Today's poet

[XRunner]

Here is one of the poems that Linford Christie read to the British athletes before the start of the highly successful European Championships:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.


by Max Ehrmann

[freckle]

Purity.

To think i saw the complexities of my soul,
Reflected back in your eyes,
Many festering open scars born in 40 years,
Your single white light shines where our love lies.

The miasma of raging emotion pulls me down,
Your all encompassing light saves my life,
Many times i'm near the end and for this i'm truly sorry,
Your pure love saves my soul; Thank you my darling wife.

By,

The little voice inside me that loves to write but which seems to have been dulled by ever more aggressive medicine regimes.

Good to see you back Matt with a very beautiful poem. Best wishes to you and your family and take care :-)

[freckle]

X runner that is such a good poem thank you for posting....so many wise words in such a short space, very inspirational, my fave's were....

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

[freckle]

Morning all!!!

Heard this on the radio late last night on something understood.....

The Rites of Manhood
Alden Nowlan

It's snowing hard enough that the taxis aren't running.
I'm walking home, my night's work finished,
long after midnight, with the whole city to myself,
when across the street I see a very young American sailor
standing over a girl who's kneeling on the sidewalk
and refuses to get up although he's yelling at her
to tell him where she lives so he can take her there
before they both freeze. The pair of them are drunk
and my guess is he picked her up in a bar
and later they got separated from his buddies
and at first it was great fun to play at being
an old salt at liberty in a port full of women with
hinges on their heels, but by now he wants only to
find a solution to the infinitely complex
problem of what to do about her before he falls into
the hands of the police or the shore patrol
—and what keeps this from being squalid is
what's happening to him inside:
if there were other sailors here
it would be possible for him
to abandon her where she is and joke about it
later, but he's alone and the guilt can't be
divided into small forgettable pieces;
he's finding out what it means
to be a man and how different it is
from the way that only hours ago he imagined it.

[Alf]

Morning all!!!

Heard this on the radio late last night on something understood.....

The Rites of Manhood
Alden Nowlan

It's snowing hard enough that the taxis aren't running.
I'm walking home, my night's work finished,
long after midnight, with the whole city to myself,
when across the street I see a very young American sailor
standing over a girl who's kneeling on the sidewalk
and refuses to get up although he's yelling at her
to tell him where she lives so he can take her there
before they both freeze. The pair of them are drunk
and my guess is he picked her up in a bar
and later they got separated from his buddies
and at first it was great fun to play at being
an old salt at liberty in a port full of women with
hinges on their heels, but by now he wants only to
find a solution to the infinitely complex
problem of what to do about her before he falls into
the hands of the police or the shore patrol
—and what keeps this from being squalid is
what's happening to him inside:
if there were other sailors here
it would be possible for him
to abandon her where she is and joke about it
later, but he's alone and the guilt can't be
divided into small forgettable pieces;
he's finding out what it means
to be a man and how different it is
from the way that only hours ago he imagined it.

Well a bright start to the day for someone by the look of it


If I can remember that far back through the mists of time though it was probably more the "Rites of Womanhood" as I think I was the one on the pavement .

Ah! "the follies of youth" which leads me nicely into a bit of the bard.

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.
Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short;
Youth is nimble, age is lame;
Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee;
O, my love, my love is young!
Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee,
For methinks thou stay'st too long.

William Shakespeare

[Hes]

Late to the thread again!!! Sorry.

I love this Freckle. She's a star! Like HHH says, brilliant first line.

Love that neruda mossy...no one wants to be forgotten in matters of the heart...........

on a different note, my six year old daughter has taken an interest in writing poetry and i promised her i would post this her latest bit of work tonight....she was quite excited by the prospect bless her...nowt like a bit of nepotism eh?

A star
by Sophie

My world is like an ant and a pig
Some things are small and some things are big
In night I shimmer, sparkle and gleam
meanwhile children snore and dream
I am surrounded by planets, stars and the gloomy moon
and down in the street there is a doom.


think i can see a bit of a plath influence there!

[Hes]

Thanks for this link HHH, I'mgoing to order a copy...sounds great!

Another good link too... Haiku of birds.

http://www.wingbeats.co.uk/index.html

[Hes]

Better get on with work now I've caught up on the recent posts but just want to say that its great to see Leonidas back and on form and I enjoyed the poem that XRunner posted.

quick dark scimitars
feeding low over barley
swallows at sunset

[Hes]

one more:

a distant gun shot
the copper beech blossoms black
eruption of crows

[Derby Tup]

Sonnet LVIII

Two happy lovers make one bread,
a single moon drop in the grass.
Walking, they cast two shadows that flow together;
waking, they leave one sun empty in their bed.

Of all the possible truths, they chose the day;
they held it, not with ropes but with an aroma.
They did not shred the peace; they did not shatter words;
their happiness is a transparent tower.

The air and the wine accompany the lovers.
The night delights them with its joyous petals.
They have the right to all the carnations.

Two happy lovers, without an ending, with no death,
they are born, they die, many times while they live:
they have the eternal life of the Natural.

Pablo Neruda, from 100 Love Sonnets (Cien sonetos de amor)