Sunday, September 23, 2018

1182 - Rubáiyát (part)




Rubáiyát (part)

Alone amongst the legs, the trade is slow,
A boy sells you weight for a coin or so —
To make a living, such as is, but I am well fed
And so turn away; I do not want to know.
.
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© 2018 J Cosmo Newbery
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I have been holidaying in Iran.
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21 comments:

  1. Holidaying in Iran, I read and reread Omar Khayyam and put a few things to quatrains. A more complete collection in due course.

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  2. Ah - we sometimes turn away rather than enduring the pain of knowing.

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  3. Sometimes reality can be painful to face and endure..

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  4. So nice to see you, Cosmo. I can imagine you saw many such children in Iran. And i'll bet many of them received coins from you. Smiles.

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  5. I know the feeling... so easy to look the other way (and sometimes it's the right decision too)... Life is not fair.

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  6. A poem to lodge in heart and head.

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  7. My partner loved it in Iran (despite such sadnesses) and has been back several times.

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  8. That is so "entrepreneur" of the fellow. Your piece is taken to heart.
    ZQ

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  9. If we knew, our hearts would very likely break. But sometimes we need to be courageous, face our sadness and its companion, anger, when we come across such things. Because without the recognition that something is very wrong, nothing can change.

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  10. Excellently succinct. Bravo for the observation, and for your project of writing in Rubaiyat quatrains. (You make me want to try them too!)

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    1. And of course, you chose a most appropriate place to do so! :)

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  11. Impactful and moving - a profound execution of that - oft forgotten - truism (poetic and otherwise) … sometimes less is more.

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  12. Well I would be a sucker and get myself weighed, hoping that as soon as I had gone some minder didn't come to collest the cash.

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    1. Oops! 'Collect' is the correct word above!

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  13. Interesting. The well-fed don't want to know and the starving don't need to know--so what's a poor boy to do?

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  14. This is wonderfully done... so much in such few words.

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  15. This tugs at the heart, great little poem.

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  16. How easy it is to close our eyes and mind and turn away. I think we are all guilty of it.
    Anna :o]

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  17. The image of the small boy in your opening line is really clever, JC
    Thank for dropping by my sumi-e Sunday this week

    much love...

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