Until We Meet Again
The crawling moments of yearnings
Are permeated by rousing desires
Immersed in celestial thirst
And earthly passions
But the soul protests fervidly
What the flesh cannot afford.
It was just yesterday
That I held you in my arms
But you are now
Thousands of miles away
In a remote metropolis
Where a great river
Kisses the northern sky
And I long
For your tender love Soul Mate
In a southern harbour
On the shores of the mighty ocean.
Thus and so life unfolds
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poem by Paul Hartal
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Obelisks
Let me remember old trails
Let me weep over lost loves
They are all the same love
But different
Let me remember old trails
Cherry trees along muddy roads
And ancient obelisks
They are now so different
But still the same
Let me remember missteps
Let me regret wrong paths
They are all the same path
But different
The seasons always alter
Or they hardly ever change
Only the hours pass
Time stands still
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poem by Paul Hartal
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War Memories with Acrostic
Memories woven to monument towering to heaven
Of a sweet, gracious and wonderful woman.
Though she did nothing wrong, she was persecuted
Held daughter and son in arms, her man was deported.
Edgy at the brickyard, hurt in Jewish pride
Rascals put her in a jammed freight car for a railway ride.
Weary from thirst and hunger, surrounded by pain
Horror was unfolding on a rattling train.
Exhausted of the ordeal she arrived at the camps
Robbed of her freedom she stood under the lamps
Exposed to blowing snow, the barracks lacked ovens.
A small vulnerable woman there had seen forehand
Ruthless degradations, beastly atrocities offhand.
Experienced nightmare while the sun was shining
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poem by Paul Hartal
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Rwanda 1994
The Kagera River rises in Burundi blue
It sweeps down from the highlands green.
But then why the river runs red?
Why does it look so sinister?
It hauls the bodies of the dead
Its currents carry your sister.
The Kagera River rises in Burundi green
It flows wild to Lake Victoria blue.
But then why the river runs red?
There is no change in the weather.
Yet on the waters float the dead
The currents carry your father.
The Kagera River rises in Burundi white
It drags trees and elephant grass green.
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poem by Paul Hartal
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The Kiss
She turns her head gently
From left to right
And from right to left,
Avoiding my blazing lips.
Her shiny ebon hair
Gracefully frames her charming face.
I look into her eyes
And I see in them
The blue waves of the sea,
The flight of birds very high,
The azure serenity of the sky.
I look into her eyes
And I see in them
The green tranquility of the forest
Happiness and sadness,
Her beautiful soul, suffering and love,
The pristine spirit of an ivory dove.
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poem by Paul Hartal
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The Gift
She paces
By his side
On a quiet street,
Leafy and wide.
The evening air is balmy
And a golden half moon
Of August
Hangs high
In the sky.
"How beautiful is the Moon",
She says,
"Brighter than in June.
"A pity it is not full tonight".
"You know",
He tells her smiling,
"This thing may sound
Really puzzling,
But,
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poem by Paul Hartal
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Cesarean Section
On a sunny day of Taurus
they cut her abdomen.
With stainless scalpels
the surgeons unlatched her uterus
and out of her slashed womb,
touching with their sterile gloves
the enigma of an enclosed but remote self,
they pulled out the boy crying,
covered with blood,
incised forever
with the trauma of a violent birth,
a ferocious portal to light,
a brutal entrance into the world
through the skillful horror
of a Caesarean section.
Many days passed since then
and they have grown wild,
like cranberries and black currants,
sprouting from an invisible umbilical cord
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poem by Paul Hartal
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A Song of Infinity
Once on a Monday afternoon
Infinity extended
Its infinitesimal arms
Into countless dimensions
And at seven o'clock P.M.
It began to sing
a sincere silent song.
And then,
Its invisible hands reached
Beyond the unfathomable.
Infinity timelessly traversed
The boundless vastness
In myriad directions.
Suspended in imagination,
It walked through
Limitless corridors
Of complex labyrinths,
Celebrating the silky triumph
Of innumerability.
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poem by Paul Hartal
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For Paul Celan
The stars of eternity stare into the darkness
Breathing nothingness that grows around
Orphaned black holes of silent despair in space
Your percolated wounds never could heal
By the doleful symphonies of a tormented élan.
You never recovered from the mass murders
To which you bear witness with anguished cenotaphs
Oh your yellow haired mother could not come home
She could not come home; her heart was torn by lead.
Blazing stars of frozen eternity shine at the moon frost
Slowly the late autumn opens an envelope of pain
It engulfs your lost world with charred pilgrims
Floating along latitudes of convulsive memories.
Your yellow haired mother could not come home
Her heart was torn by lead; she could not come home
Hot stars of cold eternity gleam in the lonely darkness
And black holes dance in the crumbling empty space
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poem by Paul Hartal
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The Girl from Sri Lanka
I have no idea
Whether she is Tamil or Sinhalese.
The girl with her neatly combed hair
And native dress
Is a newcomer from Sri Lanka
Who landed in Montreal
Shortly before the devastating tsunami waves
Of 2004 crashed ashore
On her island country.
She greets me with a friendly "Hello"
And her lovely smile
Fills the store space
With innocent charm and grace.
"Keep on smiling", I tell her
Before I leave
And she acknowledges the encouragement
With an acquiescent expression on her face.
I seldom see the same warm smile here
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poem by Paul Hartal
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