Today's poet

[Alf]

Looks like I was the last one on t'other night, you are all obviously getting your beauty sleep unlike this "time worn" Alfer who gave up on that many a year ago

Here's a spot of Marlowe to start the day rolling.

Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not at First Sight?

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows, let it suffice,
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

Christopher Marlowe

[Mossdog]

Looks like I was the last one on t'other night, you are all obviously getting your beauty sleep unlike this "time worn" Alfer who gave up on that many a year ago

Here's a spot of Marlowe to start the day rolling.

Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not at First Sight?

It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fate.
When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,
We wish that one should love, the other win;
And one especially do we affect
Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:
The reason no man knows, let it suffice,
What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

Christopher Marlowe

Er Alf, that's really deep. I too have had to read that several times and, ummmm, I'm not sure I get it yet. I think his view is that love is unfathomable and can't be contrived and so must be instantaneous, i.e at first sight, or...it ain't the real thing, or at least only a pale reflection of 'the real thing'. But perhaps I'm mis-reading????

[Mossdog]

Curlew

Startled, she protests
sleep flight
across echoing dale
shares her
crescendoing
burbling lament

this harbinger of paradox
of Spring's dawning bounty
and life's transient sorrows
casts
a mournful enchantment

time is stilled
breath suspended
mesmerized
momentarily
by her disquieting melody
perplexed by contradiction

yet sunlit pinions
soar magnificent
circle
then captivate
an enthralling magnanimity
of dreams and resignation
and
I take heart

[freckle]

Curlew

Startled, she protests
sleep flight
across echoing dale
shares her
crescendoing
burbling lament

this harbinger of paradox
of Spring's dawning bounty
and life's transient sorrows
casts
a mournful enchantment

time is stilled
breath suspended
mesmerized
momentarily
by her disquieting melody
perplexed by contradiction

yet sunlit pinions
soar magnificent
circle
then captivate
an enthralling magnanimity
of dreams and resignation
and
I take heart

this is really beautiful mossdog, excellent stuff!

[freckle]

Er Alf, that's really deep. I too have had to read that several times and, ummmm, I'm not sure I get it yet. I think his view is that love is unfathomable and can't be contrived and so must be instantaneous, i.e at first sight, or...it ain't the real thing, or at least only a pale reflection of 'the real thing'. But perhaps I'm mis-reading????

I really liked that poem too and concur with your view Mossdog....I think that love is a largely irrational affair, that we project all our wants and desires onto the loved object and sometimes it works out! other times we realise with great clarity that it has all been a figmet of our imagination!

Misplaced love
in a moonbeam
refracted unexpectedly
and now on course
for the centre
of you (me)

[Mossdog]

this is really beautiful mossdog, excellent stuff!

Thank you Frecks, but it's not quite right. I spooked a curlew while running off the fells last evening and, like many of us with 'stuff' going on our lives, its call and appearance caused me to reflect. But those lines are too wordy, need paring down, and I've relied too much on description rather than metaphor. Still we can (as my curlew might have advised!) only keep trying eh?

[Mossdog]

I really liked that poem too and concur with your view Mossdog....I think that love is a largely irrational affair, that we project all our wants and desires onto the loved object and sometimes it works out! other times we realise with great clarity that it has all been a figmet of our imagination!

Misplaced love
in a moonbeam
refracted unexpectedly
and now on course
for the centre
of you (me)

Bloody hell Frecks, please, please don't tell me that you made that wonderful verse up just on the spur of the moment, cos I might as well just give up and go home now if you have. V Lovely.

[freckle]

Thank you Frecks, but it's not quite right. I spooked a curlew while running off the fells last evening and, like many of us with 'stuff' going on our lives, its call and appearance caused me to reflect. But those lines are too wordy, need paring down, and I've relied too much on description rather than metaphor. Still we can (as my curlew might have advised!) only keep trying eh?

well i think you are hard on yoursel Mossy...i particularly liked verse 2!...i haven't written properly for ages....waiting for a bolt of inspiration to strike! I am only just recovering from the fatigue of the anniversary waltz to be honest! (hence earlier nights alf!) but very much looking forward to heading to the lakes again for the keswick half marathon on sunday with the little uns in tow....

run ma run!
never mind the sun
newlands valley is safer
with a bit of ticker taper!

if any other fell poeters are doing this let me know!

[freckle]

Bloody hell Frecks, please, please don't tell me that you made that wonderful verse up just on the spur of the moment, cos I might as well just give up and go home now if you have. V Lovely.

Aw you are sweet Mossy...it was just on the back on your inspired lines...right i'm off to pick up my kids from their pals and hope to be back on laters, take care x

[Hes]

This is stunning Mossy. I think it is one of the best I've read in ages. I've been watching and listening to curlews up on the moors as part of my artist in residence project at Nidderdale Museum and they have also become meaningful for other reasons. I'm going to print this out and stick it up in my studio if that is ok (poet acknowledged of course ).

Curlew

Startled, she protests
sleep flight
across echoing dale
shares her
crescendoing
burbling lament

this harbinger of paradox
of Spring's dawning bounty
and life's transient sorrows
casts
a mournful enchantment

time is stilled
breath suspended
mesmerized
momentarily
by her disquieting melody
perplexed by contradiction

yet sunlit pinions
soar magnificent
circle
then captivate
an enthralling magnanimity
of dreams and resignation
and
I take heart