Male Poets

Death of the Eagle

José María Heredia y Heredia
Cuban
1803 – 1839

 

Although beyond the eternal snows, aspires
The vast-winged eagle still to loftier air,
That nearer to the sun in blue more clear
He may renew his eyeball’s splendid ires.

He rises. Sparks in torrents he inspires.
Still up, in proud, calm flight, he glories where
The storm breeds lightnings in its inmost lair;
Whereat his wings are smit by their fierce fires.

With scream, in waterspout borne whirlingly,
Shriveled, sublimely tasting flame’s last kiss,
He plunges to the fulgurant abyss.

Happy he who, for Fame or Liberty,
In strength’s full pride and dream’s enrapturing bliss
Dies such undaunted, dazzling death as this.

I Met a Dragon Face to Face

Jack Prelutsky
American
b. 1940

 

I met a dragon face to face
the year when I was ten,
I took a trip to outer space,
I braved a pirate’s den,
I wrestled with a wicked troll,
and fought a great white shark,
I trailed a rabbit down a hole,
I hunted for a snark.

I stowed aboard a submarine,
I opened magic doors,
I traveled in a time machine,
and searched for dinosaurs,
I climbed atop a giant’s head,
I found a pot of gold,
I did all this in books I read
when I was ten years old.

The Incense Burner

Abus Salt
Arab Andalusian
1067 – 1134

 

Though its heart was all aflame.
Yet it never knew that same
Grief of parting, and that woe
Sundered lovers know.

When the lightning of the wine
Bathed the drinkers in its shine,
What a brave cloud billowed thence
Sweet with frankincense!
Never saw I, all my days,
Such a conflagration blaze
To persuade the revellers
Paradise was theirs.

If One Can Save One’s Soul by Lying

In honor of the German holiday, Three Kings Day, we present this work by one of Medeival Germany’s most significant poets.

Hartmann von Aue
German
1165 – 1210

 

If one can save one’s soul by lying,
Then I know someone who is holy.
He has often sworn false oaths to me.
His shrewd cunning overwhelmed me
And I chose him as a friend.
I thought I had found in him constancy.
But my own good sense deserted me,
As I now announce to the world:
He is as free of duplicity
As the sea is free of waves.

Why should I seek help from others
Since it was my own heart that deceived me?
It led me to the one
Who is worthless to me or to any good woman.
It hardly honors men
How this man conducts himself with regard to women.
He is so well versed in uttering sweet phrases
That one could not write them down.
I followed them even onto slippery ice.
Now I am suffering the harm they caused.

If I were now to begin to detest all men,
I would do so out of hatred of him alone.
But how are they all at fault for this?
Many men show better gratitude to their ladies.
One lady, by using her good sense,
Chose a friend who makes her happy.
She is laughing while I am sad.
Our lives play themselves out quite differently.
I have begun with suffering.
May God, the mighty One, ease my pain.

Beatrice

Konstantin Balmont
Russian
1867 – 1942

 

I fell in love with you, just when had seen you, dearest,
I still recall the simplest talk around us,
You were just one the mute, and speech of fire, fierce,
In lost of sounds words, were send me by your eyes.

Days by the days were sunk. The year had passed since then.
And spring is sending us its living rays, once more,
The flowers are set in fairy dress again,
But I’m? I’m still in love with you as was before.

And you’re, as in the past, the silent one and sad;
Only your look sometimes is glowing and speaking,
Not in such way, sometimes, the moon – an empress, great, –

Is hiding her bright face behind a mound, pricking? –
Yet, and behind the rock, with her forehead inclined,
From darkness, narrow, she sheds the gorgeous light.

Be Safe, O Egypt

We present this work in honor of the poet’s 140th birthday.

Mostafa Saadeq Al-Rafe’ie
Egyptian
1880 – 1937

 

Be safe, O Egypt; I will sacrifice
There is my hand for you, if the world raised a hand to hurt you
Never you shall yield, ever
I am hoping for tomorrow to be better
My heart and my determination are with me for strife
And to my heart, O Egypt, you are a faith, in addition to my religion
Safety for you, O Egypt
And peace, O my homeland
If the world threw arrows at you
I would shield you by my heart
And be safe in all times
I am an Egyptian, built by the founders of the
everlasting pyramid, who defeated doom
The pyramids stand beside us
Against the world’s arrogance, is as my stand
In my defense and struggle for my country
I do not turn away, tire, or yield
Safety for you, O Egypt
And Peace, O my homeland
If the world threw arrows at you
I would shield you by my heart
And be safe in all times
Hey, you who are trying to chain our orbits
There is no star in the sky under your control
The homeland of freemen is a sky that cannot be possessed
And the freemen own its horizons
There is no enemy that can attack you, O land of Egypt
We are all for your protection
Safety for you, O Egypt
And Peace, O my homeland
If the world threw arrows at you
I would shield you by my heart
And be safe in all times
To highness, O sons of Egypt, to highness
And honor the future by Egypt
The whole world is to save our Egypt, because
we put our country’s sake first
My left side has my heart
And my homeland is the heart of my right side
Safety for you, O Egypt
And Peace, O my homeland
If the world threw arrows at you
I would shield you by my heart
And be safe in all times

Auld Lang Syne

We present this work in honor of New Year’s Eve.

Robert Burns
Scots
1759 – 1796

 

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld land syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

For auld land syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit
Sin’ auld lang syne.

For auld land syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us briad hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.

For auld land syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak’ a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld land syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Epitaph for a Rose

Mariano Brull
Cuban
1891 – 1956

 

I take apart a rose and I don’t find you.
To the wind, thus, columns of floating petals,
the palace of the rose in ruins.
Now—impossible rose—you begin:
by needles of interwoven air
to the sea of the intact delight,
where all the roses of the world
—before they were a rose—
are beautiful without the prison of beauty.

Holy City

Jacobo Fijman
Argentine
1898 – 1970

 

Three screams stabbed me with their knives.
Landscape of three screams
long with astonishment.
The shrouds of mystery have jested!
Flight of torpors;
sighs
in the paralyzed fog.
Cypresses.
Bronze of terrors,
formless, fragmented.
Roads die
and bridges are built.

A tree mutates
by closing its pupils.

Dream’s angelic pigeons
timorously fall into the
icy nails of dread.

An infinite horror was
flowing in my entrails
in a death anthem.