Friday, April 15, 2016

Poetry Friday - Spain

I'm still reading Auden, so today I'm sharing a poem he wrote after making a visit to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

Spain
by W. H. Auden (1937)

Yesterday all the past. The language of size
Spreading to China along the trade-routes; the diffusion
     Of the counting-frame and the cromlech;
Yesterday the shadow-reckoning in the sunny climates.

Yesterday the assessment of insurance by cards,
The divination of water; yesterday the invention
    Of cartwheels and clocks, the taming of
Horses. Yesterday the bustling world of the navigators.

Yesterday the abolition of fairies and giants,
The fortress like a motionless eagle eyeing the valley,
The chapel built in the forest;
Yesterday the carving of angels and alarming gargoyles.

Read the poem in its entirety.


If you haven't been here before, or haven't been following my National Poetry Month project, here are the posts from this week. Feel free to poke around. I'm particularly excited that today's entry for World Art Day falls on Poetry Friday, a day where we also celebrate art.

9 - Name Yourself Day
10 - Siblings Day
11 - Week of the Young Child
12 - International Day of Human Space Flight
13 - National Scrabble Day
14 - International Moment of Laughter Day
15 - World Art Day

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today's Little Ditty. Happy poetry Friday friends!

2 comments:

  1. "We are left alone with our day"... Wouldn't it be grand if we could actually work together to do something about the struggle? Thanks for sharing this today, Tricia.

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  2. The movement is real, but oh that ending is sad. Thanks, Tricia. I haven't made it to your April project posts, but at least will today.

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