Wednesday, August 24, 2011

At a Window by Carl Sandburg


At a Window

BY CARL SANDBURG

Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!


But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love.

Slimply said. A link to read more of his poems is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sandburg

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth


I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Wonderful imagery and so sweet. A link to read more is here. http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Long time a child, and still a child, when years by Hartley Coleridge


Long time a child, and still a child, when years

BY HARTLEY COLERIDGE
Long time a child, and still a child, when years
Had painted manhood on my cheek, was I,—
For yet I lived like one not born to die;
A thriftless prodigal of smiles and tears,
No hope I needed, and I knew no fears.
But sleep, though sweet, is only sleep, and waking,
I waked to sleep no more, at once o’ertaking
The vanguard of my age, with all arrears
Of duty on my back. Nor child, nor man,
Nor youth, nor sage, I find my head is grey,
For I have lost the race I never ran:
A rathe December blights my lagging May;
And still I am a child, tho’ I be old,
Time is my debtor for my years untold.


Old poetry seldom ages. A link to learn more about this poet is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartley_Coleridge


Oft, in the Stilly Night (Scotch Air) by Thomas Moore


Oft, in the Stilly Night (Scotch Air)

BY THOMAS MOORE


Oft, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond memory brings the light
Of other days around me;
The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm’d and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain hath bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

When I remember all
The friends, so link’d together,
I’ve seen around me fall,
Like leaves in wintry weather;
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

Makes me think of the different periods in life. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/thomas-moore

When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats


When You Are Old

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
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.



I enjoy reading Yeats poetry. A link to read more is here. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/117

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Four-Leaf Clover by Ella Higginson


Four-Leaf Clover

BY ELLA HIGGINSON
I know a place where the sun is like gold,
   And the cherry blooms burst with snow,
And down underneath is the loveliest nook,
   Where the four-leaf clovers grow.


One leaf is for hope, and one is for faith,
   And one is for love, you know,
And God put another in for luck—
   If you search, you will find where they grow.


But you must have hope, and you must have faith,
   You must love and be strong – and so—
If you work, if you wait, you will find the place
      Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

A lovely sweet poem. A link to learn more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ella-higginson

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Sonnet XXV: Let those who are in Favour with their Stars by William Shakespeare


Sonnet XXV: Let those who are in Favour with their Stars - Let those who are in Favour with their Stars

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE




William ShakespeareLet those who are in favour with their stars
Of public honour and proud titles boast,
Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,
Unlook'd for joy in that I honour most.
Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread
But as the marigold at the sun's eye,
And in themselves their pride lies buried,
For at a frown they in their glory die.
The painful warrior famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foil'd,
Is from the book of honour razed quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd:
Then happy I, that love and am beloved
Where I may not remove nor be removed.

I love the language. A link is here to read more. http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-poems.htm


Reluctance by Robert Frost


Reluctance 
by Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods
   And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
   And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,

   And lo, it is ended.
The leaves are all dead on the ground,
   Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
   And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
   When others are sleeping.
And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
   No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
   The flowers of the witch hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
   But the feet question ‘Whither?’
Ah, when to the heart of man
   Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
   To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
   Of a love or a season?

Great set up and delivery. To learn more a link here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-frost

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Vain and Careless by Robert Graves


Vain and Careless

BY ROBERT GRAVES
Lady, lovely lady,
   Careless and gay!
Once when a beggar called
   She gave her child away.
 
The beggar took the baby,
   Wrapped it in a shawl,
“Bring her back,” the lady said,
   “Next time you call.”
 
Hard by lived a vain man,
   So vain and so proud,
He walked on stilts
   To be seen by the crowd.
 
Up above the chimney pots,
   Tall as a mast,
And all the people ran about
   Shouting till he passed.
 
“A splendid match surely,”
   Neighbours saw it plain,
“Although she is so careless,
   Although he is so vain.”
 
But the lady played bobcherry,
   Did not see or care,
As the vain man went by her
   Aloft in the air.
 
This gentle-born couple
   Lived and died apart.
Water will not mix with oil,
   Nor vain with careless heart.


Great poetry especially the ending. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Graves