Poems and Poetry

I opened a Pandora's Box yesterday. No evil spirits emerged to haunt the world. Nothing so exciting. One of the drawer's in my roll top desk was stuck when I tried to open it. When I freed it, I was faced with "stuff." A collection of purchased birthday cards, not used. Cute little note pads. Two small tiles from Israel, a memento of my visit in 1979. And then I found various poems I had cut out and saved. Because I love them, I am sharing with you.

Larceny by Ray Mizer. "I have been put upon by thieves! I have been swindled of a song!
Who stole the fairy from the glen? What huckster sold her gleaming wings? What rustler roped the unicorn, To make powder of his horn? Who trapped the trolls from out the fen? What miserable wretched spawn, Has poisoned every leprechaun? Who bludgeoned Ariel and Puck, And trampled Venus in the muck?
The fact is king, the lute lies low: I have been cheated of a dream."

Isn't that beautiful? We have lost so much in our gadget crazed world.

Roses. And this from a child, Jason Ducharme, age 6. "One day I woke up, And looked out of my window, And there were roses all around, Pink ones and red ones, I went out and feeled them and feeled them, And they were nice and soft, Like my sister's velvet dress, And they smelled like a birthday cake, And like I would be in the woods, When I am walking."

A dear friend of mine, Maurice, who was a long ago friend of the Dali Lama, gave me this poem. Anonymous, 15th century poet. "Thou shalt knew Him when He comes, Not by any din of drums, Not the vantage of His airs, Nor by anything He wears. Neither by His crown, Nor His gowns; For His presence known shall be, By the holy harmony, That His coming makes in thee."

ON LOOKING FOR MODELS by Alan Dugan
The trees in time have something else to do besides their treeing. What is it? I'm a starving to death man myself, and thirsty, thirsty by their fountains but I cannot drink their mud and sunlight to be whole. I do not understand these presences that drink for months in the dirt, eat light, and then fast dry in the cold. They stand it out somehow, and how, the Botanists will tell me. It is the "something else" that bothers me, so I often go back to the forests."

And last from a Calvin and Hobbes, cartoon, April 16, 1991. Calvin and Hobbes are standing on a sidewalk looking at the squares and Calvin says in the first panel. "Let's say life is this square of the sidewalk. We're born at this crack and we die at that crack." Next panel. "Now, we find ourselves somewhere inside the square, and in the process of walking out of it, suddenly we realize our time in here is fleeting." Next panel. "Is our experience here pointless? Does anything we say or do in here really matter? Have we done anything important? Have we been happy? Have we made the most of these precious few footsteps?" In the last panel, it's dark with a new moon in the night sky. Calvin and Hobbes are staring at the sidewalk.

I have saved these bits and pieces for years and years. I wanted to share my love of them with whoever reads my blog. They do not belong to me. They belong to the writers who penned them.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com