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Re: Poem on your mind
Penelope wrote:
Quote:
readnsurf wrote:
Sometimes poem are the best way to express your feelings.....
Well, you can say a lot in a very few words with poetry. My favourite succinct line is TS Eliot'sI have measured out my life in coffee spoons from the Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock.
What are other favourite lines which evoke a big feeling in a few words?
I like the line from Prufrock too. Here is one of my favorites, it is from Mary Oliver's Wild Geese - You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
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Re: Poem on your mind
Penelope wrote:
As for sexy. Song of Solomon is very erotic poetry indeed. It is supposed to be a conversation between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Queen of Sheba is depicted on the carved wall panelling of Chartres Cathedral: she is very obviously a beautiful black woman running off with what appears to be the ark of the covenant, taking it back to her home, to Abysinia, where she gave birth to Solomon's son. I must own that I have been twice to Chartres Cathedral, but I've never found this panel yet.
Well, Penny, I couldn't NOT post this. It is quite erotic. Of course, 'erotic' is contextual, a matter of time and place and culture, and of course this is the Old Testament not some cheap romance novel of that era ... I guess a woman would like to be compared to a company of horses back then, especially Pharoah's horses! Sorry, the formatting is less than perfect ...
The Song of Solomon
The Daughters of Jerusalem
1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.
3 Because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the King hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
The Bride and the Bridegroom
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.
11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
12 While the King sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Enge'di.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.
17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2000.
And a line of poetry that conveys a lot of meaning in a few words .. Robert Frost - Birches:
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Re: Poem on your mind
Saffron wrote:
I am still puzzling the last 2 lines. Are we not to piety her? The possibility that her eyes were open - does that imply volition? Falling toward the city, does that imply she belongs with the city?
It's not inconceivable that my eyes were open. It's possible I fell facing the city.
I wonder about the word 'fell' in the last line - possible double meaning, so is it 'fell from grace' rather than the simple physical meaning of 'fell'?
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Re: Poem on your mind
Saffron wrote:
Penelope wrote:
Quote:
readnsurf wrote:
Sometimes poem are the best way to express your feelings.....
Well, you can say a lot in a very few words with poetry. My favourite succinct line is TS Eliot'sI have measured out my life in coffee spoons from the Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock.
What are other favourite lines which evoke a big feeling in a few words?
I like the line from Prufrock too. Here is one of my favorites, it is from Mary Oliver's Wild Geese - You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Apart from poetry, i love to read tales... one of the best book is Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah... With nice stories he has given the valuable pieces of advice. This one of the best line from the story "Never believe anything which is contrary to sense, without proof."
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Re: Poem on your mind
Quote:
Saffron wrote:
Are we not to piety her? The possibility that her eyes were open - does that imply volition? Falling toward the city, does that imply she belongs with the city?
Are we not to pity her? I think this is implying that a strictly orthodox preacher would say that we should judge her and not be like her because she disobeyed God's and her husbands instructions, not to look back. But the poetess is asking 'Why should we not have pity on her?'
The possibility that her eyes were open - does that imply volition? If she was turning away from the wind, in a sand storm say, she would have her eyes closed and would not be looking back at all just facing that way. If her eyes were open, does that mean she was deliberately looking?
Falling toward the city, does that imply she belongs with the city? I'm wondering if something is lost in translation here. If it read, Facing toward, instead of Falling toward, it means the poet is asking a legitimate question, just because she was facing the city, does it mean that she was corrupt and belonged there?
If it really is the word 'Falling' perhaps it is implying that she is a fallen woman. If they had turned her into a pillar of salt, they would say that wouldn't they?
I have heard it said that the fact that she became salt was significant, in that salt is purifying and Christians are taught to be 'the salt of the earth'.
You are the salt of the earth You are the salt of the earth But if that salt has lost it's flavor It ain't got much in its favor You can't have that fault and be the salt of the earth!
(chorus): So let your light so shine before men Let your light so shine So that they might know some kindness again We all need help to feel fine (let's have some wine!)
Godspell
readnsurf, I will look out for Idries Shah. I have recently been reading about the poet/sage Rumi.
giselle wrote:
Quote:
Well, Penny, I couldn't NOT post this. It is quite erotic. Of course, 'erotic' is contextual, a matter of time and place and culture
One person's erotic is another person's pornographic. I think it is just sexy, delightful poetry. And 'Comfort me with apples for I am sick of love' is one of those lines which says a lot in a few words.
_________________ Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.
He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....
Rafael Sabatini
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Re: Poem on your mind
New Year's Poem
The Christmas twigs crispen and needles rattle Along the window-ledge.
A solitary pearl Shed from the necklace spilled at last week’s party Lies in the suety, snow-luminous plainness Of morning, on the window-ledge beside them.
And all the furniture that circled stately And hospitable when these rooms were brimmed With perfumes, furs, and black-and-silver Crisscross of seasonal conversation, lapses Into its previous largeness.
I remember Anne’s rose-sweet gravity, and the stiff grave Where cold so little can contain; I mark the queer delightful skull and crossbones Starlings and sparrows left, taking the crust, And the long loop of winter wind Smoothing its arc from dark Arcturus down To the bricked corner of the drifted courtyard, And the still window-ledge.
Gentle and just pleasure It is, being human, to have won from space This unchill, habitable interior Which mirrors quietly the light Of the snow, and the new year.
Margaret Avison
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Re: Poem on your mind
This is one sexy poem and by an Edwardian childrens' writer to boot. I knew she led an unorthodox life and I love this poem, although it did surprise me when I stumbled upon it this afternoon:-
Lays and Legends (1886) II. The Depths of the Sea By Edith (Nesbit) Bland (1858–1924)
She deemed her soulless life was almost fair, Yet ever dreamed that in the upper air Lay happiness—supreme in mystery; Then saw him—out of reach as you I see— 5 Worshipped his strength, the brown breast broad and bare, The arms that bent the oar, and grew aware Of what life means, and why it is good to be; And yearned for him with all her body sweet, Her lithe cold arms, and chill wet bosom’s beat, 10 Vowed him her beauty’s unillumined shrine: So I—seeing you above me—turn and tire, Sick with an empty ache of long desire To drag you down, to hold you, make you mine!
II. Attained at last—the lifelong longing’s prize! 15 Raped from the world of air where warm loves glow She bears him through her water-world below; Yet in those strange, glad, fair, mysterious eyes The shadow of the after-sorrow lies, And of the coming hour, when she shall know 20 What she has lost in having gained him so, And whether death life’s longing satisfies. She shall find out the meaning of despair, And know the anguish of a granted prayer, And how, all ended, all is yet undone. 25 So I—I long for what, far off, you shine, Not what you must be ere you could be mine, That which would crown despair if it were won.
_________________ Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.
He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....
Rafael Sabatini
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Re: Poem on your mind
A lovely poem for New Year's Eve:-
Ithaca
When you set out for Ithaka ask that your way be long, full of adventure, full of instruction. The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops, angry Poseidon - do not fear them: such as these you will never find as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare emotion touch your spirit and your body. The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops, angry Poseidon - you will not meet them unless you carry them in your soul, unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long. At many a Summer dawn to enter with what gratitude, what joy - ports seen for the first time; to stop at Phoenician trading centres, and to buy good merchandise, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensuous perfumes of every kind, sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can; to visit many Egyptian cities, to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind. Your arrival there is what you are destined for. But don't in the least hurry the journey. Better it last for years, so that when you reach the island you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth. Ithaka gave you a splendid journey. Without her you would not have set out. She hasn't anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you. So wise you have become, of such experience, that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
Constantine P. Cavafy
_________________ Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.
He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....
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Re: Poem on your mind
Grim wrote:
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core.
-W.B. Yeats
Mr.Lionel Fortague said he would settle down on Innisfree, the home of iridescent chitchat. He said he would a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made. Everyone said did he mean he would build a small cabin there, made of clay and wattles? Mr.Lionel Fortague said yes,but his way of putting it was more poetic. Everyone said maybe, but they were all out of wattles… He a fierce-looking dog at an annual clearance sale bought, and it the people of Innisfree one by one to bite he instructed. My, he was disappointed: He had forgotten that a bargain dog never bites.
Ogden Nash
_________________ "I have a great relationship with the blacks." Donald J. Trump
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Re: Poem on your mind
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep Sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.
-- George Gordon, Lord Byron
_________________ "I have a great relationship with the blacks." Donald J. Trump
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Re: Poem on your mind
I’m having difficulty replying via the new phone ap. but I am enjoying reading them. I got a lovely new big iPhone for my recent birthday so it does make things easier.
Pen
_________________ Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.
He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....
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