The Means To Attain Happy Life

MARTIAL, the things that do attain  
  The happy life be these, I find:—  
The richesse left, not got with pain;  
  The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;  
 
The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
  No charge of rule, nor governance;  
Without disease, the healthful life;  
  The household of continuance;  
 
The mean diet, no delicate fare;  
  True wisdom join’d with simpleness;
The night dischargèd of all care,  
  Where wine the wit may not oppress.  
 
The faithful wife, without debate;  
  Such sleeps as may beguile the night:  
Contented with thine own estate
  Ne wish for death, ne fear his might.  
Poem by: Henry Howard,
Earl Of Surrey
(1516-47)

Art: Breath Of Life
By MoonSongWolf
Via: Deviant Art

Elegy 5

Post by "CavalierZee"

In summer's heat, and mid-time of the day,
To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay;

One window shut, the other open stood,
Which gave such light as twinkles in a wood,

Like twilight glimpse at setting of the sun,
Or night being past, and yet not day begun.

Such light to shamefaced maidens must be shown,
Where they may sport, and seem to be unknown.

Then came Corinna in a long loose gown,
Her white neck hid with tresses hanging down,
       
Resembling fair Semiramis going to bed
Or Lais of a thousand wooers sped.

I snatched her gown: being thin, the harm was small,
Yet strived she to be covered there withal.

And striving thus, as one that would be cast,
Betrayed herself, and yielded at the last.

Stark naked as she stood before mine eye,
Not one wen in her body could I spy.

What arms and shoulders did I touch and see!
How apt her breasts were to be pressed by me!
            
How smooth a belly under her waist saw I,
How large a leg, and what a lusty thigh!

To leave the rest, all liked me passing well,
I clinged her naked body, down she fell:

Judge you the rest; being tired she bade me kiss;
Jove send me more such afternoons as this!
By Ovid
Translated by Christopher Marlowe

On Liberty

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is,
That it is robbing the human race posterity,
As well as the existing generation,
Those who dissent from the opinion,
Still more than those who hold it.

If the opinion is right,
They are deprived of the opportunity of,
Exchanging error for truth.

If wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit,
The clear perception and livelier impression of truth,
Produced by it's collision with error.

(John Stuart Mill)

Heavens Rain

Post by "CavalierZee"


Artist "Mehdi"

Don't Kiss Me

Post by "CavalierZee"


Don’t kiss me with your fingertips,
I want the whole, unadulterated passion of your palms,
taunting my malleable flesh, pressing me against a wall
The anger that is residual of forced separation
shall be our making.


Don’t kiss me with a brush of your lips,
I want to feel the searing heat of your tongue,
moulding my taut neck, leaving marks against dark caramel
The pain that is residual of secrets kept
shall be our undoing.


Don’t kiss me with wisps of silk,
I want the friction of skin against skin,
casting statues in a tumultuous dance between curves and hips
The need that is residual of past trysts
shall keep us moving.


[By notsospiffywha]

An Irish Blessing

May there always be work for your hands to do
May your purse always hold a coin or two
May the sun always shine upon your window pane
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain
May the hand of a friend always be near to you, and
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you...

Cry Of The Unborn

Wonder I, Of My Sin
Why Unborn, Why No Kin.
Ask I, Oh Mother Dear
Love Me, Not Fear...

Cherish, Beg I, Not Scorn
Alive Am I, Unborn
Live Must I, In Womb
Rest Longer Still, In Tomb...

"Mistake...Yes", You Sigh
Ah! Hear You, Pain Feel I
Guilty Am I?...Forgive
Punish, Yes, But Let Live...

Condemn, Must You...Why?
No Sweet Song, No Lullaby?
Unwanted Am I?...Shun
Make Haste Then...Be Done...

Sleep I, Now, Eternally
Wake Will I, Eventually?
Unknown, Unheard...Eentombed In Stone
I Cry Silent...I Cry Alone...



By-Anwaar N. Hassan
Sept. 25, 2005

The Nightingale

From the Conference of the Birds
By-Farid Ud-Din Attar
-Persian Poet-
1119-1220



The nightingale raises his head, drugged with passion,
pouring the oil of earthly love in such a fashion,
that the other birds shaded with his song, grow mute.
the leaping mysteries of his melodies are acute.

"I know the secrets of love, I am their piper";
he sings, "I seek a David with broken heart to decipher,
their plaintive barbs, I inspire the yearning flute,
the daemon of the plucked conversation of the lute.
The roses are dissolved into fragrance by my song,
hearts are torn with its sobbing tone, broken along,
the fault lines of longing filled with desire's wrong.
My music is like the sky's black ocean, I steal
the listener's reason, the world becomes the seal
of dreams for chosen lovers, where only the rose
Is certain. I cannot go further, I am lame, and expose
my anchored soul to the divine way.
My love for the rose is sufficient, I shall stay
In the vicinity of its petalled image, I need
no more, it blooms for me the rose, my seed."

The hoopoe replies: "you love the rose without thought
nightingale, your foolish songs is caught
by the rose's thorns, it is a passing thing.
Velvet petal, perfume's repose bring
you pleasure, yes, but sorrow too
for the rose's beauty is shallow: few
escape winter's frost. To seek the way
release yourself from this love that lasts a day.
The bud nurtures its own demise as day nurtures night
groom yourself, pluck the deadly rose from your sight."

Insightful Observations By George Carlin

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.
I know where my watch is buddy,
where the hell is yours?
Do I point at my zipper when I ask where the bathroom is?



2. When people say, "It's always in the last place you look."
Of course it is!
Why the hell would you keep looking after you found it?
Do people do that? Who and where are they?



3. The radio ad,
"hi, I'm Jeff Healey from the Jeff Healey Band. Don't drink and drive. I don't"
Well, I hope you don't drive sober either Mr. Healey.
You're blind for God's sake!

O World, Thou Choosest Not

O World, Thou Choosest Not


(George Santayana)



O World, thou choosest not the better part!
It's not wisdom to be only wise-
and on the inward vision close the eyes,
But it is wisdom to believe the heart.
Columbus found a world, and had no chart,
Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;
To trust the soul's invincible surmise,
Was all his science and his only art,
Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine,
That lights the pathway but one step ahead,
Across a void of mystery and dread.
Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine,
By which alone the mortal heart is lead,
Unto the thinking of the thought divine.

Mirror of your Perception

(By-Rumi)

If you could get rid
of yourself just once.
The secret of secrets
would open to you.
The face of the unknown
hidden beyond the Universe
would appear on the
Mirror of your Perception.

I've Been Waiting For A Girl Like You

(By-Foreigner)



So long I've been looking too hard,
I've been waiting too long
Sometimes I don't know what I will find
I only know it's a matter of time
When you love someone
When you love someone.

It feels so right, so warm and true
I need to know if you feel it too.

Maybe I'm wrong
Won't you tell me if I'm coming on too strong?
This heart of mine has been hurt before
This time I wanna be sure.

I've been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I've been waiting for a girl like you
A love that will survive.

I've been waiting for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life.

You're so good
When we make love it's understood
It's more than a touch or a word we say
Only in dreams could it be this way
When you love someone
Yeah, really love someone.

Now, I know it's right
From the moment I wake up till deep in the night
There's no where on earth that I'd rather be
Than holding you, tenderly.

I've been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I've been waiting for a girl like you
And a love that will survive.

I've been waiting for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life.

I've been waiting, waiting for you, ooh
ooh, I've been waiting
I've been waiting, yeah
I've been waiting for a girl like you
I've been waiting
Won't you come into my life?
My life?

Empty Vase

(By-Ruth Y. Nott)



Where once a bright bouquet of summer roses bloomed,
Where once a smile like morning sun radiantly lit the room,
Now only an empty vase stands, unaware of its useless plight
And only shadows slowly roam throughout day and night.

Where once the lilt of laughter played like chimes in the wind,
Where once her love and support meant all the world to him,
Now only silence greets him as he wanders alone and forlorn,
And memory seems to flicker without substance, shape, or form.

He reaches out for a hug, for a hand he needs to clasp,
And his tears continue to flow for a life he can't quite grasp,
For a family he wants to remember but whose names have slipped away,
And he wonders who these people are, who visit him each day.

Once in a while he remembers the pleasures of all his years,
This man of worth who once stood tall among his friends and peers,
But those times are fading fast, closed away like a book on the shelf,
For now only an empty vase stands here, a shell of his former self.

Peace Takes Courage

(By- Saa'di Shirazi/Persian Poet)



The World, My Brother! Will Abide With None,
By The World's Maker, Let Thy Heart Be Won.
Rely Not, Nor Repose On This World's Gain,
For Many A Son Like Thee, She Has Reared And Slain.
What Matters, When The Spirit Seeks To Fly,
If On A Throne Or On Bare Earth We Die?

Peace Takes Courage!
SomeOne's Lie!
SomeOne's Fault!
Demand The Truth!

The Hawk

From The Conference Of The Birds
By- Farid Ud-Din Attar
(Persian Poet- 1119-1220?)



He was a soldier, with a soldier's pride,
this hawk, whose home was by a King's side.
He was haughty as his master, all other birds
thought him a disaster, his beak was feared
as much as his talons. With hooded eyes
(his place on the royal roster was his prize).
He stands sentinel on the King's arm, polite
and trained meticulously to do what is right
and proper with courtly grace. He has no need
to see the simurgh even in a dream, his deeds
are sufficient for him, and no journey could replace
the royal command, royal morsel food no disgrace
to his way of thinking, he easily satisfies the King.
He flies with cutting grace on sinister wing
through valleys and upward into the sky,
he has no other wish but to live and then to die-
The hoopoe says: "you have no sense with your soldiers pride.
Don't you think that supping with Kings, doing their will
is enough to keep you in favour, always at their side?
An Earthly King may be just, but you must beware still
for a King's justice is whim pretending to be good.
Once there was a King who prized his slave for his beauty
his body's silver sheen fascinated the Prince who would
dress him in fine clothes so his looks alone were his duty.
The king amused himself by placing on his favourite's head
an apple for a bullseye, the poor silver slave would grow
yellow with fear because he knew too well blood is red.
His silver hue would be tarnished if the King's bow
was not true; an injured slave would his silver lose
to be discarded because the King would not be amused."

ALL Adam's Race Are Member's Of One Frame

By- Sa'adi...Persian Poet
(1207-1291)



All Adam's Race are Members of One Frame;
Since All, at First, From the Same Essence Came.
When by Hard Fortune One Limb is Oppressed,
The Other Members lose their Wonted Rest:
If Thou Feel'st Not for Others' Misery,
A Son of Adam is No Name for Thee...



Note:
The Above Poem is Inscribed at the UN's Headquarters in New York City.

When Our Government Conspires

(By: Asif Ahmed- Birmingham, England)



When our government conspires
with the monarchs and dictators
like a deer drowned by an alligator
hope of the public expires.

Flags of freedom fail to flutter
democracy melts like hot butter
certainty suffers, integrity abused
only the devil is amused.

Love sighs, faternity cries
equality is an extremist stand
humanity stretched like rubber band.

When our government conspires
injustice and vested interest aspire
our rights are flaunted and defaulted
truth is mocked and halted.

When our governments conspire
rights of the public expire.

In This World There Is

(Unknown Author)



Aggravation,
Alienation,
Annihilation,
Desecration,
Desperation,
Detestation,
Eradication,
Extermination,
Irritation,
Isolation,
Molestation,
Obliteration,
Pacification,
Provocation,
Separation...

And You Say:

"I Am Not Responsible For Any Debts Other Than My Own!"

Iraq War

(Mallory Moore)



"We are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here"---
What one has to do with the other Isn't really clear.
Unless all of the terrorists are In Iraq,
How then will fighting them there prevent another attack?
For most people, the answer is clear---
Fighting them there doesn't mean we won't have to fight them here---

The Search

1. "Waves"
The rolling waves against the hard rocks harshly beat
Upon the sandy shores, prostrate at my feet.
The rolling times, the hard hearts harshly treat
The whole world will the gentle heart kindly greet.



2. "The Search"
Water was in the jug, while we traveled the world in search
Beloved was at home, while we sought all over the earth.
At last returned home, and quenched our desperate thirst
And then calmly saw beloved waiting from the first.



3. "Mind, Heart, and Soul"
I find a Mind
In Bind
Unkind and Blind...

And Heart
That's Smart
Can Start
To Chart
It's Part...

Let Soul
Cast Role
Set Goal
Control
The Whole...



Note: All Three Poems Were Composed by Shahriar Shahriari...