Tanadu bhratalella danambu cheyaga
danaku phalamatanchu minukaradu
tanaku kalugoya tana tammudedchuna
viswadhabhirama vinura vema

Some men break your heart in two,
Some men fawn and flatter,
Some men never look at you;
And that cleans up the matter.

Little my lacking fortunes show
For this to eat and that to wear;
Yet laughing, Soul, and gaily go!
An obol pays the Stygian fare.

London, 1910

When men at candidacy don't connive,
From that suspicion if their friends would free 'em,
The teeth and nails with which they did not strive
Should be exhibited in a museum.

Thou dost complain of woman for changing from one to another?
Censure her not: for she seeks one who will constant remain.

First of all let us acknowledge God (who is self-evident)
who has made love the worth of the world Sir
It was God Himself that first loved
and the prophet (Muhammad (SW)) is His beloved Sir '

Too well thy weakness have I proved;
Now would I leave thee; - it is time -
Good night! to thee, oh world, good night!
I haste me to my home.

I find it very difficult to enthuse
Over the current news.
Just when you think that at least the outlook is so black that it can grow no blacker, it worsens,
And that is why I do not like the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons.

(co-written by Sharon Robinson)

Every waking day
a canvas waits for color
paintings of the soul


(Previously published in Poems Md, Apr 2008)