I was riding the subway in Boston one day when I looked up and read a fabulous poem. It was part of a "Barnes and Noble" advertisement featuring several random, short poems. I would love to know the author and title of the poem, but all I know is the last line. Maybe someone out there could help me find this poem!? The last line is, "this is hard"

Doesn't ring a bell. You might want to contact someone at Barnes and Noble and ask them.

[www.barnesandnobleinc.com] />
pam

Here's who can probably tell you:

Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice President
Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble
122 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
Fax: 212-807-6033
mkeating@bn.com

This is hard, so hard, but I must. My world, perhaps something even
greater Depends on it. Can I love the Palestinian boy, my cousin Rock in hand? ...

best I could come up with

My query is similar to the "lost on the subway" query posed by jenj. I was riding the subway one night in New York and i came upon this beautiful, short poem--a part of the same Barnes and Noble feature on short poems in subways ("Poetry in Motion"). It was on an Autumn/ Maple leaf. The gist of the poem was something about a solitary leaf, swirling and falling down from a maple tree and the author ("I) being the only person to witness its "dance in the wind". I would really appreciate it if somebody could help me find this poem.

Pry, do you recall any other phrases from the poem. The one you mention can be found in several poems including this one:

The Tree
---Macaulay Oluseyi Akinbami


I choose to see the trees
When nothing on earth gives joy
I choose to hear the songs of the birds
In the cool hours when the dew spreads
Its wings, to wet my world
Let the leaves dance with the wind as
I watch the dance of nature
In this lonely world where friend are few
And foes are many
In the trees I found a friend
Though you chide my choice
Yet it is the best in this vain
The green of the leaves, the colours of the flowers
The dance in the wind
The endurance in the odds
Sometimes rainy in my choice
And sunny to my hurt
In the bright day standing still
And in darkness never fret
And when wearied by time
The beauty remains in my heart unfading.


Les

jenj - this one?

The Ideal

This is where I came from.
I passed this way.
This should not be shameful
Or hard to say.

A self is a self.
It is not a screen.
A person should respect
What he has been.

This is my past
Which I shall not discard.
This is the ideal.
This is hard.

-- James Fenton

Stephen

I am looking for the same poem, i read it everyday on the subway and now i can't find it........here is the poem(or at least what i can remember...the parts i am sure about are in quotes)


A single leaf, "one of the last, parts from a maple tree."

then it talks about how the leaf falls into a pile, is no longer dicernable among the rest of the leaves, and then it ends with this.

no one saw it dance in the wind, "no one saw what i saw. I am the only one."


anyone who can help find this poem i would really appreciate it

The Name of the writer is Macaulay Oluseyi Akinbami, A young Vibrant poet from Nigerians Africa.
He is the Author of "Flames and Fire From Africa"
Macaulay is very good in demonstrative poems

Hi,

According to the panel on the Subway, the author is Bronislaw Maj. This poem is translated from Polish work "A Book of Luminous Things. An International Anthology of Poetry." The title of the poem is "A Leaf"

I did a search on the author (Bronislaw Maj) and found the following link that has that poem on it.

[www.kottke.org] />

Cheers.

A Leaf by Bronislaw Maj


Read on the subway this morning:

    A leaf, one of the last, parts from a maple branch:
    it is spinning in the transparent air of October, falls
    on a heap of others, stops, fades. No one
    admired its entrancing struggle with the wind,
    followed its flight, no one will distinguish it now
    as it lies among the other leaves, no one saw what I did. I am
    the only one.

I might need more poetry in my life.

I recently visited New York for the first time and read this poem on the subway one night. I couldn't get it out of my head and have been searching for it for a few weeks now. I thought it was such an amazing piece and just wanted to say thanks to those of you who've helped they rest of us find it. Thanks!!!

Thank you so much. I was looking for the same poem after reading it on the NY subway and assumed it would be on the MTA site.

I saw one I really liked when I lived in NY last year, but I can't find it anywhere. Something like "I was happy" blah blah blah "like a suitor" that only makes occasional visits. Or something. I remember it was short. Any ideas?

here's the photo i took of the poem.
a leaf by bronislaw maj

[zimbly.blogspot.com]

Very nice, thanks. What does zimblymallu mean?