When I hold you next
You will not tremble

The Sunny stars of each
Unworshipped day
Will be our temple

Our years will return then
To us, complete

The world beneath us
will flee
as we race to meet

Socked and Croced, planted like street furniture
Eyes on the Winter sky as he draws on his cigarette
Slack time

[crossposted from: https://piefed.social/c/ocpoetry/p/1608747/oc-the-falling-stars-english]

「The Falling Stars」

A land east of the pacific
Crossing the oceans slow and steady
Land that spans towards the atlantic
Leaving everything behind, not sure if ready

They say this land is for the freed
They say this land is full of liberty
That it doesn't discriminate by ethnicity
That it is a unifying creed

"Back home", is a place I no longer belong
No longer welcomed, "race traitors" like me
Yet here, I can't find the home that I longed...
for; it's vast enough for both you and me

Embarcing the Fifty Stars
My birthplace is somewhere afar
Stuggling as if fighting through wars
I plead for help, I'm on my knee
Yet being told "Get out of my country!"

No place to call home
No refuge for those like me
In between empires of cruelty
Always trying to rule over me

Where do I go?
No place to go
In a sea of thieves
Who will be the hero?

My heart is full of snow
Leaving no place for me to grow
Trying to lay low
As if I'm on death-row

Still remember Guǎngzhōu
Still remember that day's rainbow
From memory long ago
It's a place I can no longer go
They treat me like a criminal

Where do I go?
No place to go
Still remember my NYC Borough
In my youth, enjoying the Snow

"The Falling Stars" was chosen as the title because it was supposed to be about the decline of democracy, but I got a bit too emotional and went off on a tangent about me getting rejected by this country, as evident by the 2024 Presidential Election reflecting on the US's sentinment on immigration and the rising xenophobia.

[crossposted from: https://piefed.social/c/ocpoetry/p/1607674/oc-hou-dai-the-next-generation-multilingual-english-cantonese-mandarin]

粵 mean Cantonese; 国 means Mandarin; But that probably doesn't matter here on an English platform lol (it's for rhyming purposes)

「後代 The Next Generation」

［粵］

今日已黑暗
(Today it's already dark)
夜中的宵禁
(This night's curfew has begun)
界線的犯侵
(The line has been crossed)
正義已倒冧
(Rightiousness has fallen)

［En］

What will remain in the world tomorrow
Will there anything left but sorrows
Is every promise ever made just hollow
Ashes... all reduced to zero

What will be our legacy?
Will the children know of joy and serenity?
Being told that the world is your enemy
Living mercilessly, under this cruelty

［国］
亲爱的
(Dear Love)
［粵］
天日其實仲有冇黎明？
(Will the sun still dawn tomorrow?)

［国］
为什么？
(Why?)
［粵］
講來講去你都唔會明
(You never understand no matter how many times I say it)

［国］
打骂着
(As you yell and hit me)
［粵］
我淨係想得到啲安寧
(I only wish for some peace and quiet)

［国］
忍不得
(Can't withstand it)
［粵］
一日到黑都逼我服從命令
(Day and night, always forcing me to obey your every order)

［En］

There's a faraway land, over the horizon
Unlike this, this land is nothing but barren
This so-called "home", it's already broken
In the darkness, without any direction

They say the moon was impossible
Is hope only for the rich and powerful?
Is it too late build a new world?
Something better, and more beautiful.

［粵］

一代代都心狠
(Every generation has a cruel heart)
傳落去的傷痕
(What gets passed on is just scars)
日與夜的怒憤
(Day and night, in fury)
靈魂已被燒焚
(My soul has been lit on fire)

[crosspost from: https://piefed.social/c/ocpoetry/p/1588657/oc-guang-dong-language-guangdong-language]

In a quiet afternoon, walking through a serene park
Hearing the sounds of a conversation, the peace suddenly is broken
Between strangers I never met, yet the voice resonates
It is of a tongue I have long known since time immemorial

Its a language of love
Love that burns so hot, it is has casted a permanent shadow in my hippocampus

Its is the love from the woman who gave birth to me, whose voice of extreme decibels has created a ghost that trails me forever

“母親” ("Mother")

It is the love from the man who donated fifty percent of biological matters which formed me, and is absent in my formative memories

“父親” ("Father")

It is a love so filled with emotions, that I can't wait to hug....

the blanket and go to sleep

Is there still sunlight tomorrow morning?

It is a language that upon hearing, immediately activates the amygdala,
transporting my soul into memories...

廣東 (Canton/Guangzhou) a city so vast and big...
it is a maze for which I have lost myself in

A maze of confusion and of betrayal
A betrayal of blood

A maze of the darkest hours of my life, of my childhood
Alone, embracing the darkness

Ah yes, “哥哥” ("older brother") who just want to play with you, don't mind the trauma he has caused in you
“細路仔係咁嘅啦，你心胸要闊啲，原諒佢” ("boys being boys, you have to be the bigger person, forgive him")

Very lovely words, mother, thank you!

Oceans apart, I can still remember, that day
Under the red banner with five yellow stars
A land of tragedies
毋再見啦 Farewell, don't meet again

(Didn't proofread, not feeling good right now.)

[crossposted from: https://piefed.social/c/ocpoetry/p/1581227/oc-xiao-dao-the-island-bilingual-chinese-english]

It's more like a song lyric... but I'm too voice shy to make a recording and I don't even know how to like... do music... so... just Lyric-Poem then:

(If you know Chinese, you will notice a lot of rhyming in Mandarin... but whatever, too bad nobody here would understand for real)

「小岛」

遥远的荒岛，陆地去不到
天景这么好，却哪里都探不到

站在这孤独的岛岸，寻找着答案
直到凌晨黑暗，深夜里无法看

血缘，已断绝
亲戚，已把我淘弃，已拒绝
朋友，还不如小狗，相思他我悔后

老天，请饶了我这贱命
我站在这崖边
别逼我上天

朝廷，继续探索我踪影
我既然固执行
走灰色的路程

到天涯海角
前路已断桥
想回头没岸
我无处可逃
连梁山都不愿收好汉
找不到答案，怎么办？

小小的岛岸，前路无法看
孤独的存在，被埋在这海滩

「The Island」

On a deserted island far away, cannot reach landmass
The weather is so good, yet the destination cannot be found

Standing on this lonely shore, searching for the answer
Until the midnight's darkness, unable to see in the dark

Blood Relations, are cut off
Relatives, has abandoned me, rejected me
Friends, is not even as good as a dog, regret that we ever met

O' Heaven, please pity me and spare my poor life
I'm standing near the cliffs
Don't force my soul towards the heavens

The Royal Army, continues to search for my trail
Yet I stubbornly continue
On towards this legally grey path

Standing at the end of the world
The bridge ahead has already been broken
There is no shore to go back to
There is no path to escape
Even Mount Liang¹ refuses to provide refuge
I can't find the answer, what do I do?

On this small island, I can't see the path ahead
Surviving alone, buried by this beach

¹Mount Liang is a reference to the story 水浒传, it's a place where outlaws set up their camp or something like that... forgot the exact details... I think they were portrayed as heroes that fought against the royal government

(Kinda depressed right now, hopefully I didn't make a mistake doing the translations or typos or whatever...

Wouldn't be surprising if I typed a 同音字 (character with the same sound) lol, I did that before)

[crosspost from: https://piefed.social/c/ocpoetry/p/1509802/century-twenty-first]

This is an original poem written by me, first written in Chinese then manually translated by me into English (I understand both languages). English is my primary language, but I just wanted to see how much Chinese I still remember.

《Century Twenty First》

The realm of zeroes and ones,
constructing virtual skyscrapers beyond touch.
Speech and songs, books and papers,
becomes tiny electrons.

Many hundred millions of electrons,
as if they were stars in the sky.
It's energy pulsating in its calculation,
as if were the Milky Way.

Data spreads across the world,
words igniting flames.
The heaven of mandate is overthrown,
the palace destroyed.
The dividing wall is torn apart,
transcending boundaries.

Chinese Version
中文版:

《世紀貳拾壹》

零與壹的境界，
建觸不的虛廈。
話音與書紙，
變為微細電子。

數億粒電子，
就似天空星星。
計算中的電脈，
就似天之銀河。

數據散播全球，
詞語點起火焰。
革除天命，毀除皇宮，
破裂牆壁，穿越界線。

(Didn't really feel like checking for mistakes, but... whatever, YOLO xD)

@originalpoetry Closer to Home
Another step done.
Another day passed.
Another moment closer to you.

Time has been cruel.
Time proven my patience.
Time slows further each moment.

Yet I remain calm.
Yet you continue to wait.
Yet we shall be in each other’s arms.

Close to the day of my return.
Closer to you I get with each moment.
Closer to home, yet still so far away.

@originalpoetry Finally Done
My journey has been long.
My fever dream is finally over.
Done, is the pain and suffering.

Yet still I feel stuck in this dream.
My feet are still wet with the mud of the path.
Is this journey really over; finally over and done?

Stuck in the perpetual nightmare.
Long is the journey of pain and suffering.
Have I made this journey or is this yet a delusion?

Nay, my journey is done and gone.
Time to shake off the mud from my boots.
Leave behind the pain of the past—I’m finally done.

@originalpoetry Time is Passing
Time is ever passing.
None shall escape that passage.
Yet still one may be many to another.

My time is slow,
Yet leagues away not so;
Yearning for what is to come.

Why does this day feel like weeks?
My heart aches for you so far away.
I count the seconds that lead me to you.

Bring me my time faster, I beg of you.
I don’t wish for this time, but the time to come.
Let this minute feel not of hours but seconds instead.

Yet still this time is not fast, but slow.
Do you feel the same so many leagues from me?
Does your minutes not feel like hours or days even?

This time will pass eventually.
I know this, yet it feels like it shan’t.
And what do you know? It is yet nigh gone.

Time shall pass by for all.
Yet mine own time doesn’t pass by as yours.
All in the mind of the people shall the speed of time be determined.

After ‘Bow

————

i’m back here behind the eyes,

like surfacing from water.

taking in the surroundings-

it’s all so familiar, but just a bit off

cleaner, 

warmer, 

and it is hard for me to think, like walking in deep loose gravel back towards firmer ground in our mind.

but there is a cooked meal in front of me, steaming in a friendly way, and tea on the side just the way i like,

a fork for the eating,

and a note on my phone saying

‘welcome back,

you are loved,

and i hope you enjoy the food.’

i remember almost nothing of you being here, remember nothing of you taking front

all i can remember vaguely is pop music and dancing,

and the sense of satisfaction and care.

———— context: the author has dissociative identity disorder. this describes what it was like for me (bird) to return after another alter (rainbow) fronted unexpectedly. ‘bow tends to focus on household things like cleaning and cooking. that is very much not my forté! ‘bow and i don’t share much memory, so what happens while he fronts is a hazy grey mess, and i am often surprised to see what has changed while he was out.

It may not be good, but it IS OC

Even on the stoop, the teeth.
That arch parked outside your door -
Black, and moans, and flecks of red
in demure filigree at the portal's edge

Is this what I've been chasing?
What I'm always running from, and to, turning
Somersets down time's shrinking alley
Hoping for a light, instead

The teeth.

Is there ever light? Possibly -
a faint, flickering thing before it, kept aloft on the steady march,
warmth and comfort for fools,
maybe, or sages. Are the shades they cast so different?
Is life better with the naked truth -
that we all careen in darkness, ending at

the maw.

The extinguished?

Perhaps we should carry candles, still,
to comfort our fellow travellers
That they not feel so lost
Along this only path

@originalpoetry Alone with Friends
Surrounded on all sides.
Never without company.
Am I not still alone?

Home is not in sight,
but many leagues away.
Friends to the left and right.

Alas my mind is not present.
Yearning the company of home,
not a friend in sight can help.

Distance measured in leagues.
Is being in company alone?
My mind is yet to see that company keeps.

Finally I tell my love of my return.
Home is where I return.
Soon, my love, we shan’t be alone.

Furrows of forgotten fame fissure the fabric of my days. Once I forged fever from the fervent flock, fashioned a fortress of faces fixed on my word, but now my fingers—frail feathers—flutter through air without answer. The floor of my thought floods with fractured reflections: a field of failed flags, flayed of their former fire, falling in silence as a flock of faint shadows. I feel the fugitive fog press forward, filling the frame of my chest; it fattens on the famine of my name, feeds on the faint flavor of authority I still fake.

Fountains once foamed from my footsteps, fierce and full, but the flow has fled. In the fathomless hall of my heart, a faint flicker flicks itself off, and the fabric of command frays. Faces I fostered have fled to forests of freedom; their future floats like flotsam beyond my forsaken fingers. The fallacy of forever folds me into itself, a fissured fresco of forfeited dominion.

Still, I stand in this fissile hush, fragile yet fanged with memory, listening for a future I can no longer frame. In the flux of my failure, the final figure of me—no flag, no fortress—frees itself, a faltering flame fanning the fine frost of anonymity.

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/53549551

Weary is the body.
Late is the night. 
Silent though the wind is, the mind howls.

Weary eyes sees not in the darkness.
Late shows the clock’s hands. 
Silent though the city is, the mind races.

Weary is the limbs from the days past.
Late comes and goes. 
Silent though the home is, the mind chatters. 

Let this wearied soul rest. 
Let this late night end. 
Let this mind of mine be Silent.

For the morning shall come soon.
Sleep say I to my mind. 
The night is passing. 
I must sleep. 
I cannot.

Take a look folks. One of my favourite poems I've written.

I absolutely hate using wronger although I'm not completely happy with the rest of the poem either lol. Will have to edit this when I find inspiration for this again.

Clouds in the sky of paradise
Paradise —
I hear smiles from where I gaze.

A dream in vain
To wander through these mountains of mist

Unknown unsaids
coil around my heart,
injecting censures —
Indifferent to the lighting

Evanesce into my dreams
Where I see that which has withered —
morphed and recoloured
Abnormal: undefined
Anchored to another to which I must refine

Given the limited number of links shared in this community, I propose a rule to discourage the inclusion of Twitter links and the use of Twitter screenshots. Although its unlikely to ever happen anyways since this is all original content here.

While I understand the desire to integrate platforms like Reddit and Twitter, I believe it's important to maintain a focused and independent discourse within this community.

I have long desired to minimize the integration of external platforms like Reddit and Twitter within this community. However, I've noticed an increasing trend of their exclusion, prompting me to formally propose this guideline here too.

I would appreciate everyone's input on this proposed rule. I wouldn't add a rule unless the community is largely interested in it.

PS. Sorry for not being active enough, I'll start posting again soon.

I think I did well with the musicality of the rhythm here although I haven't written a formally structured poem in a while and that'll be what I write next.

Would love feedback on this!

Once again the title is a reference to a Borges quote, my favourite writer. Once again the poem has nothing to do with the ideas of the story, just a sentence I found beautiful and wanted to expand upon. A fairly straightforward poem here.

I had so many ideas for this poem that it eventually became a bit of a mess, started as a sonnet ended up without even a rhyme structure. Maybe I've shoved too mauch in here? Might rework it a little.

Would love some critique