Summer 2008

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In another's being mingle--
Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower could be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;--
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

Nature

O nature! I do not aspire
To be the highest in thy quire,
To be a meteor in thy sky
Or comet that may range on high;
Only a zephyr that may blow
Among the reeds by the river low;
Give me thy most privy place Where to run my airy race.

In some withdrawn unpublic mead
Let me sigh upon a reed,
Or in the wood, with leafy din,
Whisper the still evening in;
Some still work give me to do
Onlv be it near to you!

For I had rather be thy child
And pupil in the forest wild
Than be the king of men elsewhere
And most sovereign slave of care;
To have one moment of thy dawn
Than share the city's year forlorn.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Fire-Flowers

And only where the forest fires have sped,
Scorching relentlessly the cool north lands,
A sweet wild flower lifts its purple head,
And, like some gentle spirit sorrow-fed,
It hides the scars with almost human hand.

And only to the heart that knows of grief,
Of desolating fire, of human pain,
There comes some purifying sweet belief,
Some fellow-feeling, beautiful, if brief.
And life revives and blossoms once again.

E Pauline Johnson (1861-1914)

The Crescent Moon

Slipping softly through the sky
Little horned, happy moon,
Can you hear me up so high?
Will you come down soon?
On my nursery window-sill
Will you stay your steady flight?
And then float away with me
Through the summer night?
Brushing over tops of trees,
Playing hide and seek with stars,
Peeping up through shiny clouds
At Jupiter or Mars.
I shall fill my lap with roses
Gathered in the Milky Way,
All to carry home to mother.
Oh! what will she say!
Little rocking, sailing moon,
Do you hear me shout -- Ahoy!
Just a little nearer, moon, To please a little boy.

Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925)

In Defence of Hope

Though hope betrays us each in turn
And is by time itself betrayed,
Though in its forge we roast and burn,
Still cursing as the embers fade —

Amid the ash of ruined dreams
We persevere, against all odds,
While any speck of hope yet gleams
To stand against the whims of gods.

If hope is but a fuel to scorch
What men think lost, with fate the spark,
At least it counterfeits a torch
To hoist aloft and dupe the dark.

Felix Dennis (1947- 
Island of Dreams Noctua Press 2007

Painting of a Wild Flag

The picture is the first thing I see when I wake.
It is of a Flag, a wild Iris, morning bright,
Tall and slender with whip shaped leaves.
The background artfully blended to enhance the flower.

It is the most soothing sight to see after long
And dark and daunting hours.
It represents the coming of the dawn
With its similar hues and colours.

The petals falling open like the acquiescent
Lips of a lover and the stance of tall elegance
Caught forever in the artist's mood.
The painting smooths the roughness of rising.

It adds soft beauty to my room
And leads my mind beyond the always.
A bright banner leading me into the day
Inspiring and fresh as a breath of spring.

Crowfoot and Pepper-wort,
Dodder of Thyme,
All-heal, Anemone,
Lesser Celandine,

Brooklime and Briony,
Wormwood, Butcher's Broom
and Dove's Foot are Martial plants.
Stone Crop, under Moon.

Walnut and Marigold,
governed by the Sun.
Mercury has Calamint,
Dill and Sauce-alone.

Amaranthus, Comfrey,
Heart's-ease, Saturnine.
Dog's Grass, under Jupiter.
Venus owns the Vine,

Self-heal and Sickle-wort,
Tansy and Thyme,
Foxglove and Featherfew,
Coltsfoot, Columbine.

Starchild (1965-