Quote du Jour via Purple Poetry

I stole this image from @purplepoetry77, a wise poet I follow on Twitter. Words here I need to remember when I get into morose moods like the one I feel today....

My poetry choice for today... and for D

If My Voice Is Not Reaching  You
by Afzal Ahmed Syed
If my voice is not reaching you      add to it the echo—      echo of ancient epics      And to that—      a princess      And to the princess—your beauty      And to your beauty—      a lover's heart      And in the lover's heart      a dagger

from Poets.org

Quote du Jour: from "Epilogue" by Mark Tredinnick

    There will come
         a morning             
 I don’t wake and think first of you. 
                             But that day can wait.


See the entire poem here at Terrain.org. 

A poem for a Lost Love

When We Two Parted
by George Gordon Byron
When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this. The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow-- It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame; I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame. They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me-- Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well-- Long, long shall I rue thee, Too deeply to tell. In secret we met-- In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee?-- With silence and tears.

--shamelessly stolen borrowed from www.poets.org
(check out all their Valentine's Day poems at: Love Poems

About Those Silences

This morning I reached for you again.
Gave in, past all the grand silences,
past patience, reached
for you through darkness
and distance. Stretched past
my roller coaster uncertainties.
Fingers pushing against
the electronic resistance
of your duties. I can't let go
of the thought that I have
missed you in the night times,
that we've passed each other blind
two pale ships in the blank metaverse,
while you reach for her.

(with apologies to David Ray for taking license)

Celtic Maiden Warrior in Concert at Stonehenge in Heritage Key

  

Heard about a concert going on today in Heritage Key's beautiful Stonehenge Sim (thanks to Twitter friends @rivenhomewood & @xlent1). 

 The singer (/guitarist/drummer/awesome musician) was Celtic Maiden Warrior, and she played some marvelous old favorites as well as more modern songs by my favs Stan Rogers and Loreena McKennitt (one based on the beautiful Alfred Noyes' poem "The Highwayman"!). 

 To get to Heritage Key I had to recreate my Second Life Avatar on the OpenSim grid. This has been interesting to say the least. I am not yet ready to desert SL, but it's nice to know I now

exist in many places, SL, ReactionGrid, OpenSim.  New places to explore too!  If you ever find yourself in Heritage Key, look me up, we'll go shopping! (If I can find any shopping--or money! *grins* )

Poetry on a Daily Basis

Found this poem on Poetry Daily. Something about the imagery, and the metaphors evoked, just touches me. I remember too clearly the feel of "salt-sewn eyes." You probably do, too.

You can find the original poem in the Georgia Review.

Quote du jour: David Ray

Love dies if you can't get to see her
or if you see her too much,
also from the gossip of vile men.
Or from no cause at all.

--from Not Far From the River by David Ray

Jazz and Poetry at O'Brien's in the French Quarter

So last night while Draven and I were out wandering, I got a notice from the Written Word group that Julian Hifeng, journalist, RL poet, and jazz musician, would be playing live jazz and reciting poetry in The French Quarter at a pub called O'Brien's.

How could we resist? Draven loves jazz and all things New Orleans, I love poetry and any music. And besides it was a chance to spend time together!

The music was lovely soft cool jazz.

Julian's poetry had a sweet reflective narrative quality that tied the imagery to the mucic and the evening.

There was a nice crowd, too. O'Brien's is also and art gallery, featuring the work of SL artists. All in all a really good time. You should visit!

Sunday Song: Nightwish "I Wish I Had an Angel"

Nightwish is a Finnish heavy metal/rock band with operatic and classical overtones. I only recently fell in love with their music, not just because of its eclectic qualities, but also for the dark beauty of these lyrics that speak of danger and desire on a muliplicity of levels.

"I wish I had an angel
For one moment of love
I wish I had your angel
Your Virgin Mary undone
I'm in love with my lust
Burning angelwings to dust
I wish I had your angel tonight...

Last dance, first kiss
Your touch my bliss
Beauty always comes with dark thoughts...."

Nighwish's lyrics are rich with religious, gothic, Tolkeinesque, and mythologic imagery. The videos are darkly compelling, often coldly graphic with a chiaroscuro lighting that makes them starkly beautiful. All in all Nightwish is reminiscent of the poetry of Baudelaire, the erotica of Anais Nin, and the cinema of Bergman. If you want to hear more of them see my YouTube playlist. Or email me and I'll send you my favorite songs.

Quote for tonight: from Kahlil Gibran

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you, yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

--from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

No one says it better than the Bard

Today is a day for poets and for lovers... So here are a few thoughts on love from Shakespeare:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixèd mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his heighth be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Long distance love

The very nature of secondlife makes most romances begun there the long distance kind of love. Long distance love can be painful and even deceptive, as you don't see the real person as clearly across time and space. In secondlife you may stand a better chance of more frequent and more intense connection, but even there love . . . real love needs to be based in honesty, good communication, and caring. Lust is good, but it is only an element of love . . . not the whole of it.

Thought to ponder about long distance love:

"And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." Kahlil Gibran

"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great." Roger De Bussy-Rabutin

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell." Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you. Whatever it takes or how my heart breaks, I will be right here ... waiting for you." Richard Marx

"You came and you did well to come. I needed you. You have made love blaze up in my heart--bless you! Bless you often as the hours have been endless to me while you were gone." Sappho

Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars." Gilbert Parker

"But the next time that our worlds combine, cannot be very far, and I'll be waiting then to take your hand and dance among the stars." Danny Carnahan

The song for today: Fields of Gold

Can't get this song out of my head ... can't get a certain man out of my head either....

Fields of Gold by Sting

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in the fields of gold . . .

. . . See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in the fields of gold
We'll walk in the fields of gold . . . .