Branches Poems

Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.
And everyday the boy would come
and he would gather her leaves
...

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
...

One heavy day I ran away from the grim face of society and the dizzying clamor of the city and directed my weary step to the spacious alley. I pursued the beckoning course of the rivulet and the musical sounds of the birds until I reached a lonely spot where the flowing branches of the trees prevented the sun from the touching the earth.

I stood there, and it was entertaining to my soul - my thirsty soul who had seen naught but the mirage of life instead of its sweetness.
...

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast -
Downward,
...

All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
...

As the Sun withdrew his rays from the garden, and the moon threw cushioned beams upon the flowers, I sat under the trees pondering upon the phenomena of the atmosphere, looking through the branches at the strewn stars which glittered like chips of silver upon a blue carpet; and I could hear from a distance the agitated murmur of the rivulet singing its way briskly into the valley.
...

When music sounds, gone is the earth I know,
And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;
Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees
Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.
...

At the end of my suffering
there was a door.

Hear me out: that which you call death
...

The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
...

Love and harmony combine,
And round our souls entwine
While thy branches mix with mine,
And our roots together join.
...

I had a little nut-tree,
Nothing would it bear.
I searched in all its branches,
But not a nut was there.
...

Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
...

You come to me quiet as rain not yet fallen
Afraid of how you might fail yourself your
dress seven summers old is kept open
in memory of sex, smells warm, of boys,
...

A man leaves the world
and the streets he lived on
grow a little shorter.
...

The drought kills the thirst
Harvest is a rarity
Dry winds dance in skin deep heat
Leaves abandon trees
...

(My student, thrown by a horse)

I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
...

There is never a sight more beautiful
Or so amazing than that of a tree,
In summer with branches and leaves so full
With gently swaying boughs for all to see.
...

The last leaves fell like notes from a piano
and left their ovals echoing in the ear;
with gawky music stands, the winter forest
looks like an empty orchestra, its lines
...

Although you sit in a room that is gray,
Except for the silver
Of the straw-paper,
And pick
...

The truth is dark under your eyelids.
What are you going to do about it?
The birds are silent; there's no one to ask.
All day long you'll squint at the gray sky.
...

A gargantuan living ash tree.
The Odin's horse and the world's tree.
At the center of the spiritual cosmos,
Connecting all else,
...

Moon behind branches --

Don't think about it, but look:
...

Chinese Poets: English Translations

These are modern English translations of poems by some of the greatest Chinese poets of all time, including Du Fu, Huang E, Huang O, Li Bai, Li Ching-jau, Li Qingzhao, Po Chu-I, Tzu Yeh, Yau Ywe-Hwa and Xu Zhimo.
...

And the Sun was in My Handbag
A poem by Rosa Jamali
Translated from original Persian into English by Rosa Jamali
...

Two ones became one with a bond,
Predestined by the Law of Heaven on earth,
With seven branches the stem had grown,
Manure the same; water the same; soil the same,
...

A cardinal now calls out through the trees,
Hoping its lonely presence will be known,
As the branches slowly sway in the breeze.
...

Oh midsummer night moon
let me see your face
let me soak you rays of light
like a dew drop caressing a leaf
...

A tree has leaves, twigs, branches, roots and a crown
Leaves represent the people who come in and out of your life as the seasons change.
Twigs are people who stick around a little while longer but eventually break off
Branches are those people you think are friends, who stay for the time being but eventually break away.
...