Today's poet

[Alf]

For you Fell Poets out there


Between us

There's no wall here -
not even a grating, not even a fence.

I'm speaking of the space between us.

We don't collect fireflies
in a jar, or press leaves of dulse
in A Book of British Shore Plants.

We don't record the dipper
saying clink clink on a bubbly stone
or film a vole
moseying through the damp grass.

We don't take these things home.
They're there, in the space between us,
the beautiful things without sadness,
the sad things with their pitiful beauty.

As they are in you also
and in me also.

For we live there too,
in the space between us
which is not to be measured
by those bad things, miles,
and those worse things, hours.


Norman MacCaig

[Mossdog]

For you Fell Poets out there


Between us

There's no wall here -
not even a grating, not even a fence.

I'm speaking of the space between us.

We don't collect fireflies
in a jar, or press leaves of dulse
in A Book of British Shore Plants.

We don't record the dipper
saying clink clink on a bubbly stone
or film a vole
moseying through the damp grass.

We don't take these things home.
They're there, in the space between us,
the beautiful things without sadness,
the sad things with their pitiful beauty.

As they are in you also
and in me also.

For we live there too,
in the space between us
which is not to be measured by those bad things, miles,
and those worse things, hours.


Norman MacCaig

Cheers Alf, that is such a lovely poem - thanks for finding it and sharing with the thread.

[Mossdog]

I think I may (or someone else) have posted this one before. But it holds so many sublime images.


Prayer

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

Pray for us now. Grade I piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.

Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.

Carl Anne Duffy

[Mossdog]

i thank You God for most this amazing
day for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

ee cummings

I like this; I like that.

[freckle]

For you Fell Poets out there


Between us

There's no wall here -
not even a grating, not even a fence.

I'm speaking of the space between us.

We don't collect fireflies
in a jar, or press leaves of dulse
in A Book of British Shore Plants.

We don't record the dipper
saying clink clink on a bubbly stone
or film a vole
moseying through the damp grass.

We don't take these things home.
They're there, in the space between us,
the beautiful things without sadness,
the sad things with their pitiful beauty.

As they are in you also
and in me also.

For we live there too,
in the space between us
which is not to be measured
by those bad things, miles,
and those worse things, hours.


Norman MacCaig

Beautiful choice.......

[freckle]

i thank You God for most this amazing
day for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

ee cummings

I like this; I like that.

I forgot how much i love e e cummings energy , nice choice mossy

[freckle]

Conversation

The tumult in the heart
keeps asking questions.
And then it stops and undertakes to answer
in the same tone of voice.
No one could tell the difference.

Uninnocent, these conversations start,
and then engage the senses,
only half-meaning to.
And then there is no choice,
and then there is no sense;

until a name
and all its connotation are the same.


Elizabeth Bishop

[Mossdog]

Conversation

The tumult in the heart
keeps asking questions.
And then it stops and undertakes to answer
in the same tone of voice.
No one could tell the difference.

Uninnocent, these conversations start,
and then engage the senses,
only half-meaning to.
And then there is no choice,
and then there is no sense;

until a name
and all its connotation are the same.


Elizabeth Bishop

Freckle - that is just brilliant and a new one for me. Thank you for sharing.

[that_fjell_guy]

I long to hold some lady
For my love is far away,
And will not come tomorrow
And was not here today.

There is no flesh so perfect
As on my lady's bone,
And yet it seems so distant
When I am all alone:

As though she were a masterpiece
In some castled town,
That pilgrims come to visit
And priests to copy down.

Alas, I cannot travel
To a love I have so deep
Or sleep too close beside
A love I want to keep.

But I long to hold some lady,
For flesh is warm and sweet.
Cold skeletons go marching
Each night beside my feet.

L. Cohen

Here I am, at work...on nights, our lass at home...and...for some reason this really gripped me!!

[that_fjell_guy]

I've only just found this thread!! got to page 21, so loads left to peruse! Smashing. I wrote a 'poem' for my wedding day speech
Here it is, in two parts:




Karen’s passed the test!
I've checked her very well
Test walks in the valleys
A run up Skiddaw Fell

She’s huffed a bit, and puffed a bit
But overall she's fit
Though when we did the YorksThreePeaks
She couldn’t quite jog it

I've seen her on the mountain bike
Whinlatter and the roads
She needs a little practice here
To carry larger loads

She also travels very well
Sometimes without me!!!
We've been to China, Prague, Munich
And even Italy

We’ve seen the Birds Nest stadia
The PisaTower that leans
The Seine, the Rhine…the deep blue Tees
And several other things!

I've also taken Karen
To Leeds United Football Club
She enjoyed it very much I think
And here-in lies the rub

It had come to my attention
That there were issues to address
Regarding other footy teams
That might give me some stress

It really doesn’t bother me
Those other teams in red
I’ve even learnt to bite my tongue
When, sometimes, they’ve been led