an intro to Rumi...

Every now and then, I am going to use my blog to introduce a favourite poet. This one's from Rumi... (Happy Valentine's!!)

 

 

The next is born from the last
look at love
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love

look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life
why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend

why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how the unknown merges into the known

why think seperately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last

look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs

look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once

the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together

look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox

you too must mingle my friends
since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me

be like sugarcane
sweet yet silent
don't get mixed up with bitter words

my beloved grows
right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be?

-Rumi.

an older poem...

(i)

Lying still on Harpur's Hill

a setting sun it warms my face;

& while you're near its all so clear

you're not so out of reach.

(ii)

Later on you have gone

I wonder, did I say too much?

Words I said could have mislead

and are much clearer in a touch.

(chorus)

And if you listen hard

on a summer's night

you can hear the angels weep;

For the things in life

they longed to own

but knew they couldn't keep.

(iii)

The lost souls of a thousand gulls

echo across the beach.

I lie in fear, wish you were near

& not so out of reach.

(chorus)

And if you listen hard

on a summer's night

you can hear the angels weep;

For the things in life

they longed to own

but knew they couldn't keep.

And for the ones in life

they longed to hold

but knew they loved too deep.

-For Alan Whiting.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 1991 / 2011.

"There's a little magic in everything & then some loss to even things out." (Lou Reed)

when it comes to love...

and when it comes
to love
I feel I've only
just begun.

I've had a few near misses
and a lot of
hit & runs.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2011.

"Love is in the eye of the beholder - get it out with Optrex!" (Spike Milligan)

this sweetest of eclipse...

In your eyes,
reflected back at me;
I finally see the man
I've always wanted to be.

Forgive me lass,
if I stare;
It has taken forty-two
(long)
years
to find myself
here.

Sunlight / birdsong
tease us gently awake.
With your hand in mine
let us stop the world awhile,
& cancel time.

Skin on sacred skin,
lips on fluid lips;
Only dawn can break
this sweetest of eclipse.

Intoxicated by your hair,
my head lingers
on your chest;
for a brief moment
of moments 
I am a
god amongst men...

Truly,
utterly,
completely:

blessed.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2011.

"The heart is an organ of fire!" (Michael Ondaatje)

it is the tiny things (for elsie)...

It is the tiny things
that remind me why
(way back in 1989)
I decided to go to artschool
& become an artist.


Last weekend,
it was watching a little girl
dance and giggle and smile
with delight;
when she saw the mural
I had painted her
for her 2nd birthday.


there are some feelings of pride
that all the money in the world
could never buy.


[for Elsie & Sarea]


(c) Brent M Harpur, 2011.


"What we need in this world are more people who specialise in the impossible."
(theodore roethke)

Year of the rabbit...

For every painting
I ever painted
& every drawing
I ever drew;
Every poem never published
& hidden from review...

If you look into my eyes
girl,
you know it is true:
Every other woman
I have ever met
has prepared me
just
for you.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2011.

"Tell me... What is it you plan to do with your one wild & precious life?"
(Mary Oliver)

luckiest man in the world...

sometimes in life
bad things
happen to good people...

but life can often
(when you least expect it)
offer a compromise;
and good people can
happen to good people.

& since I met you,
I've been
kinder to spiders.

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2011.