Washington Crossing the Delaware (David Shulman)

A hard, howling, tossing water scene.
Strong tide was washing hero clean.
"How cold!" Weather stings as in anger.
O Silent night shows war ace danger!

The cold waters swashing on in rage.
Redcoats warn slow his hint engage.
When star general's action wish'd "Go!"
He saw his ragged continentals row.

Ah, he stands - sailor crew went going.
And so this general watches rowing.
He hastens - winter again grows cold.
A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold.

George can't lose war with's hands in;
He's astern - so go alight, crew, and win!

What's so special about this?  

PS:- Thank you MP!

 

Roll the dice (Charles Bukowski)

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.

Time

In endless wait
to make things
happen
to strike off
from the scroll
things done
to make life
living.

(Penned Jan 12, 2011)

30 Extraordinary things happening right now

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” ~ Roald Dahl

1. A baby is taking its first few steps without falling.
2. Two people somewhere in the world, are falling in love.
3. Somewhere, someone is admiring a breathtaking sunrise, and somewhere else, a surreal sunset.
4. A soldier of sorts is diligently fighting the fight so you don’t have to
5. Someone who suffered from a severe injury last year is back on their feet.
6. A small group of people are building something that will soon make the impossible possible.
7. Somewhere on Earth a double rainbow is stretched from one end of the horizon to the other.
8. One of the next Billboard-chart-topping musical artists is patiently rehearsing in her garage.
9. A piece of literature is being written that will eventually change your perspective on life.
10. A friend is helping a friend rise above thoughts of suicide.
11. People of various religious backgrounds are in temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship praying, wholeheartedly, for world peace.
12. An elderly couple is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
13. Two best friends are laughing so hard that they aren’t even making any noise.
14. A firefighter is running into a burning building to rescue a perfect stranger.
15. Someone in your hometown genuinely wants to be your friend.
16. A new mom is lying in a hospital bed and holding her baby twins for the very first time.
17. Someone is taking a shower and singing happily at the top of their lungs.
18. There is someone out there who smiles when they think of a specific moment they once shared with you.
19. An alcoholic just celebrated one full year of sobriety.
20. Volunteers in major cities all over the world are working at homeless shelters caring for those who are less fortunate than themselves.
21. A high school athlete just broke their own personal record.
22. Two teenagers just received their very first kiss ever from each other.
23. Someone is hugging a friend who desperately needs it.
24. Someone just placed their spare change in the charity collection cup at the grocery store.
25. A small group of friends are sitting around a table sharing funny stories and cheerfully reminiscing about the good old days.
26. Honest people are working for various government entities to help protect your basic human rights and civil liberties.
27. An emergency room surgeon is in the middle of saving his patient’s life.
28. Someone is holding the door open for the person behind them.
29. Someone out there is missing you and looking forward to your next visit.
30. We are reminded that extraordinary things happen to ordinary people, and that there is beauty and wonder in everyday life.
    

Source link here

My very own ARR Top 10

Well it was his birthday yesterday and his songs were all over the place. 

Barring the ones I couldn't find, here's my Top 10.

1. Khoon chala (RDB) 

2. Latika's Theme (Slumdog Millionaire)

3. Roobaroo (Rang De Basanti) 

4. Thayya Thayya (Dil Se)

5. Tu bole (Jaane tu ya jaane na) 

6. Yeh Tara Woh Tara (Swades) 

7. Ramta jogi (Taal) 

8. Dil se re (Dil Se)

9. Behene De ( Raavan)

10. Khamosh Raat (Thakshak)

 

 

Of invention

Brownian Lacrosse.
Like a modern day
Interplanar Quidditch.
Rippling streams of fire
In seas of nothingness.
Near scalding sungrazers
Fueling off, cores ablaze
Focus, resolve, purpose et al. 
Trailing matter searing trajectories
Swooshing and swerving,
Their remnants, luminous,
Blinding momentarily
Melting away, in flashes
To the place, without time
Where they were born.
Game of choice.
Sport of invention. 

(Penned Jan 6, 2011)

To spareness: An Assay (Jane Hirshfield)

You lean toward non-existence but have not yet become it entirely.              For this reason, you can still be praised. The tree unleafing enters your dominion. An early snowfall shows you abide in all things. Your two dimensions are line and inclination. Therefore desire, incindering each mote of its object, itself is spare.                                                       The late paintings of Turner prove your slender depths without limit              The beauty too of shakuhachi and cello. “Winter darkness. Rain. No crickets singing.” —you are there, pulling hard on the rope-end. Remembering you, I remember also compassion. I cannot explain this.                                       Nor how you live in a teabowl or in a stone that has spent a long time in a river.              Nor the way you at times can signal your own contradiction,                                       meaning extra, but not by much— “Brother, can you spare a dime,” one thin man asks of another. Any room, however cluttered, gestures toward you, declaring:                 “Here lives this, not that.” In logic, the modest “<” sign gestures toward you. Your season is surely November, your fruit, persimmons ripening by coldness. Your sound is a crow cry, a bus idling at night by roadside. Without apparent effect, and so you remind of starlight on the colors of a cow’s hide. Your proposition, like you, is simple, of interest only to the human soul:              vast reach of all that is not, and still something is.

© 2005, Jane Hirshfield From: Poetry, Vol. 186, No. 2, May Publisher: Poetry, Chicago, 2005 Source link is here

The Power of Words (Yoko Ono)

Your words will run around forever to reverberate in the ocean of the world like a pebble you dropped in the water.

Let’s believe in that power – the large power that could move the mountain and the ocean. yes.

Yoko Ono
December 31st 2010

First pubished in the major national Japanese newspapers: Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun & Sankei Shimbun.

Source > Link here

Urm

Little far departed

Much

These worlds

I traipse through

One room to another

Stunning the diversity

Of exhibits, glass cases

Mind boggling, the bane

To be stuck

With a season ticket

(Penned Dec 19, 2010)

Happy 235th Ms. Austen!

What is it?

It is noisy.

Isn’t it always?

It’s the precipice.

The wind howls its siren call.

The waters, foaming to the rocks

Gulls screeching, circling.

Should I go to the greens?

Why the greens?

So I can hear the leaves whisper.

The twigs crackle to moonsong

And night souls brush by trees.

Wouldn’t that be a little scary?

Why? Is that your notion of fear?

I see yours’ is the rocks. 

To be continued... 

(So we'd like to think.)

(Penned Dec 16, 2010)