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Post Info TOPIC: The Poetry of Spring!
Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 1:24 PM, 03/21/11
The Poetry of Spring!
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Spring is upon us here in the Northern hemisphere, a favourite time of year for me....the fresh green energy and the smile of the earth!
Does anyone have a favourite springtime poem?
flowerface
This one is an enduring classic and I was reminded of it by White Fay's 'What Flower Are You?' quiz!




daffs.jpg


"Daffodils" (1804)



I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.



Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.



The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:



For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.


By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).










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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 3:21 PM, 03/21/11
The Poetry of Spring!
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Daffodils and violets from a few years ago in our garden.

234-1.jpg

That is lovely, Lula. Daffodils are happy things, aren't they? I remember memorizing that beautiful poem by Wordsworth in school, many years ago, lol! 
I love Spring too, it is always a happy time for me to see the green shoots coming up in the garden and hear the birds singing early in the morning again. Here is a poem I love by Shakespeare, or part of one anyway, about the flowers of Spring, including the glorious Daffodil.


"Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Or Cytherea’s breath"

The Winter’s Tale




-- Edited by Lady Trueheart on Monday 21st of March 2011 03:23:29 PM

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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 5:05 PM, 03/21/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Beautiful, Lady Trueheart...the verse has a  power and a delicacy, just like it's subject matter... and evocative..and thank you for sharing your photo..the violets..so vibrant... heart.gif

another spring offering:


 
starsA Light Exists In Springstars

Emily Dickinson


A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.





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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 3:15 AM, 03/23/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Ah, beautiful, I love Emily's poetry, although I often have to puzzle the meaning to some of them. But this one seems clear to me and I have just made a resolution to enjoy Spring this year in the moment instead of in theory. I think Spring comes earlier in England, we have green shoots now, but in no way are the daffodils dancing here in eastern Canada in March! Possibly in British Columbia.

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White Fay


The Changeling

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Date: 3:32 AM, 03/23/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Ah ladies....your posts have made me delight in being named a 'daffodil'.........

GAWD......please spring....get here fast.  I sooooooooooo need you!

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"Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls"
~~~~ Khalil Gibran ~~~~
Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 3:39 AM, 03/23/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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This poem is exquisite, Mary Oliver, I love her poetry so much.

Such Singing in the Wild Branches 

It was spring
and finally I heard him
among the first leaves—
then I saw him clutching the limb

in an island of shade
with his red-brown feathers
all trim and neat for the new year.
First, I stood still

and thought of nothing.
Then I began to listen.
Then I was filled with gladness—
and that's when it happened,

when I seemed to float,
to be, myself, a wing or a tree—
and I began to understand
what the bird was saying,

and the sands in the glass
stopped
for a pure white moment
while gravity sprinkled upward

like rain, rising,
and in fact
it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing—
it was the thrush for sure, but it seemed

not a single thrush, but himself, and all his brothers,
and also the trees around them,
as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds
in the perfectly blue sky— all, all of them

were singing.
And, of course, yes, so it seemed,
so was I.
Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn't last

for more than a few moments.
It's one of those magical places wise people
like to talk about.
One of the things they say about it, that is true,

is that, once you've been there,
you're there forever.
Listen, everyone has a chance.
Is it spring, is it morning?

Are there trees near you,
and does your own soul need comforting?
Quick, then— open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song
may already be drifting away.


Mary Oliver



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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 3:43 AM, 03/23/11
The Poetry of Spring!
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Can't help it, have to post this one too,


Spring
  
Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring
 
down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring
 
I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue
 
like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:
 
how to love this world.
I think of her
rising
like a black and leafy ledge
 
to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else
 
my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,
 
it is also this dazzling darkness
coming
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;
 
all day I think of her –
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.
 

~ Mary Oliver ~


-- Edited by Lady Trueheart on Wednesday 23rd of March 2011 03:52:15 AM

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Tues_manIc


the mystery master

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Date: 5:28 AM, 03/23/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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wowwonderful poetries always accumulates meaning every time it is read,keep thinking i'm a lucky birdchickendance

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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 7:33 PM, 03/23/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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So glad every one is enjoying this topic, for me it is good to have that pure uplifting energy sometimes! I liked what you said Tues...wow your emglish is improving so much! i agree,,,the meaning of a poem changes and grows and like all art, it's meaning depends on the reader.. stars

Thankyou for posting the Mary Oliver poems too Lady T, as you know she is one of my fave poets...lots more of those....such sublime powerful imagery...she is unique in the way she weaves nature with spirit and the divine... but for now I felt to post this one by Christina Rossetti as i am generally in a rossetti mood at the moment... more from her brother later....
this poem is so sweet and simple i find it light, refreshing and pure

Spring Quiet


by Christina Georgina Rossetti
(1830-1894)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gone were but the Winter,
Come were but the Spring,
I would go to a covert
Where the birds sing;

Where in the whitethorn
Singeth a thrush,
And a robin sings
In the holly-bush.

Full of fresh scents
Are the budding boughs
Arching high over
A cool green house:

Full of sweet scents,
And whispering air
Which sayeth softly:
"We spread no snare;

"Here dwell in safety,
Here dwell alone,
With a clear stream
And a mossy stone.

"Here the sun shineth
Most shadily;
Here is heard an echo
Of the far sea,
Though far off it be."




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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 3:33 PM, 03/24/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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She writes like Spring feels. Lovely poem.



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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 9:00 PM, 03/24/11
The Poetry of Spring!
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Well put. Lady True, i am glad you enjoyed it. flowerface

Just wanted to share this Rumi poem, it is less 'spring' literal but utterly beautiful...


Spring Giddiness

Rumi


Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don´t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don´t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don´t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don´t go back to sleep.

I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running toward my life shouting,
What a bargain, let´s buy it.

Daylight, full of small dancing particles
and the one great turning, our souls
are dancing with you, without feet, they dance.
Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?

All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reedsong. If it
fades, we fade.



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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 11:35 PM, 03/24/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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I love this poem, I may have to memorize it, it is wonderful. Can you explain these two lines to me, or rather, tell me what you think they mean:

 

I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.



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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 11:56 AM, 03/27/11
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well, if i were to answer lady T, wouldn't it colour your experience of it? so your choice to read on!

For me it is not about a romantic kiss at all, rather the touch of the divine. and once kissed by the divine. the price is your life as you know it, the dissolve of the conditioning the props the drama the definitons the ego that all define and contain your life and experience of reality as it is.. the catalyst of awakening and the subsequent transformation from indivdual 'me' into Oneness. it is a poem about spiritual awakeing...one could liken it to spring..hence the 'don't go back to sleep' into unawareness and being hypnotised by life. Rumi's poetry, and other sufi poems are filled with iimages and themes that relate to the spiritual that are often mistaken as human emotins or actions. for example being drunk on wine is ecstatic bliss of spirit. lotus

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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 4:57 PM, 03/27/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Thank you, Lula!

And what is wrong with getting other's colours to add to my own experience! I actually really wondered what he meant, so that was helpful.

As an adult it is hard to have a true, pure experience, I think, which is why I like to watch a child living and seeing something we have seen many times in their own unique way.



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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 1:03 PM, 03/30/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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yes, I would agree withthat Meg..because life builds its layers up around us and conditioning and distortions and distractions..but it only covers over the jewel that is always there..you could call the child the soul..it doesnt disaappear anywhere it just feels that way because for most of it the only time we may get a glimpse is when we stop and sit under a tree or just feel the sun on our skin..for me a touch within with awareness. is returning to it in every moment. lotus

bit off topic but wanted to share this poem i wrote ages ago, or perhaps more like a spiritual lecture, for which i apologise.. i sometimes find it hard to convey certain spirtual truths i have experienced without coming across as preachy but i hope the essemce comes across it feels relevant.

 

You Are The Most Beautiful Place On Earth

by Lula


Why do you run
from the island within



to transient distortions


and sparkling distractions


And life vortexing
Black plug holes....




You
are the most beautiful place on earth




Spend some time in your sky freedom


walk bare foot on your gleaming sands


Dive into your pure deep oceans


Bathe in the burning love of your heart


Dance through the stars of your celestial heavens


Surrendering to the universe
You are




It is not that you cannot contain this beauty


more that you
cannot be contained




see you there

see me there

for the first time



heart.gif



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Lady Trueheart


Nicalicious

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Date: 9:58 PM, 03/31/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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That's really lovely, Lula, and seems to capture an essence of your self in it.

It needs to be in your thread Poetic Rambles too, I think.



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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 5:16 PM, 04/01/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Thank you for the kind reflection Meg,flowerface perhaps one place on here is enough, hopefully 'one day' somethng new will flow through me and i can post that in the rambles thread.

 

meanwhile, another spring poem, from Mr William Blake.

flowerface2

To Spring

 

gif
William Blake (1783)
clr gif

O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down
Through the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring!

The hills tell one another, and the listening
Valleys hear; all our longing eyes are turn’d
Up to thy bright pavilions: issue forth
And let thy holy feet visit our clime!

Come o’er the eastern hills, and let our winds
Kiss thy perfumèd garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our lovesick land that mourns for thee.

O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languish’d head,
Whose modest tresses are bound up for thee.


 

 



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Sprocket


Nicolicious

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Date: 10:04 AM, 04/03/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Frankly I could post anything of 'A Shropshire Lad' and it would all be utterly lovely. I must learn some of these poem by heart to recite in my old age when I'm out a-strolling, like Mr. Ramsey in Woolf's 'To The Lighthouse'!

E. A. Housman - II

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my three score years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go

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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Posts: 8403
Date: 2:29 PM, 04/03/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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That was pretty Sprocket, flowerfaceperhaps nothing cunjures up aprng more than the cherry blossom for me. Thank you for posting... and indeed reciting them is probably how they are meant to be experienced?! flowerface2

 

Here is what I find to be an exquisite spring poem, to herald in April!

lotus

 

 

Azure and Gold
by Amy Lowell

April had covered the hills
With flickering yellows and reds,
The sparkle and
coolness of snow
Was blown from
the mountain beds.
Across a deep-sunken
stream
The pink of blossoming trees,
And from windless appleblooms
The humming of many bees.


The air was of rose and gold
Arabesqued with the song of birds
Who, swinging unseen under leaves,
Made music more eager than words.
Of a sudden, aslant the road,
A brightness to dazzle
and stun,
A glint of the bluest blue,
A flash from a sapphire sun.


Blue-birds so blue, 't was a dream,
An impossible,
unconceived hue,
The high sky of summer
dropped down
Some rapturous ocean to woo.
Such a colour, such infinite light!
The heart of a fabulous gem,
Many-faceted, brilliant and rare.
Centre Stone of the earth's diadem! . . . . .


Centre Stone of the Crown of the World,
"Sincerity" graved on your youth!
And your eyes hold the blue-bird flash,
The sapphire shaft, which is truth.



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Lula Argante


Faery Queen of Cagealot Castle

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Date: 3:08 PM, 04/05/11
RE: The Poetry of Spring!
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Some favourite spring quotations....

 

 

Sitting quietly
Doing nothing
Spring comes
And the grass grows by itself

the gospel according to Zen

lotus

 

spring has returned, the earth is like a child who knows poems

Everything is blooming most recklessly, if it were voices instead of colors there would be unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night

rainer maria rilke


lotus

 

if you've never been thrilled to the edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom

audra foveo



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