General Chat

Margot welcome to our poetry and sayings thread.
Is this the poem you were trying to remember?
If so i hope that you enjoy it again an we look forward to hearing from you.

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies -
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Welshbird I really like this, Do you have any other poems you could share with us from this book. I am thinking of making a "book" for my most recent granddaughter who is just two. Her mother is very keen to engage her in poetry, the value of books etc and already she knows that books are special.

Hi All, sorry I've been missing for a few days. I love the poems they are fantastic. Mine seems quite feeble by comparison. Doing a bit of sorting out I came across a childrens book of poems I had when I was in the primary school, I quite like this one:

I said my pyjamas

I said my pyjamas
I put on my prayers
I went up my slippers
I took off my stairs
I switched off my bed
Ijumped in the light
The reason for this is
You kissed me goodnight

Thank you, Spanish Eyes and others who have added to this thread-some
of these poems bring back very old memories.I remember having to learn "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth at primary school,and the rhythm
of the railway carriage one by Robert Louis Stevenson definitely rang a long,distantly remembered bell.I've never seen the Isabel one before but I would have loved it as a child.

Being Australian,I and many others of that time had to learn that iconic Aussie poem-"My Country" , by Dorothea McKellar, part of which I can still remember .... ahem... 50 + years later..

I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of rugged mountain ranges (I learnt rugged,but there's some debate
Of drought and flooding rains. that it's ragged.)

I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror,
The wide,brown land for me.

(I know there's other verses,but that's as far as I remember without prompting.If any one knows the rest,I'd love to see them.)

The reference to the drought and flooding rains is very topical at the moment!

I found this whilst sitting in the garden having my mid morning coffee and one of my books.
I hope you like it.

My message is the practice of compassion, love, and kindness.
Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact
that every human being is a member of humanity and
the human family regardless of differences in religion, culture, color, and creed.
Deep down there is no difference."

"We should try never to let our happy frame of mind be disturbed.
Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past,
there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, why be unhappy?
And if we cannot, what use is there in being depressed about it?
That just adds more unhappiness and does no good at all."

"By developing a sense of respect for others and a concern for their welfare,
we reduce our own selfishness, which is the source of all problems,
and enhance our sense of kindness which is a natural source of goodness."

"This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness."

...His holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living

This is the message shown in many places in the small historical town i live in. After reading it I felt it would be a wonderful statement for people getting married, our children etc.and to place somewhere where it can be seen in our homes. So today I shall try to place this.

"I give you my time, my days and my nights, my light and my warmth... now I give you everything"


A thought has just come to mind I think that i will embroider this and have it on a wall in my house.

Any comments greatfully received!

more about hope.


If I can put new hope within the heart
Of one who has lost hope,
If I can help a brother up
Some difficult long slope
That seems too steep for tired feet to go,
If I can help him climb
Into the light upon the hill's far crest,
I shall begrudge no time
Or strength that I spend, for well I know
How great may be his need.
If I can help through any darkened hour,
I shall be glad indeed.

For I recall how often I have been
Distressed, distraught, dismayed,
And hands have reached to help, and voices called
That kept me unafraid.
If I can share this help that I have had,
God knows I shall be glad.

Ms Cromwell's poem reminds us that we all need a helping hand at times in our life. The feeling of hopefulness sometimes comes from someone helping us. Think back to a time when you had lost hope. Many times, we regained our optimism because someone gave us a helping hand. In summary, no matter what challenges you face in life do not give up. If you find yourself stuck in a rut, ask someone to help you, what ever you do, do not lose your hope. As without hope life can be tough.

As Charles F. Kettering once said, "Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future."

with so much sorrow and pain in the world i thought that some people may like these . I am busy preparing a fish meal that I have not done before so will be back later to see how they are reviewed.

A Hong Kong Proverb

As long as we have hope,
we have direction,
the energy to move,
and the map to move by.
We have a hundred alternatives,
a thousand paths and infinity of dreams.
Hopeful, we are halfway to where we want to go;
Hopeless, we are lost forever.

Hope is one of the prime differences between successful people and those who can only see failure. Successful people have hope because they can clearly see their goals. People who only see failure have no hope because they see no light, they set no goals, and they see nothing accomplished. Successful people see alternatives and are willing to try different ways. People who only see failure are unable to see another way and give up to easily. With hope you are halfway to where you want to go; by setting your goals, and taking the action to achieve them, you will see your hope turn into your reality!

Thought you might all like this.

Home is so sad. It stays as it was left,
Shaped to the comfort of the last to go
As if to win them back. Instead, bereft
Of anyone to please, it withers so,
Having no heart to put aside the theft.

And turn again to what it started as,
A joyous shot at how things ought to be,
Long fallen wide. You can see how it was:
Look at the pictures and the cutlery.
The music in the piano stool. That vase.

Philip Larkin. 'The Whitsun Wedding'

I Like these quotes by Marcel Proust

“Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees”

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

“All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.”

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne

Just when I think that man's stupidity must have reached its limit, we watch another edition of You've Been Framed.

(Me to my kids) :)

St. Francis of Assisi:

A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.


Mother Theresa:

A smile is the beginning of peace.

Jillian, How completely dreadful to have such an awful parent, even suceeding in influencing the other parent to be of the same opinion. It makes me realise,even more clearly how VERY fortunate I was in having such loving parents, in particular my stepfather who couldn't have loved me more than if I had been his own child. I know this because he told me so. I wasn't academic, and didn't shine at anything in particular, although I was musical, and had a love of English Literature (inherited from my mother) and a great love and a fair knowledge of English History. My parents always supported and encouraged me in everything that I attempted to achieve, and I, in turn, was devoted to them. They both died within 8 months of each other aged 68 and 67 respectively, 25 years ago and I still miss them after all this time. BUT, how lucky I was to have had them.

I can only say that your father was a very privileged man to have a daughter whom he abused in such a callous manner who then albeit with help wrote such a personal and seemingly forging piece of work.

I admire you.for your honesty and sharing your your story with us.

Please stay in touch and add to our growing repertoire.

B

Thank you Jillian for the poem and more importantly the reason behind the words. - jl

Thank you Spanish Eyes. I thought after I had posted, how hearts sink when someone says they write stories or poetry etc because it is often utter rubbish - a bit like all those who go on X-Factor believing they are the next great superstar but in reality are totally crap. I hope I'm not joining them :)

Anyway, this is what my friend Jo-Ann and I wrote together to go on the Order of Service for my mother who died Jan 1st 2010. The background is that my father was an abusive bully who destroyed the happiness and lives of his family whilst portraying himself to the world as a perfect gentleman, a kind and wonderful husband, father and grandfather. My father hated me my whole life for not being the son he wanted. Not until the last months of my mother's life did I begin to appreciate the level of abuse she had endured and kept hidden. He trained her to hate me as much as he did. She said stuff to me that no mother should say to a daughter. Even so I looked after them both for nearly her last four years, always doing my best but always on the receiving end of bad stuff. By the time my mother died I had endured enough and walked away but my sister was still in contact with them. He never knew that I was doing the Order of Service on behalf of my sister. No verses I could find fitted what needed to be said because how can you express living in fear and now being free so one evening Jo and I wrote this between us. I'm in the Midlands and she is in Peterborough so we work on stuff together via msn. My mother always believed that her family were waiting for her and my sister and I believe that her sisters were with her when she passed to take her on. I'd like to think that they are protecting her from my father now that he has passed on too. My father believed he was some sort of wonderful man, totally superiour to everyone else. He bullied into us that we had no value and were useless. He always made it clear that we were dreadful people who no one could think any good of. All poetry has a meaning and a backstory so that is the one for this. It is all far deeper than the words themselves suggest once you know their reason.

ON PASSING

My days on Earth have passed, it's true
Now all the pain and hurt is through

Remember me but don't be sad
Let all your thoughts of me be glad

Wipe that tear now from your eye
My time has come, no need to cry

Death comes to me, I have no fear
Old friends and family I see are here

God welcomes me with love into His world
He smiles at me, His arms unfurled

And so dear friends, please hear my plea
Think only happy thoughts of me

Sadness and worries, now all are gone
Don't let your sadness linger on

Jo-Ann Orbell and Jill Wood
January 2010

Good morning Jill and thank you for becoming a member of this thread.
so you write poetry how delightful and yes please add some of them to this thread, I can write prose and enjoy doing so bu I simply do not have the talent to write poetry but I do really enjoy reading it and have quiye a lot of poetry books.
As A child to hid who I really was, well metaphorically speaking, I used to act on stage and do Irish dancing and often wrote short stories or descriptions of the people I met, never showed them to anyone though in case they thought I was daft. Then one day one of my teachers spotted what i was doing and encouraged me to continue. She was our drama teacher and I can picture her even now.

Now i await you entries and maybe your friend would do the same

Spanish Eyes

Thank you for that lovely welcome. I think I must always have loved poetry. In infant school I had my first copy of When We Were Very Young. I loved Three Little Foxes and Bad Sir Brian Botany.

Macavity (above) reminds me of my 3rd year junior school teacher - Mrs Morely who besides being an ornothologist love poetry. It was in the days when the teacher read to the class and we could put our heads down on the desk and just listen. She loved Macavity and it was always a wonderful performance. She taught me inflection and pace too. I can still hear her reciting Skimbleshanks.

I would love to post more poetry. First I must go back and see what poems have already been put on here. Would I be allowed to post anything I had written? My friend Jo-Ann (writer and poet) and I wrote the verses to go on my mother's funeral Order of Service.

Jill

DizzI I like this a great deal, I should have made this my motto!

Janet, as i read this it brought back a great time for me when one of my children recited this in public in a London Theatre and that episode in his life set him off on a wonderful career until he decide that he had enough and changed his direction in life, but he is still very much involved in theatre and the like. Thank you for posting it.