Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Ode To Age

 

“….O! sweet to me the laughing hours,

When earth seemed gay, and heaven was fair;

When fancy culled her thornless flowers,

And pleasure reigned unknown to care....” — William B. Tappan

SOURCE

      “Why so scrawny, cat?

Starving for fat fish or mice….

Or backyard love?” — Basho

    Midweek Motif ~ Ode To Age

We are paying homage to Age.

In his essay “Of Youth and Age Francis Bacon says, “A man that is young in years may be old in ​hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second.”

You may write about youth, old age or even about a distinct period of history or literature.

An eminent literary or historical figure in your poem is also most welcome.

Here is an ode to Age by Pablo Neruda:

Ode To Age

by Pablo Neruda

I don't believe in age.
All old people
carry
in their eyes,
a child,
and children,
at times
observe us with the

eyes of wise ancients.
Shall we measure
life
in meters or kilometers
or months?
How far since you were born?
How long

must you wander
until
like all men
instead of walking on its surface
we rest below the earth?
To the man, to the woman
who utilized their
energies, goodness, strength,
anger, love, tenderness,
to those who truly
alive
flowered,
and in their sensuality matured,
let us not apply
the measure
of a time
that may be
something else, a mineral
mantle, a solar

bird, a flower,
something, maybe,
but not a measure.
Time, metal
or bird, long
petiolate flower,
stretch
through
man's life,
shower him
with blossoms
and with
bright
water
or with hidden sun.
I proclaim you
road,
not shroud,
a pristine
ladder
with treads
of air,
a suit lovingly
renewed
through springtimes
around the world.
Now,
time, I roll you up,
I deposit you in my
bait box
and I am off to fish
with your long line
the fishes of the dawn!

translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden 

The Charge of the Light Brigade

by Alfred Tennyson

I

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!” he said.

Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

II

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”

Was there a man dismayed?

Not though the soldier knew

   Someone had blundered.

   Theirs not to make reply,

   Theirs not to reason why,

   Theirs but to do and die.

   Into the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred.

                       (The rest is here) 

London, 1802

by William Wordsworth

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,

Have forfeited their ancient English dower

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

Oh! raise us up, return to us again;

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.

Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:

Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart

The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community—

                (Next week Susan’s Midweek Motif will be ~ Prayer.)

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Joy

“Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. 

It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained.” 

― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service.  

I acted and behold, service was joy.” ― Rabindranath Tagore

Midweek Motif  ~  Joy

Wikipedia describes "joy" as "happiness" and says that: 

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.^[1]

That definition works for me.  Then the description continues:

A variety of biological, psychological, religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, are employing the scientific method to research questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained.

How about that!?  

Your challenge in today's new poem is to give us an experience of joy.  Or you can "strive to define ... and identify its sources" poetically

Here are three poems to stimulate you.  

Happy New Year! 

excerpt from Joy

BY ALAN R. SHAPIRO

. . . . 

                   My lovely daughter—

walking me to the car

                                 to say goodbye   

the day I left

                      to keep watch at my brother’s

bedside—

               suddenly

                            singing “I

feel pretty, oh so

                            pretty”

                                        as she raised   

her arms up in a loose oval

                                        over her head   

and pirouetted all along the walk.

. . . .

(Read the rest HERE at the Poetry Foundation)

excerpt from The Work of Happiness

BY MAY SARTON

I thought of happiness, how it is woven

Out of the silence in the empty house each day

And how it is not sudden and it is not given

But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.

No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark

Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.

No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark,

But the tree is lifted by this inward work

And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.

. . . . 

(Read the rest HERE at the Poetry Foundation.)

Happy as a Dog’s Tail

BY ANNA SWIR

Happy as something unimportant   

and free as a thing unimportant.   

As something no one prizes

and which does not prize itself.   

As something mocked by all

and which mocks at their mockery.   

As laughter without serious reason.   

As a yell able to outyell itself.   

Happy as no matter what,

as any no matter what.

Happy

as a dog’s tail.

Anna Swir, “Happy as a Dog’s Tail” from Talking to My Body, translated by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan, Copyright © 1996. Used [by PF with] permission of Copper Canyon Press, 

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Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others 

in the spirit of the community.

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(Next week, Sumana's Midweek Motif will be Food!)

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Tranquility

Birch forest in the Lake Saimaa region, Finland; photo by Miguel Virkkunen Carvalh

“Every breath we take, every step we take, can be filled with peace, joy, and serenity. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it.” 

― Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace Is Every Step

Passaddhi

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time 

like dew on the tip of a leaf."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

“Nothing is so aggravating as calmness.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi in 1940.

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Midweek Motif ~ Tranquility

Where do you go for tranquility?
Do you find it?

(To me, the word "tranquil" sounds like 
an edible flower.)

Your Challenge: 

Write a new poem that clarifies tranquility. Use a short form for this challenge: any form from 3 to 17 lines.

Tranquility

From time to time by Basho From time to time The clouds give rest To the moon-beholders. Adieu  by Donna Donabella  As we begin our walk through autumn paths take time to sit and watch the leaves turn; hear them gently touch the ground in a whisper…adieu. Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who made the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories, and into the windows of, even, the miserable and the crotchety – best preacher that ever was, dear star, that just happens to be where you are in the universe to keep us from ever-darkness, to ease us with warm touching, to hold us in the great hands of light – good morning, good morning, good morning. watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.

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Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community.

( Next week Sumana's Midweek Motif will be ~ River )