pō/’ĭ-trē

Victor Hugo Listen (to Cyrano read) Mon père, ce héros au sourire si doux, Suivi d’un seul housard qu’il aimait entre tous Pour sa grande bravoure et pour sa haute taille, Parcourait à cheval, le soir d’une bataille, Le champ couvert de morts sur qui tombait la nuit. Il lui sembla dans l’ombre entendre un […]

Aharon Shabtai Listen (in Hebrew) Listen (in English) Even after the murder of the child Muhammad on Rosh Hashanah, the paper didn’t go black. In the same water in which the snipers wash their uniforms, I prepare my pasta, and over it pour olive oil in which I’ve browned pine nuts, which I cooked for […]

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Listen (to Faiz read) is tarah hai ke har ek peR ko’ii mandir hai ko’ii ujRaa huaa, benuur puraanaa mandir DhuunDtaa hai jo Kharaabii ke bahaane kab se chaak har baam, har ek dar kaa dam-e-aaKhir hai aasmaaN ko’ii purohit hai jo har baam tale jism par raaKh male, maathe pe sinduur […]

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Listen (to Faiz read) phir ko’ii aayaa, dil-e-zaar! nahiin, ko’ii nahiin; raah-rau hogaa, kahiin aur chalaa jaaegaa. dhal chukii raat, bikharne lagaa taaron kaa ghubaar, larkharaane lage aiwaanon mein khwaabiida charaagh, so ga’ii raasta tak takke har ek rah guzaar; ajnabi khaak ne dhundlaa diye qadmon ke suraagh. gul karo shamiin, barhaa […]

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Listen (to Faiz read) tum mere paas raho mere qaatil, mere dildaar, mere paas raho jis gha.Dii raat chale aasamaano.n kaa lahuu pii kar siyah raat chale marham-e-mushk liye nashtar-e-almaas chale bain karatii hu_ii, ha.Nsatii hu_ii, gaatii nikale dard kii kaasanii paazeb bajaatii nikale jis gha.Dii siino.n me.n Duubate huye dil aastiino.nme.n […]

Aram Saroyan Listen crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets crickets (from Complete Minimal Poems; audio courtesy […]

Robert Fagles Listen to Fagles’ Homer lecture that is filled with excerpts from the Iliad (in mp3, in .rm for folks on dialup access) The lecture is approximately an hour long. Fagles is an excellent storyteller who sprinkles the lecture with readings from his translation, the original Greek text and some very funny comments. Do […]

Rudyard Kipling Listen (to Slaybaugh sing) By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ eastward to the sea, There’s a Burma girl a-settin’, and I know she thinks o’ me; For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say: “Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!” Come you back to […]

Emily Dickinson Listen She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife. If aught she missed in her new day, Of amplitude, or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away, It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and […]