Only 9 more days......

I hope I can make it to the end of tax season! The ONLY good thing I can say is, "Thank God I'm getting paid overtime!"

You wouldn't believe how much I've missed blogging and it's hard for me to believe I haven't posted anything in over a month! But....all that is changing tonight, although this will be a short post and mostly written by others. It counts if I'm the one who compiles the collected writings, doesn't it?

Since April is National Poetry Month, I'm going to post a few poems which have had a huge impact on me and have helped shape the way I look at and relate to the world in which I exist. Scary thought, I know, but "it is what it is" (See....the Starlight Maniesto applies to everything!)

Advice to a Girl by Sara Teasdale
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed;
Lay that on your heart,
My young angry dear;
This truth, this hard and precious stone,
Lay it on your hot cheek,
Let it hide your tear.
Hold it like a crystal
when you are alone
and gaze in the depths of the icy stone.
Long, look long, and you will be blessed:
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed.

Jenny Kiss'd Me- by Leigh Hunt

Jenny kiss'd me when we met
Jumping from the chair she sat in.
Time, you thief, who love to get
sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
say that health and wealth have miss'd me
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

Hesitate to Call by Louise Gluck

Lived to see you throwing
Me aside. That fought
Liked netted fish inside me. Saw you throbbing
In my syrups. Saw you sleep. And lived to see
That all that flushed down
The refuse. Done?
It lives in me.
You live in me. Malignant.
Love, you ever want me, don't.

Song of Democracy- Walt Whitman (actually, the title is Book XXXI, Part 4 from Leaves of Grass but it is widely known as the Song of Democracy)

Sail, sail thy best, ship of Democracy,
Of value is thy freight, 'tis not the Present only,
The Past is also stored in thee,
Thou holdest not the venture of thyself alone, not of the Western
continent alone,
Earth's resume entire floats on thy keel O ship, is steadied by thy spars,
With thee Time voyages in trust, the antecedent nations sink or
swim with thee,
With all their ancient struggles, martyrs, heroes, epics, wars, thou
bear'st the other continents,
Theirs, theirs as much as thine, the destination-port triumphant;
Steer then with good strong hand and wary eye O helmsman, thou
carriest great companions,
Venerable priestly Asia sails this day with thee,
And royal feudal Europe sails with thee.

To My Dear and Loving Husband by Ann Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

I hope you all enjoy the poetry. Feel free to leave your favorite poem in the comments!
Peace!