved Buddhst monk, Venerable Thich Nhat Hahn. The poem has perhaps became the best loved  poem in the Buddhist world in recent generations. …

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A Commentary on War Photographer – A Poem by Carole Anne Duffy

The War Photographer by Scottish Poet, Carole Anne Duffy (born 1955) is a powerful poem widely used in British schools for young people to reflect on and write about. …

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70th Birthday. A Poem for April 22, 2014

Ah, I know now that I cannot die young,

the locks of white fill the place once so dark

I was once so young and I changed my name,

nothing lasts long and nothing stays the same.

 

I can only live to fill a life time,

the music starts to play another song,

the party still goes on, the friends do grow,

as spring and summer, autumn, winter show.

 

A solitude fills the day and the night,

A few odd crumbs lie around winter’s mind,

I know now where the passing years all went,

inquiry, laughter, love and time well spent.

 

Fulfilled my dreams, I had my sleep. The deep

is close, I sit and see, my thoughts do wane,

the sparks have come and lit short joy delight,

express in ways to share, and then to write.

 

Mindful, this rest – to start the last hurrah,

we smile and laugh, as friends, and dharma long,

the hugs mean much,  even if glow does fade,

we look around to see what love has made.

 

The stroll of change, an age that fills the air,

of dana, books, music, cards and candles,

events unfold before impending blast,

I can only state that the truth will last.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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