Bee

____________________________ When I love I feel that I am the king of time I possess the earth and everything on it and ride into the sun upon my horse. When I love I become liquid light invisible to the eye and the poems in my notebooks become fields of mimosa and poppy. When I love the water gushes from my fingers grass grows on my tongue when I love I become time outside all time. When I love a woman all the trees run barefoot toward me… ** Nizar Qabbani

THE TAME BIRD WAS IN A CAGE by: Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) T HE tame bird was in a cage, the free bird was in the forest. They met when the time came, it was a decree of fate. The free bird cries, "O my love, let us fly to the wood." The cage bird whispers, "Come hither, let us both live in the cage." Says the free bird, "Among bars, where is there room to spread one's wings?" "Alas," cries the caged bird, "I should not know where to sit perched in the sky." The free bird cries, "My darling, sing the songs of the woodlands." The cage bird sings, "Sit by my side, I'll teach you the speech of the learned." The forest bird cries, "No, ah no! songs can never be taught." The cage bird says, "Alas for me, I know not the songs of the woodlands." There love is intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing. Through the bars of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each...

ONE SELLS HIS RICE AT ANY PRICE. A paddy*-buyer, purse in hand, Comes to a store, and to a stand. " I want to buy some rice," says he, " A sample of it let me see." * Rice in the husk. The paddy-seller is not slow A little measiire-ful to show. The buyer asks, " Have you no more ? " The seller says, " This is the store : Pagodas one or ten will buy No other rice than now you spy." The neighbour pays pagodas ten, And says he 11 soon be here again. And back he comes, with bullock strong, To fetch his purchase before long, And, like a man of means and mirth, Demands his ten pagodas worth. The dealer brings the measure small, And says, " Pour out, and take it all." " This all for ten pagodas ! " cries The purchaser. The cheat replies, " For one or ten, I said before, This is the rice, and there s no more. Agreeing, ten you chose to pay, So take your bargain, and away." The jest no joke the good man feels, And to the judg...

**************************** Such! proud Bengala's King and court, Where chief and champions brave resort, With ladies happy, gay and free, As fishes in Bengala's sea! One beauty shone amid the throng, I mark'd her nose so fair and long, So fitted to her pretty pole, Like a nice toad-fish in its hole. One beauty small, amid the row, Did like the fair Sanangin show; None softer smil'd aid them all; Small was her mouth, her stature small, Her visage blended rose and pale, Her pregnant waist a swelling sail. Another's face look'd broad and bland, Like pamflet floundering on the sand Whene'er she turned her piercing stare, She seemed alert to spring in air. Two more I mark'd in black array, Like the salisdick dark were they; Their skins, their faces fair & red, And white the flesh beneath lay hid. These pretty fish, so blithe and brave, To see them frisking on the wave! Were I an angler in the sea, These fishes were the fish for me!! ****** Ibrahim...

The Ballad of East and West   Rudyard Kipling  (1865–1936)     O H,  East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth! Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side,         5 And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s pride: He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day, And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away. Then up and spoke the Colonel’s son that led a troop of the Guides: “Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?”         10 Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar, “If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are. At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair, But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare,...

  A Rajput Love Song     (Parvati at her lattice) O Love! were you a basil-wreath to twine  among my tresses, A jewelled clasp of shining gold to bind around my sleeve, O Love! were you the keora's soul that haunts  my silken raiment, A bright, vermilion tassel in the girdles that I weave; O Love! were you the scented fan  that lies upon my pillow, A sandal lute, or silver lamp that burns before my shrine, Why should I fear the jealous dawn  that spreads with cruel laughter, Sad veils of separation between your face and mine? Haste, O wild-bee hours, to the gardens of the sun set! Fly, wild-parrot day, to the orchards of the west! Come, O tender night, with your sweet,  consoling darkness, And bring me my Beloved to the shelter of my breast! (Amar Singh in the saddle) O Love! were you the hooded hawk upon my hand  that flutters, Its collar-band of gleaming bells atinkle as I ride, O Love! were you a turban-spray or  floating heron-feather, The radiant, swift, unconquered sword  tha...

Chickpea to Cook ~Jalaluddin Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks) A chickpea leaps almost over the rim of the pot where it's being boiled. "Why are you doing this to me?" The cook knocks him down with the ladle. "Don't you try to jump out. You think I'm torturing you. I'm giving you flavor, so you can mix with spices and rice and be the lovely vitality of a human being. Remember when you drank rain in the garden. That was for this." Grace first. Sexual pleasure, then a boiling new life begins, and the Friend has something good to eat. Eventually the chickpea will say to the cook, "Boil me some more. Hit me with the skimming spoon. I can't do this by myself. I'm like an elephant that dreams of gardens back in Hindustan and doesn't pay attention to his driver. You're my cook, my driver, my way into existence. I love your cooking." The cook says, "I was once like you, fresh from the ground. Then I boiled in time, and boiled ...