Liberian Literary Magazine
April Issue 0415
And takes no heed of the moon dragging
it away
And saying coldly 'Constancy is not for
you'.
The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
With spring and lawns and shadows falling
on lawns.
I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.
Ode To Pity
The people walk in the street and laugh
I love you
And far down the river ships sound their
hooters
Crazy with joy because I love you.
Jane Austin
1
Ever musing I delight to tread
The Paths of honour and the Myrtle Grove
Whilst the pale Moon her beams doth
shed
On disappointed Love.
While Philomel on airy hawthorn Bush
Sings sweet and Melancholy, And the
thrush
Converses with the Dove.
The Jackfruit
Ho Xuan Huong
I am like a jackfruit on the tree.
To taste you must plug me quick, while fresh:
the skin rough, the pulp thick, yes,
but oh, I warn you against touching -the rich juice will gush and stain your hands
2
Gently brawling down the turnpike road,
Sweetly noisy falls the Silent Stream-The Moon emerges from behind a Cloud
And darts upon the Myrtle Grove her
beam.
Ah! then what Lovely Scenes appear,
The hut, the Cot, the Grot, and Chapel
queer,
And eke the Abbey to a mouldering
heap,
Conceal'd by aged pines her head doth
rear
And quite invisible doth take a peep.
Translated by Nguyen Ngoc Bich
Ode to the flute
Printed by permission
Matthew Zapruder
A man sings
by opening his
mouth a man
sings by opening
his lungs by
turning himself into air
a flute can
be made of a man
nothing is explained
a flute lays
on its side
and prays a wind
might enter it
and make of it
at least
a small final song.
The Sun Has Burst The Sky
Jenny Joseph
The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river its banks.
The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
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