Spring
“LEISURE”
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
By Wm. Henry Davies
* This is one of Paul’s favorite poems…would you like to share one of yours? If so, please leave it in the comments section. Thank you for sharing with us.
this is exactly what i needed to hear today. thank YOU so much. xoxo.
I will let Paul know you related : ) It has been a year of simplifying for Paul and I, yet I continue to struggle with balance and appreciation for nature and it’s everyday miracles.
Take this blog, for instance. For the past two weeks of my life I have attempted without success to transfer it over to a platform with more bells and whistles (insert cursing and gnashing of teeth).
At the end of the day (ok, two weeks) I have decided to stay right here where I am. If/when the time is right I will try it again. In the meantime I am going to enjoy Spring in all of it’s glory!
Leave it to Paul to bring me back from the technological abyss, and with a poem…sigh.
“The Rain Dance” by: Andrew Kaplan
Let it rain let it rain,
Oh God let it rain.
I crave for this rain to rehydrate my soul,
For I am deprived in this desert,
Barren of life.
Oh but if it rains,
If only once.
The droplets can give rise to the river,
The river can give rise to the land,
The land can give rise to life.
God even you needed dirt to create Adam,
Even you needed soil to create Eve.
But you cannot give rise to life in an hour glass of sand.
And all you can do is continue to flip the glass forever,
Unless you let it rain.
If you let it rain the river will over flow the glass,
The vibrant land will break through it.
If you let it rain you,
If you let it rain,
You can give life to a companion,
I can give life to my companion.
I need the rain to feel,
I need the rain to live.
Let it rain let it rain,
Oh God let it rain.
…And God responded with a flood.
A flood that swallowed all of the hour glass,
A flood that shattered it.
A flood that engulfed me,
A flood that put out the flame that was raging inside of me.
A flood that destroyed all that was built,
A flood so strong that it toppled the last and strongest pillar,
A flood that consumed the road,
A flood that destroyed my world.
But from the ashes,
Reborn was I,
Reborn was the phoenix.
I can now fly away with my eternal flame,
And my road will arise with each step forward,
And with no sight ahead.
I was reborn to live now,
My world was toppled so I can live now.
When I prayed for rain,
God gave me a flood.
Thank you Andrew; I love that this poem is one of yours…and I love the rain and what it symbolizes to me. If you let it rain, indeed!
What a wonderful Easter and spring time sentiment…. Thanks so much for the reminder. I nearly turned around in Kittredge yesterday afternoon as I was coming up the canyon: a man that looked like Paul was getting out of a car in front of Purple Sage and I thought perhaps you were in town…. you would let me know that, wouldn’t you? I’m not much in the downtown haunts these days…. and I would hate to miss you if you were here for a visit! Much love on a sunny Sunday, Denise
You will know when we come back, Denise! It must have been Eric Clapton you saw (heehee). That reminds me of a conversation Paul had with a young bartendress at The Little Bear one afternoon…
Here’s one of my favorites — by Emily Dickinson:
Success is Counted Sweetest
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated–dying–
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
And one of mine…
Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Emily Dickenson
This poem was sent via e-mail. I wept over it. Love you, dear friend…
Appraisal
Never think she loves him wholly,
Never believe her love is blind,
All his faults are locked securely
In a closet of her mind;
All his indecisions folded
Like old flags that time has faded,
Limp and streaked with rain,
And his cautiousness like garments
Frayed and thin, with many a stain –
Let them be, oh let them be,
There is treasure to outweigh them,
His proud will that sharply stirred,
Climbs as surely as the tide,
Senses strained to taut to sleep,
Gentleness to beast and bird,
Humor flickering hushed and wide
As the moon on moving water,
And a tenderness too deep
To be gathered in a word.
Sara Teasdale
And from Mirk (via e-mail) in England…
“I’m aware this poem maybe not as uplifting as some you will get.. but as heavily laden with irony and anger as this first world war poem is it is the one that is foremost in my mind when poetry is mentioned.”
Thank you, Mirk. One of my favorite poets is Wilfred Owen. Heavy sigh, V
The General
“Good-morning; good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead,
And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.
But he did for them both by his plan of attack.
Siegfried Sassoon
And from Jane (via e-mail) in Colorado…
“The most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen
or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.”
Helen Keller
Valynne, Glad to hear you might have a buyer for Mountain Girl Organics. As soon as you can, let me know where and when I can find my most favorite lip balm in the world! Of course, I’m talking about MGO! This little Colorado town misses you two. Love to you both, Lisa
Can’t wait to see everyone again – hoping it will be VERY SOON ; ) As for MGO…fingers crossed it will find a new home before the market season is in full swing. I won’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t sell…I know it is pure potential and have a feeling I will be kicking myself one day!
Introduction To Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Billy Collins
Oh, Kim I absolutely love this! Just checked out more of his poetry online…simply brilliant. Thank you!!!
What is wordsmithing without Wordsworth?! Here’s one of my favorites:
My Heart Leaps Up
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The child is father of the man:
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
William Wordsworth
Well, you know what this poem reminds me of, Michael? My rainbow obsession when I was a girl. It wasn’t limited to the natural wonder of said rainbow in the sky…
Remember rainbow shirts? And mugs. And barettes. I had the coolest pair of rainbow Vans. Oh, and the stickers! I still love stickers.
Now the only rainbows I see are of the sky variety. The original rainbow brand.
It is always a pleasant surprise, seeing a rainbow, and I love them just as much now as I did back then, just like Wordsworth.
Thank you for another thought provoking poem. I really enjoyed reading this (and flashing back to my rainbow days)!
Miss you and the Evergreen crowd…and it was great to catch up via phone. I really enjoyed our conversation and value your opinions!
Pandora’s Box
by: Andrew Kaplan
I know what Pandora released!
Consciousness…
Consciousness is a curse,
And ignorance is truly bliss.
To contemplate existence is the worst torture one can bestow.
To believe in an afterlife or reincarnation,
That eases the mind, heart, and soul.
But to know it is all simply a rationalization,
A rationalization to spare one of the anguish,
Of the curse,
Leaves one no choice,
But to forever roll the rock up the hill.
And even if one could succeed,
It is lonely at the top.
But none of us are.
There are those who roll,
And those who sit.
Knowledge is power,
And the power lies in dropping the rock.
Dropping it on the heads of those who sit at the base of the mountain,
To awaken them from their slumber,
To disturb their dreams,
And to welcome them to the nightmare,
The nightmare that is consciousness.
Then again,
“The only thing that I know,
Is that I know nothing.”
There lies the contradiction,
The same one that is consciousness,
The same one that is the curse.
To be able to ponder existence,
While knowing there is no answer…
And only but to further the hypocrisy of man!
While the ignorant are free.
And yet,
Are we not all ignorant?
But,
“No wise man ever wished to be younger.”
So push on Sisyphus,
Push on.
This poem came wrapped in the Chocolove bar that I gave Paul with his Birthday gifts…we both loved it…the chocolate and the poem!
Love’s Omnipresence
Were I as base as is the lowly plain,
And you, my Love, as high as heaven above,
Yet should the thoughts of me your humble swain
Ascend to heaven, in honour of my Love.
Were I as high as heaven above the plain,
And you, my Love, as humble and as low
As are the deepest bottoms of the main,
Whereso’er you were, with you my love should go.
Were you the earth, dear Love, and I the skies,
My love should shine on you like to the sun,
And look upon you with ten thousand eyes
Till heaven wax’d blind, and till the world were done.
Whereso’er I am, below, or else above you,
Whereso’er you are, my heart shall truly love you.
Joshua Sylvester
* Chocolove bars are made in Boulder, CO with Belgian chocolate. YUM.