Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A Poem in my Pocket . . .



This is National Poetry Month
where we celebrate 
the gift of the poetic verse.
I am in love with poetry,
reading it, writing it, sharing it and teaching it!
I am always wanting to lead others to it.

Tomorrow April 17, 2014
is
Poem in Your Pocket Day!

It is where you choose a meaningful poem
carry it in your pocket all day long
and share it out loud
with as many people as you can,
sharing the gift of poetry.
I am so excited that it is tomorrow
and I can share it also with
my Senior Adult Writing Group!

I chose the poem
"Now I Become Myself"
by May Sarton
somehow these words feel perfect
for tomorrow,
so today I decided to share it with YOU!

Now I Become Myself
by
May Sarton

Now I become myself.  It's taken time,
many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if time were there,
terribly old, crying a warning
"Hurry, you will be dead before ---"
What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear
Or love safe in the walled city
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
is my hand; the shadow of a word
as thought shapes the shaper
falls heavy on the page, is heard
all fuses now, falls into place
from wish to action,
word to silence,
my work, my love, my time, my face
gathered into one intense
gesture of growing like a plant
as slowly as the ripening fruit
fertile, detached and always spent,
falls but does not exhaust the root,
so all the poem is, can give
grows in me to become the song,
made so and rooted by love.
Now there is time and time is young
O, in this single hour I live
all of myself and do not move
I, the pursued, who madly ran
Stand still, stand still and stop the sun!

Little Donna Lee
Becoming Herself

It's not too late to gather up
just one poem
and put it in your pocket for tomorrow.

May your day be filled 
with happiness and all good things

Treasure what already is in your life!