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| Photo Credit: Jared C. Benedict |
Today, March 21, 2014, is World Poetry Day!
I'm posting a poem I literally came across yesterday (props to "Callidus C.") that was pretty good. Additionally, I'm posting a video of the poet reading his own poem. The poet in question is Robert Pinsky. He served three terms as the U.S. Poet Laureate. He founded the Favorite Poem Project, where thousands of Americans of all walks of life shared their favorite poems. He is also the poetry editor of Slate as well as teaching in Boston University.
I present to you "Samurai Song"... enjoy!
"Samurai Song" by Robert Pinsky
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.
From "Jersey Rain" (2000).
Please check out these other posts on Poetry:
- "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley
- "The Man in the Arena" by Theodore Roosevelt
- "If" by Rudyard Kipling
- "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann
- Assorted poems by Yamaoka Tesshu
- Poem by Dan Inosanto
- Aubrey Marcus' What is a Warrior?
- "Anyway" by Mother Teresa/"The Paradoxical Commandments" by Dr. Kent M. Keith
- "Fearless" - a poem by Renzo Gracie
- "For I Have Strayed From the Path..." - a poem by Stickgrappler
For further info on Robert Pinsky:
- Official Site
- Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project
- Wiki
- Bruce Springsteen reads Pinsky's "Samurai Song" and segues into singing his "Darkness at the Edge of Town" - forward to ~7:30 mark
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