Friday, July 13, 2007

Poetry Friday - Flowers

I've been inside teaching all week, and like flowers without water, I can feel myself withering without time in the fresh air. I did get to enjoy a quick walk around campus yesterday in which I passed some beautiful flower beds. I'm still thinking of them today, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite flower poems. (Sorry, I'm not a rose girl, so you won't find them in this post.)
Daisies
by Bliss Carman
Published in Modern American Poetry, 1919

Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune
I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
The people God sends us to set our hearts free.

The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,
The orioles whistled them out of the wood;
And all of their singing was, "Earth, it is well!"
And all of their dancing was, "Life, thou art good!"


Ah Sunflower
by William Blake

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;

Where the youth pined away with desire,
And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sunflower wishes to go!


The Bluebell
by Anne Bronte

A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell.

Read the rest of The Bluebell.
The round up today is at Chicken Spaghetti. Please stop by and check out all the great poetry posts. Happy poetry Friday, all!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting these poems. I collect sunflower poems because my daughter is our Sunflower Girl (she was born long and leggy). I'm with you on store-bought roses, but I love (in the truest sense one can say about plants) roses that are yellowy-orange with fruity scents that have citrus undertones to them. I'm noticing that of the scented flowers, the yellow ones are my favorite (i.e. yellow freesia, which makes me swoon). I wonder what kind of honey I'd make if I were a bee.:)

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  2. I am enjoying these flower poems so much! I hope you get to be outside more next week... can you play hooky on a sweet summer day?

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  3. My favorite flowers right now are coral bells and sweet peas because they have drawn hummingbirds to our back yard for the first time ever!

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