"Haiku: April" by Monty Gilmer

Here is a new haiku of mine that first appeared in the 24th Edition, the Spring 2017 edition, of The Bluestone Review, a literary magazine published annually at Bluefield College.


HAIKU: APRIL
by Monty Gilmer

Now that April has
Strewed at our feet dozens of
Daisies, it is spring.

Daisy

John Stuart Mill and his Principles of Political Economy

JOHN STUART MILL
A clerihew from Biography for Beginners (1905)
by Edmund Clerihew Bentley

John Stuart Mill,
By a mighty effort of will,
Overcame his natural bonhomie
And wrote "Principles of Political Economy."

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

English philosopher and economist

Four great quotations from Principles of Political Economy (1848)

by John Stuart Mill

"Man's power over Nature should be used to shorten the hours of work."

"Unproductive consumption, if it adds to the joy of life, may be regarded as a true economic surplus."

"There is not much satisfaction in contemplating a world with scarcely a place where a wild shrub or flower could grow without being eradicated as a weed in the name of improved agriculture."

"Money is only a medium of exchange."

Principles of Political Economy (1848)

by John Stuart Mill

A Poem by Emily Dickinson about Fire and Flood

Here is a short, untitled poem by Emily Dickinson.


You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --

You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor --

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

American poet

Sybil Ludington, the Female Paul Revere

The first stanza of the poem "Sybil Ludington's Ride" (1940), by American poet Berton Braley, reads:

     Listen, my children, and you shall hear
     Of a lovely feminine Paul Revere
     Who rode an equally famous ride
     Through a different part of the countryside,
     Where Sybil Ludington's name recalls
     A ride as daring as that of Paul's.

On this day in 1777, according to a widely accepted account from the American Revolutionary War, 16-year-old Sybil Ludington (1761-1839), the eldest child of Colonel Henry Ludington, a militia commander in Dutchess County, New York, rode her horse into the night to alert her father's men of the approach of British regular troops who were sacking Danbury, Connecticut. (Ludington, sometimes referred to as "the female Paul Revere," was said to have covered forty miles, more than twice the distance of the Boston silversmith's ride.)

Statue of Sybil Ludington in Carmel, New York

by Anna Hyatt Huntington

Epigram from a Letter by Emily Dickinson

Who could be motherless

who has a Mother's Grave

within confiding reach?

~

Source: New Poems of Emily Dickinson (1993),

Edited by William H. Shurr

with Anna Dunlap & Emily Grey Shurr

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

American poet

A Poem by Emily Dickinson about Charlotte Bronte

Here is an untitled poem that American poet Emily Dickinson wrote about English writer Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855). Charlotte Bronte wrote under the name of "Currer Bell." She lived in Haworth, Yorkshire.


All overgrown by cunning moss,
All interspersed with weed,
The little cage of "Currer Bell"
In quiet "Haworth" laid.

This Bird -- observing others
When frosts too sharp became
Retire to other latitudes --
Quietly did the same --

But differed in returning --
Since Yorkshire hills are green --
Yet not in all the nests I meet --
Can Nightingale be seen --

Gathered from many wanderings --
Gethsemane can tell
Thro' what transporting anguish
She reached the Asphodel!

Soft fall the sounds of Eden
Upon her puzzled ear --
Oh what an afternoon for Heaven,
When "Bronte" entered there!

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

"Turn the Other Cheek": A Poem of Jesus Christ

In his April 23, 2017, letter to the editor of his local daily newspaper Ron Schoenhardt wrote in part, "I am a Christian and understand 'thou shalt not kill.' . . . Since I am a senior citizen, I remember 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Some people will certainly disagree with what I say next, but I firmly believed that whatever means a person used to kill someone, the murderer should be put to death by the same method." Jesus Christ would certainly disagree with that. Is Mr. Schoenhardt a Christian? A Christian is one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Here in this poem is what Jesus Christ taught about retribution in kind, "an eye for an eye" (Exodus 21:24).


TURN THE OTHER CHEEK
A Poem of Jesus Christ
from the Bible: Matthew 5:38-42 (King James Version)

Ye have heard that it hath been said,
"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth":
But I say unto you,
That ye resist not evil:
But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
Turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law,
And take away thy coat,
Let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
Go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee,
And from him that would borrow of thee
Turn not thou away.

A Reminiscence

Here is an elegy by English writer Anne Bronte (1820-1849).


A REMINISCENCE

Yes, thou art gone! and never more
Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;
But I may pass the old church door,
And pace the floor that covers thee,

May stand upon the cold, damp stone,
And think that, frozen, lies below
The lightest heart that I have known,
The kindest I shall ever know.

Yet, though I cannot see thee more,
'Tis still a comfort to have seen;
And though thy transient life is o'er,
'Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;

To think a soul so near divine,
Within a form, so angel fair,
United to a heart like thine,
Has gladdened once our humble sphere.


Source: Best Poems of the Bronte Sisters (Dover, 1997) by Emily, Anne and Charlotte Bronte

A sketch of Anne Bronte by sister Charlotte,

circa 1834

"The Fool's Song" by William Carlos Williams

Read the classic poem "The Fool's Song" by William Carlos Williams.

William Carlos Williams, 1883-1963

American poet and physician

"On the Death of Anne Brontë" by Charlotte Brontë

Read this elegy by English writer Charlotte Bronte, who was born on this day in 1816: On the Death of Anne Brontë by Charlotte Brontë

English writer Anne Bronte (1820-1849) was one of Charlotte's sisters. Her other sister was English writer Emily Bronte (1818-1848).

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855)

"The Lord Is My Shepherd" : The King James Bible

"'Though thou walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death,

I will be with thee.'"

So wrote American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886),

as if she were quoting the Lord, "my shepherd."

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

A Psalm of David

from the Bible: Psalm 23 (King James Version)

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness

For his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

For thou art with me;

Thy rod and thy staff

They comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me

In the presence of mine enemies:

Thou anointest my head with oil;

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life:

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

For ever.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene : The Bible

In the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, John 20:14 says that on the first day of the week (the Day of Resurrection) Mary Magdalene "turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus." As my mother Evelyn M. Gilmer (1923-2016) wrote of Mary Magdalene,

     She looked at Christ with earthly eyes,
     And, so, she failed to recognize
        The risen Lord.


JESUS APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE
from the Bible: John 20:11-18 (Revised Standard Version)

     But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her,

     "Woman, why are you weeping?
     Whom do you seek?"

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her,

     "Do not hold me,
     For I have not yet ascended to the Father;
     But go to my brethren and say to them,
     I am ascending to my Father and your Father,
     To my God and your God."

Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Holy Saturday, the Day of Silence

THE GUARD AT THE TOMB
from the Bible: Matthew 27:62-66 (King James Version)

     Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, 'After three days I will rise again.' Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, 'He is risen from the dead': so the last error shall be worse than the first." Pilate said unto them, "Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can." So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.


UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE
A hymn (1874) by Robert Lowry

Low in the grave he lay,
   Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day,
   Jesus my Lord!

Refrain:
Up from the grave he arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed,
   Jesus my Savior;
Vainly they seal the dead,
   Jesus my Lord!

Refrain

Death cannot keep its prey,
   Jesus my Savior;
He tore the bars away,
   Jesus my Lord!

Refrain

"Good Friday" by Christina G. Rossetti : Christ in Poetry

GOOD FRIDAY
by Christina G. Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
   That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
   To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,

And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
   Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
   Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
   Which hid their faces in a starless sky.
   A horror of great darkness at broad noon --
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er
   But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
   Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.


Source: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark

Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

English poet

"Wednesday in Holy Week" by Christina G. Rossetti : Christ in Poetry

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
by Christina G. Rossetti

Man's life is death. Yet Christ endured to live
   Preaching and teaching, toiling to and fro,
Few men accepting what he yearned to give,
   Few men with eyes to know
   His face, that Face of Love he stooped to show.

Man's death is life. For Christ endured to die
   In slow unuttered weariness of pain,
A curse and an astonishment, passed by,
   Pointed at, mocked again
   By men for whom he shed his blood -- in vain?


Source: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark

Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

English poet

"Riding Through Jerusalem" by Marion Susan Campbell : Christ in Poetry

RIDING THROUGH JERUSALEM
by Marion Susan Campbell

I thought it strange he asked for me,
   And bade me carry him,
The noblest one of all the earth,
   Into Jerusalem!

But rumor goes he loved the meek
   And such on him might call,
That may be why he trusted me
   The humblest beast of all.

Yet though he was so great and wise
   Unequaled in his might,
I scarcely knew I bore a King,
   So light he rode -- so light!

They sang Hosannah in the streets,
   But I have heard men say
The only time they praised their King
   Was when he rode that day.

Men pushed and shouted all around,
   The air was thick with cries,
They spread their garments at my feet,
   And palms before mine eyes.

They strewed the narrow road with boughs
   And barred my path again --
But the tenderest hand I ever felt
   Was on my bridle chain.


Source: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark

"My Garden" by Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897)

"The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" So begins a Psalm of David, Psalm 14, in the King James Version of the Bible. Manx poet, scholar and teacher Thomas Edward Brown, who was also a theologian, was a wise man who believed there is a God. Here is a poem of his about his garden and about God.


MY GARDEN

A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,
   Fringed pool,
Ferned grot --
   The veriest school
   Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not --
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
      Nay, but I have a sign;
      'Tis very sure God walks in mine.

From the Thirty-seventh Psalm : The Bible

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
And the tongue talketh of judgment.
The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps shall slide.
     -- The Bible: Psalm 37:30-31 (King James Version)

The good mouth will in wisdom bide,
             His tongue of heavenly judgments telleth;
             For God's high law in his heart dwelleth:
What comes thereof? he shall not slide.
     -- Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

"Prosperity Comes from the Lord" : The King James Bible

PROSPERITY COMES FROM THE LORD
from the Bible: Psalm 127 (King James Version)

Except the Lord build the house,
They labor in vain that build it:
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows:
For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord:
And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
So are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:
They shall not be ashamed,
But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

"You Are Old, Father William" by Lewis Carroll - Poem of the Day

Listen to a recording of an unnamed woman reading this humorous poem, a poem that is good for children . . . and also good for adults: You Are Old, Father William - Poem of the Day

Lewis Carroll

(Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832,

he was an English mathematician and writer

who died in 1898.)

"The Final Say: Nothing" by Monty Gilmer

THE FINAL SAY: NOTHING

by Monty Gilmer

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

     -- Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)

I have nothing to say

and I am saying it       and that is

poetry.

     -- John Cage (1912-1992)