"On the Grasshopper and Cricket" by John Keats : The Poetry Foundation

"The Poetry of earth is never dead." So begins this sonnet by English poet John Keats (1795-1821): On the Grasshopper and Cricket

John Keats

"The Earth Abideth for Ever" : The King James Bible

THE EARTH ABIDETH FOR EVER
from the Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:4-7 (King James Version)

One generation passeth away,
And another generation cometh:
But the earth abideth for ever.

The sun also ariseth,
And the sun goeth down,
And hasteth to his place where he arose.

The wind goeth toward the south,
And turneth about unto the north;
It whirleth about continually,
And the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

All the rivers run into the sea;
Yet the sea is not full:
Unto the place from whence the rivers come,
Thither they return again.

From "The Vision of Sir Launfal" by James Russell Lowell : Christ in Poetry

FROM "THE VISION OF SIR LAUNFAL"
by James Russell Lowell

And the voice that was calmer than silence said,
"Lo it is I, be not afraid!
In many climes, without avail,
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail;
Behold, it is here -- this cup which thou
Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now;
This crust is my body broken for thee,
This water His blood that died on the tree;
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another's need, --
Not what we give, but what we share, --
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me."


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

James Russell Lowell circa 1855

"I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman : The Poetry Foundation

Read this poem by Walt Whitman (1819-1892): I Sing the Body Electric

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

"The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy : The Poetry Foundation

Read this poem by English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, who was born on this day in 1840: The Man He Killed

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

A haiku for the 90th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's birth

On this day ninety years ago, in 1926, actress Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles. Here is a found poem, a haiku, of mine in which I quote her as she was quoted in the 2016 edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac.

HAIKU: LIKE DIAMONDS IN THE SKY
A found poem by Monty Gilmer

"We are all of us
stars," said the actress, "and we
deserve to twinkle."

Marilyn Monroe in 1952