Poems

Thank you for the YouTube link - Disiderats is beautifully read. Brilliant version of If - it’s what one would expect of B.

It is a profound truth.

ArchaeC said:

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and stars; you have a right to be here.

Having encountered Desiderata just over 30 years ago; the above is the sentence which really caught my attention and upon which I always think further - each time I rediscover this poem.

I listened to this for the first time on YouTube recently  youtu.be/CaVaF6TkSUU I also like Brian Bilston's version of IF by Rudyard Kipling :

This was practically the unofficial school motto and was displayed on the wall in our form common room. 

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the 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 to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.

if you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or 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 of sudden misfortune. But do not stress 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 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, whoever you conceive him to be.

And whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

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

Dreams by Langston Hughes 

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Ausgezeichnet  I especially like this from the Goethe poem

Here’s a little poem I once wrote. Most of my creative writing is in German, so I’m not too confident about it. Nonetheless, here’s an excerpt from my poem “The Curtains On Your Little Window”:

We all sensed the change of weather,

The growling clouds are growing thicker.

The dikes will fail and we all know,

We’ll be taken by the flow.

And while it’s threatening to fall apart,

Everything plastered in failed attempts to just restart,

The sun seems to have lost its glow,

but you just close the curtains on your little window.

I like Brian Bilston poems too brianbilston.com/.../ He and Henry Normal tour together at times  ArchaeC 

I see Henry Normal has collaborated with NAS at times: www.northernsoul.me.uk/.../

What did you do today? (By me!)

What did you do today? If you socialised, did you manage to stay?
Did you go to church and sing and pray?
Go to the shops and use cash to pay?
Or adopt a pet that was once a stray?

Did you enjoy a latte in a trendy cafe?
Or sit in the park with a picnic buffet?
Have a meal on a tray that was quite gourmet?
Or eat cake to celebrate a birthday?

If you stayed home, did you write an essay?
If you're a gamer, what game did you play?
Did you paint a Jay, or make something with clay?
Or perhaps you broke your computer display?

Did you speak to someone in the USA?
Find that someone understood what you say?
Did you have a communication delay?
Or hear an amusing joke to relay?

Did you dream of getting away?
To a beachside town right by a bay?
Staying a while for a holiday?
Rock pooling and watching the foaming sea spray?

What ever you did - hope it was okay.

Not particularly cheerful, but I've always liked this one by Stevie Smith

Not Waving But Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,   
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought   
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always   
(Still the dead one lay moaning)   
I was much too far out all my life   
And not waving but drowning

That one's by Henry Normal whose son Johnny is an Autistic Artiste too    youtu.be/f6mkNo_ZFzk 

I also especially like the shortest poem in the world which is entitled Fleas and simply states: 

'Adam had 'em!' 

Thus has long been a favourite poem (as an extreme night owl I used to hate being sent to bed in Summer when it was still daylight).

Bed in Summer

By Robert Louis Stevenson (b. 1850 d. 1894)

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

Source: A Child's Garden of Verses (1999).

Can't find that old thread, from back in the day. So here's a bounce for yours Lotus 

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/warning/

There is a poetry thread, somewhere... 

Launched a Patreon account back in 2022.

Only ever had one Patron, who had to leave; due to expenses.

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