THE PANTHER BY RAINER MARIA RILKE

THE PANTHER BY RAINER MARIA RILKE 

His vision, from the constantly passing bars, 

has grown so weary that it cannot hold 

anything else. It seems to him there are 

a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world. 

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over, 

the movement of his powerful soft strides 

is like a ritual dance around a centre 

in which a mighty will stands paralysed. 

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils 

lifts, quietly. An image enters in, 

rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, 

plunges into the heart and is gone.

ANIMALS BY WALT WHITMAN

ANIMALS BY WALT WHITMAN

The poet tells us that he feels more at home with animals than humans, whom he finds complicated and false.

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are

so placid and self-contain’d,

I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with

the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that

lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

So they show their relations to me and I accept them,

They bring me tokens of myself, they evince

them plainly in their possession

I wonder where they get those tokens,

Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?

BEAUTY BY E-YEH-SHURE

BEAUTY BY E-YEH-SHURE 

What is beauty? Try to describe what beauty is, or list some of the things or persons you think are beautiful. Now let us read a poem on beauty. 

Beauty is seen 

In the sunlight, 

The trees, the birds, 

Corn growing and people working 

Or dancing for their harvest. 

Beauty is heard 

In the night, 

Wind sighing, rain falling, 

Or a singer chanting 

Anything in earnest. 

Beauty is in yourself. 

Good deeds, happy thoughts 

That repeat themselves 

In your dreams, 

In your work, 

And even in your rest.

WHATIF BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN

WHATIF BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN 

Are there times when your mind fills with fear? Have you ever thought,“What if something dangerous happens to me or the people around me?” “What if the world stops revolving around the sun?” “What if the sun does not rise in the morning?” Here is a poem which talks about some more such “Whatifs”. 

Last night, while I lay thinking here, 

Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear 

And pranced and partied all night long 

And sang their same old Whatif song: 

Whatif I’m dumb in school? 

Whatif they’ve closed the swimming-pool? 

Whatif I get beat up? 

Whatif there’s poison in my cup? 

Whatif I start to cry? 

Whatif I get sick and die? 

Whatif I flunk that test? 

Whatif green hair grows on my chest? 

Whatif nobody likes me? 

Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me? 

Whatif I don’t grow taller? 

Whatif my head starts getting smaller? 

Whatif the fish won’t bite? 

Whatif the wind tears up my kite? 

Whatif they start a war? 

Whatif my parents get divorced? 

Whatif the bus is late? 

Whatif my teeth don’t grow in straight? 

Whatif I tear my pants? 

Whatif I never learn to dance? 

Everything seems swell, and then 

The night-time Whatif strikes again!

FOG BY CARL SANDBURG

FOG BY CARL SANDBURG 

The fog comes 

on little cat feet. 

It sits looking 

over harbour and city 

on silent haunches 

and then moves on.