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Category Archives: poetry

Special Day, Squirrel and A Poem

Today is Mother’s Day in America and my sister, who lives in Hawaii, posted this photo of our beautiful Mum.

We’ve had another squirrel visit today.

14th May is International Dylan Thomas Day and here are just two verses of one of my favourite poems –

Fern Hill

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
     The night above the dingle starry,
          Time let me hail and climb
     Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
          Trail with daisies and barley
     Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
     In the sun that is young once only,
          Time let me play and be
     Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
          And the sabbath rang slowly
     In the pebbles of the holy streams.

3 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on May 14, 2023 in America, Beauty, garden, nature, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized

Tags: International Dylan Thomas Day

Two Birds and A Poem

15 Apr

Some time ago, my poet friend Kim posted his poem about two crows that he likes to observe from the window. I have been waiting to catch our pair in the right photo to match the poem and this morning, I was there at the right moment. We have been watching this pair for fifteen years as they stay close together. Crows mate for life and have been known to stay together for 20 years.The poem is perfect. Thanks Kim. .

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on April 15, 2023 in environment, friendship, nature, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023

Tags: Kim Ridgeon, Kim Ridgeon poet

A Poem for You

12 Apr

The following poem by Florence Earle Coates, an American poet, was yesterday’s poem in “A Poet for Every Day of the Year” and on a day like today, with Atlantic storms raging, we really hope ‘wintry days are over’ and the hoolies will soon come to an end!

An Adieu

Sorrow, quit me for a while!
Wintry days are over;
Hope again, with April smile,
Violets sows and clover.Pleasure follows in her path,
Love itself flies after,
And the brook a music hath
Sweet as childhood’s laughter.

Not a bird upon the bough
Can repress its rapture,
Not a bud that blossoms now
But doth beauty capture.

Sorrow, thou art Winter’s mate,
Spring cannot regret thee;
Yet, ah, yet — my friend of late —
I shall not forget thee!

Some Spring flowers for you.

Poster, Kindness and A Poem

25 Mar

One of my pupils with whom I have stayed in touch makes beautiful pieces with her delicate painting and immaculate lettering. Each of the phrases touches me and is part of my philosophy. She has given me permission to share this lovely work with you.

Thank you, Rachel McCann, artist

Someone down our street very kindly put out a bucket of Narcissi for people to help themselves to – so I did and they are gorgeous, scented and full of colour.

There were so many flowers in the bucket that I imagined their back garden to be bursting with daffodils and that brought to mind the much loved Wordsworth poem, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 25, 2023 in art, community, environment, friendship, nature, painting, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized

John Passmore Edwards in Redruth

24 Mar

Today is the bicentennial of the birth of John Passmore Edwards who was born near Redruth in Blackwater, in 1823, He was a chartist and philanthropist, and a life-long champion of the working classes and is remembered as a generous benefactor.

Over the relatively short space of 14 years, 70 major buildings were established in Cornwall, London and other places in the UK, for the benefit of local communities. One of these is the old Redruth Library building on Clinton Road – now re-opened as The Ladder and today we joined a wonderful celebration, the Human Book Chain!

The library is now nearer to the town and about 100 people including children from two local schools formed a chain between the two buildings and passed books along. Everyone looked at the titles as the books were passed from hand to hand.

The following poem and film were shown at The Ladder and are a wonderful tribute to a remarkable man. Your Space and Mine – A Passmore Edwards Poem by Ben Rowswell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1awbLI3dkQ

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 24, 2023 in art, Celebration, Cornwall, History, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023, Redruth, Uncategorized

Tags: puppetry

Gift, Hugs and Refugees

13 Mar

A parcel arrived today and what delights were inside! A reader in the North East who has become a friend has collected lots of beautiful sea-glass and posted it to me. Thank you so much, J, such lovely pieces and colours. Joy!

Along with the glass, in the parcel, were two beautifully made ‘pocket hugs.’ What a delightful idea! Our pocket hugs will come on our walks with us

It seems the right time to share again the following poem by W H Auden, written in a different time but with a hurtful relevance today.

Refugee Blues by W H Auden

Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there’s no place for us, my dear, yet there’s no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you’ll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew;
Old passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that.

The consul banged the table and said:
‘If you’ve got no passport, you’re officially dead’;
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go today, my dear, but where shall we go today?

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said:
‘If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread’;
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying: ‘They must die’;
We were in his mind, my dear, we were in his mind.

Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren’t German Jews, my dear, but they weren’t German Jews.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren’t the human race, my dear, they weren’t the human race.

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors;
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.

7 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on March 13, 2023 in friendship, Happiness, knitting, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023

Tags: W H Auden

A Painting, A Poem and A Border

26 Feb

Poetry for Ukraine
Artwork is by Ukrainian artist Anastasia. Her work can be found in her Etsy shop called AyToysArt.

I have been given permission to share both the remarkable poem and the beautiful and moving artwork with you.

Poetry for Ukraine

A powerfully beautiful poem from on the ground: John Gordon Sennett is from the Jersey Shore and lives in Ukraine with his wife, Natasha and dog, Philly Cheesesteak.

Night in Chernivtsi

Street lights no longer shine on the backstreets of Chernivtsi

Stars twinkle in and out above the low ridge of a distant mountain

Random apartments give the blue light glow of TV from their windows

One dog barks, another one starts and soon after a cacophony of howls

Silver moonlight, shines off the shiny new rooftop across the street

The smoke of the cigar rises and fades lingering for only moments

Ukrainian cognac coats the lips, mingles with the cigar taste

Then mixes with it and brings out one of life’s simple treasures

And they are dancing in the streets now in liberated Kherson

Peace for now but all here know that it will not yet be a lasting one

We celebrate anyway, we go on, we fight, we write, we do what we have to

Defeat does not exist in our reality and neither does the offer of surrender

Who is foolish enough to negotiate with the devil?

Or even to speak with him as if he is a civilized being?

No, the troops of ours will roll on until he leaves this bountiful land

We will roll on doing the work it takes to win this awful, unfair war

Shevchenko on his hill will stand and salute all those who continue the fight

All the greats of Ukraine who told us that it was so will rise from the ashes

And dance when the victory of Ukraine finally comes and wraps us within

Our souls and spirits know it, feel it, smell it and taste it

Our bodies may be worn, hungry, tired, abused, injured and broken

But it is within that counts and together, we all know that

So we will light our candles in our churches and pray before icons

Some of us will fast for the coming Nativity season and St. Nicholas Day

We are used to giving up things so others may fight, may win and may continue

United no matter what our race, creed or identity in the battle with evil

All of us will stand against it in our own way, raise whatever weapons we may have at our disposal

We strike down that evil that has come from the ugly east

With pen, with sword, with voice, with guns, artillery and drones

Stand with us if you believe in freedom is all that we ask

There was work to do at the allotment this afternoon, just general tidying up ready for the start of the planting and sowing season. Our Tete a Tete border is lovely and bright.

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 26, 2023 in allotment, art, community, environment, flowers, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023

Tags: Anastasia, John Gordon Sennett, Slava Ukraini

Slava Ukraini, Kedgeree and A Poem

24 Feb

From Cornwall Council this morning: “A one minute silence is being held across the UK at 11am today to mark one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Please join us at that time for a moment of reflection and to pay tribute to the incredible courage of the Ukrainian people.” We did.
We think of our Dear Friends in The Hooligan Art Community and their families, especially tonight as they perform Bunker Cabaret in Somerset House on this anniversary..

It was only when I dished up our evening meal that I realised that the colours were perfect for today.

At John’s Farewell last Saturday, one of his own thoughtful poems was read. .

6 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 24, 2023 in community, Cornwall, Food, friendship, poetry, Postaday 2023

Tags: Hooligan Art Community, John Langford

Biscuits and A Poem

13 Feb

It’s Valentine’s day tomorrow and our day to volunteer at Community Roots so I have made some delicious, gluten-free and very crumbly heart shaped biscuits for the coffee break.

It’s World Radio Day and Brian Bilston, poet, has given me permission to post his poem in honour of the day. I love how it reminds me of the time when you could turn the dial and hear all sorts of magic snippets and sometimes stopped on one that you weren’t looking for but found a programme to give you joy. I love his sense of humour too. .

2 Comments

Posted by mybeautfulthings on February 13, 2023 in baking, photography, poetry, Postaday 2023, Uncategorized

The Writers’ Block Arrives in Redruth

28 Jan

The Writers’ Block has moved to Redruth and is in the old Library, the building now known as The Ladder. Today was their opening day and lived up to expectations. It really is “an inspirational space with events and activities for all ages and abilities cultivating writing confidence, creativity and enjoyment.”
Enjoy the gallery and click on photos to read the explanatory captions. Do click on the website to read about Simon Armitage.

Bench outside celebrating people from Redruth

Keith Sparrow, actor, story teller and artist asking everyone for the name of a favourite book so that he could add it to the ‘bookshelf.’ Look carefully, the door has an adult opening and a small one for children. It’s a very beautiful thing.