Here are some I hope you will come to enjoy as much as I do - -
I am Danish by heritage so the first poems I am including are by Piet Hein. Before I go on, here is a brief bio of Piet Hein taken from Wikipedia:
A Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor, designer, author and poet, Piet Hein lived through the German occupation of Denmark during WWII. When deciding what to do, he felt he had three choices: do nothing, flee to "neutral" Sweden or join the Danish resistance movement. "Sweden was out because I am not Swedish, but Danish. I could not remain at home because, if I had, every knock at the door would have sent shivers up my spine. So I joined the Resistance." His first weapon became his pen when he published his first "grook". It passed the censors who did not grasp its real meaning.
Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding
the first again.
The Danes, however, understood its importance and it was soon found as graffiti all around the country. The deeper meaning of the grook was that if you lose your freedom ("losing one glove"), do not lose your patriotism and self respect by collaborating with the Nazis ("throwing away the other"), because that sense of having betrayed your country will be more painful when freedom has been found again some day. Born in December 1906, Piet Hein died at the age of 90 in April 1996.
Nearly all the grooks included a line drawing but I can not find all the drawings to include. Here are some grooks with and without the drawings -
T.T.T.
Put up in a place NAIVE
where it's easy to see Naive you are
the cryptic admonishment if you believe
T.T.T life favors those
who are naive.
When you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb, FORETASTE WITH AFTERTASTE
it's well to remember that Corinna's scanty evening dress
Things Take Time. reveals her charms to an excess
which makes a fellow lust for less.
PROBLEMS
'Impossibilities' are good
not to attach that label to;
since, correctly understood,
if we wanted to, we would
be able to be able to.
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back
