. . . I've been told that I write novels for email messages. Perhaps this is the way to go. I'll try to make each entry, or Gemstone, a "precious" one. On mediocre days, all I might be able to produce is a "semi-precious" entry. In any case, an entry might be a "neat" Gemstone--something that is uniquely mine.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Last Day of National Poetry Month


Here are some poems that I read today that I really liked (in honor of the last day of National Poetry Month):

When I awake...
with morning's dew,..
My thoughts are alive, these thoughts of you.
As the sun sets, my eyes a new
Open widely a life with you be true
Troubled with a past, gloomy and blue
Can only be changed from the love of two
My thoughts of old and withered past
Now new life of hope outlast
So as the evening ends
Carrying nights white moon
Is when my thoughts are strongest
That seeing you will be soon
Questioning reasons of love be true
These are a few, of why the sun set with you...

--Michael Anthony Keaulana


If I could have just one wish,
I would wish to wake up everyday
to the sound of your breath on my neck,
the warmth of your lips on my cheek,
the touch of your fingers on my skin,
and the feel of your heart beating with mine...
Knowing that I could never find that feeling
with anyone other than you.

- Courtney Kuchta


Beauty and love are all my dream;
They change not with the changing day;
Love stays forever like a stream
That flows but never flows away;

And beauty is the bright sun-bow
That blossoms on the spray that showers
Where the loud water falls below,
Making a wind among the flowers.

- Andrew Young


Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.

- Carl Sandburg


The wondrous moment of our meeting . . .
I well remember you appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In hopeless ennui surrounding
The worldly bustle, to my ear
For long your tender voice kept sounding,
For long in dreams came features dear.

Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
Old dreams, and I from year to year
Forgot how tender you had sounded,
Your heavenly features once so dear.

My backwoods days dragged slow and quiet —
Dull fence around, dark vault above —
Devoid of God and uninspired,
Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.

Sleep from my soul began retreating,
And here you once again appear
Before me like a vision fleeting,
A beauty's angel pure and clear.

In ecstasy the heart is beating,
Old joys for it anew revive;
Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
The fire, and tears, and love alive.

--Alexander Pushkin


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 one another's being mingle;--
Why not I with thine?

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

- Percy Bysshe Shelley


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

--e.e. cummings


I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet.
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.

My face turned pale, a deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked what could I ail
My life and all seemed turned to clay.

And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away.
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.

I could not see a single thing,
Words from my eyes did start.
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.

Are flowers the winter's choice
Is love's bed always snow
She seemed to hear my silent voice
Not love appeals to know.

I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling place
And can return no more.

--John Clare


If questioning would make us wise
No eyes would ever gaze in eyes;
If all our tale were told in speech
No mouths would wander each to each.

Were spirits free from mortal mesh
And love not bound in hearts of flesh
No aching breasts would yearn to meet
And find their ecstasy complete.

For who is there that lives and knows
The secret powers by which he grows?
Were knowledge all, what were our need
To thrill and faint and sweetly bleed?

Then seek not, sweet, the "If" and "Why"
I love you now until I die.
For I must love because I live
And life in me is what you give.

--Christopher Brennan

Thursday, April 28, 2011

We The Kings - Spin



I've got a feeling to stay
It beats the feeling to go
And I've got a feeling, so I
Can know
What really could have been
Much more than time well spent
I have a feeling that I can't let
This end

So
Let's make Champagne rain down from the sky
And let's toast to the night

It's the time of our lives
Take me for a ride
And kiss me one more time
'Cause even if we fall we'll be okay
grab hold of your heart
Let's spin the world from the light
So we stay here tonight

We stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light
Can we stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light

You've got a reason to stay
I've got the hand you can hold
I'm kind of feeling insane, so don't
Let go

And as the sun goes down
And all the dark's around
I get the feeling me can't run home
Not now

So
Let's make Champagne rain down from the sky
And let's toast to the night

It's the time of our lives
Take me for a ride
And kiss me one more time
'Cause even if we fall we'll be okay
grab hold of your heart
Let's spin the world from the light
So we stay here tonight

Can we stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light
Can we stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light

Don't wait
Everything's not okay
I am slipping away
Don't say goodbye
Kiss me
And let me know you love me
Underneath the moonlight
We'll look to the sky
Let's toast to the night

[x2]
It's the time of our lives
Take me for a ride
And kiss me one more time
'Cause even if we fall we'll be okay
Grab hold of your heart
Let's spin the world from the light
So we stay here tonight

Can we stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light
Can we stay here tonight
Spin the world from the light

In My Life by The Beatles

Just feeling nostalgic tonight. Here's an oldie but a goodie.

In My Life (YouTube video)

There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more


Monday, April 11, 2011

National Poetry Month 2011

April is National Poetry Month and I try to read at least one new poem each year. Yes, I know, pretty pathetic to only read one poem in a year, but this year's is a doozie!

I recently heard a synopsis on the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797) and thought I'd read the epic poem in its entirety. Now, I'm thinking that I read it once in high school English class many years ago, but the storyline totally slipped my mind, if it ever entered it.

I did know that the well-known verse,

"Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink."
came from this poem, but that's about it. So much for retention. But I didn't know that the poem's story is centered on a man who feels total guilt for a wrong that he committed. His guilt consumed his soul.Besides guilt as a central theme, there is a lot of symbolism written within the poem.

The synopsis of the poem that I heard concluded with the fact that we all have things to be guilty for, maybe some wrong committed toward another person, but nobody is perfect. It is up to you to make amends, to forgive yourself, and to move on.

I like the ending of the poem where Coleridge writes,

"Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."
Note: photo at the top is the Statue of the Ancient Mariner by Scottish sculptor Alan Herriot. It was unveiled in 2003 on the waterfront in Watchet, Somerset, UK.

The plaque on the statue reads,
"Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.