Poetry Friday

I've seen a couple of sites lately that have Poetry Friday's (even though I'm posting this late on Thursday night...) which I think is a GREAT idea so I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. :) One of the sites belongs to Kelly, who is a fellow writer and blueboarder. She was nice enough to post on my blog so I followed her link back to her blog and discovered her Poetry Friday post which got me thinking.

I've always loved poetry and poured my teenage angst out in notebook after notebook of poems (lost now forever, thankfully!)

In one of my books, THE GETHEAS STONE, the protagonist, Nica, has to follow ancient quatrains, which are really clues hidden as four line poems. One of my favorites from the book is this one:

Between the cross and the crescent moon

When the lion stands at high noon

A secret of blood, hidden by ancient lies

At last revealed before one dies

A cheery story, as you can tell. :) And then another one is in a (made-up) language:

Selo quatrand, ser maba randatt mokata

Histra e, ejob e, regata e, murdaba

Le cuiske fle monarche

Garot de histra y'ar yian

Probably had a LOT of chocolate the day I wrote that one. ANYWAY, one of my very favorite poems of all time is entitled THE RIVERBANK. I found this in a newspaper probably 15 years ago and I loved it so much I cut it out and pasted it on my computer. Well, I've had to photocopy the thing several times as it gets more yellowed and worn but the message still rings true and I love it as much today as the day I found it. I hope you enjoy it too. It comes from Chongquing, China, written by Fan Ming, translated by Andrea Lingenfelter:

THE RIVERBANK

Red roses bloom
In the woods
On the other shore

There is no bridge over the river
I linger
Linger on this shore

Golden apples ripen
On the branches
On the opposite shore

There are no boats on the river
I linger
Linger on this bank

The red roses have withered
The golden apples have fallen
And I discover
The river
Is very shallow after all



Tell me, do you have any favorite poems?

photo: courtesy of www.samford.edu