Friday, March 22, 2019

"Chanson Innocente" by E. E. Cummings

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." So wrote American editor and columnist Doug Larson. Here is the untitled poem "in Just-," the first of the "Chansons Innocentes" by American poet E. E. Cummings in his book Tulips & Chimneys (1923).


in Just-
spring        when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far       and       wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
        the

             goat-footed

balloonMan        whistles
far
and
wee


Tulips

Thursday, March 14, 2019

"The Lion and the Ass": Two Fables of Aesop

THE LION AND THE ASS
Two Fables of Aesop
from The Aesop for Children (1919)

     One day as the Lion walked proudly down a forest aisle, and the animals respectfully made way for him, an Ass brayed a scornful remark as he passed.
     The Lion felt a flash of anger. But when he turned his head and saw who had spoken, he walked quietly on. He would not honor the fool with even so much as a stroke of his claws.
     Do not resent the remarks of a fool. Ignore them.

     A Lion and an Ass agreed to go hunting together. In their search for game the hunters saw a number of Wild Goats run into a cave, and laid plans to catch them. The Ass was to go into the cave and drive the Goats out, while the Lion would stand at the entrance to strike them down.
     The plan worked beautifully. The Ass made such a frightful din in the cave, kicking and braying with all his might, that the Goats came running out in a panic of fear, only to fall victim to the Lion.
     The Ass came proudly out of the cave.
     "Did you see how I made them run?" he said.
     "Yes, indeed," answered the Lion, "and if I had not known you and your kind I should certainly have run, too."
     The loud-mouthed boaster does not impress nor frighten those who know him.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

"March" by William Cullen Bryant

The stormy March is come at last,
With wind, and cloud, and changing skies.
I hear the rushing of the blast,
That through the snowy valley flies.

Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild stormy month! in praise of thee;
Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,
Thou art a welcome month to me.

For thou, to northern lands, again
The glad and glorious sun dost bring,
And thou hast joined the gentle train
And wear'st the gentle name of Spring.

And, in thy reign of blast and storm,
Smiles many a long, bright, sunny day,
When the changed winds are soft and warm,
And heaven puts on the blue of May.

Then sing aloud the gushing rills
And the full springs, from frost set free,
That, brightly leaping down the hills,
Are just set out to meet the sea.

The year's departing beauty hides
Of wintry storms the sullen threat;
But in thy sternest frown abides
A look of kindly promise yet.

Thou bring'st the hope of those calm skies,
And that soft time of sunny showers,
When the wide bloom, on earth that lies,
Seems of a brighter world than ours.


Source: Poem Hunter

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

Sunday, March 10, 2019

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth

English Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wrote;

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 margins 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.

William Wordsworth

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

"Lent" by Miriam LeFevre Crouse

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.


LENT
by Miriam LeFevre Crouse

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem again --
The long, hazardous climb, and then
The menacing city upon the hill;
It is time to go with Christ and his twelve men.

Let us all go up to Jerusalem, bend
The will to the tortuous way till the end --
Those of the curious gaze, the blind,
The sick, the lame by the road, betrayer and friend.

Let us go. The palms and the singing trees await
In Jerusalem, the greed and the hate;
The upper room and Gethsemane,
The judgment hall and death without the gate.

We shall run to the garden the third dawn
And, stooping, find that our Lord is gone
From the tomb; at the Voice, we shall turn and know
That the living Christ bids us rejoice and be on.

Every trail of the stars, of the earth and the sea,
The roads of the past, and those to be,
Christ walks on his way to Jerusalem;
And it is time to go up in his company.


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


Monday, March 4, 2019

Abraham Lincoln: "With Malice Toward None"

On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term of office; with the end of the Civil War in sight, Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address declared:

With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Walt Whitman: Citizen Poet

In honor of Walt Whitman's 200th birthday, the Poetry Foundation presents Walt Whitman: Citizen Poet. Produced and directed by Haydn Reiss and Zinc Films, this short film introduces an American original whose influence on contemporary poets remains vital, and whose work helped define a young democracy's promise and its bold, independent identity. Whitman's poetry unites us in freedom and our compassionate, common humanity.
     --Poetry Foundation, February 20, 2019

Watch the video >>

American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
with a (fake) butterfly

Sunday, March 3, 2019

"The Lord Is Thy Keeper" from the Bible

May you never miss a rainbow or a sunset because you are looking down. As the psalmist might have said, "Lift up thine eyes unto the hills."


THE LORD IS THY KEEPER
from the Bible: Psalm 121 (King James Version)

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.
From whence cometh my help?
My help cometh from the Lord,
Which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper:
The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day,
Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
He shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
From this time forth, and even for evermore.



An untitled poem by Emily Dickinson: "March is the Month of Expectation."

March is the Month of Expectation.
The things we do not know --
The Persons of prognostication
Are coming now --
We try to show becoming firmness --
But pompous Joy
Betrays us, as his first Betrothal
Betrays a Boy.

     --Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)


American poet

Saturday, March 2, 2019

February Haiku: Found Poems from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau

February Haiku by Zphx on Twitter:
Found Poems from the Journals
of Henry David Thoreau

February 6, 2019, tweet: A mistiness makes

February 12, 2019, tweet: Three haiku

February 15, 2019, tweet: Three haiku

February 16, 2019, tweet: Inhale clear bright air

February 22, 2019, tweet: Two haiku

February 26, 2019, tweet: Morning snow turns to

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
American writer

Untitled poem by Emily Dickinson: "We like March -- his shoes are Purple."

We like March -- his shoes are Purple.
He is new and high --
Makes he Mud for Dog and Peddler --
Makes he Forests Dry --
Knows the Adder's Tongue his coming
And begets her spot --
Stands the Sun so close and mighty --
That our Minds are hot.
News is he of all the others --
Bold it were to die
With the Blue Birds buccaneering
On his British sky --
   
     --Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

American poet

Friday, March 1, 2019

Untitled poem by Emily Dickinson: "Dear March -- Come in -- "

Dear March -- Come in --
How glad I am --
I hoped for you before --
Put down your Hat --
You must have walked --
How out of Breath you are --
Dear March, how are you, and the Rest --
Did you leave Nature well --
Oh March, Come right up stairs with me --
I have so much to tell --

I got your Letter, and the Birds --
The Maples never knew that you were coming -- till I called
I declare -- how Red their Faces grew --
But March, forgive me -- and
All those Hills you left for me to Hue --
There was no Purple suitable --
You took it all with you --

Who knocks? That April.
Lock the Door --
I will not be pursued --
He stayed away a Year to call
When I am occupied --
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come

That Blame is just as dear as Praise
And Praise as mere as Blame --

     --Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)


American poet