Friday, February 2, 2007

Bloggers and Silent Poetry

So today is blogger silent poetry day, which I had read a bit about and pretty much dismissed. I'm not a big literature person and poetry, well, not ususally my cup of tea. I can appreciate a good poem as much as the next person, but it's not something I normally read.

But many of the blogs I peruse have posted poems which started me thinking. First, I thought I'd be a bit glib and pull something from J1's poetry journal, but it did not come home with him. Then Dr. Seuss came to mind. Then I thought maybe I could find something in song lyrics. Then I thought, I can do better than that. I sat here for a bit and then suddenly "schzam!" I had the perfect poem and probably one of the very few that actually mean something to me. This was read at our wedding and was very symbolic of our ceremony and how we felt about marriage. After almost 12 years of mostly wedded bliss, I can still say these words have a lot of meaning and symbolism in terms of being husband and wife, but not letting that erase the fact that we are still individuals. So, here is my poem:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

- "Marriage" from The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran

Kathy

3 comments:

MelissaKnits said...

Nice one.

Nobody told me. Darn. QUICK! A POEM!!

Cirilia said...

Nice one! I missed it too...whoops. I'm not one for poetry either...maybe I can throw up a limerick?

I've always joked that you and Steve (or even Lexie and her husband) should write a book about marriage. People in my generation are just so confused about the whole thing and individuality really has a lot to do with the resistance I think. It's great to see couples making sense of it, especially with kids and business partnerships in the mix.

Bonnie said...

Thank you for sharing this poem. It's beautiful.

I can't wait to see your pictures from the SuperBowl Escape. It was a terrific event! I had a wonderful time hanging out with knitters I already know and meetig new people, too.

Last night I swatched the Valley Yarns superwash I bought yesterday. Ooh la la--what a nice superwash! I also washed it in cold water. It looked great after washing and got even softer.

 
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