Beauty

In the Shadow of a Mountain In the shadow of a mountain lies a valley, lies my home swaddled by the earth’s embrace in sweet repose – a state of grace in the shadow of a mountain in a valley, in my home where I am blind to turquoise skies...

  Shadow of the Laogai In the Laogai’s shadow, the ghosts of China stir, Unseen by dreaming eyes as golden currents blow Across the sea. Our compassion seems to falter In the Laogai’s shadow. As the Red rope tightens, prices fall like Harbin snow Upon the Western coast. What need...

  The Day the Persecution Began "The year is 1999, July, A king of terror would come from the sky,” The Frenchman Nostradamus prophesized Indeed, the red dragon in China flies. It covers all in its violent shadow, Into detention centers it throws The practitioners of Falun Dafa, The hardworking...

He Kept On By Erisbawdle Cue He kept on striving to attain an ideality connected to the good, but grounded in reality. He kept on working to achieve perfection in the act, pragmatism on the run with satisfaction's fact. He kept on pressing to combine both ecstasy and truth, to...

Just a Dream I. You vowed to descend to the world below, In an agreement that was made. To the mortal world others dared not go, Yet what would happen if you stayed? A promise to save sentient beings, Empowered your hesitant heart. Your compassion for all living things, Made...

Tares in the Wheat "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” Luke 9:62 “The sun will burn; the heat will cause you sweat; Dust will choke before the sun is set,” Michael Curtis, -“Novice”- When I recall various seeds...

Our Day in the Sun We, each of us, every one Have had our day in the sun Came a time that day was done Let us then no longer dwell On what we consider we did well Time moves on –so must we all.   If for Change You...

"...that best portion of a good man's life;     His little, nameless, unremembered acts     Of kindness and of love."         —William Wordsworth, Lines Composed...Above Tintern Abbey At any time in life, the little kindnesses occur. Somebody greets you with a smile brightening 'Yes, sir!' One store clerk reassures...

Life Ravaged forests again take root Life nestling within the sturdy acorn Cannot be throttled Ashes reborn yield bitter fruit Fragrance scattered upon the winds Cannot be bottled   The Old and the New What shall Lord and land and hall and bower Castle and fen and glade and tower...

Dandelions She touched their gray-haired afros tenderly: an urban six year old with kinky hair who pounced on dandelions (bud-vases were full of yellow stubby). Telling me: “This is the way that dandelions age” – then blew upon them (instant baldness), sad that “no one liked them but the wind...

Fall Haiku New England college towns: Pumpkins, apples, breakfast in a warm café. Swamp-maples afire! Rusty colored barns, silos draped in bittersweet… In their black pea-coats, off of the Metro North, the leaf-peepers arrive. Cross-country. Small-town football. The leaf-smell hunting— God I love the Fall...   The Little Vector (a...

From the Pages of Washington Irving, for my Hudson River Friends Whoever 's made a voyage up the Hudson must remember Catskill Mountains, a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, I trust. West of the river, swelling to a noble chance, their hues and shapes are magical barometers. When...

Two Months On I walk between the tired trees restless soldiers standing ground pray for just a tiny breeze bringing me a cheerful sound. Bubbling ruby robins tweet, squirrels dart from tree to tree. Leaves crunch underneath my feet. All these sights I love to see. Two months past my...

Courage I saw a tiny spider spin a web Within my humble hut between two beams. He tried to throw a thread across, it ebbed Away.  He did not have the will, it seemed. And then the tiny spider tried again, Again he failed to reach the other side. Five...

I saw the face of beauty fixed Upon the rising sun Beyond all mortal compliment Her loveliness there shone Within the constellations set Against the heav’nly realm She glittered ‘cross the universe My heart to overwhelm The Seven Sisters ne’er could light All heaven like her smile Nor Aphrodite’s sweetest...

A counter to a Walt Whitman poem When I first heard the learn'd astronomer explain his proofs and figures, and arrange the particles of this vast universe, I was excited; I was not estranged. I truly loved his charts and diagrams. They made the cosmos understandable, as if I'd found...

  I hope your life will offer you new opportunities, that you will find contentment in the choices that you seize. Remember family's important. You can count on us, especially when the way of life is hard and mountainous. Remember to believe in goodness, when you're down and out. Remember...

For the Mid-Autumn, or Moon, Festival My Ford Explorer would ascend no higher: Stuck half-way up that driveway's first steep hill. 'Twas a December night so cold and dire, The truck, that old machine, had lost its will. Not I, I sprang right up and looked about, Fit spikes upon my boots...

Untitled Savants like to arrange their stars and push their poets into piles: marble-misers who assign the jars according to the artists’ styles. They line them in their fusty den when they deem an era’s past, and deign to burp them now and then, but work to invent a ‘new’...

There’s a wonder about it, the fragile beauty of lace. Many kinds for centuries have been important to own; one can go to Ireland, Flanders, from place to place— they’re in catalogs: Irish, Mechlin, lace for the home. Many kinds for centuries have been important to own; even I have...

There are a number of reasons for writing poetry, and alas they are not all good; for not all poetry is good, and indeed some ‘poetry’ is not poetry at all. This is not to denigrate anyone’s effort, but you don’t want to pay for a gold ring and get...

In Rembrandt's scene of 1653, Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer, there is much that we can see amidst that musty sett(l)ing of gold dust that balances upon the old and new, upon the dark and light, upon the dead and living, giving forth beams of the true and glimmerings...

  Spring Haiku I’m optimistic; like a brand new tennis ball, everything’s chartreuse. The brook trout’s belly is like a sunset I saw; its stipples the stars. Papa bear’s hungry. He tests his weight on the bough. I’ll need more bird-seed. The calf on the grass, steaming in the morning...

  A miracle, how else to say it then? At first, but ground, absolutely nothing there, A river meandering by, some cattle, gorse, Nettle and herbs whose use proved no sure cure. Then, as if by magic, he stood majestic, by – Conjured from out thin air his being gainsaid...

  The Glass Bottle Tree When the wind blows through, the tree shakes. The glass bottles tip their sunlight Over a stiff hearth of twilight; Sealing its glow as night awakes. Two silhouettes do gives and takes In drums of waltz down blue moonlight. When the wind blows through, the...

  Currency of Compassion Throughout the history of humanity conscious coveting with eyes, insanity anxious and eager to grasp with empty hands a void in the beating heart, deviant plans rash, thoughtless takers of a world marching on loud voices troll the abominating song. Confusion and greed found, pushing those...

When the last candles smoldered on the funeral eve, And no echo of condolence rippled midnight silence, I rose in scented darkness and took my leave. December met me at the church’s door and raised my eyes To nebulae shining where ends precede beginnings, To myriad galaxies’ solemn surprise -...

. . Fathers and Grandfathers When we see our Brethren bold, Reach the age called Growing old, Men grow thoughtful, mind afire, With the echoes of a Sire. Working, eating, drinking, they, Striding through their noontide-day, With a stately, decent air, That within the lion’s lair Stood with strength, and...

I walked around the garden, and did think. If I had my own how would I create? With enclosed space I’d make myself here sit. Comfortably, and I could have tea and cake. From broad leaved plants a wooden structure made. Encouraged Ivy, wrap and grow agreed. And reached the...

True to Nature Men take up arms to battle in the sun, anticipating minor victories won o'er valiant, steadfast foes who, if they could, would laugh and say our blades do little good as far as cutting them down to their size. For soon enough the downtrodden shall rise and...

The aspens are turning, my neighbor said. I went to see. Mostly gold, some red, They stood and whirled, their white trunks bare. A bright sheen (spun gold) filled the air. The whole big hill was turning, too. Trees from the back came into view. I tried with a toe...

Originally published in The Epoch Times. LinkedIn's Censorship in China LinkedIn connects people the world over, Crafting a cozy café oceans wide Where people can sip with each other, Do business without an eight-hour ride. Yet, recently, when I was at LinkedIn, I noticed something red in my chai tea;...

Poems from the Hungarian Poetry Reading 9/19/2013   Twenty Years Later By János Vajda (1827–1897) / Translation by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner Like snow on Mont Blanc's distant crest, That neither sun nor wind may harm, My unvexed heart now lies at rest, Inflamed by no new passion's charm....

That distant bellow is merely a case Of west wind rushing through the tamarack In a race with itself to cliff and back, Far from the lake's quiet undisturbed face But for the waxwings' endless mayfly chase, The roll of shore-bound flotsam, bric-a-brac Topped with foam, following a daubed-light track...

Imagine that you were lost in a wilderness and had to find your way out. Fortunately, you have with you a number of things, or tools if you will. In the first instance you have a kitbag, which is itself useful. Within it are various articles: a bottle of water,...

Seasong I heard the wreathéd coral horn That Triton blew, and less forlorn Did suddenly I feel: I heard the sirensong afar I launched a ship and tracked a star How soon my heart did heal! I saw the shade of Hy Brasil, And what delight within me filled To...

On the painting "Le berges d'Arcadie" by Nicolas Poussin The rugged mountains in the distance stand beyond, above the three, young shepherds and the shepherdess, who gather round a tomb that they have come upon, inscribed: ET IN ARCADIA EGO. They rest. The man in blue is tracing letters carefully,...

At the Moment of Our Death At the moment of our death As we draw our final breath Should we not project a fear Of the prospect of not being here? The moment that closes tight The door of time, turns out the light And orders man to conform To...

  Held on May 26, 2014, at Da Tang, in New York, participants read Tang Dynasty poetry, translated poetry previously written by attendees, and wrote poetry. Here are some of the poems:   Fahui Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference By James Smith Thousands of hearts pause amidst the current Students’...