Tuesday 20 October 2009

constitution of eden





By chance, i may have this dance - Death's corpse awaits, somewhere in France -




the matrix appears on her windshield, as raindrops -




in the poppy field, where my heart finally stops.

Monday 12 October 2009

The Golden Boat


















Clouds rumbling in the sky; teeming rain.
I sit on the river bank, sad and alone.
The sheaves lie gathered, harvest has ended,
The river is swollen and fierce in its flow.
As we cut the paddy it started to rain.

One small paddy-field, no one but me -
Flood-waters twisting and swirling everywhere.
Trees on the far bank; smear shadows like ink
On a village painted on deep morning grey.
On this side a paddy-field, no one but me.

Who is this, steering close to the shore
Singing? I feel that she is someone I know.
The sails are filled wide, she gazes ahead,
Waves break helplessly against the boat each side.
I watch and feel I have seen her face before.

Oh to what foreign land do you sail?
Come to the bank and moor your boat for a while.
Go where you want to, give where you care to,
But come to the bank a moment, show your smile -
Take away my golden paddy when you sail.

Take it, take as much as you can load.
Is there more? No, none, I have put it aboard.
My intense labour here by the river -
I have parted with it all, layer upon layer;
Now take me as well, be kind, take me aboard.

No room, no room, the boat is too small.
Loaded with my gold paddy, the boat is full.
Across the rain-sky clouds heave to and fro,
On the bare river-bank, I remain alone -
What had has gone: the golden boat took all.

-Rabindranath Tagore (p. 1932)



Thursday 1 October 2009

farewell sanity

an unexpected leap into the unknown of the present.
i am shaking from the cold and my hands and feet are numb.
frozen in half-life, my queries are unanswered,
and so i sing, FARE THEE WELL to sanity,
it was nice to have known you once.