I Got Off the Train by Fernando Pessoa

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

I got off the train And said goodbye to the man I’d met. We’d been together for eighteen hours And had a pleasant conversation, Fellowship in the journey, And I was sorry to get off, sorry to leave This chance friend whose name I never learned. I felt my eyes water with tears . . . Every farewell is a death. Yes, every farewell is a death. In the train we call life We are all chance events in one another’s lives And we all feel sorry when it is time to get off. All that is human moves me, because I am a man. All that is human moves me, not because I have an affinity With human ideas or human doctrines But because of my infinite fellowship with humanity itself. The maid who hated to go, Crying with nostalgia For the house where she’d been mistreated . . . All of this, inside my heart, is death and the world’s sadness. All of this lives, because it dies, inside my heart. And my heart is a little larger than the entire universe.

Bring Back the Poetry

Photo Credit: Bart.Gov
 
There was a time when BART, the San Francisco Bay Area Transit System, offered poetry to its passengers. Below is a poem from an unknown author featured back in those days:

like a child
who tore a twig
and planted it
in a dixie cup full of dirt
no seeds, no roots, no hole for draining
because he could not bear to wait —
each time i am foolishly surprised
it withers without blooming

In one of her letters, Emily Dickinson said, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” This little gem most definitely fits the bill.

Sometimes, simple is simply the best. Written using ordinary words, it’s a poem that engages us. It reinforces the idea that full commitment is necessary to achieve the desired end. Anything less than that can lead to disappointment. If somebody knows the identify of the poet, please let me know so he or she can get the proper credit.

It was cool for BART to promote a bit of culture and literary experience in the past. I don’t know what stopped the transit authorities from doing it, but I do hope it wasn’t for lack of public interest. Should they bring it back, it’ll be a welcome diversion from the usual advertisements and notices displayed on its cars.

Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s Not This Time of Year Without…

location: San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California
 

Free Falling

can’t stop the leaves from falling
nature has the final say
even on a fair autumn morning
the wind blows them all away

brown, red, yellow, or green
their color doesn’t matter
on these grounds where they now lay
they are dead, they breathe no longer

the tree made leafless looks grim
branches pointing up to heaven
once again, it would need a trim
for next spring, so says the raven

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haiku catchoo!

 

for this week’s challenge, the mission is to write five haikus — one for each of the five days starting today and leading up to the friday.

1.
first the old tree wails
as the leaves are blown away
then complete silence

2.
funny the squirrels are
in a tree bereft of leaves
they run but can’t hide

3.
in winter, black cats
gobble the day with eyes closed
not when you’re in love

4.
i step on dead leaves
walking the familiar path
winter has arrived

5.
the lake’s blue today
like the color of her eyes
before they gave up

 

A Woman In Sorrow

Photo Credit : The Huffington Post (Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)
 
Looking at the picture of this woman, I tried to put into words her sorrow. She lost a son during the super typhoon that ravaged the Philippines recently. Forgive me, if I failed in the attempt.

after the storm
and the cleanup that followed
i miss you, i miss you
like a bird searching for its nest
hovering around the spot
where a tree once stood
the sun may come back
the sky may turn blue again
but deep in my heart
there will always be a place
that is empty and dark