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Poetry
Chaikhana
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Commentary on the commentary --
My observations on these poems should not be read as the single, absolute meaning. A poem, like a dream, has layers of meaning -- and that meaning can shift over time and from differing perspectives. My commentary is offered in order to suggest a starting point for you to begin your own exploration into the poem's meaning. Even if my explanation feels right on the mark, please don't stop there. We must discover each poem's meaning for ourselves; otherwise the poem and its explanation remain largely trapped in the intellect. Sacred poetry is transformative poetry. Until we feel a poem working its alchemy on our own awareness, we haven't discovered its heart... -- Ivan
| Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Who is that Syama woman |
| Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Why disappear into formless trance? |
| Reninger, Elizabeth True Love |
| Rilke, Rainer Maria We are the driving ones. |
| Rosenstock, Gabriel faint sunlight |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin [1127] I drink streamwater and the air |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin [1146] Today I'm out wandering, turning my skull |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin [1242] During the day I was singing with you. |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin [1246] The minute I heard my first love story |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin I'm neither beautiful nor ugly |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin Love is Here |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin Suddenly, in the sky at dawn, a moon appeared, |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin The grapes of my body can only become wine |
| Rumi, Jelaluddin Whoever finds love |
| Ryokan First days of spring -- the sky |
| Ryokan The thief left it behind: |
| Ryokan This world |
| Ryokan You stop to point at the moon in the sky, |
| Ryuzan Clear in the blue, the moon! |
| Sanai, Hakim Mystic Chat |
| Sanai, Hakim No tongue can tell Your secret |
| Sanai, Hakim Streaming |
| Sanai, Hakim The Good Darkness |
| Shabistari, Mahmud Reason (from The Secret Rose Garden) |
| Shabistari, Mahmud The Beloved Guest (from The Secret Rose Garden) |
| Shabkar (Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk) All sounds are the resonance of voidness |
| Shih-te (Pickup) [2] Doesn't anyone see |
| Shih-te (Pickup) [4] Behold the glow of the moon |
| Shikibu, Izumi Watching the moon |
| Silesius, Angelus Eternity is time |
| Silesius, Angelus God, whose love and joy |
| Silesius, Angelus In Spirit senses are |
| Snyder, Gary Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout |
| Snyder, Gary No Matter, Never Mind |
| Solovyov, Vladimir All in azure today |
| Soseki, Natsume Watch birth and death: |
| Sun Buer Refining the Spirit |
| Symeon the New Theologian By what boundless mercy, my Savior, |
| Symeon the New Theologian What is this awesome mystery |
| Tagore, Rabindranath (1) Thou hast made me endless (from Gitanjali) |
| Tagore, Rabindranath (103) In one salutation to thee, my God (from Gitanjali) |
| Tagore, Rabindranath (81) On many an idle day have I grieved over lost time (from Gitanjali) |
| Tagore, Rabindranath I touch God in my song |
| Taliesin A Poem for the Wind |
| Teresa of Avila In the Hands of God |
| Teresa of Avila You are Christ's Hands |
| Traherne, Thomas Love |
| Tsogyel, Yeshe The Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness! |
| Tsvetaeva, Marina I know the truth |
| Tsvetaeva, Marina The gold that was my hair has turned |
| Tulsidas Sound Celestial |
| Vaughan, Henry The Morning Watch |
| Vaughan, Henry The Night |
| Vaughan, Henry Vanity of Spirit |
| Vidyapati All my inhibition left me in a flash, |
| Vidyapati As the mirror to my hand, |
| Vidyapati My friend, I cannot answer when you ask me to explain |
| Walters, Dorothy Preparing to Greet the Goddess |
| Walters, Dorothy The Moment |
| Walters, Dorothy Waiting |
| Wei, Wang Cooling Off |
| Whitman, Walt [1] I celebrate myself, and sing myself, (from Song of Myself) |
| Whitman, Walt [17] These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me, (from Song of Myself) |
| Whitman, Walt [3] I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end, (from Song of Myself) |
| Whitman, Walt [4] Trippers and askers surround me, (from Song of Myself) |
| Whitman, Walt [44] It is time to explain myself -- let us stand up. (from Song of Myself) |
| Whitman, Walt [5] I believe in you my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to you, (from Song of Myself) |
| Whyte, David All the True Vows |
| Yakut (Anonymous) Yakut Prayer |
| Yannai The Celestial Fire |
| Yeats, William Butler The Lake Isle of Innisfree |
| Yitzchak of Berditchov, Levi Where I wander -- You! |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [14] The best student goes directly to the ultimate, (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [16] When I consider the virtue of abusive words, (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [19] Walking is Zen, sitting is Zen; (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [25] Just take hold of the source (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [46] People hear the Buddha's doctrine of immediacy, (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [48] In the sandalwood forest, there is no other tree. (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [52] From my youth I piled studies upon studies, (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [55] Not supposing something is the Tathagata. (from The Shodoka) |
| Yoka Genkaku (Xuanjue, Yongjia) [60] The remarkable power of emancipation (from The Shodoka) |
| Yun-k'an Tzu by willow's shade |
| Yun, P'ang When the mind is at peace, |
| Zohar (de Leon, Moses) Inside the hidden nexus (from Jacob's Journey) |
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Ivan
M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright ©
2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or
publishers.
