poetry, Again!

Dear Reader,

In my last poetry post, I completely forgot to mention Lord Alfred Tennyson among my favourite poets. I admit I hadn't read much of his poetry back when I wrote the post a few months ago, but I recently acquired a copy of his selected poems and I find that my opinion of his poetry is now much improved ;-).

So far my favourite has to be The Lady of Shalott. It's a brilliantly flowing and breathtakingly beautiful poem, but it's also quite long. So I only recommend that you read if you're really interested. It's basically about this young lady who has spent her whole life trapped in a tower on the small island of Shalott, that lies in the middle of the river that leads to Camelot. As things go, she is cursed, the poor girl, and can only watch the world go by through a mirror. One day, in that mirror she sees Sir Lancelot riding towards Camelot and falls instantly in love with him. I suppose he's meant to be some ultra-handsome-dude that girls are always swooning over. So anyway, the young lady of Shalott decides to risk it all and venture forth to Camelot on her boat. However, by the time the boat reaches Camelot, they only find the poor girl's dead body in it. And the irony of it all is that, when Lancelot finally sees her, he thinks that she was quite beautiful. *Sigh*.

The Lady of Shalott by John Williams Waterhouse, 1888

But this poem really makes me think about how we should take action no matter what our circumstances. Rather than waiting for our knights-in-shining-armours to rescue us (who, by the way, may not even know we exist), and rather than just watching the world on our T.V. and computer screens, we should go out there and actually see it for ourselves.      

Anyway, this post without any real poetry. So here is my favourite excerpt from Merlin and Vivien from Idylls of the King by Tennyson:

'“In Love, if Love be Love, if Love be ours,
Faith and unfaith can ne’er be equal powers:
Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all.

“It is the little rift within the lute,
That by and by will make the music mute,
And ever widening slowly silence all.

“The little rift within the lover’s lute
Or little pitted speck in garnered fruit,
That rotting inward slowly moulders all.

“It is not worth the keeping: let it go:
But shall it? answer, darling, answer, no.
And trust me not at all or all in all.”'

By the way, Idylls of the King is an novel-length-incredible-long poem made up of some-what-long poems that chroniclize the adventures of King Arthur and his friends.

And though I cannot possibly compare myself to master poet, such a Lord Alfred Tennyson (who, by the way, was the Poet Laureate for England from 1850 till 1892, when he died), I leave you now with a few more of my own poems:

Divine Loneliness
2010

Under a liquid-grey evening sky

When night is never more so nigh

                                                                 

From these closed eyes falls a watery streak

No one wants to know of another’s grief

Never more alone than when in a crowd.

Yet faith leaves me so little room for doubt

That this clustered solitude could ever be complete

When prostrating myself at His sublime Feat

Since human comfort always seems to fail

Only His noble words give me space to heal

This pain those people unknowingly inflict

Belief stitches every wound and every snick

And now tears bring on an overwhelming peace

Ever more near to my heart, is this ephemeral ease.  

Hi, (an e-mail) 

©2008

Hi,

Just writing to ask how you are doing?

Haven’t spoken to you in quite a while.

Just wondering if your life is still blooming,

And if, on your lips, there’s still that smile?

My life in truth is pretty much the same,

A mixture of family, study and poetry.

Constantly, things to be done remain,

Not even enough time for a single memory.

And yet, I feel there’s too much satiety,

Maybe because of the routinely pattern of day.

But don’t give me that look, I don’t need pity,

Sometimes I prefer to have things that way.

Do you remember that trip that was so serene,

Those mountains where we almost lost my brother?

But enough about me, how many years has it been

Since the last time we had seen each other?

We should meet up again sometime soon,

Maybe we’ll have a coffee and a good conversation.

But that’s only if I can make some time out of this gloom,

There’s nothing better than some anticipation!

So I’m eagerly waiting for your reply,

To me that is something you cannot deny.

But now it’s time for me to say Good-bye.

Nida