AUGUST'S CANTICLE

In 21 Aug 2011, I was thinking about the poem #1068 written by my DNA Maternal Cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson.  There are many documented versions of this poem, and I have posted one version here. 

Since discovering my Family connection to Emily (we share the same many Great Grandparents Moses Payne (1581-1643)  and  Mary Benison Payne (1585 – 1616)),   I have been reading her writings and about her life and times.

Below is a short 'reply' to the poem #1068, that I wrote as if it were to be part of a letter that I would send to Emily.  As I have been reading her writings, I find them affecting me in different ways, and frequently I feel that she is writing to me, for our lives are similar in so many ways.  Anyway, here is the 'reply' that I would include in my letter to her.

"As August cools, Haunting Dreams of wild imaginings burn as blue flames, Memories ripe, cannot Ferment fast enough for the intoxicant Day Dreamer."

[-dht-2011, DNA Cousin to Emily Elizabeth Dickinson]

AND, below is Emily's poem #1068

Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
It's unobtrusive Mass

No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.

Antiquest felt at Noon
When August is burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify

Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now

[-Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Poem #1068]

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When also thinking of August, one of my favorite songs comes to mind, "Scarborough Fair", a hauntingly beautiful ballad with powerful lyrics that are larger than a single voice, expressing a special message only the Heart hears.  [dht-2011]

Song History and Lyrics link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Fair_(ballad)

  

YouTube link

Scarborough Faire Canticle - Simon and Garfunkel {SONG and HYMN}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqpAWPx6T4

[PHOTO SOURCE: Renaissance Fair 1975 California with my daughter and myself dressed "haute couture"]

The Fabric of our Ever Changing Lives

(I wrote this thinking of the many ways our lives unfold and SOAR with moments of joy that may be misspent or missed altogether, and seen only as reflections through OTHER'S expressions and experiences. Seems SOME are lost to us, yet we spend our Life searching and wondering how the pattern was set before we knew how to set a stitch. How now to gladden a sorrow and sooth a loss?)
 
Woven of woe and joy,
Designs unique to each life,
Whole united to enjoy.
Each joy a trio of good, two bad.

First New, Warm and Rich,
Then Carrion, Cool and Poor,
First ASCENDING light as a BUBBLE,
Then BURST in Winter's SILENCE.

Simple pleasures bright in our Spring,
Soar in Summer with delight,
Shallow humbly in Fall, and
Shadow in Winter's Solace.

When the wildflowers wilt,
And angels visit,
Regret and Grief,
Stitch the final binding.

[dht-2011]

[PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

MEMORIES OF THE HEART

(I wrote this, 11 Aug 2011, thinking of my Life's Journey as a course with a beginning, middle, and ending, with each port in the course full of joyful and sad memories that I hold close in my Heart, each port in the course holding its unique essence—the whole making up the phases and faces of my Life.)

*** MEMORIES OF THE HEART ***

MEMORIES laced with Joy and Love tease,
as if having a tendresse for my Heart.

A smile of remembrance countered,
a faint melancholia, not wholly concealed.

TOO SOON Spring's Essence
so lush with rainbow delights,
melds into Summer's threshold.

Fall's Bounty yields a Harvest resplendent
at Winter's Tranquil possession.

The course complete—now
only MEMORIES OF THE HEART.

[dht-2011]

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[PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

[Photo Notes: CAN YOU FIND ... ?
Look closely at this photo to see if you can find
an elder male in Winter's shroud,
a grim reaper,
a young girl in Spring's delight,
a youth taking leisure,
5 shy Spring observers,
5 shy Winter observers,
a village,
some ships,
and two in a boat.]

A MERMAID'S TALE

(I wrote this, 6 Aug 2011, on the closing of a beautiful warm summer day, with cooling breezes softly caressing the tender leaves in my Dry World—no rain today!)


*** A MERMAID'S TALE ***

IF I were a Mermaid, I would sit on a coral perch
and tend my garden of waterweeds.

Perceptions of the Dry World above  -- Mute,
as the serene waters enclose me in my liquid cocoon.

My Cousins flashing silver among the coral,
as they dance a water ballet to the trumpeting music of seashells.

IF I were a Mermaid -- Safe and Happy
and Content in my Watery World.

[dht-2011]


[PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

JUST DAY DREAMING

The skyline is a Mocking reflection
of my Day Dreamer's Passage.

My thoughts wander
chasing butterflies
in the Garden of my mind.

Graceful waves of ferns
emote a welcome greeting
on my Sojourn.

Glimmers of blue and green
sparkle at the edges of my Dream
off the cool waters
catching the sunlight.

My Day Dreamer's thoughts
feather to nothing,
burdens of the day,
easing the Signs of worry
from my brow.

A brilliant smile lit from within,
hints of the whimsical fancies
that dance to a tune
only this Day Dreamer hears.

Mysterious thoughts
challenge and inspire
and excite my Day Dreamer's Nature.

Lack of coherent order
releases the Bonds
that shroud the Boundary
of my senses.

Reflections of a secret romantic,
flicker as patterns of mist and fog,
smoke and shadow,
sun and moonbeams,
and fall across
my Day Dreamer's imaginary Landscape.

Warmth, laughter, and LOVE --
all welcome ingredients
for Today's Illusions
and Tomorrows Hopes.

And, the polly wogs in the Pond
all turn into Princes,
as the Day Dreamer's interludes
slip by-the-by.

The drab sparrow drops its cloak,
revealing beneath its brightly feathered finery
in a Peacock's plumage; 
But, Beware
the hidden heart of a Hawk!

A profusion of flowers
array in drooping sleepy splendor
along the Day Dreamer's Path.

Candle flames dance merrily
into the evensong of the Sunset.

Flickers of moonlight
beckon the Day Dreamer
to witness its play
on the garden Steps.

Overhead the stars in the night lit heavens,
shine as celestial beacons,
softly guiding this Nocturnal Traveler.

Whispers of a soft summer evening
drift on a gentle breeze,
ruffling the rhythms of my Flight.

Such are the Meanderings of my mind.

I am – A DAY DREAMING TRAVELER!

[~dht-2011]

***************

(Just being and writing on 11 Jul 2011, for some days are just easy and made for lazy-ing around and JUST DAY DREAMING about your Life, Yesterday, Today, and pondering Tomorrow!   My life is a river that flows, I know not where, With eddies for reflecting, and swift currents gone too quick, Past the 'Shores' of my life. Yesterday's youthful dreams, Today's hopeful goals, Float on the water without anchor, Toward Tomorrow's Destiny.) [~dht-2011]


[PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images]

BLESSINGS of a new day

(I wrote this tribute to a beautiful dawn, 5 Jul 2011, viewed from my backyard.)

SOME OF MY WORDS

My heart is weightless like a cloud

floating in a bright blue summer sky,
drifting in a warm breeze.

The sounds of the (bird's) Dawn Chorus
fill my hearing. 
The scent of flowers
perfumes the air. 

I'm BLESSED to be alive

to share this morning
as the SUNRISE anoints the day
with promise and hope. 

It's good to 'count our BLESSINGS'

each day and at every meal!  

The New Dawn a reminder

that Our Blessings
should not be taken for granted!

[~ DOROTHY HAZEL TARR dht-2011]

[PHOTO SOURCE: My camera, My backyard at NEW DAWN]