Words & Music

by Mike Power

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  • The Impermanence of Human Life

    We are helpless in this world. The years and months slip past Like a swift stream, which grasps and drags us down. A hundred pains pursue us, one by one. Girls, with the wrists clasped round With Chinese jewels, join hands And play their youth away. But time cannot be stopped, And when their youth… Read more

  • That Scoundrel Love

    Left at home Locked in a chest, That scoundrel love Has grasped me again. Prince Hozumi Fifth son of Japanese Emperor Temmu Acting Prime Minister from 705 until his death in 715 Read more

  • Candide

    I thought Candide was funny at first. It is an easy mistake to make in the first chapter where we meet Candide and his beloved Cunegonde: On her way back to the castle she met Candide. She blushed, and so did he. She greeted him in a faltering voice, and he spoke to her without… Read more

  • I pound the rice

    I pound the rice And my hands are chapped. Tonight, my young prince Will take them and sigh. Unknown author From Kamitsuke Poems from the Eastland Early 8th Century Read more

  • Happy MLK Day

    From The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.: From the age of three I had a white playmate who was about my age. We always felt free to play our childhood games together. He did not live in our community, but was usually around every day; his father owned a store across the street from… Read more

  • Ducks

    I came across this beautiful creature, a Mandarin duck, in Central Park yesterday. The accompanying poem, by F.W. Harvey, was written while the poet was a prisoner during the first World War. The inspiration for it came from a drawing of ducks on water that another prisoner had scratched out in chalk on the wall… Read more