General Chat

Terence
It is rather refreshing to have a chap add to the thread and yet i dare say that there are many who enjoy poetry and who have favourite sayings. do you have any more special pieces you could share with us and I am sure that there must be some sayings that you know.?

Nigglynellie.
My mother never really recovered from this very traumatic time for several reasons,
1.She needed her husband and the army would not let him home apart from the funeral itself, it was of course war time and he was in the UK but rules are rules.
2. Her GP decided it was not right for her to attend the funeral so heavily sedated her and she did not know until the following day that her son had been buried. Things have changed since then thank goodness.

Fringed Gentian

God made a little gentian;
It tried to be a rose
And failed, and all the summer laughed.
But just before the snows
There came a purple creature
That ravished all the hill;
And summer hid her forehead,
And mockery was still.
The frosts were her condition;
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North evoked it,
"Creator! shall I bloom?"

Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

This was one of the poems I had to recite for my first elocution lesson. do people still have elocution lessons, it certainly helped me to overcome my lisp unless I am anxious when back it comes!

If you insist Spanish Eyes. I have two special pieces borne out of sadness that are particularly meaningful to me. The first are the words from a little card that I found soon after my wife died in January, 2008. It was at the bottom of a box with other papers:

If I should die and
leave you here awhile,
be not like others sore,
who keep long vigils
by the silent dust, and weep.
For my sake turn again
to life and smile,
nerving thy heart
and trembling hand to do
something to comfort
other hearts than thine.
Complete these dear
unfinished tasks of mine,
and I perchance
may therein comfort you.

The second one is also as a result of the passing of my wife. It too was on a card from my two grandchildren for Christmas 2008.

Memories of a Special Grandma at Christmas
---------------------------------------------------------------

Christmas isn't quite the same and there's a clear reason
Without you Grandma it's very hard to celebrate this season
But you'll never be forgotten you'll live on for evermore
One very special lady who was easy to adore
The memories always bring a smile and real appreciation
Of all the Christmas times we've shared in joyful celebration.
Your kindness was amazing, such a pleasure to behold
You were such a ray of sunshine with a heart of solid gold,
The Christmas scene seems empty now a scene that once you graced
For something's lost forever that can never be replaced.

Yes, they are tinged with sadness but they mean so much to me.

Regards

Terence

Terence
What beautiful messages you found to be treasured forever and thank you for sharing them with us.
i have turned to poetry for much of my life but sadly have never had the skills to write a poem.
Perhaps you will peep in here from time to time and see if there is anything you would like to comment on. It is always a pleasure to have a gentleman's view and after all men are 50 % of our population.
I have five sons and one daughter so used to having male opinions!

Take care

Bridget

Thought you may like this by Thomas Hardy.

I am the family face
Flesh perishes I live on
Projecting trait and trace
Through time yo time anon
And leaping from place to place
Over oblivion

The years - heired feature that can
In curve and voice and eye
Despise the human span
Of durance - - that is I
The eternal thing in man
That heeds no call to die

One of my favourites, short and rather sweet :))

In A Bath Teashop by John Betjeman

"Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another—
Let us hold hands and look."
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
But both, for a moment, little lower than the angels
In the teashop's ingle-nook. "

Some lovely poems added here also for anyone who would like to look

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.page/board/chat/thread/1231508

The Thousandth Man.
...... Rudyard Kipling


0NE man in a thousand, Solomon says.
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it's worth while seeking him half your days
If you find him before the other.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth Man will stand your friend
With the whole round world agin you.

'Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for 'ee.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.

But if he finds you and you find him,
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.

You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man he's worth 'em all
Because you can show him your feelings.

His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight
With that for your only reason!

Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot - and after!




This was read at my brother's funeral, so brings sad but proud memories.


Gwyn

A favourite of mine


I Sit Beside the Fire


I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door
Tolkien

Another favourite:-)


If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

And yet another - hope you enjoy them as much as I do.


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening .

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

Not a poem and i admit that I have copied and pasted this from todays newspaper.

Right reverend and worshipful and my right well-beloved Valentine, I recommend me unto you full heartily, desiring to hear of your welfare which I beseech almighty God long for to preserve unto his pleasure and your heart's desire and if it please you to hear of my welfare I am not in good health of body nor of heart nor shall be till I hear from you, for there knows no creature what pain that I endure and on pain of death I dare not reveal. And my lady my mother has laboured the matter to my father full diligently but she can no more get than ye know of for the which God knows I am full sorry. But if that you love me as I trust verily that you do, you will not leave me therefore. For if that you had not half the livelihood that you have for to do the greatest labour that any woman alive might I would not forsake you. And if you command me to keep me true wherever I go, I advise I will do all my might you to love and never no more. And if my friends say that I do amiss, they shall not me hinder so for to do. My heart me bids ever more to love you truly over all earthly thing and if they be never so angry I trust it shall be better in time coming. No more to you at this time but the holy trinity has you in keeping. And I beseech you that this bill be not seen of no earthly creature except yourself and this letter was written at topcroft with full heavy heart. By your own M[argery] B[rews].



First Valentine: Lasting legacy of 500-year-old love
By Anna Browning BBC News Continue reading the main story
Select








Love it or hate it, even the most hardened anti-Romeo will be hard pressed to avoid Valentine's Day this year. But as an exhibit at the British Library currently on show is testament to, there is a first for everything - even on Valentine's Day.

It is a letter, written from a young woman to her love, and is the first mention of the word Valentine in the English language. And, for the first time, the descendants of Margery Brews and her betrothed John Paston have been traced.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The letter shows they were no different to us. They had the same loves, desires and financial problems”

I hope that i have pasted this correctly !!!

Sayings for love and romance


There is no remedy for love but to love more.
-Henry David Thoreau


Never close your lips to those whom you have opened your heart.
-Charles Dickens


May the love you share be as timeless as the tides and as deep as the sea.
-Anonymous


To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
-Mark Twain


The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

I get very angry about cruelty of ALL kinds, so this poem is a favorite of mine too.

Twould ring the bells of heaven
The wildest peal for years,
If the Parson lost his senses,
and the people came to theirs,
and he and they together knelt down with angry prayers,
For tamed and shabby tigers,
For dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched blind pit-ponies,
And little hunted hares.

Ralph Hodson.

nigglynellie, i have never seen this before and I to become very angry if animals are mistreated.
Thank you for adding this poem.

I went out last night with OH to a friends 70th birthday,,,it was great fun, Had a few glasses of G&T so a little befuddled this morning so may just do a search for an entry today.....

As I sit in my house overlooking the sea, the birds chirping, the trees swaying so softly and my dear dogs Jet & Joe are sitting by my feet, I realised that I was experiencing real peace and so I decide to find some
peace related sayings. i hope that you enjoy them and maybe post some "peaceful" sayings /poems of your own.

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
Lao Tzu

"This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love."
Peace Pilgrim

"What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family."
Mother Teresa

nudge

nudge

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.