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The Ballad of MulanThe sound of weaving, woman's chore--The Ballad of Mulan2 years ago in Haiku & Eastern More Like This
Mulan weaves on before the door.
But now the shuttle's noise is drowned
By Daughter Mulan's sighing sound.
"Who, my girl, is in your thought?
What memory has your mind caught?"
"No one is in Mulan's thought,
No memory has Mulan caught.
The night before, I saw the post
The Khan sent out to build his host.
In scrolls of twelve did they proclaim
The characters of Father's name.
But Father has no eldest son,
And Brother's not the eldest one.
So I shall buy a saddled horse
To take his place among the force."
Now to the East for valiant steed!
Now to the West for saddle's need!
Now to the South to take the
Inspiration by NightThere is a time at night I knowInspiration by Night2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
When quiet reigns upon the earth,
Where fertile thoughts take root and grow.
This is the time of dark rebirth,
A phoenix born without the flame
When quiet reigns upon the earth.
I cast away that sunlit name
As dusk dies down to darkness deep,
A phoenix born without the flame.
And there among the beasts that creep,
I join the odd menagerie
As dusk dies down to darkness deep.
I am this world, I am the sea,
The ground and sky, in everything
I join the odd menagerie
No other mortal eye has seen.
There is a time at night I know
The ground and sky in everything,
Where fertile thoughts take root and
The Love of OneWhat were the dying thoughts of falling firstThe Love of One2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
From branches to a steaming, boiling hell?
As lifeblood ebbed in bitter streams, what thirst
Could justify that gruesome deathly knell?
What color was that leaf before it died?
The fresh young green of fruitful, peaceful springs?
Or like the cauldron gleaming, open wide,
That bronzed complexion only autumn brings?
What love was this, that one death led to bliss?
Be StillPsalm 89:9Be Still1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
He stood before a formless void,
The waters of the deep.
And as they crashed beneath his feet
He said, "Be still!" And overjoyed
The shapeless world gave heed.
He stood before a world of sin,
Of holiness ignored.
For forty days his waters poured,
But grieved, He cried, "Be still!" Therein
The earth knew He was Lord.
He stood waist deep before the crowd
And leaned back with the flow.
Deep down beneath the watery shroud
He mouthed, "Be still!" So time went slow
As heaven went aglow.
He stood before the creaking bow,
Beaten by the rain,
With spirit calm, disciples faint.
He said, "Be still!" The waves kowtowed
To H
Protect Your HeartAbove all else, protect your heart:Protect Your Heart2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
For from it flows the springs of life.
Where human nature draws its start,
Above all else, protect your heart.
Where human nature draws its start
Grows everlasting peace or strife.
Above all else, protect your heart:
For from it flows the springs of life.
Sonnet XVIIOp. 20, no. 17Sonnet XVII2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Eyes
If I could write the beauty in your eyes,
I would not know a fitting place to start:
No single lash deserves a higher prize
Above its peers, each but a proper part.
And should I seek to plumb into the depths
And penetrate the windows to your soul,
There lies a mystery that transcends death:
Your purity unblemished, clean and whole.
Those eyes are not just yours, but are mine too,
For in the past I was but blinded flesh.
No man could write about his own eyes two,
For mind and vision are too close a mesh.
To look at you would I unworthy be
Had I not your own eyes to truly see.
The DesertI am the Sonneteer who treads these landsThe Desert1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
With nothing but a honed iambic blade.
And time again I've braved the shifting sands
Of deserts strewn with prosody decayed.
Now hear me, streams of meter, pools of rhyme,
Sustain a warrior with a burning thirst
To drink of waters clear of all the grime
Of "free verse" at its very worst.
For if the lines aren't free to leave my tongue,
They'll never find their freedom if they're flung.
The Weak to Shame the StrongWhere is the thinker of this age?The Weak to Shame the Strong2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
The great philosopher?
Where is your wisdom now, O sage?
What hope can it assure?
Now speak, O image, iron wrought,
O idol, carved from wood!
You tarnish and dissolve to rot
As manmade objects would.
And would all mysteries be solved
If logic made all known?
The one word--why--would be unsolved:
Life's meaning still unknown.
Your works of good weigh not on scales,
This is no balance beam.
Your heart, not fully pure, still fails
The moral law supreme.
The strength of heroes of renown
Has rotted into bones.
Those clever minds that once bore crowns
Are cold and dead as stones.
But Him who liv
OrpheusDarkness encompassed me; high-vaulting fireOrpheus2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Leapt and burnt the vision from my gaze
But though I could not see, I strummed my lyre
Until the music swept away the haze
And I could stumble onwards through the mire.
Now I strum no more. What use are lays?
Save to remind me of my lost desire
That I betrayed--let silence fill my days!
For I, whose song once moved the gods to weep
No longer can make melodies from woe--
No dissonance expresses pain so deep
And no music can be as beautiful
As that which I have lost. Let others come
And fill the void with noise--I will not strum.
I Need SleepIf I could write the weariness I feelI Need Sleep9 months ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Into a blur of mishing-mashing lines,
I could not hope to separate the real
From floaters in my slowly fading eyes.
My arms are weak, my muscles fully slack
With profound numbness past that feeling point
Where consciousness begins. In holding back
No healing comes to brains spilled, out of joint.
Though all my matter raves delirious,
My mind is all the more imperious.
Lake SongToday the skies are painted shadesLake Song2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
All red and purple-blue;
Today the clouds are oil streaks
Of dimming silver hue
With flickers in the rainbow-shine
Like trout shimmering there
While flashing through to far-off shores
So beautiful and fair.
I breathing deep of quaking trees
Am trembling in the spray
Verdant and vaulting from the waves
Then wrecking o'er the bay
In shards, in shreds, in shells afire
With every drop a flare
That can be seen on far-off shores
So beautiful and fair;
I dappled from crisscrossing boughs
In lattices arrayed
Am half in the mid-morning sun
And half sheltered in shade
From leaves that meld with wi
Ransom for ManyThough sorrows pierce this mortal frameRansom for Many8 months ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
And pains and aches assail this flesh,
When griefs appear with none to blame
And every scar seems raw and fresh,
In times like these I gladly trade
These burdens, laying down my life,
That I may never be afraid
To stand up under crushing strife.
Yes, I am drained with little left
But bloody pulp and tired dregs,
Still, pouring out will I accept,
To earn my joy and not to beg.
In suffering, this I believe:
'Tis better to give than to receive.
MMourn no longer, daughters dear,M2 months ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Misty eyes, shed no more tears.
"Messiah, Christ has won the day!"
My joyous heart shall ever say.
Mountains standing high and tall
Melt beneath your love, enthralled.
Majesty, burst from the grave,
Make not your home inside the cave!
ConsumedThe caress of Love's gazeConsumed2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
fell on me with beauty.
Overwhelmed I look away.
And Your warm welcome hands
consume me with passion.
My heart struggles to stay.
I'm overwhelmed by Your love.
It consumes me and You.
Slowly You break my defenses.
And with each loving touch
Your love seeps through.
Consuming my heart and my senses.
Unhesitant, You give Your heart.
You give me all of You.
In this place I lose myself.
I can't say no to You.
QuestionsOne night I dreamt I died while still asleep,Questions2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
And Jesus, faithful, came my soul to keep.
And though He was my Lord, who died for me,
The way he held my hand was brotherly.
And like a little boy with questions burning,
I asked the one who kept the whole world turning:
"Jesus, could you ever show
How wide is love? I want to know!"
He smiled at me, but not a word he said,
He lead me to a bloody cross instead.
And standing there, he stretched his arms thus far:
That bloody cross's horizontal bar.
But like a boy with still more questions burning,
I asked the one whose mind was more discerning:
"Jesus, could you ever show
How long is
Sonnet XXIIIOp. 21, no. 5Sonnet XXIII1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Diary
O learn to read what silent love hath writ
Upon this daily diary of my heart!
No diatribe or deprecating wit
Remains in sheets that I have torn apart.
The new has mended well in crisp white pages
Ready for the fountain pen of hope
To make its mark, that perhaps future ages
Could see how overarching is His scope.
My love, I know each day you pour your verse
Unwritten on your heart in words unseen.
Both rambling thoughts or fixed forms terse,
Of every syllable I'll gladly glean.
Though artistry might stand to condescend,
I'd give all canon just to be your friend.
Nations' CallO Christian, hear the nations' call--Nations' Call1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
The beckoners you do not know--
And share of Him who died for all.
Like Macedonia to Paul,
That vision of the urgent glow,
O Christian, hear the nations' call!
Of broken lives and alcohol:
Now heal these tales of sin and woe
And share of Him who died for all.
Though many trials may befall,
Your pride and comfort brought down low,
O Christian, hear the nations' call!
But trust in God, in faith stand tall,
And with your roots in Christ, you'll grow
And share of Him who died for all.
For from the seeds you plant, so small,
Comes life and death, and fruit to grow.
O Christian, hear the nation
More Lolcattery5 years ago in Humourous
More Like This
FSC IV: ObjectivityToo often have I let my loving heartFSC IV: Objectivity4 months ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
And sentiment confuse my watchful gaze.
Affections unattended I let blaze
Have in their heat removed us far apart.
For my own love was foremost in my mind--
The dream, the image dear to which I clung--
And not the inner pain you left unsung
Which lay beneath the face I saw as kind.
They broke your heart, and then caused mine to break,
To see your sight obscured as mine was too.
Facades I once beheld, but now my view is true
When I am powerless for your sweet sake.
That I could love and see both light and sin,
As God, who gives out grace and discipline.
It Was DoneHe breathed His last in pain, and it was done:It Was Done2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
His blood poured down in loving sacrifice.
Truly this man was the Christ, God's son!
His senses He would not consent to stun
With wine that had been laced with gall and spice:
He breathed His last in pain, and it was done.
There was no pain He did not know, not one:
The lash, the mocking word, denial thrice.
Truly this man was the Christ, God's son!
The darkness now in sorrow veiled the sun,
The earth shook as it offered all its vice.
He breathed His last in pain, and it was done.
Thus said the gory, awed centurion
Who placed Him on Rome's cruelest death device:
"Truly this man was
Marvelous Light2 Corinthians 11:14Marvelous Light2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
It was the hour when darkness reigned
Along this beaten, winding road.
My legs were tired, my robes were stained
With dust and grime. And far off glowed
Within the dark foreboding wood
Small lights. My plodding pace I slowed
To gaze at what I thought was good.
So mesmerizing were those lights
That I would catch them if I could.
They sparkled, hovered in the heights
Or flew low right within my grasp.
But tired out from sleepless nights
My breath came only as a rasp:
They nimbly fled my unsure hand,
Twirling, tumbling from my grasp.
No matter how well I had planned,
They always managed to escape.
I wept. I
Hide and SeekThe boy called out the maiden's name,Hide and Seek2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Through all the winding village streets,
But no reply or footstep came,
From any corner they might meet.
Through all the winding village streets,
He ran and scoured the place around,
From any corner they might meet,
Searching for sight or mildest sound.
He ran and scoured the place around,
He stood still in the market square,
Searching for sight or mildest sound,
One glimpse of braided golden hair.
He stood still in the market square,
And there reflected in his eye,
One glimpse of braided golden hair,
Hiding behind a merchant's dye.
And there reflected in his eye,
His maiden caught, the c
All You Who ThirstAll you who thirst, I hear you cry:All You Who Thirst2 years ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
My water shall refresh the dry.
I am the Lord your God above
Who fills the empty with His love.
All you discouraged, do not cry:
Anointment oil will I supply.
I am the Lord your God above
Who fills the empty with His love.
All you who harvest, know your cry
Shall draw the rain out from the sky.
I am the Lord your God above
Who fills the empty with His love.
All you who sinned, now hear my cry:
"It is over, now I die!"
I am the Lord your God above
Who fills the empty with His love.
All you who follow, do not cry
When all you have you must deny.
I am the Lord your God above
Who fills the em
The Spartan and the SamuraiTremoring dewdropsThe Spartan and the Samurai1 year ago in Traditional Fixed Forms More Like This
Slipping and sliding to earth:
Footprints in the grass.
O son of Zeus, with helmet proud and cloak of red,
Stand firm before the swordsman's cautious tread!
The sharpened crescent:
Cool to the touch, but the edge
Unleashes warm springs.
His spear in hand, sword in scabbard, lambda shield,
Is this a dream, or still the battlefield?
To think sakura
Fall with but the slightest breeze
And blossom again.
The thunder cannot match the roar of steel on steel,
Nor seas compare to sweat corporeal.
Through wispy mist,
The sunbeams piercing through.
Divots in the ground.
A severed spear, a shield in shards, unwitting
Sta.sh
