Saturday, January 12, 2019

Rubai - Allama Iqbal


RUbai - ALlama Muhammad Iqbal






atā aslāf jazb-e-durūñ kar

sharīk-e-zumra-e-lā-yahzanūñ, kar
ḳhirad gutthiyāñ suljhā chukā maiñ
mire maulā mujhe sāhib-e-junūñ kar



How to Spend a Birthday by Lee Herrick

I just came across this beautiful poem at poetryfoundation.org


Light a match. Watch the blue part

 flare like a shocked piñata
from the beating
 into the sky,

  watch how fast thin

wood burns & turns toward the skin,

the olive-orange skin of your thumb
 
   & let it burn, too.

Light a fire. Drown out the singing cats.

Let the drunken mariachis blaze their way,

streaking like crazed hyenas

over a brown hill, just underneath

a perfect birthday moon.
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