It seems like a day for a classic, a poem people have been reading for 400 years.
TLDR: Yeah, everything and everyone you love will go away, but that's all the more reason to love well while you can.
Love well today, poetry friends! And here's the roundup.
Sonnet 73
William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
10 comments:
A poem that's been read for 400 years...is in itself a wonderful thought. Thanks for the classic!
There are many words written to tell us to live now for tomorrow is not so certain, aren't there? Shakespeare does it with a special beauty of the day shown before the lesson. Lovely, Ruth. Thank you!
Perfect poem. It seems to me that this is a poem for his son who died of the Bubonic Plague. Have you read HAMNET by Maggie O'Farrell. Highly reccomend.
Thanks for the reminder, Ruth and Will. I love that one. Congrats on your bird achievements!!
This classic reminds us that all humainty has struggled to reconcile their feelings about death and loss. Thanks for sharing this today.
And as we remember the sudden loss of 9/11, it seems even more imperative to love EXTRAVAGANTLY because sometimes we don't get the luxury of the leaves turning and the ashes cooling. It all just...ends.
Thank you for sharing this beauty, Ruth.
Beautiful, Ruth. It has been a while since I sat down with Shakespeare, and I read this one aloud. Those last two lines bring tears to my eyes.
So lovely. Shakespeare was so gifted. Thanks, Ruth.
Oh, yes, one of my absolute favorites.
"Bare ruined choirs" — it kills me every time.
Thanks for this, Ruth.
Post a Comment