Naming the Glee
* Poem by Dr. Mohammad Reza Torki and
ancient painting of Iranian woman
sent to us by Farideh Hasanzadeh, who writes:
"Dr. Mohammad Reza Torkian is an Iranian poet
who teaches at university and at he same time
manages Radio literary programs.
He is one of our best poets; master in both:
classic and modern poetry."
A poem by Dr. Mohammad Reza Torki, Iranian poet
Translated by: Ali Samavati
No creature, no demon, no human; a blend of pride and illusion
Deprived from the human true, something close to a delusion
In the modern human caves, in a jungle of steel and cement
The semi-tame man of today; is left with no joy and merriment.
Drowned in sins and defiance, filled with oblivion and negligence
Unaware of the secrets of life; eternal in his heaven of nonsense
A walk without the desire to reach; an eye without the pleasure to see
A laughter without the warmth of a smile, colored with grief and misery
In a jungle as broad as the world; this injured, wandering soul
Is all lost, with no identity, no spirit, no God, and no goal
A human without love and kindness is like a forest and a sea
A sea without any commotion, and a forest without any glee
*
(Note: last night Glee Ingram gave me this poem,
which seems to happily follow the one by
Dr. Mohammad Reza Torki, so I include it here.)
Naming the Glee
Our friend Glee, who we call Gleeful
because there is so much joy in her,
returned from a recent retreat
with the story of her name —
which came from the weave of satsang and
a chance meeting with a woman whose Scottish
mother sang a Gaelic song for children,
“Togey Glee,” at the end of which the grandmother
whispered, “Shushhhhhhh, you’ll hear
the little people sing.”
In Gaelic “glee” means a glen — a low area lush
with plant life and water where a magical sort
of moss grows on fallen trees.
It glows in the dark, protecting the little
people, lighting their way.
Thus are named the Gleoman, traveling
minstrels who roam the forests and bring song
to the people there.
Naming the Glee, © Susan Bright, 2007
Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-ninety books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.
Announcement: The Plain View Press e-store is online.
* First painting by anonymous, second by Master: Shakiba.
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Labels: poetry
posted by SB @ 12:12 PM
1 Comments:
This made me want to share one of the most beautiful natural places I've ever been. It's known simply as "the glen" near Sligo in Ireland. There is a cleft in the mountain Knocknarea, probably formed by a glacier. You can walk into it, through filtered light, with mossy ferny cliffs rising on either side.There are some photos online at http://franklludwig.com/xtheglen.html
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