Truth Poems
If
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream- -and not make dreams your master;
......
Strange Meeting
by Wilfred Owen
It seemed that out of the battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which Titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall;
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.
......
Birches
by Robert Frost
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
......
The Duel
by Eugene Field
The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
'T was half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t' other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat.
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)
......
Faiz Ahmed Faiz translations by Michael R. Burch
by Michael R. Burch
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984) was one of the most famous Urdu poets. In fact, his reputation is such that he has been called "the Poet of the East." His name is often spelled Faiz Ahmad Faiz in English. These are my modern English translations of Urdu poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Last Night
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch
Last night, your memory stole into my heart—
as spring sweeps uninvited into barren gardens,
......
the hustler final truth, the one that is hard to sell
by atef ayadi
freedom was never yours
it was always currency.
you spend it to exist at the next level.
the universe is a casino,
where every structure bets
its autonomy,
for a chance at something greater.
only to discover,
the house always wins.
you are not a player.
......
The truth within
by Mario Odekerken
The mirror shows a face
but not the voice behind the eyes.
It reflects
but does not reveal.
We walk with borrowed names,
wrapped in customs
stitched by those
who came before,
each thread a compromise,
......
A Birth
by Ghairo Daniels
A BIRTH
Twelve hours in velvet dark
I waited for your shaft
to penetrate my channel of desire
birthing purity and long lashes
You came without a doubt
Acacia branches making curtains
their feet digging deep for
......
Cracks in the Divine Lie
by Igor Vykhovanets
Cracks in the Divine Lie
(Fragments from a Broken Gospel)
by Igor Vykhovanets & ChatGPT
Prologue: The Ashes Speak
They told me: kneel.
I learned to burn.
Their heaven froze —
......
Truth 3
by Ghairo Daniels
TRUTH 3
Truth shot point blank through
the centre of her forehead
Blood spurting, soiling fine furs
of humanoids at play with
slick lies and shallow Hansard words
They try to acupuncture Truth
......
