Tanka 8
If pleasures be mine
As aeons and aeons roll by,
Why should I repine
That under some future sky
I may live as butterfly ?
Poems on the topic: sky
Poems on the topic “sky” on Poets.by.
Love
You seemed a caryatid melting
Into the wind-blown, dark blue temple of the sky.
But you bent down as I came closer, breaking the image.
When I passed, you raised your head
And blew the little feather of a smile upon me.
I caught it on open lips and blew it back.
And in that moment we loved,
Although you stood still waiting for your lover,
And I walked on to my love.
Advice to a Blue-Bird
Who can make a delicate adventure
Of walking on the ground?
Who can make grass-blades
Arcades for pertly careless straying?
You alone, who skim against these leaves,
Turning all desire into light whips
Moulded by your deep blue wing-tips,
You who shrill your unconcern
Into the sternly antique sky.
You to whom all things
Hold an equal kiss of touch.
Mincing, wanton blue-bird,
Grimace at the hoofs of passing men.
You alone can lose yourself
Within a sky, and rob it of its blue!
Rattlesnake Mountain Fable I
Rounded to a wide eyed clownishness
Crowned by the shifting bravado
Of his long, brown ears,
The rabbit peeked at the sky.
To him, the sky seemed an angelic
Pasture stripped to phantom tranquility,
Where one could nibble thoughtfully.
He longed to leave his mild furtiveness
And speak to a boldness puzzled by his flesh.
With one long circle of despairing grace
He flashed into the air,
Leaping toward his heaven.
But down he crashed against a snake
Who ate him with a meditative interest.
From that day on the snake was filled
With little, meek whispers of concern.
Advice to a Grass-Blade
Thin and dark green symbol
Of an earth forever raising
Myriads of chained wings,
Breezes have a form, to you,
And sounds break into vivid shape.
The proud finality of tiny sight
Cannot lure your pliant blindness.
Thin and dark green blade,
Be not awed by trees and men
Whose sound is all that gives them life.
You reach the sky because your face
Is not turned toward it.
Advice to a Butter-Cup
Undistinguished butter-cup
Lost among myriads of others,
To the red ant eyeing you
You are giant stillness.
He pauses on the boulder of a clod,
Baffled by your nearness to the sky.
But to the black loam at your feet
You are the atom of a pent-up dream.
Undistinguished butter-cup,
Take your little breath of contemplation,
Undisturbed by haughty tricks of space.
Sky Pictures
Sometimes a right white mountain
Or great soft polar bear,
Or lazy little flocks of sheep
Move on in the blue air.
The mountains tear themselves like floss,
The bears all melt away.
The little sheep will drift apart
In such a sudden way.
And then new sheep and mountains come.
New polar bears appear
And roll and tumble on again
Up in the skies so clear.
The polar bears would like to get
Where polar bears belong.
The mountains try so hard to stand
In one place firm and strong.
The Lover
Oh such a windy windy day
So glad and wild and sweet!
A day all made for strong white wings,
And song and dancing feet.
Everything's white and blue and gold —
The sea and sand and sky —
And oh the wind, the gay, salt wind,
That frolics blithely by.
Oh windy, lovely day so bright,
Oh, frolic wind so glad !
Stay in my soul, a memory
For still days grey and sad.
Your blue and white and gold, your song,
Your white wings soaring free —
Oh ardent Lover Wind that brought
My soul's own wings to me!
Tanka IV
Cold against the sky
The blue jays cried at dawning.
The larks where are they?
Heavily upon the air
My ears tuned in to listen.
Tanka III
Drink in moods of joy!
Why should the sky be lonely?
Neither sun nor moon--
How my heart is shy of night
Like Autumn’s leaf brown pendants.
Answer
Love, you have broken my wings — I cried-
And oh, the sky!
Never, never to lift me high!
Only the broken-winged can fly.
Look! — Love replied.
Love, you have shattered the songs of me
And oh, the pain!
Never, never to sing again!
Singing lives on when song is dead.
Listen! — Love said.
There is a sky for a broken wing,
That I have found;
And in the stillness after song,
There is a Sound!
Drinking-Song
We lift our heads to drink,
Beloved, you and I !
Let others sink
Their faces to the cup.
Or bending lower still.
In thirsty herds,
Lap at the drops we spill!
But you and I,
Like birds,
Scorning the crowded brink.
Up, up.
Heads lifted to the sky,
From the sun's brim that tips
To meet the laughing splendor of our lips,
Will drink — will drink!
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