"nara" poems
Yeh bharat hai
un veer jawano ka,
Jahan samman hota aurato ka
Atithi aur kisaano ka,
Yeha bahati hai Ganga ki suddh dhara,
Rahenge sda hum ek hamara yahi nara,
Manaye jate hain id yaha harsho-ullas se,
Khele jate holiya bhi rango aur gulal se,
Kheto ki hariyali hi bharat ki pahchan,
Ugate hai sona bhi mitti se yahan ke kisaan,
Yeh bharat hai
un naujawano ka,
Jo tay karte desh ka bhavishya, vishav me pahchan hain enke ek alag karnamo ka,
Yehan ke log jite hain sirf es watan ke liye,
Kadi dhup ** ya kadkdati thand karte hain mehnat dinbhar do roti aur us pet ke liye,
Yahan thirakati hain nariya kathak ke dhuno par,
Barsate hain phul yahan us thinranga jhande par,
Likh do sabd MANISH bhi bataya apni desh ki pahchan,
Jiski sabheyata aur sanskriti hain sarvopari
Jahan sabhi log ek saman...
Jun 26, 2015
Jun 26, 2015 at 8:31 PM UTC
Sare jahan se pyara ye hindostan hamara,
Na ruke the hum na rukenge kabhi,
Badhate chale jayenge lekar yahi nara,
Sare jahan se pyara ye hindostan hamara,
Geet gate chalenge, hath milate chalenge,
Raksha karne ka pran lekar hum apna sar katate chalenge,
Na jhukaye the hum, na jhukayenge kabhi
Mita denge khud ko apne desh ke liye yahi hain pran hamara,
Sare jahan se pyara ye hindostan hamara,
Dekhlo ai dusmano hum pith pichhe war karne wale kayar nahi,
Hum sher hain apne desh ka tum jaise kayar nahi,.
Uncha rahega sda ye TINRANGA hamara,
Sare jahan se pyara ye hindostan hamara,
Kaise bhula de wo sahidon ki purani yaadein,
Jinhone khud ko mita di es desh ki suraksha ke liye,
Chhod chale gye wo khun se latfath yaadein,
Etihas ke panno me likhenge dobara,
Vishwa me sabse uper rahega
Ye hindostan hamara,
hindostan hamara......
Jun 14, 2015
Jun 14, 2015 at 4:45 AM UTC
I walked into a sunset that did not belong to me,
Its vivid colours burning across the Mediterranean Sea.
In a fragile, elusive moment of composure
I gazed at the choppy sea moving closer
To the rugged, pebbly, rocky shore
Where I stood alone against the Rock.
The Rock of Gibraltar watched with a smile
As the turbulent Med pulsating with life
Scattered its waves against the strand,
And the sapphire waters kissed the ancient land.
The stormy sea embraced the coast
With fierceness intangible as a ghost.
The air vibrated with a taste of freedom,
With barely audible words of wisdom
That travelled across the centuries
To fill the tangy air with memories.
The voices from the past enveloped the Rock
In an alluringly mythical, protective cloak.
I gathered the strength I drew from the Rock;
Fears discarded, the resolve growing strong,
I walked the Med Steps to the very top
Against a dazzlingly splendid backdrop
Of the breathtaking views of the bay,
Basking in the aura of fears thrown away.
Intoxicated by the beauty, hungry for more,
I was feeling elated to the very core.
The fear of heights temporarily conquered,
The contentment felt almost awkward.
Suddenly, the world seemed a different place:
Offering the nature's graceful embrace.
As the starry night slowly descended,
In my solitude, I felt protected
By the mighty Rock standing tall and grand
Guarding the ancient, immemorial land.
Copyright: Nara Hodge 2018
Jul 23, 2018
Jul 23, 2018 at 1:31 PM UTC
kanso infuses my eyes
everywhere there
even in a deer
my heart recognised him
skipped a beat in overwhelm
the sacredness of the air
touched everything
the great temple
the red shrine
its emptiness
so vibrant
pure beauty
my atoms turned
into God's particle
something
in my heart
misses him
in the unseen
puzzle
surreal so
beautiful
and
so it is
kanso of the soul:
I kept on
dreaming
to be a deer
in Nara
Feb 7, 2023
Feb 7, 2023 at 3:07 PM UTC
To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume (c. 700-750)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Heaven's cold dew has fallen
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me as I do for you?
I have trusted my jewel to the gem-guard;
now there's nothing to do, my pillow,
but for the two of us to sleep together!
I cherished you, my darling,
as the Sea God his treasury's pearls.
But you are pledged to your husband
(such is the way of the world)
and torn from me like a blossom.
I left you for faraway Koshi;
since then your lovely eyebrows
curving like distant waves
ever linger in my eyes.
My heart is as unsteady as a rocking boat;
besieged by such longing I weaken with age
and come close to breaking.
If I could have prophesied such longing,
I would have stayed with you,
gazing on you constantly
as into a shining mirror.
I gaze out over the fields of Tadaka
seeing the cranes that cry there incessantly:
such is my longing for you.
Oh my child,
who loved me so helplessly
like bird hovering over shallow river rapids!
Dear child, my daughter, who stood
sadly pensive by the gate,
even though I was leaving for a friendly estate,
I think of you day and night
and my body has become thin,
my sleeves tear-stained with weeping.
If I must long for you so wretchedly,
how can I remain these many months
here at this dismal old farm?
Because you ache for me so intently,
your sad thoughts all confused
like the disheveled tangles of your morning hair,
I see you, dear child, in my dreams.
Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume (c. 700-750) was an important ancient Japanese poet. She had 79 poems in Manyoshu ("Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves"), the first major anthology of classical Japanese poetry, mostly waka. The compiler of the anthology was Otomo no Yakamochi (c. 718-785). Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume was his aunt, tutor and poetic mentor. In the first stanza, Lady Otomo has left her children in Nara, possibly to visit her brother. In the second stanza, it is believed that the jewel is Lady Otomo's daughter and that she has been trusted to the care of her husband. As for the closing stanza, according to the notes of the Manyoshu, it was popularly believed that a person would appear in the dreams of the one for whom ***** yearned. Keywords/Tags: Otomo, Sakanoue, Iratsume, Japanese, translation, mother, daughter, precious, gems, gem, jewels, jewel, pearls, pearl, Koshi, Tadaka
Jun 1, 2020
Jun 1, 2020 at 2:05 AM UTC
We grew up in the muddy puddle
That was our coffee
In a begrimed little café.
We ate in little bites of each other,
Rolled our tongues in our mouths,
Tasted each flavor and each seasoning.
I gulped you down and digested each little mishap of you.
I undid all the sordid belongings residing in your mouth,
You were the embodiment of shame and failure,
And I made it all such a part of my gut,
That I haven’t shaken it off
Thirty years hence.
How did I make it to here?
This is such a foreign rest.
The only familiarity was that,
Which settled around the corners of your eyes,
In the crevices beneath your *******
And the clarity of your skin.
There were snacks,
And books.
You had your brown sweater on.
Your moist brow was so restless that day,
That I was reminded of all of my desperation,
All the stories I hurled at myself,
All the children I knew were all right.
Oh Nara,
Your brow vanished all that I held true,
Even you, Nara,
Your brow swallowed you whole.
Oh Nara,
You killed a part of me that day.
You exploded into chemicals,
That stuck onto my skin.
Into hot tea that surprised me every day.
It crept into the jasmine oil smell of her hair.
In the sweat of her neck,
Into our lazy evenings filtered through with years
Of careful exclusion.
Everything I owned was only me
When I was naked, and writhing,
A baby in the womb of something so desperately motherly,
That it forgot to give birth.
She noticed, Nara, she noticed me.
She noticed these hands shaking through everything they did.
And she hid.
She hid into her red, pleated saris,
Into cookbooks and cakes,
Into soft butter, and hardened cookies.
Everything has been seeking to destroy itself since, Nara,
Cigarettes would paper itself into existence.
Now it burns smoke and blindness.
The trees move in fast forward,
They are arthritic fingers
Grasping for something,
Long since out of their reach.
Acid has been running in the veins of this house since years,
The wood is out of place.
The rot in the bamboo tables is only concealed
By the tinted glass.
And sometimes, I sit at the cadaver porch,
You are a mindless zombie of a woman,
Who decides to stay with me,
And leave me alone.
Destruction had become your favourite hobby when you were that real.
When did poetry become so important to you that
You quite forgot me?
Jun 19, 2013
Jun 19, 2013 at 4:37 PM UTC
Kelsey O’nara
a girl with eyes so green
you find yourself lost in that what could seem
like the green pastures of forever to hold
just say, say her name to call her again
say, say: O’nara, my dearest friend
Kelsey O’nara
a girl of thousand faces
you need to caress her to know how the changes
go through to get, get you through
just say, say her name to learn a few new ways
say, say: O’nara, I loved and I’ll love those days
Kelsey O’nara
a girl of the purest smiles
you’ll want to smile back for her to know that you tried
finding yourself grown over by a warm hug
just say, say her name to feel the calm, calm happy
say, say: O’nara, yourself I just might need
Kelsey O’nara
a girl of the last goodbyes
you don’t know how to say or how to make last
you try anyway since the future is to pass
so say, say her name with a one last bow
say, say: O’nara, take my hand, and let’s go
take my hand, and let’s go
Nov 20, 2020
Nov 20, 2020 at 2:47 AM UTC
Within my own broken self
I look for hidden parts of you.
You, the destroyer; I am your victim -
For now, at least, our roles are reversed.
I climb the steps to the top of a fountain -
The imaginary steps, the ones we invented;
And I reach the fountain that never existed,
To drink from its memories - torn and twisted.
Do you remember how it all started
On that fateful night not meant to happen?
It happened though, despite all odds -
Its pain enduring, its memories blurred.
No longer knowing what’s real and what’s a dream,
I crawl through the day not daring to scream.
With one wish only - to reach the night,
So I can beg it for shelter and a brief respite.
The imaginary comfort of welcoming darkness,
A cruel illusion that inevitably shatters
As soon as the first beam of all baring light
Casts a fierce spell with all its might.
Thus I’m left with another day to crawl through;
With promises that are fantasy - none of them true,
Longing for the arrival of the merciful night
With its false comfort to sleep by my side.
Copyright: Nara Hodge 2018
Jul 4, 2018
Jul 4, 2018 at 1:05 PM UTC
Postcard poet today
Maybe Studio Ghibli
I was in Nara once
Spirited Away
I keep hanging out
In la oficina
I think something's coming
But I also have my doubts
Guanajuato
Aug 14, 2021
Aug 14, 2021 at 8:28 AM UTC
Rainbows after the rain, and a flower that bloomed with the cold,
are abundantly changing colors.
I fell in love with you that day,
as you gazed up the crimson sky.
That one instant in a scene of the dramatic film
Won't disappear, because it's etched into my heart
It's you, you who taught me.
If the darkness shines too, then it'll become a night of stars.
Don't hide your sadness behind a laughing face anymore,
Because all the twinkling stars will shine on you.
I forgot to sleep, and the sun that came out to meet me pierced me so much.
If I see you, I even forget the headache that carries my foul mood.
This stillness is romantic, like sugar melting in black tea.
Your voice, it goes around my whole body.
It's you, you who gave me a smiling face
If tears shine too, then it'll become a falling star
Don't separate those injured hands anymore
Because tomorrow will come to the sky filled with wishes
The light that guided me was you
I was drawn, and I broke into a run
Before I knew it, we were beginning to cross paths
Now's the time, if we can just shine here.
It's you, you who taught me the darkness will end.
Is the answer at any time by coincidence? Is it necessary?
Some day the road that we choose will be our destiny
The hope and the anxiety you grasped tightly,
Will surely move us forwards and become with the light.
Jul 8, 2021
Jul 8, 2021 at 9:00 AM UTC
Reiko in Staunton
us in Nara
Deer park dear
sayonara
cherry blossom beauty
lovely Lara
snow falling on cedars
dispelling Mara
Mar 3, 2019
Mar 3, 2019 at 3:06 PM UTC
I have religious obsessions
Very, very American
Tryin' to break free
Ain't doin' too well
Have not been to Mexico yet
Have been to Nara
Wedding in Tokyo
And Tel Aviv, Israel
My children not baptized
Nietzsche says God died
I liked Malahide
Ain't no tongue can tell
Quiet little libraries
USPS
Annihilation my best guess
But with the Rebel Yell
Ay! Ay! Ay!
Jul 10, 2023
Jul 10, 2023 at 1:21 PM UTC