Beautiful poems

 1. The Guest House

Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

2. The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1916)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

3. On the Stork Tower

Wang Zhihuan (Tang Dynasty)

Original Chinese:

白日依山盡，黃河入海流。

欲窮千里目，更上一層樓。

English (Xu Yuan‑chong’s version):

The sun beyond the mountain glows;

The Yellow River seawards flows.

You can enjoy a grander sight

By climbing to a greater height.

4. When You Are Olds

W. B. Yeats (1892)

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Short notes for each poem

1. The Guest House – Rumi

One of Rumi’s‑most‑quoted pieces. It does not ask you to chase happiness or fight sadness. Instead, it teaches radical acceptance: every feeling, pleasant or painful, is only a temporary visitor to your mind. Suffering loses much of its power once you stop treating it as an enemy. The poem’s quiet wisdom has made it a favourite in mindfulness and reflective writing around the world.

2. The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Often misread as praise for being unusual. Frost’s real point is more subtle. Life rarely offers clearly‑good or clearly‑bad choices. We pick one path, invent a story later to give our past decisions meaning, and wonder forever where the other road might have led. It captures the gentle regret and self‑myth‑making built into every human life.

3. On the Stork Tower – Wang Zhihuan

A masterpiece of Tang‑dynasty four‑line verse. The first two lines paint a vast, simple landscape: sun setting behind hills, river rushing to the sea. The last two shift from scenery to philosophy. Wider vision does not arrive by wishing — it needs effort, to climb one storey higher. Only twenty characters long, it balances natural beauty and universal truth.

4. When You Are Old – W. B. Yeats

Not a poem about youthful attraction. Yeats separates shallow admiration for looks from deeper love. Many can love your charm and beauty while they last. Very few will care for your inner self, your worn face, your grief, as age arrives. It is a meditation on time, fading‑beauty, and the rare quality of a love that outlasts appearances.