dear bhikkhu: a eulogy
by Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé
what will you will to endure, bhikkhu?
what will you remember, twenty lake days
saffron robe to keep out the cold, keep out the stares
keep off the wax moths and blinding light?
watering hole no lodging, jeta’s grove like amber
did it too keep out the cold, keep out the stares
keep at bay the thronging, night winds and downing sun?
head above water, swimming internal sounds
what feeling, of quiet acceptance and hope?
morsel against the drowning, the hungering
the putting up, creeping creatureliness that doubts
fetter of views behind the banyan trees
what conveniences after that?
a nice long bath, then their soft rice and milk?
did the sintered glass beads hurl themselves upstream
like tiny grayling, as you would have liked?
which headlong direction, gulp and dip?
did the two fishermen reel you in and upward
gold-leafed statue in another bluing river
thousand miles away, east of thousand faces later?
what blessings surface?
what trouble you go to, to care for the dying
that, glad at heart, other bhikkhus
may too remember the rescue, this refraction
Solstice Literary Magazine
Copyright ©:
Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

A few random poems:
- Альфред Теннисон – Странствия Мальдуна
- Николай Заболоцкий – Поход
- Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn (Song) by Robert Burns
- Far Within Us #6 by Vasko Popa
- Robert Burns: Prologue: Spoken by Mr. Woods on his benefit-night, Monday, 16th April, 1787
- Иван Бунин – Безнадежность
- First Verse
- Four Quartets 1: Burnt Norton by T. S. Eliot
- Гавриил Державин – На возвращение графа Зубова из Персии
- Алексей Толстой – Ты почто, злая кручинушка
- The Peacock by William Butler Yeats
- Every day I bear a burden by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Lent Lily poem – A. E. Housman
- Making Light Of It by Philip Levine
- Flora by William Morris
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Николай Гербель – В дорогу
- Николай Гербель – Ура, объявлена война
- Николай Гербель – Салютовка
- Николай Гербель – Простор
- Николай Гербель – Песнь лейб-гвардии уланского полка
- Николай Гербель – На смерть воробья
- Николай Гербель – Меня преследует какой-то демон злой
- Николай Гербель – Изюмцам
- Николай Гербель – Бокал
- Наум Коржавин – Поэзия не страсть, а власть
- Наум Коржавин – Подмосковная платформа в апреле
- Наум Коржавин – Песня лейб-казачьей сотни
- Наум Коржавин – Перевал
- Наум Коржавин – Памяти Герцена или Баллада об историческом недосыпе
- Наум Коржавин – От судьбы никуда не уйти
- Наум Коржавин – От дурачеств, от ума ли
- Наум Коржавин – Осень в Караганде
- Наум Коржавин – Он собирался многое свершить
- Наум Коржавин – О Господи! Как я хочу умереть
- Наум Коржавин – Никакой истерики
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works