Comprehensive Collection of My Poetry

By Daniel Zimmermann

This e-book contains Christian poetry, romantic poetry, poems of conjugal love, poetic legends, Chinese themes, Sanskrit themes, historical poems, Christmas poems, Easter poems, Reformation Day poems, poetic jokes, etc. The poems are characterized by originality and imagination. Most have regular rhyme and meter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387989584

Book preview

Comprehensive Collection of My Poetry

Comprehensive Collection of My Poetry

By Daniel Zimmermann

Invocation and Prelude

A Prayer for Poetic Inspiration

Oh, that my tongue could sing the song

That moves the universe along!

With nobler strain I fain would sing

Than bleak Parnassus’ earth-bound spring.

O Lord, from whom all bounties flow,

Oh, kindle Thou my spirit low.

Inflame my heart and make me wise;

Oh, teach my prostrate soul to rise.

And with the wisdom Thou dost give,

Oh, make my mortal tongue to live.

With silver shafts my tongue emboss;

With fire divine purge Thou its dross.

So let me sing with voice sublime

And praise Thee with immortal rhyme;

With humble heart but thoughts that soar

Grant that I praise Thee evermore.

Prelude

I’m the bird of happiness;

On my branch I’ll sing for you,

Till my musical caress

Charms you like celestial dew.

Sonnets and Other Special Forms

God’s Plan of Salvation (a Sonnet)

When God created dust and formed a man,

The world rejoiced in music of the spheres.

Such happiness, God hoped, would last for years.

How gracious was His providential plan.

But Satan filled the universe with tears.

For happiness, he substituted sin;

For harmony, cacophony and din.

For confidence, anxiety and fears.

To help the world, God sent a little Child,

A baby who enjoyed a humble birth.

He was Jehovah’s own begotten Son.

His life was pure; His conduct meek and mild.

His sacrificial death redeemed the earth.

He crushed the devil; our salvation won!

My Faithful Wife (A Sonnet)

On cyber wings we nullified the miles

That tried to keep your tender heart from mine.

Your lovely cyber image made me pine.

You shook my soul with loving, winsome wiles.

Though I was dwelling by the distant Rhine,

Far from the Oriental land you grace,

We vowed to join our hearts in love’s embrace

And with a ring our destinies entwine.

I came to you and saw your lovely face.

We stepped before the holy altar pure

And plighted lifelong troth that shall endure

Till heaven’s joys our earthly mirth replace.

And since the time you gave your bridal kiss,

You’ve made my life a symphony of bliss.

The Beam (a Sonnet)

There is a sun that casts a single beam.

Its light cannot be seen, except by me.

It pierces bone and marrow ardently,

Transform my nightmares to a lovely dream.

It’s like a laser, working silently

To purge my heart of everything that’s base

Till envy, hate, and rancor have no place

And all succumb to happy reverie.

Then like a movie-beam it fills the space

With scenes of joy and hope in bright array,

With songs of lovers merged in happy play,

With dancing fauns and dryads clothed with grace.

And all these lovely scenes depict what’s true;

For this creative ion-beam is you.

The Ode of St. Ethelbert, King of East Anglia (A.D. 763)

Alfreda, princess, virtue-crowned,

Whose name is honored far and wide,

I come to seek you as my bride,

For where you walk is holy ground.

With your fair virtue at my side,

How happy shall my people be!

For God shall grant prosperity

Where’er your saintly thoughts abide.

Inspired by your sanctity,

A righteous people shall arise,

Who do what’s right in heaven’s eyes

And work with love, unselfishly.

Far greater than all earthly love,

In you come blessings from above.

[Note: I like to call this four-fifths of a sonnet.]

Love’s First Kiss (A Sonnet)

The hills were covered by a dreamy haze.

Mysterious echoes warbled in the dell,

When suddenly there pealed a distant bell;

And sleepy cows arose, began to graze.

The whole creation glorified the name

Of God, who blessed it with another day.

With thankful hearts the people knelt to pray,

While hill and dale proclaimed His glorious fame.

The morning twilight filled the land with light.

The birds expressed their joy amid the trees.

While fragrant blossoms welcomed busy bees,

The skylark soared aloft in happy flight.

My heart embraced this scene with vibrant bliss,

For you had granted me your love’s first kiss.

Prayer of the Leper (A Villanelle)

Oh, my Father! Hear my prayer!

In my need I come to Thee!

Smile on me with loving care!

I am lost beyond repair.

Leprosy has stricken me.

Oh, my Father! Hear my prayer!

Grubs and rats have been my fare,

As I wander helplessly.

Smile on me with loving care!

All who see me stop and stare.

From my face, all people flee.

Oh, my Father! Hear my prayer!

Though a sinner, yet I dare

To approach with humble plea. .

Smile on me with loving care!

It is more than I can bear!

From my sorrow, set me free!

Oh, my Father! Hear my prayer!

Smile on me with loving care!

Tritina on Salvation

At first, the universe was free from sin.

God showed the world the riches of His love.

His heart was full of radiant truth and grace.

But man was slow to understand God’s love.

He disobeyed the Lord and fell from grace.

His soul became a hopeless slave of sin.

God sent His Son to bless the world with grace,

So Jesus died, a sacrifice for sin.

No one has ever shown a greater love.

Though sin abounds, in love God offers grace.

Villanelle on Autumn

Somber days the earth invade.

Summer’s pleasures disappear.

Autumn casts a gloomy shade.

In the sun the children played

Summer was a time of cheer.

Somber days the earth invade.

Chilly winds harass the glade.

Birds fly south, impelled by fear.

Autumn casts a gloomy shade.

Morning twilight is delayed.

Evening shadows soon appear.

Somber days the earth invade.

Leaves abscise, and flowers fade.

All the land is bleak and drear.

Autumn casts a gloomy shade.

All our hopes have been betrayed.

Gone is all that we hold dear.

Somber days the earth invade.

Autumn casts a gloomy shade.

An Acrostic: M – E – R – I – A – N

Mysterious lass that stalks my floor,

Your eyes enthrall me evermore.

You play a tune and bid me dance.

My legs obey, as in a trance.

Escape I can’t; you bid me stay.

I vegetate beneath your sway.

I cannot roam beneath the sun.

My days of travel are all but done.

Repose I must within your arms,

Hopelessly vanquished by your charms,

Enclosed within a narrow space,

Imprisoned by your fierce embrace.

In ecstasy, I dream of bliss,

While on my lips I feel a kiss.

On velvet waves, my spirits rise.

I see the gates of paradise.

Angelic voices welcome me.

They say that death has set me free.

The spell is broken, so they say.

You now may freely romp and play.

No longer bound by Cupid’s chains,

I sadly walk Elysium’s plains.

But then I see my love come nigh.

She gently draws me from the sky.

Acrostic on the Name Merian

My love is like a pair of shoes,

Making it easy for me to walk

My road along the path of life.

Each day we waken with a kiss.

Each night we kiss before we sleep.

Each minute in between, we kiss.

Rough was the road before we met.

Rare was the smile that crossed my lips.

Rain never ceased to block the sun.

I looked to the east and saw a star.

Irises bloomed in winter’s snow.

In the dark night, I saw a light.

As I beheld your lovely eyes,

Avian trills began to sound,

And bashful lovebirds blushed with joy.

Now you have swept the gloom away.

Never again will it return.

Night has become as bright as noon.

A Mother’s Day Acrostic

Mother’s love is like a flower.

Obedient children make it bloom.

Thoughtful actions nourish it.

Happy home-life keeps it fresh.

Empathy in joy and sadness

Rains upon it health and life.

A Double Haiku Acrostic on the Name Merian

My heart beats wildly

Every moment you are near.

Rapture enthralls me.

In your lovely eyes,

Alluring smiles beguile me.

Nothing can save me.

Six Gems Inspired by Chinese Calligraphy

A. Perseverance

With zeal I shall sail

Over the ocean of life,

Seeking happiness.

B. Underground Stream

My idols I cast

Unto the moles and the bats.

They sojourned in Ching.

C. To Hide

(with translations)

I plucked a maiden

From the tree of love

And kept her

Enclosed in my heart.

Das Verbergen

Vom Baum der Liebe

Pflückt’ ich eine Jungfrau.

Ich barg sie im Herzen.

Cacher

Voyant une demoiselle,

Comme fleur je la cueille,

Et la cache dans mon coeur.

D. Influx from Heaven

The sun, moon, and stars

Are speaking with silver tongues.

They hang from heaven.

E. Resurrection

Like Easter lilies

A swan’s ba grew heavenward,

And Cygnus was born.

F. A Milestone in Chinese Calligraphy

With the writing brush

Meng-t’ien painted life’s essence

Before Picasso.

[Note: The first five little poems are inspired by specific Chinese characters: heng (perseverance), ching (underground stream), ni (to hide), shih (influx from heaven), and hsing (resurrection or rebirth).]

Sanskrit Themes

Among the Clouds the Moon Moves

(The title is my translation from Sanskrit.)

Amid the clouds the moon

In princely majesty

Flashes its lambent noon

Like spirits breaking free.

An Eastern Thought Paraphrased

(from a Sanskrit original)

Menacing age like a tiger arises.

Sickness, diseases like enemies strike.

Life like a boat in a tempest capsizes.

Strange is our world. For its bane has no like.

Around the Lake Flowers Grow

(The title is my translation from the Sanskrit.)

There – in the valley afar,

Like the wings of a star

That plunges to earth

In a brilliant rebirth,

All the flowers of spring

Effervescently sing

In a gorgeous display

That will last but a day.

In their midst can be seen

A perennial queen

With ingenuous blue

That reveals her as true.

She refreshes her shore

And its flowery corps.

Aztec Themes

Xochitl

Cheerful smiles the landscape;

Luminous the sun.

Splendors of Cipactli

Scarcely have begun.

Rays incipient focus,

Center on a mead;

Enters Xochipilli;

Sows a single seed.

Tlaloc sends his blessings;

From the seed ascends

Plumage of Quetzalli;

All the world attends.

And a traveler, fleeing

Oxomoco’s gloom,

Overflows with gladness,

Seeing Xochitl’s plume.

The Death of Quetzalcoatl

In days of yore there lived a Toltec king,

Wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove;

White were the feathers that adorned his wing;

But plumes enchanted symbolized his love.

Blest was his nation, for he loved the Reed

Whose point saluted Sol’s descending light;

He saw the Good that beams on carnal need;

The Good, reflected, wrought Miquiztli’s flight.

One eve as he beheld at close of day

Man’s weary benefactor go to rest,

Tezcatlipoca came to dim his ray:

Behold! The maguey plant will cheer your breast!

He then forsook the Reed and all its good

Which he with love had followed from his birth,

And like a fickle rabbit sought his food

In other plants, and sank within the earth.

When he awoke, the Reed—it had no point!

My people have I failed, he sadly said.

With cleansing flames my head I shall anoint.

And in a glorious blaze he lay his head.

A whisper rippled through the misty eve:

"Not finished is my mission ‘mong my men;

Though for a moment I my people leave,

The conch shall sound and I shall rise again."

The Ascent to Iztaccihuatl

"Come to me, my precious,

Gentle is my slope.

Easy paths lead upward

To the door of hope.

Wend thy way up hither

To my waiting breast;

On my buxom bosom

Thou shalt find thy rest."

Upward I ascended

Paradise to gain;

Rocks and cliffs forbidding

Hurled me to the plain.

Yet once more I plodded

To secure my dream;

Sleet and snow—a blizzard—

Nullified my scheme.

"Why, O foolish mortal,

Kick’st thou ‘gainst the spars?

Think’st thou, treading pumice,

Thou canst reach the stars?

From this fierce obsidian—

Spare thy weary feet!

To the clay beneath thee

Make a safe retreat."

In the clay were resting

Bones bereft of breath,

While the heights allured me

To a noble death.

Briefly hesitating,

With defiant pep

I, on sharp obsidian,

Took another step.

Huitzilopochtli

A woman with a skirt of snakes—

A hummingbird she bore

Upon an island in the lakes

In golden days of yore.

Ambrosia of the immortal gods

This hummingbird despised.

He sought the blood of human clods;

Their hearts he highly prized.

He spent his days with little rue

In wanton gluttony.

So much he ate, so fat he grew

That scarcely could he fly.

Unwilling now to hunt his game,

He moved with wily tact.

Unto the human race he came,

Resolved to make a pact.

"Why must ye ever live in fear?

No more your blood I seek

If ye but make this altar here

With blood of slaves to reek."

But brother Francis loved the slaves;

He grieved that many died.

He locked the bird in Seven Caves,

And preached Christ crucified.

Searching for Love

A True Story

She came to school one winter day

And chased away the cold.

She warmed my heart at work and play

With hair of lambent gold.

Her golden strands adorned my dreams;

They twined about my heart.

In vain I hatched a dozen schemes

To make our friendship start.