Monday, July 27, 2020

The Falling Star (Monday Poem)

by Sara Teasdale


I saw a star slide down the sky,
Blinding the north as it went by,
Too lovely to be bought or sold,
Too burning and too quick to hold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then forever to be gone.




from Sing a Song of Seasons
A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year
selected by Fiona Waters
illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon
Candlewick Press, 2018 

Monday, July 20, 2020

Swing Song (Monday Poem)

by A. A. Milne


Here I go up in my swing
Ever so high.
I am the king of the fields, and the King
Of the town.
I am the King of the earth, and the King
Of the sky.
Here I go up in my swing . . .
Now I go down.


from Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
Dell, 1970

Monday, July 13, 2020

Solitude (Monday Poem)

by A. A. Milne


I have a house where I go
When there's too many people,
I have a house where I go
Where no one can be;
I have a house where I go,
Where nobody ever says "No";
Where no one says anything--so
There is no one but me.



from Now We Are Six
by A. A. Milne
Dell, 1970

Monday, July 6, 2020

Farewell! Like a Bee (Monday Poem)

by Basho


Farewell! Like a bee
reluctant to leave the deeps
of a peony.



from A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children
Selected by Caroline Kennedy
Hyperion, 2005

Monday, June 29, 2020

Do Not Be Ashamed (Monday Poem)

by Wendell Berry
You will be walking some night
in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine
round about you, and behind you
will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly
that you were about to escape,
and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not
a member, you lost your card
or never had one. And you will know
that they have been there all along,
their eyes on your letters and books,
their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful,
they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed,
reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made
in your history will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you.
You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you.
There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them,
only an inward clarity, unashamed,
that they cannot reach. Be ready.
When their light has picked you out
and their questions are asked, say to them:
"I am not ashamed." A sure horizon
will come around you. The heron will begin
his evening flight from the hilltop.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/wendell_berry/poems/130




Monday, June 22, 2020

Traveling at Home (Monday Poem)

by Wendell Berry

Even in a country you know by heart
it's hard to go the same way twice.
The life of the going changes.
The chances change and make a new way.
 Any tree or stone or bird
 can be the bud of a new direction. The
 natural correction is to make intent
 of accident. To get back before dark
 is the art of going.



http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2014/07/wendell-berry-traveling-at-home.html

Monday, June 15, 2020

Woods (Monday Poem)

by Wendell Berry


I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.



https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/woods-14/