Poem: Memories from the Green Mill

This one i wrote in June of 2005. Strangely enough, I haven’t marked down the exact date of its writing even though I’ve started doing that long before.

I was reminded of this poem just the other day from speaking to a friend about being in Chicago and visiting its Jazz clubs.

I have to say that I have very fond memories of Chicago, it was a wonderful time and I found a really great city to experience and enjoy as well as meeting very interesting people while being there.

Favorite Poems of the Day Up to Date: 21/08/2009

As some of you know I’ve taken upon myself to try and publish a link to a poem i like per day on Twitter: #PoemOfTheDay.

Admittedly, I havent been able to keep it up everyday since I started but I did manage  to share quite a few over the past few months.

I’d like to take the opportunity to collect some of my personal recent favorites in this post.

Enjoy!

August 19th 2009 – “Metallic Wing” by Efrat Mishori: http://tinyurl.com/mdlv57 – “Metallic wing in its socket, beating unseen.”

August 18th 2009 – “Pleasure for Pleasure” by Peter Stavropoulos: http://bit.ly/3Y7S4O – “…Pleasure for pleasure will surely start”

August 13th 2009 – “Night Heron” by Samuel Peralta: http://bit.ly/rtZ1m – “rising from the waters / like a dream.”

August 11th 2009 – “Sonnet 56” by William Shakespeare: http://bit.ly/hPEcw – “Sweet love, renew thy force! Be it not said…”

August 10th 2009 – “from: Prayers of Atonement” by Lea Goldberg http://bit.ly/klx4t -”If there were torments–then they voyaged toward you”

August 3rd 2009 – “Endless Poem” by Yehuda Amichai: http://bit.ly/jGQ7o – “Within me / My heart / Within my heart / A museum”

July 30th 2009 – “Listening” by Amy Lowell: http://bit.ly/1K8pK – “‘T is you that are the music, not your song…”

July 27th 2009 – “The Garden” by Mark Strand: http://bit.ly/rSKuf – “it shines: even now in the moment before it disappears.”

July 26th 2009 – “Song of Hope” by Thomas Hardy: http://bit.ly/n4rlU – “To-morrow shines soon -Shines soon!”

July 21st 2009 – “On Pain” by Khalil Gibran: http://bit.ly/vmHgr – “…your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy…”

July 17th 2009 - “Petals” by Amy Lowell: http://twurl.nl/s5v6ai – “…Petal by petal the flower of our heart…”

July 16th 2009 – “When the Eyes Open” by Dahlia Ravikovitz: http://bit.ly/Z8Re0 -”as the soul returns to the body when the eyes open.”

July 15th 2009 – “Touched by an Angel” by Maya Angelou: http://bit.ly/uAerx – “Yet it is only love which sets us free.”

July 12th 2009 – “A Pearl, a Girl” by Robert Browning: http://bit.ly/6rDpB -”…Through the love in a girl!”

July 10th 2009 – “Valentine” by Carol Ann Duffy: http://bit.ly/YMoIj -”I give you an onion. It is a moon wrapped in brown paper…”

July 4th 2009 – “Moonwalk” by Samuel Peralta : http://bit.ly/4sbHqx -”…The words begin to form a song / The melody begins to burn…”

July 3rd 2009 – “Wild Nights” by Emily Dickinson: http://bit.ly/qOMhk -”…Wild nights should be Our luxury!…”

July 1st 2009 – “If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda: http://bit.ly/1j9EgT -”if each day,each hour,you feel that you are destined for..”

Poem: Distant Thoughts

This one i wrote in June 2004:

The standard disclaimers apply, the poem was originally written in Hebrew therefore the translation may lose or change some of the meanings, rhyming, wordplay, etc.

~ Distant Thoughts ~

Lost,
Cannot find her
She won’t come back to me
No gentle word will be enough.
Drowning,
Air is no longer found
The will to breathe gone as well
My life is where she is
And she is gone.
Blind,
No light is strong enough
No scream in the dark is heard
It is just the wind blowing in the gaping hole
She was mine but no more.
Stumbling,
Step after step
Direction unknown
She will not be there when I arrive
Where will that be – doesn’t matter.
Dreaming,
The Images a blur
Like leafs a moment before the storm
What was – that was no dream
As real as pain
Pain of loss and longing
The dream slowly dissipates
Not Breaking,
Not whole either
A piece is distant and missing
Even when the wound heals
The scar will remain to remind me
And she, she will also be with me.

The original Hebrew version:

~ מחשבות רחוקות ~

אבדתי,
אינני מוצא אותה
שוב אלי היא לא תחזור
שום מילה עדינה לא תספיק.
טובע,
האוויר גם הוא לא בנמצא
והרצון לנשום גם הוא נעלם
חיי היכן שהיא תהיה
והיא איננה.
עיוור,
אף אור לא חזק מספיק
אף צעקה בחושך איננה נשמעת
רק הרוח המנשבת בחלל שנפער
שלי הייתה אך לא עוד.
מועד,
צעד אחר צעד
הכיוון אינו ידוע
אך היא לא תהיה שם כשאגיע
גם לא תהיה שם לפני שאלך
לאן – זה כבר לא משנה.
חולם,
התמונות מסתחררות
כמו העלים רגע לפני שהסערה מגיעה
אך מה שהיה לא חלום הוא
אמיתי כמו הכאב
כאב של אובדן וגעגוע
אט אט מתפוגג לו החלום.
לא נשבר,
אך גם לא שלם באמת
משהו חסר ותמיד רחוק
גם שהפצע יחלים
הצלקת תשאר להזכיר לי
והיא, גם היא תשאר איתי.