For Light and Poetry lovers only

In the northern hemisphere, the spring equinox marks the beginning of longer days, the time when the light prevails and the dark diminishes. March 21 is also the day when Poetry is celebrated worldwide. Not accidentally, I believe...

So, for those of you who enjoy poetry, here's one of my favorite poems: Gary Snyder's How Poetry Comes To Me

It comes blundering over the
Boulders at night, it stays
Frightened outside the
Range of my campfire
I go to meet it at the
Edge of the light


Eco friendly Spring scarf - Poetry of fibers OOAK from Vilte



And now let's read an extract from To A Butterfly, by William Wordsworth:

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! -not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!


Paper Butterflies - Romanticism by peacocky




From The Sense Of The Sleight-Of-Hand Man by Wallace Stevens:

To think of a dove with an eye of grenadine
And pines that are cornets, so it occurs,
And a little island full of geese and stars:
It may be the ignorant man, alone,
Has any chance to mate his life with life
That is the sensual, pearly spuse, the life
That is fluent in even the wintriest bronze.


GRENADINE bolero wrap by lamarquisedesanges



Edgar Allan Poe, from The Raven

Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore:
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Nevermore Edgar Allan Poe Mug from PoesProse



Next is one of my favorites - Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Vintage Book - Sonnets From The Portuguese And Other Love Poems By Elizabeth Barrett Browning -found at shavingkitsupplies



You will love the next extract! It's from Irene by James Russell Lowell:

Hers is a spirit deep and crystal-clear;
Calmly beneath her earnest face it lies,
Free without boldness, meek without a fear,
Quicker to look than speak its sympathies;
Far down into her large and patient eyes
I gaze, deep-drinking of the infinite,
As, in the mid-watch of a clear, still night,
I look into the fathomless blue skies.

Irene - art doll from Anastasiasdolls



Here's Kisses, by Edmund Vance Cooke:

Kisses kept are wasted;
Love is to be tasted.
There are some you love, I know;
Be not loathe to tell them so.
Lips go dry and eyes grow wet
Waiting to be warmly met.
Keep them not in waiting yet;
Kisses kept are wasted.

Lippy Lady Six Pack - 6 tubes of Lit Balm from lippylady



Another favorite of mine is, of course, Cavafy's Ithaka. Here it is, all of it (translated by Edmund Keeley / Philip Sherrard):

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

The Poet's Armband, a bracelet-cuff by LaTouchables




Don't you just love Dante? Imagine what the world would be like if love was really making the world go round, instead of money...

Dante's God from onelifejewelry




I hope you enjoyed this article then! And don't forget to read poetry!!!

SEVEN Week40 2009 My Little Poet from irisschwarz