World Poetry Day? Oh happy World Poetry Day!

Apparently today is World Poetry Day. (Thanks UNESCO!)

In celebration, I’d like to share two poems from two recent additions to my (finally) growing collection of poetry books. These I snagged during precious T-time, during my very recent trips (just got back last week!) to New York and San Francisco. I was out for a walk on both occasions and stumbled upon these two treasures, both second hand, which I (and my wallet) love.

When I have more than a moment to spare, I will write more about the story of stumbling upon the books, both on memorable days during my trip. But for now, I will share the poetry of two of my favorite poets.

According to UNESCO, “this Day is meant to support poetry, return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, promote teaching poetry, restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music, painting and so on, support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art but one.”

Now that, I wholeheartedly support.

So read a poem out loud today. Or find one to listen to or read online. There are many.

Or take a poem, and let it inspire you to do something else – paint, draw, dance, smile, travel, sing, or stare into a farther distance than your computer screen.

Or simply take a poem. Take one.

Here are two for you. Enjoy. ❤

Unending Love

        -RABINDRANATH TAGORE

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it’s age-old pain,
It’s ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same
Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –
And the songs of every poet past and forever.

Silence

by Billy Collins

Now it is time to say what you have to say.
The room is quiet.
The whirring fan has been unplugged,
and the girl who was tapping
a pencil on her desktop has been removed.

So tell us what is on your mind.
We want to hear the sound of your foliage,
the unraveling of your tool kit,
your songs of loneliness,
your songs of hurt.

The trains are motionless on the tracks,
the ships are at rest in the harbor.
The dogs are cocking their heads
and the gods are peering down from their balloons.
The town is hushed,

and everyone here has a copy.
So tell us about your parents—
your father behind the steering wheel,
your cruel mother at the sink.
Let’s hear about all the clouds you saw, all the trees.

Read the poem you brought with you tonight.
The ocean has stopped sloshing around,
and even Beethoven
is sitting up in his deathbed,
his cold hearing horn inserted in one ear.