The magic of words

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:33 am

I like poetry. All kinds. I do not know how much I've read over the years, but on occasion some lines turn up, unbidden, in my mind.

So, yesterday I decided to pursue the lines a bit further and see if I could find the authors and maybe a bit more of their works.

I found Shakespeare's Sonets, some verses by Rudyard Kipling, Jacques PrÃƒÂ©vert's works, one by Joachim Ringelnatz, and a couple of half-forgotten Norwegian poems too. In short, I enjoyed poetry in four languages, and I feel terribly proud of myself.

I am awed by the way some poets manage to bring feelings to the surface just by placing words in the right order, and using words to pinpoint their exact meaning. One of my favorites is very long. Another one has four lines. They both move me deeply.

Once I read an Alexander Pushkin poem translated into English. I don't know Russian. It has stuck in this version until today.

I loved you, and my love, I think is stronger
than to be quite extinct within me yet.
But let it not detain you any longer,
I will not have you feel the least regret.
I loved you bare of hope and of expression,
with tenderness and shyness sore.
I loved you with such purity and passion
as God may grant you to be loved once more.

Last edited: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:35 am

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Sherry8 wrote on Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:15 pm:

That is beautiful..thank you for sharing.

Biita wrote on Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:46 pm:

The power of words are amazing, they can cut you, wound, heal, make you feel loved, joy an gratefulness. just a few of the words listed, but what they do the most is make you alive an remind you that you can feel an to learn to feel again,,,

Thank you droopy, that is what i just did, because of a few words that you was kind enough to share.

Droopy wrote on Sat Nov 24, 2007 2:10 pm:

You're welcome. I try to pass the joy of reading on to my children by reading to them. So far I think I've succeeded.

GardeninVanGogh wrote on Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:48 pm:

I have enjoyed poetry also and read a few on my time. Rilke,Ferlinghetti,Gingsburg,
Corso,Gongora,and Quevedo. However, Lao Tzu is the one t I have read more often, since that particular view of nature life is applied to gardening. The Zen gardening school is complicated and simple at once. Such as the poet mentioned.