General Chat

After this one I am going to turn my comp off! I am not getting on with mmy packing!!!

Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
St. Augustine

I haven't writen this one Bridget but think it's very apt

Good Luck X

Moving house is the ultimate stress,
Each room is a dump, an absolute mess
With boxes strewn all over the place,
Another day packing unable to face,

Surrendering all that cherished for years,
Enough to drive anyone sadly to tears,
Taking the pictures down from the wall,
The umbrella and hat from the stand in the hall,

The books from the shelves and the family clock,
A bitter experience, a terrible shock,
Farewell to the garden, the plants and the trees,
A new home to go to but not to appease

One of my very favourites,,,,

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.


— Wendell Berry

This one is a real favorite from 'A Shopshire Lad'

Along the field as we came by
A year ago,my love and I,
The Aspen over stile and stone
Was talking to itself alone.
'Oh who are these that kiss and pass?
A country lover and his lass;
Two lovers looking to be wed;
And time shall put them both to bed,
But she will lie with earth above,
And he beside another love.

And sure enough beneath the tree
There walks another love with me,
And overhead the aspen heaves
its rainy-sounding silver leaves;
And I spell nothing in their stir,
But now perhaps they speak to her,
And plain for her to understand
They talk about a time at hand
when I shall sleep with clover clad,
And she beside another lad.

I am so delighted at the response ansd some lovely poems, I might print them all and make Album with them

I have noticed that we have all posted poems so I will spend the next hour or so doing some more cleaning and thinking of some good or funny "sayings"

This is one of my favourite sayings, courtesy of Mark Twain:

'The more I know people, the more I love my dog'.

x

A donde el corazon se inclina, el pie camina.

or

Home is where the heart is.

Just so that you know that I have a little Spanish.

The life that I have, is all that I have..... was written by Leo Marks and used as a poem code in the Second World War.

What is this life but full of care, and written by W.H.Davies
I have this poem pinned on the corkboard in my kitchen......
I glance as it often when I am dashing by!! (true).

An interesting thread this.... keep them coming please.

Spanish Eyes: the poem is called Leisure and it is by William Henry Davies
Nigglynellie: Your poem relates to a WW2 Frenchwoman working for the Special Operations Executive in London. Her name was Odette Brailly and she married an Englishman by the name of Roy Sansom. She was known simply as Odette and she was captured, tortured and transported to the Nazi concentration camp in Ravensbruck where Anne Frank was also held, along with Violette Szabo (another Frenchwoman working for the SOE). The story of Violette Szabo was covered in a film called "Carve Her Name With Pride".

sheilawestwilts and kandj and everyone else thank you for enjoying this thread and posting such great Poetry and I also see that we are having a few sayings as well.
I can write prose and enjoy doing so even though most of it is imaginary stories about my descendents when I know where they have lived and what they did,
I admire those who can write Prose,

Kandj I did not know that The life that I have , is all I have was used as a code in the second world war

Have a good evening every one.

This is a verse I learned when very young from a little book of verse, by R.L. Stephenson


A Birdie With a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill.
Cocked his shining eye and said
"Ain't you 'shamed you sleepy-head"

One my son learned at school always made me smile as we had three cats at the time:

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.
Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.
Open draw, empty shoe, anybody's lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.
Anywhere! They don't care! Cats sleep anywhere.

Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965)




A quotation I like is:

Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things,

by Cicero


Another poem I enjoy is one that always reminds me of my German master at school:

Die Lorelei by Heinrich Heine, 1822 (1799-1856)

Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Daß ich so traurig bin,
Ein Märchen aus uralten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
Und ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt,
Im Abendsonnenschein.
2. Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar,
Ihr gold'nes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar,
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme,
Und singt ein Lied dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewalt'ge Melodei.

3. Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe,
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn,
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen,
Die Loreley getan.


The translation is:

I cannot determine the meaning
Of sorrow that fills my breast:
A fable of old, through it streaming,
Allows my mind no rest.
The air is cool in the gloaming
And gently flows the Rhine.
The crest of the mountain is gleaming
In fading rays of sunshine.
2. The loveliest maiden is sitting
Up there, so wondrously fair;
Her golden jewelry is glist'ning;
She combs her golden hair.
She combs with a gilded comb, preening,
And sings a song, passing time.
It has a most wondrous, appealing
And pow'rful melodic rhyme.

3. The boatman aboard his small skiff, -
Enraptured with a wild ache,
Has no eye for the jagged cliff, -
His thoughts on the heights fear forsake.
I think that the waves will devour
Both boat and man, by and by,
And that, with her dulcet-voiced power
Was done by the Lorelei.


I used to recite it to myself when sent outside for talking lol
It's etched on my mind now!

Lizx

Oh my Goodness, I realised as I trawled through all the entries that I had mis spelt an important word in i=one of my entries and was going to put it write and then i HIT the delete button by mistake!!! I am so cross because I cannot remember what the piece was!
That will teach me to take more care.....Hmmmm

Home Again

Home again, the place of free
Home again the joy of family
Home again the hope of bright futures
Home again, home again

I found this and thought it was very apt for me! as I am going home to Spain very soon. Oh is on his way already as he is driving over.I am so looking forward to seeing him again, I have to wait until next Tuesday afternoon as I have a meeting to go to.

WHAT YOU FIND

There is discipline in A Soldier
you can see it when he walks,
There is honor in A Soldier
you hear it when he talks.
There is courage in A Soldier
you can see it in his eyes,
There is loyalty in A Soldier
that he will not compromise.
There is something in A Soldier
that makes him stand apart,
There is strength in A Soldier
that beats from his heart.
A Soldier isn't a title any man
can be hired to do,
A Soldier is the soul of that man
buried deep inside of you.
A Soldier's job isn't finished after
an 8 hour day or a 40 hour week,
A Soldier is always A Soldier
even while he sleeps.
A Soldier serves his country first
and his life is left behind,
A Soldier has to sacrifice what
comes first in a civilian's mind.
If you are civilian -
I am saying this to you.....
next time you see A Soldier
remember what they do.
A Soldier is the reason our land
is 'Home of the free',
A Soldier is the one that is brave
protecting you and me.
If you are A Soldier -
I am saying this to you.....
Thank God for EVERY SOLDIER
Thank God for what YOU do!


TY Bohls

The firdt time I read this I printed it and I carry it with me and when my son is "away" I take this out and read it again

SpanishEyes, what a lovely poem and so VERY true, I am thoroughly enjoying this 'thread', your son is clearly in the Army, and will certainly be in my prayers for his safety and well being. God bless him, his companions and all they do to keep us safe and secure in this very troubled world.

Oscar Wilde:

Life is too important to be taken seriously !

That is a wonderful poem Bridget, I have just seen it on Izzy's thread but decided to comment on this one. Very apt for these times.

'Tom and his younger brothers as they grew up, went
on playing with the village boys without the idea of
equality or inequality(except in wrestling, running and climbing)
ever entering their heads, as it doesn't till it's put there by
Jack Nastys or fine ladies maids.
(Tom Brown's Schooldays.)

anninglos, I did not know that this was on Izzys thread i must have a look, I used to go on there every day but more recently I have visited now and agin and send messages to Izzy instead, Thank you for teeling us ,
Piglets Pal How lovely these words are on Samplers which you have.Thank you for sharing them with us all.
Nigglynelli
I never managed to read Tom Brown's Schooldays but I do like the quote.
Bridget

Oh my Goodness I just looked on Izzys Thread and it was ME who posted it on there earlier today!!! Perhaps it is just as well that I have retired No rude answers please!!