My Blog

Alexander Pope

2009-02-11T10:31:00.004+08:00

ODE ON SOLITUDE

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

Blest! who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix'd; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most doth please,
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me dye;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye.

Byron

2005-10-29T14:53:00.000+08:00

When We Two Parted.
By Byron, Lord George Gordon

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow -
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me -
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well: -
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met -
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee? -
With silence and tears.

Byron

Date of Birth: 22 January 1788

Date of Death: 19 April 1824

Works.

English romantic poet and satirist.
Principal works include Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage (1812-18), The Bride of
Abydos, The Corsair and The Giaour (1813), Lara (1814), The Prisoner of
Chillon (1816), Beppo (1817), Don Juan (1819), The Two Foscari (1821),
Sardanapalus and Cain (1821), Werner, The Age of Bronze and The Island (1823).
His letters and journals, many of them apparently written with an eye for
publication are also considered to be part of his opus.
Byron enjoyed a vast and durable reputation as a poet and his character,
unconventional lifestyle and poetic style have synthesised to create the image
of the Byronic hero.

Other romantic poets include Keats, Burns, Coleridge and Wordsworth.

Featured Works.

'When We Two Parted', 'To Thomas Moore', 'Churchill's Grave', 'Stanzas To
Augusta', 'Stanzas For Music', 'To Thyrza: And Thou Art Dead', 'Stanzas for
Music There's Not a Joy the World Can Give', 'Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup
Formed From a Skull', 'On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year', 'On
Chillon', 'The Destruction of Sennacherib', 'A Spirit Passed Before Me', 'So,
We'll Go No More a Roving', 'She Walks in Beauty', 'Darkness', 'Lines Written
Beneath an Elm in the Churchyard of Harrow', 'Solitude', 'Stanzas to the Po',
'Epistle to Augusta', 'Lines, On Hearing That Lady Byron Was Ill', 'Written
After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos', 'Stanzas Written on the Road Between
Florence and Pisa', 'The Dream', 'Oh! Snatched Away in Beauty's Bloom',
'Remember thee! Remember thee! '.

General Comment.

George Gordon Byron was the son of Captain John Byron by his marriage to the
Scottish Catherine Gordon of Gight. He was born with a club foot of which he
was very self-conscious and educated in Aberdeen, where his family had moved
to escape their debts, and at Harrow and Cambridge.
Byron inherited the family home, Newstead Abbey, following the deaths of his
father in 1791 and grandfather in 1798. He took up his seat in the House of
Lords in 1808 and then left to travel in Europe, at which time he began
writing his immensely popular poem Childe Harolde, returning to a political
role again in 1813 when he spoke on liberal themes in the House.
In 1815 he married Annabella Milbanke, but she left him soon afterwards,
taking their child with her. Throughout his life he fathered several
illegitimate children and had numerous scandalous affairs, the most notorious
being with his half-sister Augusta, his father's daughter by an earlier
marriage. This affair horrified English society and encouraged Byron in his
decision to leave England for good in 1816. He stayed with the Shelleys in
Geneva, where he wrote The Prisoner of Chillon, then after a trip to Rome in
1817 he returned to Venice where he wrote Beppo his first work in a new ironic
style. Don Juan was begun the following year.
Fired by the Greek battle for independence from Turkey, Byron sailed to
Missolonghi in 1824, where he gave money and inspiration to the rebels but
died of a fever before seeing action.

On the Recent Sale by Auction of Keats' Love-Letters.

2005-02-06T14:57:00.000+08:00

On the Recent Sale by Auction of Keats' Love-Letters.
By Wilde, Oscar .

These are the letters which Endymion wrote
To one he loved in secret and apart,
And now the brawlers of the auction-mart
Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,
Aye! for each separate pulse of passion quote
The merchant's price! I think they love not art
Who break the crystal of a poet's heart,
That small and sickly eyes may glare or gloat.
Is it not said, that many years ago,
In a far Eastern town some soldiers ran
With torches through the midnight, and began
To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw
Dice for the garments of a wretched man,
Not knowing the God's wonder, or his woe

Hidup perlu makan.

2005-02-04T11:49:00.000+08:00

Aku tidak akan naik2 lagi sa-lagi semua petak belum selesai.
Aku akan menchabut semai di-belukar bila cukup umor.
Aku akan junjung ikatan2 semai itu ka-baroh.
Aku akan menanam semai2 itu baris demi baris.
Aku akan sulam mana2 batang padi yang tumbang.
Aku akan chabut rumput yang berlomba2 naik dengan padi.
Aku akan mengejar tiak bila padi menguning.
Aku akan mengetam dan mengemalkan padi itu.
Aku akan mengusong gemal2 itu masok jelapang.
Aku akan mengirik padi2 itu hingga rengang dari tangkal.
Aku akan menjemor padi2 itu hingga kering.
Aku akan menumbok padi itu menjadi beras.
Aku akan tanak beras2 itu hingga berkuap2 jadi nasi.
Dan nasi itu akan ku makan bersama Lahuma, bersama Sanah, bersama Milah, bersama Jenab, bersama Semek, bersama Liah, bersama Lebar, bersama Kiah.

-fikiran Jeha, dari Ranjang Sepanjang Jalan.

I am using the old Malay spelling as was published in 1972.

To Wordsworth

2005-02-01T21:53:00.000+08:00

To Wordsworth.
By Shelley, Percy Bysshe .

Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know
That things depart which never may return:
Childhood and youth, friendship, and love's first glow,
Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn.
These common woes I feel. One loss is mine
Which thou too feel'st, yet I alone deplore.
Thou wert as a lone star whose light did shine
On some frail bark in winter's midnight roar:
Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood
Above the blind and battling multitude:
In honoured poverty thy voice did weave
Songs consecrate to truth and liberty.
Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,
Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to b

Life in a Love.

2005-01-26T22:12:00.000+08:00

Life in a Love.
By Browning, Robert .

Escape me?
Never -
Beloved!
While I am I, and you are you,
So long as the world contains us both,
Me the loving and you the loth,
While the one eludes, must the other pursue.
My life is a fault at last, I fear -
It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed -
But what if I fail of my purpose here?

It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
And baffled, get up to begin again, -
So the chase takes up one's life, that's all.
While, look but once from your farthest bound,
At me so deep in the dust and dark,
No sooner the old hope drops to ground
Than a new one, straight to the selfsame mark,
I shape me -
Ever
Removed!

Of course his most famous poem is The Pied Piper of Hamelin but I cannot get the copy of the correct words.

2005-01-26T13:50:00.000+08:00

Ishak Hj Muhammad (Pak Sako)

2005-01-26T13:47:00.000+08:00

A Samad Said

2005-01-26T13:46:00.001+08:00

Abdulah Hussein

2005-01-26T13:46:00.000+08:00

Arenawati

2005-01-26T13:45:00.000+08:00

Keris Mas

2005-01-26T13:44:00.000+08:00

Muhammad Hj Salleh

2005-01-26T13:41:00.000+08:00

Noordin Hassan

Melayu

2005-01-26T13:37:00.000+08:00

Melayu
oleh Usman Awang

Melayu itu orang yang bijaksana
Nakalnya bersulam jenaka
Budi bahasanya tidak terkira
Kurang ajarnya tetap santun
Jika menipu pun masih bersopan
Bila mengampu bijak beralas tangan.
Melayu itu berani jika bersalah
Kecut takut kerana benar,
Janji simpan di perut
Selalu pecah di mulut,
Biar mati adat
Jangan mati anak.
Melayu di tanah Semenanjung luas maknanya:
Jawa itu Melayu, Bugis itu Melayu
Banjar juga disebut Melayu, Minangkabau
memang Melayu,
Keturunan Acheh adalah Melayu,
Jakun dan Sakai asli Melayu,
Arab dan Pakistani, semua Melayu
Mamak dan Malbari serap ke Melayu
Malah mua'alaf bertakrif Melayu
Dalam sejarahnya
Melayu itu pengembara lautan
Melorongkan jalur sejarah zaman
Begitu luas daerah sempadan
Sayangnya kini segala kehilangan
Melayu itu kaya falsafahnya
Kias kata bidal pusaka
Akar budi bersulamkan daya
Gedung akal laut bicara
Malangnya Melayu itu kuat bersorak
Terlalu ghairah pesta temasya
Sedangkan kampung telah tergadai
Sawah sejalur tinggal sejengkal
tanah sebidang mudah terjual
Meski telah memiliki telaga
Tangan masih memegang tali
Sedang orang mencapai timba.
Berbuahlah pisang tiga kali
Melayu itu masih bermimpi
Walaupun sudah mengenal universiti
Masih berdagang di rumah sendiri.
Berkelahi cara Melayu
Menikam dengan pantun
Menyanggah dengan senyum
Marahnya dengan diam
Merendah bukan menyembah
Meninggi bukan melonjak.
Watak Melayu menolak permusuhan
Setia dan sabar tiada sempadan
Tapi jika marah tak nampak telinga
Musuh dicari ke lubang cacing
Tak dapat tanduk telinga dijinjing
Maruah dan agama dihina jangan
Hebat amuknya tak kenal lawan
Berdamai cara Melayu indah sekali
Silaturrahim hati yang murni
Maaf diungkap senantiasa bersahut
Tangan diulur sentiasa bersambut
Luka pun tidak lagi berparut
Baiknya hati Melayu itu tak terbandingkan
Selagi yang ada sanggup diberikan
Sehingga tercipta sebuah kiasan:
"Dagang lalu nasi ditanakkan
Suami pulang lapar tak makan
Kera di hutan disusu-susukan
Anak di pangkuan mati kebuluran"
Bagaimanakah Melayu abad dua puluh satu
Masihkan tunduk tersipu-sipu?
Jangan takut melanggar pantang
Jika pantang menghalang kemajuan;
Jangan segan menentang larangan
Jika yakin kepada kebenaran;
Jangan malu mengucapkan keyakinan
Jika percaya kepada keadilan
Jadilah bangsa yang bijaksana
Memegang tali memegang timba
Memiliki ekonomi mencipta budaya
Menjadi tuan di negara Merdeka

26 NOVEMBER 1999

Answer To A Child's Question.

2005-01-25T21:34:00.000+08:00

Answer to a child's question.
By Coleridge, Samuel Taylor .

Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, and the Dove,
The Linnet and Thrush say, 'I love and I love!'
In the winter they're silent - the wind is so strong;
What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing, and loving - all come back together.
But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings, and he sings; and for ever sings he -
'I love my Love, and my Love loves me!'

This is one of the shortest poem written by Coleridge. A long prose written by him is "The Ancient Mariner" which takes up about 19 pages of A4 paper. I had to go through the process of reading the prose in my school days, during the year when I was in the 'O' Level year, the year I was taking the Cambridge School Certificate, back in 1960. The language is very difficult, as old English are used as well as it being written in a poetic language. But the Master who taught us the prose was very patient about it, sometimes he could only explain 1 word in a ½ hour lesson period, and normally this only happens once a week. But somehow he managed to make us understood the prose, thank you Onn Cheng Orr.

Charge of the Light Brigade, The.

2005-01-25T17:57:00.000+08:00

Charge of the Light Brigade, The.
By Tennyson, Alfred Lord .

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre-stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not,
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!

Ode to Autumn.

2005-01-24T11:09:00.000+08:00

Ode to Autumn.
By Keats, John .

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

When We Two Parted

2005-01-21T18:43:00.000+08:00

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

2005-01-15T21:27:00.000+08:00

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. By Wordsworth, William .

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gayIn such a jocund company:
I gazed -and gazed -but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

Autumn Leaves

2005-01-09T11:08:00.000+08:00

(french lyrics by jacques prévert,
English lyrics by johnny mercer,
Music by joseph kosma)

Nat King Cole

Mercer, Johnny

The falling leaves drift by the window..
The autumn leaves of red and gold..
I see your lips, the summer kisses..
The sun-burned hands i used to hold..
Since you went away the days grow long..
And soon i'll hear old winter's song..
But i miss you most of all my darling..
When autumn leaves start to fall.

C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble..
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais..
Nous vivions tous, les deux ensemble..
Toi que m'aimais moi qui t'aimais..
Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s'aiment..
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit..
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants désunis.

Received this today - Believe

2005-01-07T16:14:00.000+08:00

Believe

Believe that you're special,
through the hurt and the pain,
for sunshine will come,
after the rain.
Hold on to your dreams,
let them not die
and live not in torment
by questioning why?
The answers are somewhere
and sometimes unkind,
with so many reasons
you will never find.
Be true to yourself,
don't be what you're not,
for often you'll find,
you're all that you've got.
Don't become battered
by games people play
and don't take to heart
what others may say.
Though heartaches are many
and tears they will flow,
the more that you live
the more you will grow.
There are many that love you,
don't ever forget,
let the past be a lesson,
you do not regret.
Take care.

Sofina Wrote - for 2004/5

2005-01-04T16:03:00.000+08:00

For the 2005 New Year, this was her SMS greetings.

Before the Sun set on this year,
before the memories fade and
before the networks get jammed!--
Wishing you a Very Happy and Properous
and Bright New Year.

Memories That Fades............

2005-01-03T07:12:00.000+08:00

"The Falling Leaves Were The Memories That Fades Away..."
"Its Not Yet To Be Lived Inside My Mind..."
"I Feel So Lost When There's No One Who Cares About Me..."
"That Is Why I Made These Memories Lost..."
"I Wanna Know That I Can Live On..."

"but I have to look at the future..."
"to the spring and summer..."
"to look forward to better days..."