Short Poetry Collection 170
Various
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
This is a collection of 34 poems read by LibriVox volunteers for July 2017.
It includes a longer poem, Parliament of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar.
Introduction by the reader: This is one of the best-loved classics of Sufi literature. In his own land, Attar is better known than Rumi or Hafiz. Translation is by Edward Fitzgerald, who 160 years ago brought the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam to English-speaking audiences.
Lacking governance and beginning to descend into anarchy, the birds come together to agree on leadership. The brilliant and charismatic Tajidar the Wise rises to speak, and proposes that the birds undertake a long and treacherous pilgrimage to seek salvation and transfiguration from Simorgh, the Holy Presence. Each of the birds presents his special reasons for declining the trip, which Tajidar rebuts with a relevant moral tale. The trip will be arduous, and will require each bird to leave behind not just his possessions but his family, his pride, his attachments. But the reward--if Simorgh's grace be granted--will be freedom and knowledge of self and the world. All the birds set out and the vast majority perish along the way. For the thirty that reach their appointment with destiny, there is a surprise in store. Hint: "Simorgh" in Persian can be read to mean "30 birds". (2 hr 28 min)
Chapters
Amaryllis | 1:05 | Read by Winston Tharp |
Annabel Lee | 2:52 | Read by Linda Olsen Fitak |
Another Song | 0:57 | Read by Phil Schempf |
The Ant Explorer | 1:55 | Read by Algy Pug |
Babel: The Gate of the God | 5:52 | Read by Algy Pug |
Barthram's Dirge | 1:44 | Read by Sonia |
Parliament of the Birds | 1:19:18 | Read by Josh Mitteldorf |
Discordants | 3:12 | Read by DrPGould |
The End of the World | 4:07 | Read by Algy Pug |
Epilogue | 1:48 | Read by Bruce Kachuk |
Flycatchers | 1:31 | Read by Tomas Peter |
In The Placid Summer Midnight | 1:41 | Read by Bruce Kachuk |
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock | 10:27 | Read by Linda Olsen Fitak |
Oft in the Stilly Night | 1:22 | Read by Winston Tharp |
Old Germany | 0:42 | Read by Craig Campbell |
O Me! O Life! | 1:08 | Read by Phil Schempf |
On a Dead Field-Flower | 2:34 | Read by Tomas Peter |
Pomona | 0:44 | Read by Newgatenovelist |
Preludes | 3:11 | Read by Dafni Ma |
The Rainy Day | 1:13 | Read by Ian King |
Recognition | 3:14 | Read by Newgatenovelist |
The Ride on the Ice | 2:29 | Read by Sonia |
Sonnet 116 | 0:59 | Read by Rebecca S |
Sonnet 18 | 1:06 | Read by Rebecca S |
Sonnet 73 | 1:06 | Read by Rebecca S |
Spring | 1:14 | Read by Winston Tharp |
Sunset | 1:18 | Read by Tomas Peter |
To a Child | 1:28 | Read by Ian King |
To Oliver Wendell Holmes | 1:14 | Read by Sonia |
To The Grammarians. Why He Writes Wantonly | 1:55 | Read by Craig Campbell |
We live in deeds, not years | 0:58 | Read by Phil Schempf |
What Is To Come We Know Not | 1:33 | Read by Bruce Kachuk |
The Windy Night | 1:09 | Read by Ian King |
Written in Edinburgh | 1:12 | Read by Newgatenovelist |