No rack can torture me, My soul’s at liberty Behind this mortal bone There knits a bolder one You cannot prick with saw, Nor rend with scymitar. Two bodies therefore be; Bind one, and one will flee. The eagle of his nest No easier divest And gain the sky, Than mayest thou, Except thyself may […]
Children, I come back today To tell you a story of the long dark way That I had to climb, that I had to know In order that the race might live and grow. Look at my face — dark as the night — Yet shining like the sun with love’s true light. I am […]
When a man starts out with nothing, When a man starts out with his hands Empty, but clean, When a man starts to build a world, He starts first with himself And the faith that is in his heart- The strength there, The will there to build. First in the heart is the dream- Then […]
When things go wrong, As they sometimes will When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, But you have to sigh When care is pressing you down a bit Rest if you must, But Don’t You Quit For life is […]
I chop the greens, choi sum. I bought from the Japanese woman at the farmer’s market, and the green onions and asparagus, 5 curving stalks. Into the pot with the ginger the old Chinese man put on his scale, the small piece he added last, to make the weight come out even. I throw in […]
Victor was a little baby, Into this world he came; His father took him on his knee and said: ‘Don’t dishonour the family name.’ Victor looked up at his father Looked up with big round eyes: His father said; ‘Victor, my only son, Don’t you ever ever tell lies.’ Victor and his father went riding […]
I cannot pledge allegiance To a government of men I cannot silence my conscience I cannot forsake my beliefs In the name of public opinion To be judged by the masses Approved by the courts Sanctioned by the politicians The snakes of statism Stealing from the rich Giving to the poor Stealing from the poor […]
Can you imagine the impossible? Or do you look between your fingers At the horizon? The unthinkable can free you, break the bars of old thoughts, shatter habit, open space for new thinking. Even if it is truly outrageous, the impossible can still, perhaps, scatter a seed, so a new plant can possibly grow. But […]
I had a dream the other night, I didn’t understand. A figure walking through the mist, with flintlock in his hand. His clothes were torn and dirty, as he stood there by the bed, He took off his three-cornered hat, and speaking low, he said: “We fought a revolution, to secure our liberty. We wrote […]
sad indeed, there are other freedoms still freedom from having no ideas, from this dryness, freedom from having you as a poet on forced wit and half-cooked cleverness freedom from a reader who has nothing to offer except his own loneliness his having nothing to do freedom from beng bored to death freedom from having […]
