Archives for Poetry

Beth-Gelert or, The Grave of the Greyhound

July 4, 2009 | No Comments
[Richard and I attended a bluegrass music festival yesterday, and one of the songs had to have been taken from this original poem (hanky-alert!).]

The spearmen heard the bugle sound,
And cheerily smiled the morn,
And many a brach and many a hound
Obey’d Llewelyn’s horn.

And still he blew a louder blast,
And gave a lustier cheer:
“Come, Gelert, come, wert never last
Llewelyn’s horn to hear.”

“Oh! where does faithful Gelert roam,
The flow’r of all his race?
So true, so brave; a lamb at home,
A lion in the chase!”

(more…)

Categories: Poetry.

The Little Black Dog

April 9, 2009 | No Comments

I wonder if Christ had a little black dog,
All curly and wooly like mine,

With two silk ears and a nose round and wet,
And two eyes brown and tender that shine;

I’m sure if He had, that little black dog
Knew right from the first He was God,

That he needed no proofs that Christ was divine,
But just worshiped the ground He trod.

I’m afraid that He hadn’t, because I have read
How He prayed in the Garden alone,

When all of His friends and disciples had fled,
Even Peter, that one called a stone.

And Oh, I am sure that little black dog
With a true heart so tender and warm

Would never have left Him to suffer alone,
But creeping right under His arm,

Would have licked those dear fingers in agony clasped,
And counting all favors but loss,

When they led Him away, would have trotted behind
And followed Him quite to the cross.

— Elizabeth Gardner Reynolds

Categories: Poetry and Religion.

The Calf-Path

September 6, 2007 | No Comments

by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)

One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.

Since then three hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.

(more…)

Categories: Poetry.

A Rose . . . .

May 26, 2006 | No Comments

Many of us have heard the saying above. I took this pretty rose photo yesterday and wanted to put that saying on it. A search of the ‘net gave up the context it was written in, which provides much more insight into the saying.

We all remember Romeo and Juliet, lovers from families which hated each other. Juliet spoke these words to Romeo:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet . . . .

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

— William Shakespeare

Categories: Photography and Poetry.

I have a Friend

December 7, 2005 | No Comments

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
“Tomorrow” I say! “I will call on Jim
Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
“Here’s a telegram sir,” “Jim died today.”
And that’s what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.
Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love someone, tell them.
Don’t be afraid to express yourself.
Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.
Because when you decide that it is the right time it might be too late.
Seize the day. Never have regrets.
And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family,
for they have helped make you the person that you are today.

Categories: Poetry.
Tags: Story.

Our Deepest Fear

August 9, 2005 | No Comments

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure about you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson, from “A Return to Love”

Popularized when spoken by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 Inaugural speech
Categories: Poetry.
Tags: Sayings.

Trees

March 1, 2005 | No Comments

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

— Joyce Kilmer

Categories: Poetry.
Tags: Poetry.