Today's poet

[Mossdog]

Are you in China with DT too?

No, but I did drive all the way from Seaham this pm! That may not cross any time zones but it is very much is like crossing time phases (sorry if you live in or emanate from Seaham - no offense)

So let me try again - more goat, but less silly - indeed a bit dark.


By the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed

From the cliff where she lay in the Sun
Fell the Stone
To the Tarn where the daylight is lost,
So she fell from the light of the Sun
And alone!

Now the fall was ordained from the first
With the Goat and the Cliff and the Tarn,
But the Stone
Knows only her life is accursed
As she sinks from the light of the Sun
And alone!

Oh Thou Who hast builded the World,
Oh Thou Who hast lighted the Sun,
Oh Thou Who hast darkened the Tarn,
Judge Thou
The sin of the Stone that was hurled
By the goat from the light of the Sun,
As she sinks in the mire of the Tarn,
Even now--even now--even now!

Rudyard Kipling

[Harry H Howgill]

No, but I did drive all the way from Seaham this pm! That may not cross any time zones but it is very much is like crossing time phases (sorry if you live in or emanate from Seaham - no offense)

So let me try again - more goat, but less silly - indeed a bit dark.


By the Hoof of the Wild Goat uptossed

From the cliff where she lay in the Sun
Fell the Stone
To the Tarn where the daylight is lost,
So she fell from the light of the Sun
And alone!

Now the fall was ordained from the first
With the Goat and the Cliff and the Tarn,
But the Stone
Knows only her life is accursed
As she sinks from the light of the Sun
And alone!

Oh Thou Who hast builded the World,
Oh Thou Who hast lighted the Sun,
Oh Thou Who hast darkened the Tarn,
Judge Thou
The sin of the Stone that was hurled
By the goat from the light of the Sun,
As she sinks in the mire of the Tarn,
Even now--even now--even now!

Rudyard Kipling

I know it was meant to be serious, but that tickled me. I must use the word "uptossed" more often. Made me think of (no not that ) this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3Utmj4RPU&feature=fvw

[Harry H Howgill]

jetlag cleared now
back into poetry mode
plenty of work though

Evening / Morning / Afternoon* DT

*delete as applicable

[Hes]

What if
One day running fails me?
The sidelong rain and leaves
Fail to dispel my fears
Daily strife steals a ride
On the body-bursting climb?

Focus fails on reckless descent
And “Brain off” is a command defied
By dark thoughts that
Chase down ghyll and screes?

Craggy wilderness no longer stirs?
The eerie raven croak met with disinterest
And I am no longer immersed in the wild –
Merely passing through?

On the summit cairns of Gable and Glaramara
The fist that wrings my guts
And crushes my spirit
Is there to greet me?

Where then can I hide?

This is wonderful OW. I wish I'd written it! I do sometimes wonde ther same especially in the first mile but it soon gets replaced with exhilaration or at the least, a sense of freedom. I do hope that you, me and everyone on this thread is never failed by their spirit and love of running.

[Hes]

Impressions from a week in China

Endless miles of arrow straight concrete-walled toll roads
A Fritz Lang neon night time sky
Little old ladies pedalling their rusty bicycles in the gutter
Belching industrial chimneys adding to an ocean of smog
A Sunday market in the city; like going back 500 years in time
The exquisite taste of chicken fried rice
That amazing nostalgic feeling you get when a song from home comes on the car stereo; in this case, Tears of a Clown
My utter inability to undersand a single spoken word
The softest hand shake you've ever experienced
A showroom-fresh BMW overtaking a man pushing a hand barrow
Seeing people eating breadrolls with chopsticks
Ice cold Tsing Tao beer
Your driver speaking into two mobile phones at once; whilst trying to answer a third
One thousand tiny porcelain thimble-sized cups of green tea a day
Customers passing you their business cards with two hands before you do the same, half bowing, nodding very gently
Friendly smiling faces

Hi DT...this is great, I spent three months in China and Tibet and this is exactly what it was like in Beijing. What a great idea. Here's a few of mine to compare notes:

A glass teapot filled with flowers served on a vinyl tablecloth
two men on separate bicycles carrying between them a large plank of wood,
cut throat razor shaves on a street corner
a horse drawn cart filled with pomelos next to a modern hotel
clouds of incense rising in a quiet courtyard
a man painting a prayer on the pavement with water from the lake
being offered spiced dried broad beans by an old couple on a train
being photographed all the time (even when doing my laundry with a towel on my head)

It is a strange feeling when you literally can't understand any written or spoken word (and are taller and blonder than anyone in the vicinity).

[Harry H Howgill]

(once like a spark)

if strangers meet
life begins-
not poor not rich
(only aware)
kind neither
nor cruel
(only complete)
i not not you
not possible;
only truthful
-truthfully,once
if strangers(who
deep our most are
selves)touch:
forever

(and so to dark)

ee cummings </B>

[Old Whippet]

This is wonderful OW. I wish I'd written it! I do sometimes wonde ther same especially in the first mile but it soon gets replaced with exhilaration or at the least, a sense of freedom. I do hope that you, me and everyone on this thread is never failed by their spirit and love of running.

Cheers Hes, tri-mind and Harry for feedback on this. Was in a bit of a mess this morning, and thought I'd sort myself out with a good run later...and then got to worrying...hence the poem.
The day turned out to be wonderful. Funny old world.
There's always that niggle though. Take away the running.... Sometimes feels like too many eggs in one basket.

[Harry H Howgill]

Cheers Hes, tri-mind and Harry for feedback on this. Was in a bit of a mess this morning, and thought I'd sort myself out with a good run later...and then got to worrying...hence the poem.
The day turned out to be wonderful. Funny old world.
There's always that niggle though. Take away the running.... Sometimes feels like too many eggs in one basket.

The best poems seem to come from these moments. Just make the most of them.

Keep on running.

HHH

[Hes]

Don't worry OW, if you drop the basket I bet you'd make a great metaphorical omelette and I don't reckon you'll be dropping it anyway.

[Harry H Howgill]

Scrambled heads
Make fine poets.
Crack on.