by phillipw | Dec 25, 2020 | AL, AN, CH, FE, KI, MU
The Cambridge Christmas Choir Trinity The beauties vary. One young man whose throat Appears to have no voice box sings high Inside the chapel. Melodies devote Themselves from him like angels in the sky Above sopranos and the trebles. He Turns into miracles the...
by phillipw | Dec 24, 2020 | CH, FU, JU, MA, MO, RO, RU
Death Sneers Silently at Services We sing to dead ones. That is how we pray. We sing the hymns and requiems. We chant The kaddish and the words of fate. We sway In robes the living wear. The pious rant Which sounds more beautiful than death, unless The timbre is of...
by phillipw | Dec 24, 2020 | CH, DE, FR, LO, MA, MO, PH, WH
Doppelgängers Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You almost smell despair of men alone When they have lost that one friend, that one near They found they loved as if a holy clone Had...
by phillipw | Dec 23, 2020 | AC, AN, EP, Ho, IL, ME, MO, PO
Absence Forbidden by Anamnesis Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Pure absence is unknown—as long as mind Retains the memory, absence is denied. An ancient poet, wandering and blind, Can see that fact. ...
by phillipw | Dec 23, 2020 | AN, JA, ME, SA, ST, Ta
Fabulous Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The ancient Japanese sword-makers bent Bent, coaxed their steel, more thousands of plies, than Rehearsing swordsmen slashed their blades. ...
by phillipw | Dec 21, 2020 | IN, PR, RE, SU
Moanasteries, More Like Most prayers are cramped things. They are far too full Of names, though mostly just the one, your name. Prayers think that childishly their words may pull A loveless god (or God) to feel some shame For not observing our exactest...
by phillipw | Dec 21, 2020 | AU, BL, CL, FA, PE, PU, SI
Physics and Metaphysics Clean Water and Black Hole Scars Shizukasa wa kuri no ha shizumu shimizu kana The quietness; A chestnut leaf sinks Through the clear water. ~Shōhaku The simple, clear, transparent, and the pure Are summed up in the...
by phillipw | Dec 20, 2020 | AR, BE, CO, IM, LU, RO
Hearing Deafly Romantics are like oceans, deep, disturbed, And wide. Unfathomed parts of them require Attention for this art. Their depths, perturbed Like Christ’s Bethesda or by coal mines’ fire, Impact the darkness and are meant to treat Our...