AUTUMN ZEN BOX

Chestnuts roasting

While rain is falling,

Under southern skies.

Leaves are reddening,

Berries ripening,

Fire burns bright.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

AUTUMN'S WEBS

The nights are longer,

So spiders can weave more webs;

And the rains begin...

NJV

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme

and also part of the Seasons meme.

ON THE RIVERBANK

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme.

I heard a beautiful Hindi song yesterday and I had to go and find out what the lyrics meant. It was easy enough to find them in Hindi, however, an English translation was lacking. I tried to get Google Translate to assist, but it only gave me the bare gist of them, and I could only gain a tantalising suggestion of what the song was about.

I remembered a photo on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne that I had taken some time ago and which I recovered from archives (see above). Looking at it and listening to the song, having in mind the suggestion of the meaning, I wrote a poem that more or less is akin to the essence of the Hindi lyrics. I would be grateful if any Indian readers of this blog can enlighten me as to whether an English translation of the actual song lyrics exists and whether my version is akin to it.

The song is called "Ye raatein, ye mausam, nadee ka kinaara"

From the 1958 Film “Dilli Ka Thug”; Lyrics by Shailendra, Music by Ravi

Originally sung by Kishore Kumar & Asha Bhosle. Here is a beautiful recent cover version by Ayushi Arora.

On a Night like Tonight

By NJV after Shailendra

On a night like tonight,

in Spring like this Spring,

When the fickle breeze blew gently,

Our two hearts came together

On the riverbank lit by the silver moonlight

On a night like tonight,

in Spring like this Spring,

When the fickle breeze blew gently,

Our two hearts came together

And they said we’ll never part.

Why is the moonlight different

On this night, which should be like that night?

Our love is no more, our hearts are broken

Our hands are not clasped,

Our eyes are blinded by our separation.

On a night like tonight,

in Spring like that Spring,

When the fickle breeze blows gently…

We should be together now, just like then,

Revelling in our love, becoming one, just like then.

The stars shone brightly on us,

Blessing our love, while the moon smiled.

Where is the moon to speak on my behalf tonight?

Why are the stars so silent?

Why have we drifted so far apart?

On a night like tonight,

in Spring like this Spring,

When the fickle breeze blew cold,

We parted and you said: “Don’t ever bother me again!”

And I was aghast, wishing our love would not end.

The stars shine brightly now,

And the moon is burning ardently,

The fickle breeze blows complicitly now –

Come back and give me your heart again

You’ve pledged it to me, and I’ve pledged you mine.

On this night, which should be like that night,

I’m telling you, I’ll always be your true love,

In this Spring, while the stars are singing and the moon avers my feelings

Come back and let’s enjoy our love while we are young,

Open your heart and let my open heart join it.

On a night like tonight,

in Spring like this Spring,

When the fickle breeze blew gently,

Our two hearts came together, remember?

And they said we’ll never part, remember?

URN

urn | əːn | noun
1: A tall, rounded vase with a stem and base. Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a very well known poem.

To read the poem, click on this link.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

SUNRISE SKY

“Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light”
             
             Omar Khayyám, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

'WALLS' BY C. CAVAFY

Walls

Without thought, without pity, without shame
They built around me tall, forbidding walls.

And as I sit here now, in hopelessness,
I think of nothing else, my mind corroded by this misfortune;

Because I had so much to do outside the walls.
How careless I must have been, not to have seen them building walls…

And yet I never heard the sound of builders, or of construction.
They isolated me from the world around me quite imperceptibly.

Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933)

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

PLUM BLOSSOM

The first wild plum blossoms have appeared even as the cold weather and the rain persist. It is Winter, but the scent of Spring is already in the air. As Japanese Edo Period poet Hattori Ransetsu (1654-1707) remarks:

One plum blossom
brings us just one more
step to the warmth.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FROSTY

Jack Frost
By C.E. Pike

Look out! Look out!
Jack Frost is about!
He’s after our fingers and toes;
And all through the night,
The gay little sprite
Is working where nobody knows.

He’ll climb each tree, 
So nimble is he,
His silvery powder he’ll shake.
To windows he’ll creep
And while we’re asleep
Such wonderful pictures he’ll make.

Across the grass
He’ll merrily pass,
And change all its greenness to white.
Then home he will go 
And laugh ho, ho ho!
What fun I have had in the night.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

ZED FOR ZEBRA

In Australia, as in the UK, we call the last letter of the alphabet "Zed", rather than "Zee" as usage dictates in America. Here's my poem (with apologies to Edward Lear):

Zed was a zappy zebra,
All striped with white and black;
And if he were a tame one,
You might ride on his back.

Instead, the road he crosses,
Carefully as he should,
Observing traffic bylaws,
And all for his own good!

Be you like the canny zebra
And cross as wise as he;
The road is shared by all with care,
I think we all agree.

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wednesday Waters meme.

ROSES AND BEE

How Doth the Little Busy Bee
by Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labors hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labor or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,
Let my first years be passed,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WET, WET, WET

It's Winter in the Southern Hemisphere and Winter solstice approaches next week. We have wet, cool weather and here is a poem I wrote to celebrate Winter's Wwwwwwwww's!

Welcome the Winter Weather

A rain shower, wetting leaves and washing clean the garden -

Water trickles and weaves intricate patterns

Of winding rivulets as it wends its way amongst the weeds.

Winter's wet weather soaks wildflower seeds

And will ensure a crop of winsome bouquets in a few weeks:

Winterberry, wisteria, woodruff, windflower and wreath of wallflowers...

The wind stirs wistful branches of willows weeping

And wizened twigs of witch-hazel writhe,

As inside, a warming fire burns, fuelled by walnut wood.

Warlock Winter has arrived wearing furs

And wishing us a wondrous white season;

Welcome the Winter weather with wassail warm,

Wail, whine and whimper not,
For Spring will surely Winter follow.

This post is part of the Wednesday Waters meme,

and also part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

SUNRISE IN THE SUBURBS

“Awake! The Sun, has scattered into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav'n,
and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light”   ― Omar Khayyam

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SHADOWPLAY

In the warm shadehouse,
A single fallen yellow leaf -
Presage of Autumn.

This post is part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

STREET REFLECTIONS

“It’s not the feeling of the high when you’re running round
It’s the friends that you find when you’re coming down;
From smooth sailing to foggy rocky roads
I won’t be faked by my reflection like that dog that dropped his bone.”

Bliss n Eso

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,

and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme.

NORTHCOTE SUNSET

Be still, sad heart! And cease repining;

Behind the clouds the sun is still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

                                    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

AUTUMN LEAF

This last fallen leaf,
On wet concrete, signalling:
One season's ending.

This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White meme.

DENUDED

Bare branches, bare trees;
Cold felt by denuded twigs.
It's autumn again.

This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White meme.

GREEK ISLAND

“Now from his breast into the eyes the ache

of longing mounted, and he wept at last,

his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms, 

longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer

spent in rough water where his ship went down

under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.

Few men can keep alive through a big serf

to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches

in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind:

and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, 

her white arms round him pressed as though forever.” 

                                                           Homer: The Odyssey

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Waters meme.

SUNSET POEM

Sunset Poem
From 'Under Milk Wood' by Dylan Thomas

Every morning when I wake,
Dear Lord, a little prayer I make,
O please do keep Thy lovely eye
On all poor creatures born to die

And every evening at sun-down
I ask a blessing on the town,
For whether we last the night or no
I’m sure is always touch-and-go.

We are not wholly bad or good
Who live our lives under Milk Wood,
And Thou, I know, wilt be the first
To see our best side, not our worst.

O let us see another day!
Bless us all this night, I pray,
And to the sun we all will bow
And say, good-bye – but just for now!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

A RED ROSE

A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns My love is like a red, red rose    That’s newly sprung in June : My love is like the melody    That’s sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,    So deep in love am I : And I will love thee still, my dear,    Till a’ the seas gang dry. Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,    And the rocks melt wi’ the sun : And I will love thee still, my dear,    While the sands o’ life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only love,    And fare thee weel a while ! And I will come again, my love,    Thou’ it were ten thousand mile.

This post is part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.