sayings of sages through the ages

[Puck]

i wanted to start a thread where we could post verse or prose by famous poets, writers and visionaries who are long dead.

i love the following poem by rumi. it is in english as sadly no one in my family is able to read or write farsi after the death of my grandfather (a truly banglicised family after 16 generations or so!) -

I died from minerality and became vegetable;

And From vegetativeness I died and became animal.

I died from animality and became man.

Then why fear disappearance through death?

Next time I shall die

Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;

After that, soaring higher than angels -

What you cannot imagine,

I shall be that.

[Puck]

not a sage in the books of the sane but i spent my formative years so much in his words, that the following feels appropriate to post her.

the poem is by charles bukowski, the late neorealistic poet who had been described by john-paul satre as the best american poet of his generation..

the worst and the best

in the hospitals and jails

it's the worst

in the madhouses

it's the worst

in penthouses

it's the worst

in skit row flophouses

it's the worst

at poetry readings

at rock concerts

at benefits for the disabled

it's the worst

at funerals

at weddings

it's the worst

at parades

at skating rinks

at sexual orgies

it's the worst

at midnight

at 3 a.m.

at 5:45 p.m.

it's the worst


falling through the sky

firing squads

that's the best


thinking of India

looking at popcorn stands

watching the bull get the matador

that's the best


boxed lightbulbs

an old dog scratching

peanuts in a celluloid bag

that's the best


spraying roaches

a clean pair of stockings

natural guts defeating natural talent

that's the best


in front of firing squads

throwing crusts to seagulls

slicing tomatoes

that's the best


rugs with cigarette burns

cracks in sidewalks

waitresses still sane

that's the best


my hands dead

my heart dead

silence

adagio of rocks

the world ablaze

that's the best

for me.