Galbi Poem Box

      Each month a new poem is placed in the Galbi Poem Box
      The Poem Box is prominently displayed in front of our house

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Poem for October

Let yourself be silently drawn
By the strange pull of what you really love
It will not lead you astray.

From: The Essential Rumi -- translation by Coleman Barks

Note:
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, is Persian poet and Sufi master born 807 years ago in 1207. Millions of copies of his poems have sold in recent years, making him the most popular poet in the US.   Globally, his fans are legion.

Our thanks to Steve for submitting this poem for consideration as Poem of the Month

Poem for September 2017

A Mirror of Fools        (Speculum stultorum)

Poem for August 2017

A Mirror of Fools
(Speculum stultorum)

By Nigel Wireker, a satirist poet
who lived in the twelfth Century
This poem was written in Latin
The Latin translated by Graydon W. Regenos
With modifications by Douglas Galbi

It happened once an ass with ears immense
desired to have a tail in size to match.
Since with his head his tail could not compare,
he deeply groaned about its brevity.
'Twas not because it failed to suit his needs;
instead, because it was so very short.
The doctors he consulted, with the thought
that they might work what nature could not do.

You must not scorn the gifts of nature, but
regard among your riches what she gives.
Believe me, that old tail upon your rump
is better than a brand-new tail would be.
Yet this annoys - you want a better tail;
you'll get a worse one through the surgeon's skills.
A new tail could not easily be grown,
not even if the old could be removed.