Category Archives: Poetry

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William Ernest Henley

A friend posted this poem to her facebook. I think I’ve read it before, but it really struck me today. I just love it.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
- William Ernest Henley

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Ka ipo i ke aka pua aniani

There’s nothing like traditional Hawaiian music for expressing flowery love. The emotional impact of the words is stronger than English, the sentiments more tender.

`Auhea iho nei o Leialoha
Ku`u hoa i ka nani a`o nâ pua

Eia mai au `o suipa lilo
Ka ipo i ke aka pua aniani

He aniani wale `o hâli`a loko
Nowelo mao `ole i ka pu`uwai

Nâ wai nô `oe e a pakele aku
I ka wai o ka pânini pua kea

Ha`ina `ia mai ana ka puana
Ku`u ipo i ka nani a`o nâ pua

John Almeida wrote those words, and their poetry is just haunting.

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Poetry

Sharing a wonderful poem that an old friend wrote:

i only wanted to exist in a world
where no one knew I existed.

i only wanted to be,
in a place where no one wanted me to be.

i only wanted,
when no one wanted me to have.

i am only

Jimmy Turner, ladies and gentlemen! A good guy then and now, and talented with the words.