Robert Bly’s Poetry

Heard this on the radio today and thought they were beautiful and intriguing…

Follow this link to read more poems and find out about his very interesting and original style.

THE SLIM FIR-SEEDS

The nimble oven bird, the dignity of pears,
The simplicity of oars, the imperishable
Engines inside slim fir-seeds, all of these
Hint how much we long for the impermanent
To be permanent. We want the hermit wren
To keep her eggs even during the Storm;
We want eternal oceans. But we are perishable;
Friends, we are salty, impermanent kingdoms.

WANTING SUMPTUOUS HEAVENS

No one grumbles among the oyster clans,
And lobsters play their bone guitars all summer.
Only we, with our opposable thumbs, want
Heaven to be, and God to come, again.
There is no end to our grumbling; we want
Comfortable earth and sumptuous heaven.
But the heron Standing on one leg in the bog
Drinks his rum all day, and is content.

Ode 11

This song is from the ancient Odes of Solomon.  Let it inspire you with it’s beauty like it inspired and is inspiring me.

1 My heart was cloven and its flower appeared; and grace sprang up in it: and it brought forth fruit to the Lord, 2 For the Most High clave my heart by His Holy Spirit and searched my affection towards Him: and filled me with His love. 3 And His opening of me became my salvation; and I ran in His way in His peace even in the way of truth: 4 from the beginning and even to the end I acquired His knowledge: 5 And I was established upon the rock of truth, where He had set me up: 6 And speaking waters touched my lips from the fountain of the Lord plenteously: 7 And I drank and was inebriated with the living water that doth not die; 8 And my inebriation was not one without knowledge, but I forsook vanity and turned to the Most High my God, 9 And I was enriched by His bounty, and I forsook the folly which is diffused over the earth; and I stripped it off and cast it from me: 10 And the Lord renewed me in His raiment, and possessed me by His light, and from above He gave me rest in incorruption; 11 And I became like the land which blossoms and rejoices in its fruits: 12 And the Lord was like the sun shining on the face of the land; 13 He lightened my eyes and my face received the dew; the pleasant odour of the Lord; 14 And He carried me to His Paradise; where is the abundance of the pleasure, of the Lord; 15 And I worshipped the Lord on account of His glory; and I said, Blessed, O Lord, are they who are planted in thy land and those who have a place in thy Paradise; 16 And they grow by the fruits of the trees. And they have changed from darkness to light. 17 Behold! all thy servants are fair, who do good works, and turn away from wickedness to the pleasantness that is thine: 18 And they have turned back the bitterness of the trees from them, when they were planted in thy land; 19 And everything became like a relic of thyself, and memorial for ever of thy faithful works. 20 For there is abundant room in thy Paradise, and nothing is useless therein; 21 But everything is filled with fruit; glory be to thee, O God, the delight of Paradise for ever. Hallelujah.