..poetry's most powerful lines ever written...

Lena-lovecraft

Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
~Epicurus

Lena-lovecraft

Death is near
because it is an idea not a body
and love is distant
because it is a body not an idea
~ Adunis, Candlelight

Lena-lovecraft

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise."
~ Still I rise, Maya Angelou

mizzy

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

mizzy

When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.
Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.
―Jalaluddin Rumi

mizzy

Do not stand at my grave and weep
by Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep:
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starshine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry:
I am not there; I did not die.

mizzy

Prodigal Son
by Witter Bynner

What was given...
Me at birth
Was not Heaven,
It was Earth.

Though some other
House be fine,
Strange old Father,
This is mine.

mizzy

Unspokem words, Paul Callus

I often scribble in the sand
The words I find so hard to say
And hope the wind will come along
And blow them all your way.

seribulan

      “Ledge

Birds that love
high trees
and winds

and riding
flailing branches
hate ledges
as gripless
and narrow,

so that a tail
is not just
no advantage
but ridiculous,
mashed vertical
against the wall.
You will have
seen the way
a bird who falls
on skimpy places

lifts into the air
again in seconds --
a gift denied
the rest of us
when our portion
isn't generous.”  
  ―    Kay Ryan,          The Best of It: New and Selected Poems   

seribulan

      “the inlet

our friend looks as he did
when we first knew him,
and until I wake I believe
I will die of grief, for I know
that this boy grew into a man
who was a faithful friend
who died.”  
  ―    Wendell Berry,          Given   

seribulan

“During our first date,
I wanted to hold your hand so bad
I almost cut mine off
and threw it at you
to see if you would catch it”  
  ―    Colin Gilbert

kaklehot

Kusingkap tirai jendela yang dihiasi rintik hujan menari di atas hamparan dahaga bumi
Secarik kertas putih kutuangkan sajak rindu akan sang bunda melalui pena ini
Kugoreskan lukaku karena penantian yang membuatku jenuh
Kurenungi kisah piluku dengan batin yang hampir rapuh
Kusimpan palung gelisah dalam rintihan yang merengek di sudut sepi
Sembari bercumbu setumpuk rindu yang membelenggu hati
Tak terasa derai gemuruh air mataku menerpa
Layaknya sungai diapit gurun pasir tak bermuara
Kala sukmaku terbayang tanah kelahiranku
Kala pula benakku sendu akan kampung halamanku
Tak terasa percikan air mata mengalir tak terhenti
Kala kudapan yang kusantap hanya segenggam nasi
Kala langit perutku hampa berirama setiap hari nan tak pasti
Akan tetapi, di balik derai tangisku, kau kujadikan pelangi dalam jiwaku yang sepi.

Muhammad Fathur Rozi

kaklehot

“Saya akan pikul rahsia itu jika engkau percayakan kepada saya dan saya akan masukkan ke dalam perbendaharaan hati saya dan kemudian saya kunci pintunya erat-erat. Kunci itu akan saya lemparkan jauh-jauh sehingga seorang pun tak dapat mengambilnya kedalam lagi.”
― Hamka, Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah

kaklehot

“Cinta bukan melemahkan hati, bukan membawa putus asa, bukan menimbulkan tangis sedu sedan. Tetapi cinta menghidupkan pengharapan, menguatkan hati dalam perjuangan menempuh onak dan duri penghidupan.”
― Hamka, Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck

seribulan

      “As it has been said:
Love and a cough
cannot be concealed.
Even a small cough.
Even a small love.”  
  ―    Anne Sexton

akuperatijee

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep - Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

akuperatijee

If - Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

akuperatijee

Life Is - Mother Teresa

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

akuperatijee

All The Hemispheres - Hafiz

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of Happiness and giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting

While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You.

akuperatijee

Climb Until Your Dreams Come True
Often your tasks will be many,
And more than you think you can do.
Often the road will be rugged
And the hills insurmountable, too.

But always remember,
The hills ahead
Are never as steep as they seem.

And with Faith in your heart
Start upward
And climb 'til you reach your dream.

For nothing in life that is worthy
Is ever too hard to achieve
If you have the courage to try it,
And you have the faith to believe.

For faith is a force that is greater
Than knowledge or power or skill,
And many defeats turn to triumph
If you trust in God's wisdom and will.

For faith is a mover of mountains,
There's nothing that God cannot do,
So, start out today with faith in your heart,
And climb 'til your dream comes true!