Collection of Poems

Hope is the thing with feathers
Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—

Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Si Tenggang’s Homecoming
Muhammad Haji Salleh

i
the physical journey that i traverse
is a journey of the soul
transport of the self from a fatherland
to a country collected by sight and mind
the knowledge that sweats from it
is a stranger's knowledge
from one who has learned to see, think
and choose between
the changing realities

ii
it's true i have growled at my mother and grandmother
but only after having told of my predicament
that they have never brought to reason
the wife that i began to love in my loneliness
in the country that alienated me
they took to their predecisions
i have not entirely returned, i know
having been changed by time and place
coarsened by problems
estranged by absence.

iii
but look
i have brought myself home
season by confidence
broadened by land and languages
i am no longer afraid of the oceans
or the differences between people
not easily fooled
by words or ideas
the journey was a loyal teacher
who was never tardy
in explaining cultures or variousness
look, i am just like you
still malay
sensitive to what
i believe is good
and more ready to understand
than my brothers
the contents of these boats are yours too
because i have returned.

iv
travels made me
a seeker who does not take
what is given without sincerity
or that which demands payments from beliefs
the years at sea and coastal states
have taught me to choose
to accept only those tested by comparison
or that which matches the words of my ancestors
which returns me to my village
and its perfection.

v
i’ve learnt
the ways of the rude
to whole reality in a new logic
debate with heart and loud facts
but i too
and humble, respecting
man and life.

iv
i am not a new man
not very different
from you
the people and cities
of coastal ports
taught me not to brood
over a foreign world
suffer difficulties
or fear possibilities
i am you
freed from the village
it's soils and ways
independent, because
i have found myself.

(Translated by the poet)