Discipline by George Herbert

Discipline

by George Herbert

Throw away thy rod,

Throw away thy wrath:

                  O my God,

Take the gentle path.

For my heart’s desire

Unto thine is bent:

                  I aspire

To a full consent.

Not a word or look

I affect to own,

                  But by book,

And thy book alone.

Though I fail, I weep:

Though I halt in pace,

                  Yet I creep

To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove;

Love will do the deed:

                  For with love

Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot;

Love’s a man of war,

                  And can shoot,

And can hit from far.

Who can ’scape his bow?

That which wrought on thee,

                  Brought thee low,

Needs must work on me.

Throw away thy rod;

Though man frailties hath,

         Thou art God:

Throw away thy wrath.

Take the gentle path, that line always struck me. I read this one a long time ago and it stuck with me.  A link to read more is here.http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/george-herbert

Meeting at Night by Robert Browning

Meeting at Night

by Robert Browning

I

The grey sea and the long black land;

And the yellow half-moon large and low;

And the startled little waves that leap

In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

As I gain the cove with pushing prow,

And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

II

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;

Three fields to cross till a farm appears;

A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch

And blue spurt of a lighted match,

And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,

Than the two hearts beating each to each!

The ending on this poem is excellent. A link to learn more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Browning

A Song by Helen Maria Williams

A Song 

by Helen Maria Williams

                         I

No riches from his scanty store

   My lover could impart;

He gave a boon I valued more —

   He gave me all his heart!

                         II

His soul sincere, his generous worth,

   Might well this bosom move;

And when I asked for bliss on earth,

   I only meant his love.

                         III

But now for me, in search of gain

   From shore to shore he flies;

Why wander riches to obtain,

   When love is all I prize?

                         IV

The frugal meal, the lowly cot

   If blest my love with thee!

That simple fare, that humble lot,

   Were more than wealth to me.

                         V

While he the dangerous ocean braves,

   My tears but vainly flow:

Is pity in the faithless waves

   To which I pour my woe?

                         VI

The night is dark, the waters deep,

   Yet soft the billows roll;

Alas! at every breeze I weep —

   The storm is in my soul.

When someone gives their heart that is the treasure. A link to read more about this poet is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/helen-maria-williams

The Fog by William H Davies

The Fog
by William H Davies


I saw the fog grow thick,
Which soon made blind my ken;
It made tall men of boys,
And giants of tall men.

It clutched my throat, I coughed;
Nothing was in my head
Except two heavy eyes
Like balls of burning lead.

And when it grew so black
That I could know no place,
I lost all judgment then,
Of distance and of space.

The street lamps, and the lights
Upon the halted cars,
Could either be on earth
Or be the heavenly stars.

A man passed by me close,
I asked my way, he said,
"Come, follow me, my friend"—
I followed where he led.

He rapped the stones in front,
"Trust me," he said, "and come";
I followed like a child—
A blind man led me home.


How sometimes we can lose our way, wonderful metaphor using the fog. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Davies

A Celebration of Charis: I. His Excuse for Loving

BY BEN JONSON

Let it not your wonder move,

Less your laughter, that I love.

Though I now write fifty years,

I have had, and have, my peers;

Poets, though divine, are men,

Some have lov'd as old again.

And it is not always face,

Clothes, or fortune, gives the grace;

Or the feature, or the youth.

But the language and the truth,

With the ardour and the passion,

Gives the lover weight and fashion.

If you then will read the story,

First prepare you to be sorry

That you never knew till now

Either whom to love or how;

But be glad, as soon with me,

When you know that this is she

Of whose beauty it was sung;

She shall make the old man young,

Keep the middle age at stay,

And let nothing high decay,

Till she be the reason why

All the world for love may die.

Great old poem on love and aging. A link to learn more is here. 

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/

Like Snow by Robert Graves

Like Snow
by Robert Graves


She, then, like snow in a dark night,
Fell secretly. And the world waked
With dazzling of the drowsy eye,
So that some muttered 'Too much light',
And drew the curtains close.
Like snow, warmer than fingers feared,
And to soil friendly;
Holding the histories of the night
In yet unmelted tracks.


I ran across this one today and loved it. A link to learn more is here.http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-graves

Of the last verses in the book by Edmund Waller

Of the Last Verses in the Book

BY EDMUND WALLER

When we for age could neither read nor write,

The subject made us able to indite.

The soul, with nobler resolutions deckt,

The body stooping, does herself erect:

No mortal parts are requisite to raise

Her, that unbodied can her Maker praise.

The seas are quiet, when the winds give o’er,

So calm are we, when passions are no more:

For then we know how vain it was to boast

Of fleeting things, so certain to be lost.

Clouds of affection from our younger eyes

Conceal that emptiness, which age descries.

The soul’s dark cottage, batter’d and decay’d,

Lets in new light through chinks that time has made;

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become

As they draw near to their eternal home:

Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,

That stand upon the threshold of the new.

This is a great old poem. I can contemplate this one, I especially like the 13 and 14 lines. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Waller

Sonnets from the Portuguese 14: If Thou by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese 14: If Thou

BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way

Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—

For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may

Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Well said, sometimes it takes us a while to love for love's sake. A link to read more is here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning

Sonnet XV: When I consider everything that grows by William Shakespeare

Sonnet XV: When I Consider everything that grows

by William Shakespeare

When I consider everything that grows

Holds in perfection but a little moment,

That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows

Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;

When I perceive that men as plants increase,

Cheered and check'd even by the selfsame sky,

Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,

And wear their brave state out of memory;

Then the conceit of this inconstant stay

Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,

Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay

To change your day of youth to sullied night;

And all in war with Time for love of you,

As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

Timeless poetry. A link to read more is here.http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/122

Song of Aragorn by JRR Tolkien

Song of Aragorn 
by JRR Tolkien


All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.




From the Merchant of Venice the Prince of Morocco
by William Shakespeare


All that glisters is not gold;Often have you heard that told:Many a man his life hath soldBut my outside to behold:Gilded tombs do worms enfold.Had you been as wise as bold,Young in limbs, in judgement oldYour answer had not been inscroll'dFare you well, your suit is cold.


Written centuries apart but share a common idea. A link is here to learn more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

Immortal Sails by Alfred Noyes

Immortal Sails

BY ALFRED NOYES

Now, in a breath, we’ll burst those gates of gold,   

   And ransack heaven before our moment fails.   

Now, in a breath, before we, too, grow old,

   We’ll mount and sing and spread immortal sails.

It is not time that makes eternity.

   Love and an hour may quite out-span the years,   

And give us more to hear and more to see   

   Than life can wash away with all its tears.

Dear, when we part, at last, that sunset sky

   Shall not be touched with deeper hues than this;   

But we shall ride the lightning ere we die

   And seize our brief infinitude of bliss,

With time to spare for all that heaven can tell,   

While eyes meet eyes, and look their last farewell.

Great poem on the brevity of life. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/alfred-noyes

The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake

The Clod and the Pebble

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

"Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay

Trodden with the cattle's feet,

But a Pebble of the brook

Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only self to please,

To bind another to its delight,

Joys in another's loss of ease,

And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

This is good, two views of love. Alliteration is great. To read more a link is here. http://www.online-literature.com/blake/

Modern Love XXX by George Meredith

Modern Love XXX

BY GEORGE MEREDITH

What are we first? First, animals; and next   

Intelligences at a leap; on whom   

Pale lies the distant shadow of the tomb,   

And all that draweth on the tomb for text.   

Into which state comes Love, the crowning sun:   

Beneath whose light the shadow loses form.   

We are the lords of life, and life is warm.   

Intelligence and instinct now are one.   

But nature says: "My children most they seem   

When they least know me: therefore I decree   

That they shall suffer." Swift doth young Love flee,   

And we stand wakened, shivering from our dream.   

Then if we study Nature we are wise.   

Thus do the few who live but with the day:   

The scientific animals are they—

Lady, this is my sonnet to your eyes.

I really like this one, great ending. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/george-meredith

The Smile by William Blake

The Smile

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

There is a smile of love,

And there is a smile of deceit,

And there is a smile of smiles

In which these two smiles meet;

And there is a frown of hate,

And there is a frown of disdain,

And there is a frown of frowns

Which you strive to forget in vain,

For it sticks in the heart's deep core,

And it sticks in the deep back bone,

And no smile that ever was smil'd,

But only one smile alone

That betwixt the cradle and grave

It only once smil'd can be,

But when it once is smil'd,

There's an end to all misery.

Smiling is good. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-blake

October, 1803 by William Wordsworth

October, 1803
by William Wordsworth

These times strike monied worldlings with dismay:

Even rich men, brave by nature, taint the air

With words of apprehension and despair:

While tens of thousands, thinking on the affray,

Men unto whom sufficient for the day

And minds not stinted or untilled are given,

Sound, healthy, children of the God of heaven,

Are cheerful as the rising sun in May.

What do we gather hence but firmer faith

That every gift of noble origin

Is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath;

That virtue and the faculties within

Are vital,—and that riches are akin

To fear, to change, to cowardice, and death?

Brilliant and timeless. A link to read more is here. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jwordsworth.htm

Fragment 7: When Hope but made Tranquility be felt by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Fragment 7: When Hope but made Tranquillity be felt

BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

When Hope but made Tranquillity be felt—

A Flight of Hopes for ever on the wing

But made Tranquillity a conscious Thing—

And wheeling round and round in sportive coil

Fann'd the calm air upon the brow of Toil—

I like reading these fragments. A link to read more is here. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/samuel-taylor-coleridge

"I loved you first: but afterwards your love" By Christina Rossetti

"I loved you first: but afterwards your love"

BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

I loved you first: but afterwards your love

    Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song

As drowned the friendly cooings of my dove.

    Which owes the other most? my love was long,

    And yours one moment seemed to wax more strong;

I loved and guessed at you, you construed me

And loved me for what might or might not be –

    Nay, weights and measures do us both a wrong.

For verily love knows not ‘mine’ or ‘thine;’

    With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,

         For one is both and both are one in love:

Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’

         Both have the strength and both the length thereof,

Both of us, of the love which makes us one.

Beautiful love poem. I want to remember this one. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossetti

Sigh No More by William Shakespeare

"Sigh No More"

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.

    Men were deceivers ever,

One foot in sea, and one on shore,

    To one thing constant never.

Then sigh not so, but let them go,

    And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

    Into hey nonny, nonny.

Sigh no more ditties, sing no more

    Of dumps so dull and heavy.

The fraud of men was ever so

    Since summer first was leafy.

Then sigh not so, but let them go,

    And be you blithe and bonny,

Converting all your sounds of woe

    Into hey, nonny, nonny.

Shakespeare is just great. Humor and insight. A link to read more is here.http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-shakespeare

The Sorrow of True Love by Edward Thomas

The Sorrow of True Love 

BY EDWARD THOMAS

The sorrow of true love is a great sorrow

And true love parting blackens a bright morrow:

Yet almost they equal joys, since their despair

Is but hope blinded by its tears, and clear

Above the storm the heavens wait to be seen.

But greater sorrow from less love has been

That can mistake lack of despair for hope

And knows not tempest and the perfect scope

Of summer, but a frozen drizzle perpetual

Of drops that from remorse and pity fall

And cannot ever shine in the sun or thaw,

Removed eternally from the sun’s law.

Wonderful poetry, something to think about. A link to read more is here.http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/edward-thomas

Sea Fever by John Masefield

Sea Fever 

BY JOHN MASEFIELD

I must go down to the seas again,

to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship

and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song

and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and

a grey dawn breaking,

 

I must down to the seas again,

for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call

that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day

with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume,

and the sea-gulls crying.

 

I must down to the seas again,

to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way

where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn

from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream

when the long trick’s over.

Simple sentiments and imagery. A link to read more is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Masefield