Competition Of English Poetry June 2014

[Zindagi]

Is Month Claude McKay K Poetry Share Karne Hain..

Sab Ki Sharing ka Intezar Rahega..



Note:-

Each member can share only one Poetry.
Same and edited sharing won't be considered
Winners would be decided by the 50% poll and 50% by admins.
Closing date of the competition is 20th June 2014

[attiaahsan]

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Claude McKay

[Amna Rani]

[Arosa Hya]

A Red Flower

Your lips are like a southern lily red,
Wet with the soft rain-kisses of the night,
In which the brown bee buries deep its head,
When still the dawn's a silver sea of light.

Your lips betray the secret of your soul,
The dark delicious essence that is you,
A mystery of life, the flaming goal
I seek through mazy pathways strange and new.

Your lips are the red symbol of a dream,
What visions of warm lilies they impart,
That line the green bank of a fair blue stream,
With butterflies and bees close to each heart!

Brown bees that murmur sounds of music rare,
That softly fall upon the langourous breeze,
Wafting them gently on the quiet air
Among untended avenues of trees.

O were I hovering, a bee, to probe
Deep down within your scented heart, fair flower,
Enfolded by your soft vermilion robe,
Amorous of sweets, for but one perfect hour!


Claude McKay

[Usm@n Butt]

The City's Love

For one brief golden moment rare like wine,
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart to win,
Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove.


Claude McKay

[mwaqasengg]

Absence

by Claude McKay
Your words dropped into my heart like pebbles into a pool,
Rippling around my breast and leaving it melting cool.

Your kisses fell sharp on my flesh like dawn-dews from the limb,
Of a fruit-filled lemon tree when the day is young and dim.

But a silence vasty-deep, oh deeper than all these ties
Now, through the menacing miles, brooding between us lies.

And more than the songs I sing, I await your written word,
To stir my fluent blood as never your presence stirred.

[YouthFul]

I Know My Soul by Claude McKay
_________________________

I plucked my soul out of its secret place,
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I'm comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.

[*jamshed*]

Birds of Prey

Their shadow dims the sunshine of our day,
As they go lumbering across the sky,
Squawking in joy of feeling safe on high,
Beating their heavy wings of owlish gray.
They scare the singing birds of earth away
As, greed-impelled, they circle threateningly,
Watching the toilers with malignant eye,
From their exclusive haven--birds of prey.
They swoop down for the spoil in certain might,
And fasten in our bleeding flesh their claws.
They beat us to surrender weak with fright,
And tugging and tearing without let or pause,
They flap their hideous wings in grim delight,
And stuff our gory hearts into their maws.

Claude McKay

[°Têhrêêr°]

Morning Joy






At night the wide and level stretch of wold,
Which at high noon had basked in quiet gold,
Far as the eye could see was ghostly white;

Dark was the night save for the snow's weird light.


I drew the shades far down, crept into bed;

Hearing the cold wind moaning overhead
Through the sad pines, my soul, catching its pain,
Went sorrowing with it across the plain.

At dawn, behold! the pall of night was gone,
Save where a few shrubs melancholy, lone,
Detained a fragile shadow. Golden-lipped
The laughing grasses heaven's sweet wine sipped.

The sun rose smiling o'er the river's breast,
And my soul, by his happy spirit blest,
Soared like a bird to greet him in the sky,
And drew out of his heart Eternity.

Claude McKay

[thefire1]

assalaam-o-alaikum

thank you for announcing this competition and giving us chance to read the beutiful words written by this Jamaican-American writer and poet, I simple loved his poetry and wisdom.

after carefully reading his poetry collection, I chose the following poem as my choice for this competition.... not to win but to allow you to read this beuatiful collection of words, wisdom and emotions.

Your door is shut against my tightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with
discontent;
But I possess the courage and the grace
To bear my anger
proudly and unbent.
The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
A
chafing savage, down the decent street;
And passion rends my vitals as I
pass,
Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
Oh, I must search
for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
And find in
it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law!
Oh, I must
keep my heart inviolate
Against the potent poison of your hate.