"Small Hours" (poem)

A prompt from Carry on Tuesday: "This week our prompt is the opening of an untitled poem generally known as Lines on a Clock in Chester Cathedral by Henry Twells."

When as a child, I laughed and wept

~ Small Hours ~

Infinity

I knew so well,

Eternity

A night would spell,

When at late hours

Our dwelling slept,

And through closed flowers

Cool breezes swept.

When in my bed

I lay and wept,

And slow as dead

The moments crept.

A restless child,

For ages straight

In half-dreams wild

I would await

The break of day,

Then laugh and rise,

Trade my dismay

For the sunrise.

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

Image credit:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/degree2009/owen.php 

"Parting" (poem)

A prompt from Carry on Tuesday # 149

This week  I've taken the first few words of Robert Louis Stevenson's sweet poem My Shadow as our inspiration

I have a little shadow

 

~ Parting ~

A distant star, a song,

And morning dew -

That’s how little

I have left of you.

A weeping shadow of

A willow tree -

That’s how little

I have left of me.

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

Image credit:

http://soulscent.blogspot.com/2011/12/willow-tree.html

"Abandoned Houses" (poem)

A prompt from Carry on Tuesday:

This week we have the title and first line of Merle Haggard's country song 

Life's like Poetry

 

 

~ Abandoned Houses ~

 

In some kind of persistent love-hate quest

I keep looking for them when on the road,

I’m drawn to them.  Forsaken, forgotten,

Abandoned – they work their rusty magic,

The old spell of deterioration.

They pull me into their orbit of words

Once spoken, echoes of laughter and cries,

And the silent footsteps of time gone by.

Their empty eyes, their souls open to winds,

Their drafty hollowness – speak poetry.

They’re like an ode to ghosts of the past -

Life’s transient visitors, turned to dust.

I love poetry, but I prefer life.

 

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

Image credit: 

http://www.123rf.com

"Conversations with a Mirror" (poem)

A prompt from Carry on Tuesday:  

This week we have the opening line and title of a love poem by Courtney Kuchta

If I could have just one wish

~ Conversations with a Mirror ~

“Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Who’s that person, slim and tall?”

“It is you, girl, don’t you know?

Twenty something years ago.”

“Mirror, grant me just one wish:

Make the time spin backwards – swish!

I will talk to me – oh my! –

I will tell me, “Don’t you cry!

You have everything and more,

Happiness is at your door,

You will cease to seek perfection,

You will love your own reflection.”

“I could do that if you wish,

But before you go swish!

Pardon, I will say it straight:

You should really lose some weight!”

         

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

Image credit: 
http://www.123rf.com/

'Second'

Carry on Tuesday says, "The opening lines of Angel by Sarah McLachlan provide us with our prompt this week."

Spend all your time waiting for that second chance

That chance is awaiting,

Stop deliberating,

For all our time

Is a second sublime,

Don’t spend your time waiting.

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

'What I Want'

A writing prompt from Carry on Tuesday.  The first few words taken from a poem called In the Park by John Koethe:

This is the life I wanted, and I could never see

~ What I Want ~

My want I’d fallen into,

Then met somebody new,

And felt my want give in to

My growing need in you.

This is an old story -

We want, but what we get

Is what we need…I’m sorry,

But mine’s not over yet:

The best part is about

What happened to my need,

Which soon without a doubt

Became my want indeed.

This is the life I wanted,

Although could never see,

I left the want that daunted,

I found true want in thee!

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

"After all, tomorrow is another day."

A writing prompt from Carry on Tuesday - a line from 'Gone with the Wind' by Margaret Mitchell:

"After all, tomorrow is another day."

“As of tomorrow I will start anew,

I will not waste again another day,

We’re parting ways, adieu, my love, adieu,

Pardon my French,” to my old self I say.

“But, darling, wait,” my old self chimes in,

“Have you forgotten something?  After all,

There is a rule for those who begin

A brand new life, oh don’t you recall?”

“I think I know what you mean, cherie:

I have to wait until a certain day…

I’ll wait till Monday then, thanks, mon amie!

Au revoir, I’ll see you soon!” I say.

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

"Is That All There Is?"

Carry On Tuesday # 141

This week we have as our prompt the title of Peggy Lee's wonderful musical soliloquy

Is That All There Is? 

 

 

When we understand what we always knew,

When we remember what we never forgot,

When we find what we ever had,

We will look it in the eye,

And wonder,

“Is that all

 There

Is?”

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

'Where now? Who now? When now?'

Carry On Tuesday # 140

 Samuel Beckett provides the words of inspiration this week. They come from the opening line of his novel  'Unnameable'

Where now? Who now? When now?

Who am I?

What am I?

What’s beyond the endless sky?

When’s the hour?

Now there,

Look, your answer’s everywhere:

All is Him,

All is love,

He awaits us up above,

He will come,

He’ll forgive,

Until then just love and live.

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

'Come Fly with Me'

Today's prompt from Carry on Tuesday is Sinatra's famous Come fly with me.

“Come fly with me, to that alluring shore,

Where summer never ends, the sky is blue,

Where birds are free, and you will cry no more…”

“I cannot fly with you, my heart is true

To the forgotten land of ancient kings,

The gloomy skies, the only joy I know…

My silver bird has spread its metal wings

She’ll take me back to winter, cold, and snow.”

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur