Poem of the Day - Part 93

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Poem of the Day - Part 92

From Time to Time
by Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period.  He is considered the greatest master of the haiku poem.  Here is one of his poems:

雲をりをり人をやすめる月見かな

This has been translated as follows, accompanied by images that are probably not what the poet had in mind:

From time to time

The clouds give rest

To the moon-beholders.

Poem of the Day - Part 91

A Song for Kilts

This is a poem by Robert Service (1874-1958), a Canadian poet of Scottish descent, on a traditional Scottish subject.  And speaking of tradition, you know it's traditional not to wear underwear under a kilt.

How grand the human race would be

    If every man would wear a kilt,

A flirt of Tartan finery,

    Instead of trousers, custom built!

Nay, do not think I speak to joke:

    (You know I'm not that kind of man),

I am convinced that all men folk.

    Should wear the costume of a Clan.

Imagine how it's braw and clean

    As in the wind it flutters free;

And so conducive to hygiene

    In its sublime simplicity.

No fool fly-buttons to adjust,—

    Wi' shanks and maybe buttocks bare;

Oh chiels, just take my word on trust,

    A bonny kilt's the only wear.

'Twill save a lot of siller too,

    (And here a canny Scotsman speaks),

For one good kilt will wear you through

    A half-a-dozen pairs of breeks.

And how it's healthy in the breeze!

    And how it swings with saucy tilt!

How lassies love athletic knees

    Below the waggle of a kilt!

True, I just wear one in my mind,

    Since sent to school by Celtic aunts,

When girls would flip it up behind,

    Until I begged for lowland pants.

But now none dare do that to me,

    And so I sing with lyric lilt,—

How happier the world would be

    If every male would wear a kilt!

Poem of the Day - Part 90

Auguries of Innocence

Auguries of Innocence is a long poem by William Blake, thought to have been written in 1803 though not published until much later.  It is most famous for its first four lines, which I have illustrated here with pictures that may not quite fit the "innocence" in Blake's title.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

Poem of the Day - Part 89

 The Fly
by William Blake, 1794

                                                            Little fly,

                                                            Thy summer's play

                                                            My thoughtless hand

                                                            Has brushed away

                                                            Am I not

                                                            A fly like thee?

                                                            Or art thou not

                                                            A man like me?

                                                            For I dance

                                                            And drink and sing

                                                            Till some blind hand

                                                            Shall brush my wing

                                                            If thought is life

                                                            And strength and breath,

                                                            And the want

                                                            Of thought is death,

                                                            Then am I

                                                            A happy fly,

                                                            If I live,

                                                            Of if I die.

Poem of the Day - Part 88

 Plumbers Smile
by Robert Burrows

Plumbers smile, plumbers crack,

Plumbers often hurt their backs.

Plumbers wrenches, plumbers snakes –

Plumbers profit from earthquakes.

Plumbers plumb and plumbers bent:

Plumbers are all heaven sent.

Poem of the Day - Part 87

 It's Raining, It's Pouring

Another classic nursery rhyme.

It's raining, it's pouring,

The old man is snoring.

He went to bed and bumped his head

And couldn't get up in the morning.

Poem of the Day - Part 86

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Poem of the Day - Part 85

 Eggs Rated
by Shel Silverstein

Here's Shel Silverstein's poem Eggs Rated.  It features clever wordplay.  I have accompanied it with some photos to make it not just eggs-rated, but X-rated.

These eggs

Are eggscellent.

I'm not eggsaggerating.

You can tell by my eggspression

They're eggceptional –

Eggstra fluffy,

Eggstremely tasty,

Cooked eggactly right

By an eggspert

with lots of eggsperience.

Now I'll eggsamine the bill ...

Ooh – much more eggspensive

Than I eggspected.

I gotta get out of here.

Where's the eggxit?