The most beautiful poems and poetry
of other famous poets

Moonlight

It was as if the sky
Had quietly kissed the earth,
So that in a shower of blossoms
She must now dream of him.

The breeze wafted through the fields,
The ears of corn waved gently,
The forests rustled faintly,
So sparkling clear was the night.

And my soul stretched
its wings out far,
Flew through the still lands,
as if it were flying home.

Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff (1905-1992)
Translated to English by Emily Ezust


 
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The Way Back Home

In a word it is said:

"Be patient with all the unredeemed inside your heart and try, to even love the questions. Like locked books and rooms, that are written in a foreign language. And do not seek after answers, that cannot be given to you, because you cannot live them. Now live the question, maybe one day you then will live into the answer, without noticing it."

Sometimes, it is difficult for me to have patience if I am impatient. Sometimes, it is difficult for me that I admit all that to myself and see the unredeemed in my own life.

What is unredeemed?
What still sleeps deeply inside of me?

Is it the questions, that have never asked, that I now should slowly ask myself?

Is it the talents and possibilities, that still lie asleep and yet uncovered, or does my life, my wasted one, sleep deep inside, and I lived only for other people until now?

It makes me fear to think about it.

What is it, that I cannot live? Which part is difficult for me? Is it my poor, unattended part, or that simple and happy one, the funster, my emotional part - there, where I could feel fine, but cannot find the entrance?

Yes, if I could only feel at home. Home, the pleasant chamber inside my soul - can I afford, can I dwell in this room - or must I first ask somebody for the permission before I enter?

Unknown author


 
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Steps

As every blossom fades
and all youth sinks into old age,
so every life's design,
each flower of wisdom,
every good attains its prime
and cannot last forever.
In life, each call the heart
must be prepared courageously
without a hint of grief,
submit itself to other new ties.
A magic dwells in each beginning,
protecting us
tells us how to live.

High purposed we must traverse
realm on realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world of spirit
wishes not to fetter us
but raise us higher,
step by step.

Scarce in some safe
accustomed sphere of life
have we establish a house,
then we grow lax;
only he who is ready
to journey forth
can throw old habits off.

Maybe death's hour too
will send us out new-born
towards undreamed-lands,
maybe life's call to us
will never find an end
Courage my heart,
take leave and fare thee well.

Herman Hesse from "The Glass Bead Game"


 
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Your Children

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters
of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you,
yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love
but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies
but not their souls,
For their souls dwell
in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward
nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark
upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand
be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Kahlil Gibran


 
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Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble, it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantement, it is as perrenial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

From the Alt.Usage.English FAQ:
"Desiderata" was written in 1927
by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945).

In 1956, the rector of St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of mimeographed inspirational material for his congregation. Someone who subsequently printed it asserted that it was found in Old St. Paul's Church, dated 1692. The year 1692 was the founding date of the church and has nothing to do with the poem.
See: Fred D. Cavinder, quot;Desiderata", TWA mbassador, Aug. 1973, pp. 14-15.


 
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Prayer of an unknown soldier

See - o my Father, I have never spoken to you,
But now I would like to greet you "Good Morning".
The people told me, that you do not exist at all,
And like a fool, I believed this.

Yesterday evening,
I saw your heavens from a grenade hole.
I suppose, that they had fooled me,
If I had taken the time to watch all your works,
I myself would have realized,
that they have told me a whopping lie.

I would like to know - o God -
whether you would donate me your hand.
A feeling tells me that you understand me.
Oddly, I had to come to this hellish place,
Before I had time to see your face.

Well, I think that there is not much to be said,
But I am glad that I met you today.
I believe, the hour of the attack will beat soon.
But I am not afraid since I know that you are close to me.

I hear the signal. Well, o my God, I have to go.
I like you, you should know this.
See, there will be a hard fight.
Who knows, maybe I come to your dwelling this night.

Although I have not been very kind to you earlier,
Well, yet I think about whether you expect me at your door.
See, I weep, I shed tears!

Well. I do have to go now, God, good-bye.
Strange. Since I met you, I am not afraid, to come to you.

The prayer had been found 1943 with an American who was killed in Italy.

The author is said to be Francis Angermeyer.


 
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True Love?

You say:y
"I LOVE the flowers"
but you plug them

You say:
"I LOVE the trees"
but you poison them

You say:
"I LOVE the birds, fish and hamsters"
but you lock them up.

Lamm und Löwe
You say:
"I LOVE the animals"
but you eat them

Now, I am afraid
You could say
"I LOVE YOU"

Text: unknown author (to me)
Picture: from an advertisement


 
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When the earth would be only some inches taller
Die Erde im Wald (Image Bank) If the earth...

If the earth was only a few meters big.

If the earth was only few meters big and would lie in a forest somewhere, then, the people would come from all over the world, to wonder at this miracle. The people would walk around it and admire its big waterbasin and its small ones and the water, that flows between the basins. The people would wonder at its bumps and its holes and the very thin coating of gas, which the ball surrounds and the water mist in it. The people would admire all the creatures, who live at the surface of this ball and in its waters. The people would declare the ball to be valuable, because it would be the single one of its type, and one would guard it so that no sorrow happens to it.
The ball would become the biggest of all miracles and the people would wander to it in order to look at it, to be healed from it, to attain realization, to experience beauty and, to learn, how the life could be. The people would love it and would defent its life, because they would feel unconsciously that their own life, their own roundness - could not exist without this ball.

unknown author (to me)


 
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God breathes...

God sleeps in the stone,
breathes in the plant,
dreams in the animal,
and awakens in the human being

Indian maxim


 
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The world and you

I got this text e-mailed from somebody, that I hardly knew.

If we reduce the whole mankind to a village of 100 inhabitants, but would relate on the proportions of all existing people, this village would be arranged like this:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans, north and south,
8 Africans

52 would be women
48 would be men

70 other colours than white
30 white people

70 not Christians
30 Christians

89 heterosexual ones
11 homosexual ones

6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire empire hood and all the 6 persons would come from the USA.

80 would have no sufficient housing conditions
70 would be illiterates
50 would be undernourished
1 would die
2 would be born
1 (only one) would have a PC
1 (only one) would have an academic examination

If you woke up healthy this morning and not sick, you are happier than 1 million people, which won't experience the next week.

If you never have experienced the fight of war, never the loneliness in captivity, the agony of the tortured, or have never felt hunger - then, you are happier than 500 million people in this world.

If you can go into the church, without the fear of being threatened, that one arrests you or kills you, you are happier than 3 billion people in the world.

If meal is in your refrigerator, if you are dressed, have a roof above your head and have a bed to lie down, you are richer than 75 percent of the inhabitants in this world.

If you have an account at the bank, some money in the wallet and some change in a small box, you belong to 8 percent of the prosperous people in this world.

If you read this message, you were blessed twice, because:

1. Somebody thought of you and
2. You are not one of the 2 billion people who cannot read.

And.... you have a PC...

Once somebody said:
Work as if you would not need any money,
Love as if nobody has ever hurt you,
Dance as if nobody would watch,
Sing as if no one would listen,
Live as if the paradise would be on Earth.


 
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