meh, whine if you want, i got my poets in there, and livened up y'all's boring pool with poets, women, and easterners.
And if you discount that a person writing in Chinese, what is by the way considered to be some of the most complex Chinese ever written, could be a poet just because his poetry is not perfectly translatable, well, then that's fucked.
If this by Li Po can be considered poetry in its English form then I don't see why Laozi's poetry, far better, should not also be included, even if it is not in English. There are plenty of other non-English writers on your list, Balzac included.
"A Mountain Revelry
To wash and rinse our souls of their age-old sorrows,
We drained a hundred jugs of wine.
A splendid night it was . . . .
In the clear moonlight we were loath to go to bed,
But at last drunkenness overtook us;
And we laid ourselves down on the empty mountain,
The earth for pillow, and the great heaven for coverlet."
If that is poetry then so is:
"Heaven and Earth endure,
By not endowing themselves with life.
Then they can be long-lived.
So the wise place Self last,
And it comes first,
Call it other than themselves,
And it persists.
By not thinking of Self
The personal goal is achieved."
And this:
"When the Way reigns in the land,
Horses go back to ploughing the fields.
When the Way does not reign in the land,
War-horses breed on the frontiers.
There’s no crime worse
Than to pander to one’s desires.
There’s no sickness worse
Than not knowing what is enough.
There’s no greater catastrophe
Than the lust for gain.
Whoever knows what is enough
Will be happy with his fate.
You can know the universe
Without leaving your house.
You can see the ways of heaven
Without looking out of your window.
The further you go
The less you know.
That’s why the wise achieve without moving,
Name what is, without needing to see it,
Accomplish great things without action."
And this:
"The Way of heaven is like stringing a bow.
It depresses the high,
And raises the low.
It takes from excess,
And gives to the lacking.
It’s heaven’s Way
To take from excess
And give to the lacking.
People do otherwise.
They take from those who lack
And give to those with excess.
Who can take his excess
And give it to the realm?
One who knows the Way.
So the wise do good but ask no thanks.
They do their work but claim no merit.
They do not wish to display their virtue."
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My first publication
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