The Self and the Mulberry
by Marvin Bell
I wanted to see the self, so I looked at the mulberry.
It had no trouble accepting its limits,
yet defining and redefining a small area
so that any shape was possible, any movement.
It stayed put, but was part of all the air.
I wanted to learn to be there and not there
like the continually changing, slightly moving
mulberry, wild cherry and particularly the willow.
Like the willow, I tried to weep without tears.
Like the cherry tree, I tried to be sturdy and productive.
Like the mulberry, I tried to keep moving.
I couldn’t cry right, couldn’t stay or go.
I kept losing parts of myself like a soft maple.
I fell ill like the elm. That was the end
of looking in nature to find a natural self.
Let nature think itself not manly enough!
Let nature wonder at the mystery of laughter.
Let nature hypothesize man’s indifference to it.
Let nature take a turn at saying what love is!
End of the poem
15 random poems
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Indifference. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Владимир Маяковский – Будь готов
- Last night my soul cried O exalted sphere of Heaven by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Олег Бундур – Полёт
- To A Young Lady. On Her Recovery From A Fever by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Михаил Кузмин – Вы белое бургундское вино
- A Song In Passing by Yvor Winters
- If I Got You by Miraj Patel
- A Musician’s Wife by Weldon Kees
- The Thorns In The Geäte by William Barnes
- Николай Языков – Водопад
- A Form Of Women by Robert Creely
- Spirituality of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gerard Manley Hopkins: a shepherd poet
- The Death Of Adonis by Sappho
- Владимир Домрин – Якутия
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).