Today's poet

[Harry H Howgill]

I like that choice of poem and often feel the same. Life can change that easily sometimes. There is a book on my wish list, can't remember what it is called at the mo, but it is about the huge role that sheer chance takes in our lives. The film Sliding Doors was a bit like that.

I've always liked this poem and often ask myself the following question 'if I had taken the other path today, would my life still have turned out the same?' It can be as simple as catching a bus instead of walking. Driving to Harriers a different route....

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

[Hes]

Suzanne Vega is not just a great musician but I think her lyrics are pure poetry. This song inspired a print of mine:

"Calypso"

My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
And I waken to the dawn
A long time ago
I watched him struggle with the sea
I knew that he was drowning
And I brought him into me
Now today
Come morning light
He sails away
After one last night
I let him go.

My name is Calypso
My garden overflows
Thick and wild and hidden
Is the sweetness there that grows
My hair it blows long
As I sing into the wind
My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
I tell of nights
Where I could taste the salt on his skin

Salt of the waves
And of tears
And though he,pulled away
I kept him here for years
I let him go

My name is Calypso
I have let him go
In the dawn he sails away
To be gone forever more
And the waves will take him in again
But he'll know their ways now
I will stand upon the shore
With a clean heart

And my song in the wind
The sand will sting my feet
And the sky will burn
It's a lonely time ahead
I do not ask him to return
I let him go
I let him go

You can find out more about Calypso in Homer's Odyssey.

[Derby Tup]

I love this too HHH!

Which is your thread?

Lightweight tents,
Unorganised events?
Managing erosion,
Go-faster potion?
Must-do sessions,
Bum bag possessions?
Today’s training,
Yesterday’s raining?
Running in Kuwait,
Favourite inov-8?
Tomorrow’s hill reps,
Running up steps?
Barefoot running,
Race tactic cunning?
Stud spacing,
Race pacing?
Best way to run uphill,
Is there magic pill?
Bob Graham rounds,
Following hounds?

The one for me,
Is Today’s Poetry.

[Hes]

Yorkshire

Your dales and wolds such beauty there to see,
Steel,coal and textile mills made people hard in this land,
The rocky coast round robin hoods bay and pounding sea,
Forced to live on scraps of food from squires hand.

Wharfedale, Whitby and the wonderful yorkshire fell,
A peaceful night in a village inn with a pint of sam,
The North Yorks moors have me under there spell,
I am proud to be a Yorkshireman it is everything that i am.


By Matt Harmston

Nice one Trimind. I'm not a Yorkshire woman by birth but think that I can lay claim to a certain sense of belonging having lived here for nearly 15 years.

[freckle]

Good evening all...

the server has been down at work and kids bed late tonight..major withdrawal from the thread and lots of catching up to do...just wanted to post something following tri mind's verse about the thread last night and in response to the kindness of dear friends...(you know who you are!)...

going to enjoy reading thru today's post with my glass of wine and large chunk of cheddar!

Like pen pals of latter years
Us poets share our hopes our fears
We rant, we rave and sometimes curse
But its all feels safe within a verse
We laugh, we cry and share the odd tale
Amongst good friends nothing is beyond the pale
And so I venture to say just this...
Thankyou dear friends...
when not here, you are a miss!

[Harry H Howgill]

She is good. I've just listened to her introduce and sing that song, and it is interesting to hear the story from the Godess's perspective.

Suzanne Vega is not just a great musician but I think her lyrics are pure poetry. This song inspired a print of mine:

"Calypso"

My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
And I waken to the dawn
A long time ago
I watched him struggle with the sea
I knew that he was drowning
And I brought him into me
Now today
Come morning light
He sails away
After one last night
I let him go.

My name is Calypso
My garden overflows
Thick and wild and hidden
Is the sweetness there that grows
My hair it blows long
As I sing into the wind
My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
I tell of nights
Where I could taste the salt on his skin

Salt of the waves
And of tears
And though he,pulled away
I kept him here for years
I let him go

My name is Calypso
I have let him go
In the dawn he sails away
To be gone forever more
And the waves will take him in again
But he'll know their ways now
I will stand upon the shore
With a clean heart

And my song in the wind
The sand will sting my feet
And the sky will burn
It's a lonely time ahead
I do not ask him to return
I let him go
I let him go

You can find out more about Calypso in Homer's Odyssey.

[freckle]

The mountain-snob is a Wordsworthian fruit;
He tears his clothes and doesn’t shave his chin,
He wears a very pretty little boot,
He chooses the least comfortable inn;
A mountain railway is a deadly sin;
His strength, of course, is as the strength of ten men,
He calls all those who live in cities wen-men


Just one verse from Letter to Lord Byron. III (W. H. Auden)

As you know Wordsworth wrote beautiful poetry, but at times was a terrible snob who was appauled at sharing the Lakes with unworthy visitors, and thought that tourists arriving from industrial towns would diminish the tranquility. With the climate of the forum at the minute I thought this crituque of Wordsworthian type snobbery was as pertinent as ever.

Dear Neil, I really enjoyed the poetry you have posted so far and this info about wordsworth...i am glad you have chosen to expend your creative energies in this direction! it is a friendly and warm thread which embraces and nurtures creativity!

[freckle]

She is good. I've just listened to her introduce and sing that song, and it is interesting to hear the story from the Godess's perspective.

Hi guys...i love these lyrics they are so evocative..i used to have this album years ago it brings back memories of working in a punk/indie shop with pink hair and a nose stud!

[Harry H Howgill]

You are flying at the moment TM. Amazingly productive.

But the best thing about Yorkshire is the view to Cumbria!

Keep up the good work.

Yorkshire

Your dales and wolds such beauty there to see,
Steel,coal and textile mills made people hard in this land,
The rocky coast round robin hoods bay and pounding sea,
Forced to live on scraps of food from squires hand.

Wharfedale, Whitby and the wonderful yorkshire fell,
A peaceful night in a village inn with a pint of sam,
The North Yorks moors have me under there spell,
I am proud to be a Yorkshireman it is everything that i am.


By Matt Harmston

[Hes]

Welcome back Freckle, really glad you made it tonight, you've been missed.