Some of the World’s Immortal People Are Alive, Some are Dead
A Tanka* Collection By: Alfred Symon
Helen Keller
To my pen idol
Whose ears hear the truth and eyes
See the world’s beauty
Who wrote about hope and faith
Although deaf and blind
Albert Einstein
“Teacher, does evil
Exist?” Little Albert asked
“Yes.” The teacher said
“Actually, no, evil is
The absence of God’s love” Faith…
Pierre Curie & Marie Curie
Their love was formed by
Radioactivity and
The nobility
Of the noble prize they’ve won
From there, once, and back again
Diana Frances Spencer
The princess of Wales
Although high in position,
Her heart was as down
As the earth where her people
Stood. Her kindness will live on
Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone
They call him Francis
But I would rather call him
The advocate for
Life; the verdant leaves of trees
And the cry of newborn lamb
William Henry Gates III
With Bits, Bytes and Bill
A new window to a new
World of life and change
Opened up for the whole world
Please send him my thanks!
Florence Nightingale
-Lady of the lamp-
“Lady Florence! He’s Alive!”
“Please receive my thanks.”
It is only the human’s
Job to aid others…” she said
Christopher Reeves
A long fall may hurt
But for him, a fall may give
A chance to enact
A role more than superman,
To be a human
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
A blessed mother
Not to her children, but those
Who are poor and lone
In this cruel world; you gave birth
To love, Mother Teresa
Martin Luther King Jr.
You may have flown far
From my beliefs, religion
But you still lived for
Others, oppressed and depressed
You are a true king
Theodore Roosevelt
He threatened my land,
But his intensions are pure
He stood tall and proud
Teddy led America
Where his arms gave chance to all
Karol Józef Wojtyła
He lived for the youth
His words echoed new chances
To the world’s people
John Paul II, a new
World he helped mold from ashes
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
“Cormlle naa tanya tel’raa”**
(Our hearts is of the lion)
He said in Quenya
Whatever it means, he made
A new world of fantasy
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
“India was at war,
But there is but one who will
Shed light and new hope
For the people of India.”
A story told forever
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
“thefacebook.com”
From a dorm room at Harvard
Started a site that
Made bridges and connected
The world, one “Like” at the time
Ann Bancroft
“The journey was cold,
Brazen and harsh; but she lived
To tell the tale of
The ice floes that made the day
Worthwhile to live for.” She’s Ann
Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
-She wore a red hood-
- My parents killed and ate me-
-Hansel & Gretel-
-One with hair of hand-spun gold-
-Music, Snow-White and Six Swans-
Carolus Linnaeus
Up from the kingdom
To the Phylum, Class, Order
Going to the small
Group of Genus, down to the
Tiniest of the species
Michael Jackson
He may be lost in
Some way, but in truth, he’s a
Hero isn’t he?
Apart from inspiring all
He gave hope to the many
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova
She went to space years
Ago; she was an icon
For women to be
Courageous in any of
Their undertakings in life
Oscar Arias Sanchez
For someone who made
Bridges to connect two worlds
Of different races
I shall give this grand award,
Though wealthy he is humble
???
“This is my body”
“and this is my blood” He said
Two thousand years ‘fore
Whoever he is, he changed
My life; the reason to live
*: A tanka is an ancient Japanese poem which popularity and importance is the same with haiku. The difference from Haiku and Tanka is that tanka’s syllabic pattern is 5-7-5-7-7.
**: Pronounced as “Com nat nia tel ra”
