Poem of the moment

[Saffron]

I wither and you break from me;
yet though you dance in living light
I am the earth, I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.

Wow, I love the last stanza! Thanks, Rose. I am so glad to have more people posting on the poetry forum. I can't wait to share this poem with my daughters.

[Saffron]

A little Shakespeare for Halloween!

On NPR's All Things Considered second graders take on Macbeth's three witches.
Three Witches on NPR

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

from Macbeth

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:

[Saffron]

I don't really know why but for today two pieces of love poems.
NOTE: I inserted the dashes to represent an open space or indentation; as I can't figure out how to do it any other way.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Love Bade Me Welcome

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
-Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
-From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
-If I lacked any thing.


And

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

Drink to me only with thine eyes,
-And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
-And I'll not look for wine.

[Rose Kolarich]

Rosie, that poem illustrates how different the experiences of the genders are. I generalize, but a father's feelings can't be anything like that. I know mine weren't. Well, women are lucky in that regard. But still men wouldn't be offering to change places!
DWill

Hmm, fatherhood poems DWill?


Little Brown Baby

Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes,
Come to yo' pappy an' set on his knee.
What you been doin', suh -- makin' san' pies?
Look at dat bib -- you's es du'ty ez me.
Look at dat mouf -- dat's merlasses, I bet;
Come hyeah, Maria, an' wipe off his han's.
Bees gwine to ketch you an' eat you up yit,
Bein' so sticky an sweet -- goodness lan's!
Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes,
Who's pappy's darlin' an' who's pappy's chile?
Who is it all de day nevah once tries
Fu' to be cross, er once loses dat smile?
Whah did you git dem teef? My, you's a scamp!
Whah did dat dimple come f'om in yo' chin?
Pappy do' know you -- I b'lieves you's a tramp;
Mammy, dis hyeah's some ol' straggler got in!

Let's th'ow him outen de do' in de san',
We do' want stragglers a-layin' 'roun' hyeah;
Let's gin him 'way to de big buggah-man;
I know he's hidin' erroun' hyeah right neah.
Buggah-man, buggah-man, come in de do',
Hyeah's a bad boy you kin have fu' to eat.
Mammy an' pappy do' want him no mo',
Swaller him down f'om his haid to his feet!

Dah, now, I t'ought dat you'd hug me up close.
Go back, ol' buggah, you sha'n't have dis boy.
He ain't no tramp, ner no straggler, of co'se;
He's pappy's pa'dner an' play-mate an' joy.
Come to you' pallet now -- go to yo' res';
Wisht you could allus know ease an' cleah skies;
Wisht you could stay jes' a chile on my breas'--
Little brown baby wif spa'klin' eyes!

Paul Laurence Dunbar

[Rose Kolarich]

I love that Herbert poem Saffron, thank you, especially the first two lines:

"Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
-Guilty of dust and sin."

The poem seems to be about communication between different parts of the self: the soul which holds memories of sin, and the new emotion not yet admitted entrance but promising hope- love. Because of the personification of "soul" and "love" I also read the poem as being about communication between two people

[Saffron]

Isn't all beauty and all love pied?

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844

[Saffron]

It's an Emily Dickinson day --

Heart, we will forget him!
--You and I, tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
--I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
--That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you're lagging,
--I may remember him!

[Saffron]

For DWill: I heard this recited the other day and thought of you --

Emily Dickinson

I started early, took my dog,
And visited the sea;
The mermaids in the basement
Came out to look at me,

And frigates in the upper floor
Extended hempen hands,
Presuming me to be a mouse
Aground, upon the sands.

But no man moved me till the tide
Went past my simple shoe,
And past my apron and my belt,
And past my bodice too,

And made as he would eat me up
As wholly as a dew
Upon a dandelion's sleeve

[DWill]

Thanks. I really do like that one a lot, had never read it before. I'm fascinated with the misdirection of "took my dog"--who never appears again. But I'm glad she put him/her in, because this is why you thought of me, I bet. (And I'm about to take my dog now, may cross a stream or two.)
Will

[Saffron]

I just spoke to my mother on the phone. She was telling me that she'd just been to my brother's house. He was in the yard using a leaf blower. My young nephew was dancing in front of the spray of leaves as if he were in a shower. So, for CJ and his dad.


Gathering Leaves
by Robert Frost

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?