[1279] Untitled

Guest poem sent in by Nikhil Sethi <nsethi@>

Star of my life, to the stars your face is turned;
Would I were the heavens, looking back at you with ten thousand eyes.

         -- Plato

Comments :) does it really need any? Its just so simple and so beautiful
that nothing I say about it can do it justice. (or so I feel about it).

Regards
Nikhil Sethi

[Martin adds]

Plato had a lot to say about poetry :). On the one hand, there's his famous
quote

   "Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history"

On the other hand, book 10 of his Republic contains an extended diatribe
against poetry ("imitative poetry" to be precise), which he considers "thrice
removed" from the truth, and rejected in his Ideal Republic:

   Of he many excellences which I perceive in the order of our State, there is
   none which upon reflection pleases me better than the rule about poetry.

   To what do you refer?

   To the rejection of imitative poetry, which certainly ought not to be
   received

     -- http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.11.x.html

I think today's poem speaks more eloquently than any diatribe, though.

[1] a fascinating document, by the way - the first time I read it, I was
spellbound despite my initial reluctance to embark upon it

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From: Tim Reynolds <molad@>

My woman is Arkheanasa of Colophon
in whose each wrinkle smoulders a bitter love
You young men who shipped on her maiden voyage
out of what a conflagration you have come

Plato

From: "Shailja Sharma" <shailja_shg@>

this is just the most perfect line ever written ..( yeah quoting Segal)
its the ULTIMATE

From: "Nikhil Sethi" <nsethi@>

The perfect lines for that perfect someone... the beauty of the poem can
only be really appreciated when you know the person for whom these lines
were written/dedicated. :)

From: "Shailja Sharma" <shailja_shg@>

God!! This poem sure can take anyone's breath away !:)
i think, when one reads these lines, and thinks of that someone who
dedicated them to him/her with smiles, tears and faith ...tht someone
has to be the MOST precious person, the best thing, in one's life.
These stars are, So Far ...Yet So Near, and by having Faith, one day
those stars and those eyes will see each other, unite forever. I think
this poem is bout "Keeping the Faith; for only then dreams come
true.They do."

From: "Nikhil Sethi" <nsethi@>

The perfect lines for that perfect someone... the beauty of the poem can
only be really appreciated when you know the person for whom these lines
were written/dedicated. :)

From: "Nikhil Sethi" <nsethi@>

For, you see, each day I love you more,
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

- Rosemonde Gérard, "L'éternelle chanson" -

From: "Shailja Sharma" <shailja_shg@>

"It's is a long hard journey, but if u want the rainbow, you have to put
up with a little rain." (-Dolly Parton)
I was reading a book the other day n came across this beautiful line,
touched me just the way it talks bout love and faith:
"It was most foolish to think that she would let go of him;for now he
lived within her, no more she knew where she ended and he began..."
:)

From: "Alok Tiwari, Gurgaon" <Aloktiwari@>

This poem has no deceptive techniques, it has untrained players - stars,
heavens, face... and they have given their best raw shots. 

Regards,
Alok Tiwary