Respect Poems
The British
by Benjamin Zephaniah
Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.
Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
......
Dis Poetry
by Benjamin Zephaniah
Dis poetry is like a riddim dat drops
De tongue fires a riddim dat shoots like shots
Dis poetry is designed fe rantin
Dance hall style, big mouth chanting,
Dis poetry nar put yu to sleep
Preaching follow me
Like yu is blind sheep,
Dis poetry is not Party Political
Not designed fe dose who are critical.
Dis poetry is wid me when I gu to me bed
......
The Poem Of Zuhair
by İbn Abî Sûlmâ Zuhayr
'Does the blackened ruin, situated in the stony ground between Durraj and Mutathallam, which did not speak to me, when addressed, belong to the abode of Ummi Awfa?
'And is it her dwelling at the two stony meadows, seeming as though they were the renewed tattoo marks in the sinews of the wrist?
'The wild cows and the white deer are wandering about there, one herd behind the other, while their young are springing up from every lying-down place.
'I stood again near it, (the encampment of the tribe of Awfa,) after an absence of twenty years, and with some efforts, I know her abode again after thinking awhile.
'I recognized the three stones blackened by fire at the place where the kettle used to be placed at night, and the trench round the encampment, which had not burst, like the source of a pool.
......
Beggar To Beggar Cried
by William Butler Yeats
'TIME to put off the world and go somewhere
And find my health again in the sea air,'
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
'And make my soul before my pate is bare.-
'And get a comfortable wife and house
To rid me of the devil in my shoes,'
Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
'And the worse devil that is between my thighs.'
And though I'd marry with a comely lass,
She need not be too comely -- let it pass,'
......
The Interpretation Of Nature And
by Sir Francis Bacon
I.
MAN, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature: beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.
II.
Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.
III.
Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.
......
Om jou
by Mario Odekerken
Om jou draai my gedagtes
soos wind om 'n stil boom,
nie om te breek nie,
maar om teenwoordig te wees.
Ek kyk na jou
soos water kyk na lig,
nie om dit vas te hou nie,
maar om dit te weerkaats.
......
If ever we meet again
by Mario Odekerken
Do not speak.
Let the silence carry all that time could not.
Look at me like you remember-
not the end,
but the beginning.
If ever we meet again,
let it be as two storms passing,
recognizing the wind in one another.
No apologies.
......
Onder de vleugels van stilte 02
by Mario Odekerken
Onder de vleugels van stilte
ademt de wereld trager.
Gedachten worden lichter
wanneer woorden verdwijnen.
Jouw aanwezigheid
weegt niets
en toch vult zij
elke ruimte in mij.
......
Onder de vleugels van stilte
by Mario Odekerken
Onder de vleugels van stilte
vinden onze zielen elkaar
zonder haast,
zonder vragen.
Liefde ademt daar
waar woorden tekortschieten.
Niet als bezit,
maar als aanwezigheid
die zichzelf herkent in de ander.
......
Beneath the wings of silence
by Mario Odekerken
Beneath the wings of silence
our souls find one another
without haste,
without question.
Love breathes
where words fall short.
Not as possession,
but as presence-
recognizing itself in the other.
......
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Slava P, aka Maximus Decimus Meridius (3 poems about Respect)
October 31st, 1970 - Kyiv, Ukraine and since 1992 - New Jersey, USA -