Poets United Midweek Motif ~ A Tribute Poem

   

“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” — Thurgood Marshall

SOURCE

“The czar was always sending us commands – you shall not do this and you shall not do that – till there was very little left that we might do, except pay tribute and die.” — Mary Antin

Midweek Motif ~ A Tribute Poem

For today’s Motif you are to write a Tribute Poem expressing praise for your subject.

The subject can be varied and is of your own choice. Select someone / something (an abstract concept will do too) worth celebrating and honor them in your lines.

A Farewell

by Lord Tennyson

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shall be
For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree
And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee,
For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever. 

Rose Aylmer

by Walter Savage Landor

Ah, what avails the sceptred race!
Ah, what the form divine!
What every virtue, every grace!
Rose Aylmer, all were thine.

Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes
May weep, but never see,
A night of memories and sighs
I consecrate to thee. 

A Drinking Song

by William Butler Yeats

WINE comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That's all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh. 

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 ~ Truth)

Classic Poetry - "Well I Remember" by Walter Savage Landor

Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)

As poets and writers, artists and creators, we must seek a bit of the eternal through our work. That, at least, is the theme Walter Savage Landor addresses in this brief yet profound poem.


WELL I remember how you smiled
To see me write your name upon
The soft sea-sand—‘O! what a child!
You think you’re writing upon stone!’
 
I have since written what no tide
Shall ever wash away, what men
Unborn shall read o’er ocean wide
And find Ianthe’s name again.