The Syndicate Poetry thread
Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 9:49 pm
"There are three things, after all, that a poem must reach: the eye, the ear and what we may call the heart or the mind. It is most important of all to reach the heart of the reader."
- Robert Frost
This is my first thread on The Syndicate and I wanted it to be one that will give members here the opportunity to share poems that speak either from or to their hearts. If you want to share something you've written, then this thread is for YOU! (you don't even have to be 'good' - you have only to have something inside you that you want to share, be it grief or humour, sadness or joy, defeat or triumph). If you've read a poem somewhere and you felt that it spoke to you in some way that you'd like to share with everyone, then this thread is for YOU!
I thought I'd kick things off with a poem that I wrote a little while back, inspired by my lunchtime walks down along the river and written in dedication to the birthday of a dear friend that I met online.
I sat down on a grassy riverbank one winter’s afternoon
Taking my rest for a short while knowing I’d have to leave soon.
I lay back under the generous shade of a giant tree
And gazed out over the river and the boats arrayed in front of me.
I pondered their origins and the craftsmen who gave them form
And the dreams of romance and adventure from which they were born.
Each of them a unique reflection of one man’s deep longing
For freedom, for peace and joy and for belonging.
On the soft, cool breeze I could hear the songs trapped in their furled sails
Murmured songs of awe and beauty and fearsome storms and gales.
Canticles of high winds and rolling waves and cacophonies of boiling seas,
Melodies of exotic peoples and places and quiet, restful moonlit symphonies.
Abruptly I awoke from my wistful dream aware that life around me beckoned
And rising to my feet, paused and considered pensively for a second.
When next I return to this beautiful and panoramic scene,
Many of the vessels below will be absent from this view so serene.
Having left the shelter of this safe, peaceful port
They’ll forge through the seas to their next calm resort
Then years from now when their last journey’s spent
Rusted and broken, they’ll rest; their life’s work content.
- Robert Frost
This is my first thread on The Syndicate and I wanted it to be one that will give members here the opportunity to share poems that speak either from or to their hearts. If you want to share something you've written, then this thread is for YOU! (you don't even have to be 'good' - you have only to have something inside you that you want to share, be it grief or humour, sadness or joy, defeat or triumph). If you've read a poem somewhere and you felt that it spoke to you in some way that you'd like to share with everyone, then this thread is for YOU!
I thought I'd kick things off with a poem that I wrote a little while back, inspired by my lunchtime walks down along the river and written in dedication to the birthday of a dear friend that I met online.
An Afternoon's Sojourn
I sat down on a grassy riverbank one winter’s afternoon
Taking my rest for a short while knowing I’d have to leave soon.
I lay back under the generous shade of a giant tree
And gazed out over the river and the boats arrayed in front of me.
I pondered their origins and the craftsmen who gave them form
And the dreams of romance and adventure from which they were born.
Each of them a unique reflection of one man’s deep longing
For freedom, for peace and joy and for belonging.
On the soft, cool breeze I could hear the songs trapped in their furled sails
Murmured songs of awe and beauty and fearsome storms and gales.
Canticles of high winds and rolling waves and cacophonies of boiling seas,
Melodies of exotic peoples and places and quiet, restful moonlit symphonies.
Abruptly I awoke from my wistful dream aware that life around me beckoned
And rising to my feet, paused and considered pensively for a second.
When next I return to this beautiful and panoramic scene,
Many of the vessels below will be absent from this view so serene.
Having left the shelter of this safe, peaceful port
They’ll forge through the seas to their next calm resort
Then years from now when their last journey’s spent
Rusted and broken, they’ll rest; their life’s work content.
