Short Poems

I use the knife
To save the life.

The towers that generations did combine
To build & grace, a rat may undermine.

None spares another yet it pleases me
That none to any is indifferent
No heart in all this world is separate
But all are cisterns of one central sea
All are mouthpieces of the Eternal Word

Why should I live
The future will repeat the past
Yet cannot give
Again the Vision beautiful too beautiful to last
And o perhaps the welcome stroke
That severs forever this fleshly yoke
Shall restore the vision to the soul
In the great Vision of the Whole.

Go boldly forth, and feast on being's banquet;
Thou art the called, — the rest admitted with thee.

From Hilali
Hark what, now loud, now low, the pining flute complains,
Without tongue, yellow-cheeked, full of winds that wail and sigh;
Saying, Sweetheart! the old mystery remains, —
If I am I; thou, thou; or thou art I?

From Hafiz
Thy foes to hunt, thy enviers to strike down,
Poises Arcturus aloft morning and evening his spear.

The placid lake that rested far below
Softly embosoming another sky,
Still as we gazed assumed a lovelier glow,
And seemed to send us looks of amity.

The rains at length have ceased, the winds are stilled,
The stars shine brightly between clouds at rest,
And as a cavern is with darkness filled,
The vale is by a mighty sound possessed.

No whimsy of the purse is here,
No Pleasure-House forlorn;
Use, Comfort do this roof endear;
A tributary Shed to cheer
The little Cottage that is near,
To help it and adorn.